"I..." Rafael hesitated, wanting to express the importance of his request, and whisked Hera away. However, he knew he was already in a not-so-favorable position due to his sister’s actions and his earlier attempts to protect her against Hera. "I will wait for you to be available," he said, looking at Hera nervously.
Hera suddenly felt like causing a bit of mischief to vent her frustration with Minerva and Alice. Since Minerva was Rafael’s sister and Alice was supposed to be his lover, it seed only right for him to bear the brunt of her displeasure. Nodding to herself with this thought, she decided to proceed. Rafael, realizing he would be on the receiving end of her annoyance, knew he was in for a rough ti following them.
But he sucked it up and followed behind them like a lost puppy. If Hera thought of Leo as a big, cute dog, Rafael was more like a Doberman right now—not as cute but certainly useful.
Now that she had a toy to play with, Hera felt energized and resud her shopping spree with Sandra and Logan, focusing now on shoes and accessories. Whenever they saw sothing they liked, especially Hera, she didn’t hesitate to grab it. Logan grew increasingly uncomfortable under Rafael’s jealous gaze as he followed behind like a human mule, carrying everything they purchased.
Yes, when Rafael arrived, he just delivered himself to be their carrier. Hera stopped asking the stores to deliver their purchases to her ho and instead had Rafael carry everything. Fortunately for him, they had already chosen the clothes and were now only picking out accessories and shoes.
But, despite being that fortunate, Rafael was still burdened with bags from one store to another, with Hera continuously adding more to his load. Though he felt aggrieved, he never uttered a word of complaint. Observing that Hera used a company card for her and Logan’s purchases, Rafael felt sowhat relieved that she wasn’t spending her own money on Logan. This realization eased his resentnt a bit.
His thoughts drifted back to the black card Hera had used at the auction. As his mind started to speculate again, he stopped himself. If he continued down that path, it would an he didn’t trust her character, and he didn’t want to believe that about her.
And if that happened, he wouldn’t even be qualified to stand beside her, let alone be her lover. He began to chide himself for even entertaining those thoughts. But then he pacified himself, realizing his carelessness in listening to others—especially his sister, who was clearly against Hera because of a man.
And it was also because he didn’t know what kind of person Hera truly was. However, after observing her every action in the Variety Show, he realized how wrong he had been. He saw her genuine character and the goodness in her, and he regretted letting the negative impressions caused by his sister linger in his mind.
Hera noticed Rafael’s absentmindedness and the myriad expressions flitting across his face in the span of a minute, and she felt amused. Although she enjoyed seeing him suffer a bit, she knew her limits. She intended to punish him just enough for what he was worth, no more, no less. This was simply her petty streak surfacing, especially since his sister had co by earlier to annoy her.
But this didn’t an she would forget to punish Minerva just because her brother ca to her. In fact, she was now even more curious about why Rafael had sought her out at this exact ti. Was he going to try to strike another deal to save his sister? If so, she wasn’t about to turn down the opportunity to earn so easy money.
When Hera and her group arrived at the entrance of the Gucci store, the shop assistants lined up at the door to greet them. "Welco back, miss, and to your friends!" they chid in unison. The other custors inside the store were taken aback by the enthusiastic reception, a level of warmth and attention they had never experienced before. While the shop assistants always treated all custors with respect, the welco given to Hera was notably more exuberant.
As Hera and her group were being led to the VVIP room, even Rafael was surprised by the level of attention and care they were receiving. anwhile, a curious lady approached one of the shop assistants left on the floor to assist other custors. "Say, why do you all seem so happy to receive them? Is it because of Mr. Briley?" she asked, her voice tinged with uncertainty. She wasn’t even sure if the man she saw, whose face was almost completely obscured by the boxes he was carrying, was really Rafael Briley.
The shop assistant who loved gossiping giggled at the lady’s insinuation. She hadn’t even noticed Rafael with the group, as they were all focused on their generous patron. "Ma’am, I—or maybe all of my colleagues—didn’t even notice who ca along with our special guest. But if you noticed the beautiful girl leading the group, she’s the one we’ve been waiting for since earlier."
"That girl? Why? What makes her a special guest while everyone else is treated the sa?" The lady asked, raising an eyebrow, clearly unable to understand the shop assistant’s implication and not recognizing Hera at all.
The gossipy shop assistant leaned in closer, her voice lowered to share the insider knowledge. "Ma’am, you know that only the wealthiest custors with our mber cards can use our VVIP showroom, right? Well, that lady over there just spent $5 million, which happens to be our monthly sales target for the entire store."
The woman’s eyes widened. Even though she was wealthy, she couldn’t justify spending her husband’s hard-earned money so extravagantly, even if it was to show off to her friends; it was nowhere near that amount.
Seeing the incredulous look on the woman’s face, the shop assistant added, "That’s not all. The $5 million was just here in our shop. I heard she spent $4.5 million at Chanel and $6 million at Dior, and those were just a few of the stores she visited on her shopping spree." The shop assistant relished the shock on the woman’s face, now able to share the awe she had felt herself the first ti.
This gossip didn’t just stay in one store; nearly every store Hera and her group passed by had custors who overheard the sa story. It quickly spread through higher social circles, sparking speculation about the mysterious woman with deep pockets. When people found her picture on social dia and heard about the scandal, rich ladies who had seen Rafael trailing behind her like a pack mule refused to believe the news. Instead, they began speculating that Hera was a sugar mommy and that the n in the pictures were all her sugar babies. So even guessed she might be the daughter of a foreign tycoon, visiting their country for leisure.
And the speculation quickly spread like wildfire, gaining traction as the most believable story among the rumors. It soon beca exaggerated, with the n now labeled as gigolos in the gossip. If the six n heard this, they might have died of anger for being called gigolos.
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