The poor Billionaire novel (Ethan) novel Chapter 26
"Okay, sir. The menu is right here. Please have a look." As Ansley spoke, she took out a menu from the drawer and gave it to Addy.
Addy put the menu in front of Horace and suggested, "Since Horace is the man of the hour, how about we let him order the dishes? I think it's a great idea. Or does anyone have any objections?"
Everyone shook their heads with fearful glints in their eyes. Addy enjoyed great prestige among them for a long time. None of them dared to oppose him even though they were not comfortable with his suggestion. They hadn't experienced Addy's cruelty first-hand, but the rumors about him were enough to instill fear in their hearts. One of the rumors involved a senior who had graduated and provoked Addy. Later, Addy accosted him with his men and they beat him to a pulp.
This incident earned him great respect and the fear of all the students in the school. No one dared to step on his toes. They buried their opinions deep in their hearts whenever they had objections.
Rhett also didn't have the audacity to speak despite being the former class monitor and the main organizer of this meeting.
He just nodded in agreement and said, "Whatever you say, Addy!"
All the malicious students were confused at this moment. They wondered why Addy was behaving so weird today. Only one question lingered in their minds, 'Why is Addy helping Horace so much?' They wanted to believe that Addy was just putting up a show and he would soon humiliate Horace, but they were finding it very hard to convince themselves. Something just wasn't right.
'Did Horace become Addy's henchman? Is that why Addy has been helping him since he got here? Or did they become friends without our knowledge? How is that even possible?' Several questions filled the malicious students' minds, but they still couldn't figure out what was happening. It dawned on some of them that there was no big humiliation coming up.
Horace saw the confusion and perplexity on his former classmates' faces. With a faint smile, he handed the menu to the person beside him and said, "I don't know what you guys like to eat. Why don't we each order one dish?"
Without hesitation, everyone nodded and said in unison, "Yes, that's the best!"
In this way, everyone took turns to look at the menu and make their order. Each of them ordered only one dish. Before they came here today, they had planned to order a variety of dishes because they wanted to put Horace in trouble. Now that they had to split the bill, they sensibly ordered the cheapest dishes on the menu. There were thirty people in the room, but they ordered sixteen cold dishes. The Lake Hotel's menu comprised of eighteen cold dishes in total. The two remaining dishes were off the table. These two dishes cost the same as many hot dishes, so no one ordered them.
When the menu was back in Horace's hand again, he looked at the prices of the dishes that his former classmates ordered. Except for Rhett, Amaia, and Addy's orders, all the other dishes were measly cheap. It was a rule in the Lake Hotel that each dish could only be ordered once. If there was no rule like this, the majority of the other students would have ordered potatoes because it was the cheapest on the menu. Even so, two people ordered a plate of potatoes each. One was sour and spicy potatoes, and the other one was shredded potatoes with vinegar sauce.
The Lake Hotel wasn't as luxurious as the Sea Pavilion, but it was still expensive. It was impossible for ordinary high school students, who mostly came from average families, to afford to have dinner here. The cheap dishes were the only thing they could afford.
As Horace thought about his former classmates' trouble, he opened the first page of the menu. It only took him a second to pick out a dish. Pointing at the dish named, Lake Pot, which was the most expensive dish on the menu, he said to Ansley, "Hey, Ansley, what a coincidence. I'll have this one, please!"
"Okay, Horace. I'll send the order to the kitchen right away. Please hold on for a while. And have a nice meal!" Ansley flashed Horace a friendly smile and then clicked the confirmation button of the ordering machine in her hand.
"Horace?" Laila was a little surprised that the waitress here knew Horace's name. She pondered in confusion, 'How did Horace know such a beautiful girl? Did they meet before today?'
Laila had arrived late, so she knew nothing of what transpired before her arrival.
Meanwhile, the friendship between Horace and Ansley was the last thing on the other students' minds. Their eyes had widened in shock when they heard Horace's order.
None of them expected that he would order a dish so expensive. In fact, they expected him to order a plate of potatoes.
The Lake Pot was the signature dish of the Lake Hotel. One serving alone cost two thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight dollars. The price of the dishes ordered by the students, except Addy, Rhett, and Amaia, wasn't even up to that amount.
"Oh my God, this is unbelievable! How come everything is going well for Horace. Aargh! He must have connived with Addy and Rhett to humiliate us tonight!" one of the malicious students whispered to the people close by when he heard Horace's order.
"Yes, Rhett is so wicked. He set us up. Didn't he say we should all join hands to humiliate Horace tonight? How come we fell into the trap instead? I've gotten a bone to pick with Rhett. We all do. Just watch, I will make sure Rhett suffers pain for what he has done to us today!"
A strong classmate clenched his fists tightly and glared at Rhett with the rage of a thousand scorching suns.
He had a husky voice that became even louder now that he was angry. Almost all the students seated at the table heard his curse. Some of them began to declare their support.
"Count me in!"
"Me too!"
"Tell me the location and time. I will be there!"
In a short time, ten more people agreed to take revenge on Rhett. They didn't hide their anger at all.
"What the fuck!" Rhett couldn't help swearing when he saw that they ganged up against him.
He was sitting right there, but they all planned to go after him. Spirals of sadness and indignation filled his heart as he looked at the first person that instigated the revenge talks against him. 'Why do I always get hurt? I wanted to give them some fun today, but things didn't go as planned. Now they are angry because Horace ordered an expensive dish. How is that my fault?'
Despite the pain tugging at Rhett's heart, he couldn't voice out his displeasure. He buried it in order not to make matters worse. There was a lump in his throat at this moment. Eleven people were coming after him. He was no match for the strong former classmate, let alone ten other people. He felt that he would probably die in their hands.
The hatred Rhett had for Horace quadrupled just like his current problems. He believed that everything was this pauper's fault. If his eyes could kill, Horace would have died many times within a short time.
Horace could feel the hot sparks of hatred in Rhett's long stare, but he didn't take it seriously. He hadn't ordered the most expensive dish to spite them at all. He only ordered it because most of them had ordered cold dishes, and there were only a few hot dishes. The hot dishes wouldn't be enough for over thirty people in the dining room. Although they had bullied him in the past and even tried to set him up for humiliation today, Horace didn't want to be ruthless to them. He believed that someone had to step up to the plate and behave kindly. This was also a farewell dinner to him. He forgave them, but didn't want to have anything to do with them in the future.
The dishes were served shortly after Ansley sent their order. At this time, Laila was still sitting beside Horace and she looked at him in confusion. Something didn't feel the same about him. He seemed like he had changed into a whole new person.
She thought about it for a while and then she discovered what changed about him. It was his confidence. Horace was no longer the pushover she knew in high school.
'Lucky him! I wish I can also be more confident,' Laila sighed. She was born into a poor family. For this reason, she battled with an inferiority complex right from childhood.
Everyone else dug into the food while Laila was lost in thought.
Due to everything that transpired between Addy and Rhett, no one dared to show their hatred for Horace. Sheer resentment was in their hearts for him, but they kept it there. They didn't want to get into Addy's bad books. Thus, Horace gulped down his food eagerly, and nothing special happened.
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