INSTA MILLIONAIRE

Chapter 17: (The Fake Lottery Win)

Cathy was stunned. "No, you must have misunderstood. The text message must be a fake."

Billy took out his cell phone and showed the manager the confirmation of his reservation. "We booked table eight."

The manager checked Billy's text message and smiled politely. "Yes, you did reserve table eight. But your table is in the general section, and Mr Ambrose's table is in the VIP section."

"What?" Cathy exclaimed. "He is in the VIP section?" She stared at the manager in surprise. Alex was a loser and didn't even have the money to eat in the university cafeteria. So how could he possibly afford such a good table at Chez Laurent? She simply couldn't believe it.

To make up for his mistake, the manager personally showed Alex and Emma to their table.

When he arrived at table eight, the manager frowned. The table had been reserved, but it wasn't ready. Dirty dishes still sat there, untouched, and there was no clean cutlery.

"Please wait a moment," the manager said, his expression grim. He called over a nearby waiter. "What's going on here? Our guests have arrived, and this table hasn't been cleared yet."

"The guests at this table have been here for a while," the waiter said, frowning. "I believe they went to the bathroom."

"What?" The manager was angry as he held out an arm to indicate Alex and Emma. "These are the guests at this table, and they've only just arrived. So, who have you been serving?"

"Oh!" The waiter flushed with embarrassment. "I'm so sorry, sir. I'll go and check what's going on." Then he fled.

"Hey, why are you two loitering at our table?" Cathy asked as she walked over, her arm around Billy.

"You've been eating at this table?" the manager asked politely.

"Yes, why? What's wrong?" Cathy asked, puzzled.

The waiter returned with a younger colleague. "Sir, he seated the wrong customer at this table."

The young waiter lowered his head and said, "I'm sorry, sir. This is my first shift, so I'm not familiar with the seating plan yet. The customer at this table had a reservation for table eight, and I accidentally brought him to a VIP table instead of taking him to the regular section."

The manager looked at Billy and Cathy. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience. Would you mind moving to a regular table? Our VIP guests have already been waiting for a while."

Cathy's mouth fell open in shock. He expects me to move aside for Alex, she thought. No. Not. That's unacceptable!

"No way!" She flatly refused, crossing her arms.

"Oh... uh..." The manager struggled with his dilemma. "Well, are you sure you still want to eat here?"

"Of course, we want to eat here." She scowled. "We refuse to go anywhere else." She stubbornly glared at him.

The manager sighed to himself. "Fine. But as I've already explained, the cost of a VIP table is much higher than a regular one."

"So be it. We're already here, so obviously we're not worried about the cost." She sneered, seemingly unconcerned.

She simply couldn't allow Alex to steal the limelight. You just had to come and play the big man, didn't you, Alex? she thought. And I took your place. You're not so important now, are you?

"How much more?" Billy asked, feeling a little nervous. Cathy might not care, but she wasn't the one paying for it. He was!

"The food you already ordered costs around 1,000 dollars. Then there are 200 dollars for the reservation, 300 dollars for the VIP room, 400 dollars for the musicians, 190 dollars for the special tableware..."