Shopping expenses

Waking up at the break of dawn, I looked outside of the floor to ceiling windows and admired the sunrise as I hear my friends snore in the background. I had a habit of getting up early to workout back at home, and since I hadn't done any exercise since we'd left to travel, I thought to take this chance to look around the apartment, which i didn't have a chance to do last night, and go to the gym. I got up quietly and took my gym clothes out of the closet before going to the kitchen. Grabbing a bite before leaving, I bumped into Xiao Long, who was already decked out in his suit and leaving to the elevator.

"How come you're up so early?!" I shouted across the hallway.

"It's only 6am, shouldn't I be asking you the same question haha? I'm going out for business but I'll be back to bring you girls shopping," He laughed.

I replied that I was just going to visit the gym so he nodded and we got into the elevator together. Before leaving, we caught up with each other and made sure we both slept fine, then deciding on a meeting spot in town for him to meet us at. He agreed to see us at 10am in front of one of the restaurants so we parted ways.

The gym was gorgeous, and also empty because it was early in the morning. The gym was situated on the entire first floor so it was definitely not short of things to do, which paired with the good lighting and views of the sunrise, I was going to send a jolly good time working out here.

By the time I left, it was nearly 8am so I rushed upstairs to get some breakfast and chat with my friends. Thankfully, the maids had prepared food already and the mouthwatering smell drifted directly into my nose. Leslie and Emma both woke up right on time, which made me laugh, so I dragged them here into the kitchen to sit down. As we ate the bowl of rice with the abundance of side dishes, I caught them up on the plan we had today, which they absolutely loved, so we got ready, showered, and put our shoes on ready to leave. The girls told me that the mall was really fancy and large so comfortable clothing was imperative, therefore I put on one of my satin silk dresses with a pair of trainers and grabbed my bag.

Whilst in the elevator, Xiao Long called me to update me that he was on his was to the mall. I was shocked, I looked at my watch and realized we had taken 2 whole hours to get ready!!!

He laughed as he heard reaction over the phone and told us he'd send us a car to pick us up so we didn't have to walk. Soon enough, we arrived at the shopping mall and made our way inside. Surely enough, it was grand, probably the size of the apartment complex, the entire building was decked out in silver and had large windows displaying the contents of each shop. The cool air from the mall refreshed us as we debated which floor out of the 5 floors we should take a look at first. In the end, we chose the second once since they had most of the women's clothing there.

From my small clothing brand, I had saved up quite a bit of cash to splurge so when we saw these high end brands, we weren't as fazed. The people walking around us, though, eyed us carefully, which I understood because it seemed as though we were well under dressed. The girls who smirked at us had large logos all over them but my friends and I didn't care because we already knew how childish these people were, from all the dramas we watched. Yes, don't laugh but we absolutely adored Asian dramas so we were well aware of what these types of looks meant.

Nevertheless, I texted Xiao Long the shop we were going to visit first and told him to meet us there. I told the girls there was a certain shop a few meters down that I just wanted to quickly browse at to save time, but as soon as I walked in, all the workers turned their faces to look at me. This shop was basically where I go inspiration from to start my own brand. It was a lot of smart women's clothing with a hint of bad ass, which was noticeable in the men's style suits clothing they sold except with gold hardware and in very bright colors.

I ignored them and browsed to find this specific suit I wanted, which was limited edition in bright red. It had a double breasted blazer, lined with black satin, and had a bit of shoulder padding. The buttons were gold. The trousers were palazzo style also in red and completely caught my eye when I first saw it released 2 days ago. They only sold it at 3 locations in the hole of Asia, and thankfully they sold it here.

Before I could pick it up from the hangers to pay for it, the ladies walked up to me and glared at me.

"Young lady, please do not dirty this suit, the material is too expensive to pay damages for."

I laughed in my head because I don't think she realized I was going to buy it so I was just about tease her before a group of girls walked in and also started smirking at me. I didn't want to leave this store without the suits so I pushed the workers out of the way and grabbed the suit. Everyone gasped as one of the girls said, "Isn't this.... to expensive for you darling? You don't want to embarrass yourself in front of everyone."

I was about to reply before Xiao Long actually walked in and shouted, "Sis, why are you taking so long?"

All the workers looked at his face, which turned immediately from warm to cold as soon as they turned their heads. The workers gasped and hurriedly scanned my suit as the girls fawned and encircled him. They tried to talk to Xiao Long, but to no avail, as his eyes were stuck to me.

Strangely, the cashier didn't ask for my card, but simply packaged it up and gave it to me. I felt so confused but thought maybe Xiao Long had a friend who worked here and allowed him to buy things at no extra cost. It sounded reasonable in my head so I skipped to him and thanked him for getting me out of that situation. As we walked out of the store, I noticed people's looks toward us but soon, we reached my friends who were waiting outside, and went to get some food. Apparently, he found them first and told them to wait outside as he went to find me, so we could get some food because it was already 12pm.

Thinking about what he called me earlier, I brought it up to him.

"Xiao Long, are we siblings now?" I mentioned, whilst laughing.

"Well, I don't actually have any siblings in real life so I suppose that when I saw you there, I felt that responsibility for the first time in my life," he replied, looking me tenderly in my eyes.

I told him that after everything he'd done for my me and my friends, he was definitely our new found brother, which everyone smiled and laughed to, but agreed. I was getting hungry and we were getting closer and closer to the restaurant, according to Xiao Long, so I asked him where on earth we were going.

"It's a surprise, but I know you girls will love it."

And indeed we sure did...