I Inherited Billions

Chapter 34

I got up to leave immediately after class finished on Monday.

Chris suddenly pulled me back and said, “What’s the rush, Freddie? Let’s watch the live stream together tonight.”

“What live stream?” I pretended not to know what he was talking about.

“Lina’s live stream, of course. She’ll be lifting the mysterious veil of Gentle Heart tonight. It’s gonna be streamed on the big screen in our school’s screening room.”

“f**k, how big has this whole thing blown up to?” I was slightly astonished.

Even though I knew Lina’s popularity had soared over the past few days from her exploiting Gentle Heart, I had no idea it had attracted so many people’s attention.

“It’s all to be expected. Lina’s pretty well-known in school… Besides, Gentle Heart is playing a role too. Other factors aside, all the guys in our class will be watching tonight. By the way, are you not watching with us because you’re mad?”

“Mad? Why would I be mad?”

“You were trying to woo her before,” Chris winked as he said.

“You son-of-a b***h. Would you believe it if I said I’ll beat you to death right now?” This guy just had to remind me about it, did he not?

“I was just joking. I know you’ve put it behind you… This is why you shouldn’t miss out on the fun tonight. I heard Gentle Heart will be proposing to Lina tonight.”

“Proposing?” I was slightly speechless. I had no idea how these internet rumors started.

I was not even aware that I was proposing tonight. Had I agree to it?

“Who cares if it’s true or false? What’s important is that we shouldn’t be missing out tonight.”

“Alright. I’ll make sure to join in the fun tonight,” I replied meaningfully.

…

I left the school after separating from Chris. However, I was still thinking about what he had said about me proposing. This unexpected rumor gave me an interesting idea.

I took out my phone and sent a message to Lorne. “Lorne, I need to add something to what we arranged previously…”

I headed home happily after I settled things.

…

The live stream officially began at seven that night. The anxious Lina had started streaming quite early. She held onto her phone, using it to live stream the entire experience of her meeting Gentle Heart. She chatted with her audience during the wait and shared tips about makeup and picking a dress, trying to garner a larger audience while she was still a hot topic.

As time passed, more and more people began watching her stream.

By seven-thirty, she had more than three hundred thousand people watching her.

Streamers on other channels live streaming at the same time had a pitiful number of people tuning in. Most of their audiences had gone to her channel instead.

Some smart streamers began to link to her channel and stream her live broadcast while providing commentary.

One could say that the entire broadcasting platform was focused on Chestnut Sandy’s attempt to unveil Gentle Heart. Even Montana, who had always unwaveringly live-streamed on time, had taken a rare break tonight. She was lying on the living room’s sofa unhappily.

This girl was feeling jealous again.

“Aren’t you live streaming tonight?” I was secretly chuckling in my heart as I looked at the troubled Montana on the sofa, but I pretended I was not aware of anything.

“No. Everyone’s gone to watch Chestnut Sandy, and I’ve got not many people online. I might as well rest tonight,” Montana replied moodily.

“It’s just as well that you have a rest. Let’s watch the live stream together tonight if you’re free. There’s gonna be interesting content.” I gave a vague spoiler to Montana with a smile.

“I don’t want to,” Montana said unhappily.

“Urm… Didn’t you want to know who Gentle Heart was? Why don’t you wanna watch together?”

“I do want to know, but not like that…”

“Alright, alright. I’ll watch if you don’t want to.”

With that, I picked up my phone and continued watching Lina’s live stream.

Through Lina’s phone, I could see she had already reached the Starry Suite at Pullman’s Loft in her live stream.

“Hi everyone, what you’re seeing right now is the most luxurious starlit restaurant at Pullman’s. Tonight, you will not only be able to see the starry sky from the suite, but you will also be able to admire the bright city lights. One could say that this is the most extravagant suite in the entire city. As for me, I’ll be meeting Gentle Heart here tonight.”

Lina’s chat screen immediately loaded with many messages the moment she was done talking.

“Little Sandy, stop talking and go on in immediately. We wanna have a look.”

“When will Gentle Heart be here? It’s so ungentlemanly of him to arrive later than the lady.”

“Little Sandy, hurry up and go on in. I want to see the entirety of what the most expensive suite in town looks like.”

“Alright, since everyone is so eager, I’ll bring everyone in for a tour.”

With that, Lina went to the staff member on stream and asked, “Hello, am I able to go in now?”

“Are you Lina Holden? Miss Holden, right?” the staff member asked respectfully.

“That’s right.”

“Yes, you can. The VIP who reserved the suite instructed that only you and he are allowed into the suite tonight.” With that, the server pushed the door of the suite open.

Lina looked clearly stunned on screen as she entered the luxurious suite. She quietly moved her phone’s screen around for all the audience to view it. Her streaming audience was also exclaiming in astonishment.

“Wow, this suite is so luxurious. You can also see the stars shining brightly in the sky from here.

“It’s not only the starry sky… You can see the entire city’s lights… It’s so romantic to be on a date in such a place.

“I just checked the price of the Starry Suite. Guess how much it is? It’s two hundred thousand dollars. Two hundred thousand! Gentle Heart is seriously rich.

“Alright, everyone. I’m done with showing everyone around, and it’s almost eight soon. Let us all wait for Gentle Heart’s appearance.”

Lina held her phone up high and spoke excitedly, her voice full of expectation as if a celebrity was dropping by tonight and as if that person would bring her into a world of luxury and change her fate.

She just finished talking when knocking could be heard from the door outside.

The audience in the entire stream grew more excited.

“He’s here! He’s here!”

Lina was feeling slightly nervous as well. She took in a few deep breaths and tidied herself up before opening the door with confidence.

She was shocked when the door opened.

A homeless man with yellow teeth and wearing tattered clothes was standing outside.

“Who are you? Go away. Is this somewhere you should be?”

Lina looked at him with complete disgust.

The homeless man did not leave but instead called out Lina’s name. “You’re Chestnut Sandy, aren’t you?”

“How… How did you know what?” Lina looked slightly terrified on screen.

“I’m here for our date.” The homeless man gulped continuously as he stared at the beautiful woman in front of him.

“Go away. You’re not the person I’m meeting! Get out of here!” Lina said in a rage.

“You’re meeting Gentle Heart, aren’t you? He won’t be here tonight,” said the homeless man.

“He won’t? How would you know that?”

“He said a black-hearted, gold-digging woman like you was not worth his time. He only accepted your request for a date to humiliate you…”

“You’re lying. He wouldn’t say something like that. You’re lying! Lying!!!” Lina roared savagely.

“I’m not lying. He paid me a thousand to go on this date on his behalf. He even said I could make love to you after I was done with the date. He has already paid me.”

With that, the homeless man knelt on one knee and brought out a crinkled-up bouquet from behind his back. It looked like it was made up of fresh flowers that had been taken from the trash.

“Marry me, pretty lady. I like you a lot. Sleep with me! It would feel great,” the homeless man shamelessly said.

“Get out. Get out now!!!”

Lina was hitting and kicking the homeless man, but it was only after a while that she realized the most important thing was to stop the live stream.

She quickly turned it off.

However, it was all too late!

There were more than three hundred people tuning into the stream, and they were watching everything happen in astonishment…

“Oh my God, what did I just see? Is a homeless man proposing to Chestnut Sandy? What a joke!”

“What’s going on? I still don’t understand why Gentle Heart would do such a thing.”

“What’s not to understand? She must have offended Gentle Heart, and he’s punishing her right now.”

“Does he need to go so far? What grudge does he have against her to blow this whole thing up in her face like this? The suite alone costs two hundred thousand…”

“I bet you didn’t know this. Let me share this with you… This Chestnut Sandy is always…”

Scandal after scandal of Lina’s was revealed by members of the audience I had previously arranged to watch the live stream. Everything was going according to plan. I smiled as I took a sip of coffee, imagining what Lina’s face must look like right now.

Lina, oh, Lina. You made use of my sincerity to humiliate me over some stupid bet. Did it ever cross your mind that things would end up this way? One would always get their comeuppance sooner or later.

No worries, though. I was not like a certain someone who had no limit to what she did, like intentionally creating rumors and fake scandals to increase her popularity, even claiming to be getting proposed to. All I did was reveal the truth about what you had done before.

After all, I was curious about what everyone would think about you after seeing you for who you really were.

I watched with satisfaction as everything went according to plan. I logged off the streaming channel.