9


    89% +5


    Shakira rubbed her eyes a few times, making sure she hadn''t seen it wrong. She thought, ''So, Walter has really lost his mind!"


    Apparently, her sharp scream had reached the study, as Walter sent her a voice message: [Look under the pillow.]


    Puzzled, Shakira reached under it and pulled out a check. The amount on it was three million dors.


    Shakira gasped, too shocked to even scream.


    Another voice message from Walter came through. "The app has a transfer limit. Happy New Year."


    Shakira knew he had a nice voice, but this time, it was downright melodic.


    She didn''t hesitate and cheerfully epted it, sending him a few yful "Thank you, boss!" emojis.


    Just as she was basking in the joy, a message from Sk popped up.


    Sk, as wealthy as her nephew, transferred 3,333,333 dors to Shakira.


    A voice message quickly followed. "Shakira, Walter told me you spent all your savings on the ne for me. This is a New Year''s gift from me. ept it, alright?"


    Shakira couldn''t bring herself to ept it, so she began thinking of a polite way to refuse. But Sk''s next voice message shattered that n.


    [This isn''t just from me; it''s also from Walter''s grandparents and parents. If you don''t take it, I won''t have a happy New Year.]


    Shakira knew if she didn''t ept, it would genuinely hurt Sk''s feelings.


    So she took the money, thanked Sk, and started to think about what gift she should prepare in return.


    If someone treated her poorly, she would make them suffer.


    But for those who were kind to her, she would repay them doubly.


    In the days that followed, Shakira''s phone buzzed more than ever with messages of New Year''s greetings.


    Matthew, Ethan, Sean, Gideon, Kyle, Calton, Gavin, Benji, Kevin and Michael all sent her New Year''s greetings and gifts.


    At lunch, Levi slipped a box into her hand, and inside were small gold bars.


    In two lives, Shakira had never received so many gifts or experienced this kind of affection.


    She finally understood how a cherished child celebrates New Year''s.


    In her past life, she hadn''t even felt such care and warmth from the Nelson family.


    ''She once thought she was not deserving of love.


    But now she finally realized that it wasn''t her who was undeserving but those foolish people who couldn''t tell right from


    wrong.


    Of course, Joe also sent her a holiday gift, but Shakira deleted and blocked him. It was New Year, and she didn''t want to be disturbed.


    That evening, Benji returned to the vi, and even Brian and Levi joined them at the table. They enjoyed the barbecue and watched a movie projected on the screen.


    III


    GT. Chapter 267


    In Easke Valley Estate, there was a designated area for fireworks, and they had been going off nonstop since nightfall. From the dining room''s floor-to-ceiling windows, Shakira and the others could see bursts of brilliant fireworks filling the sky, offering a spectacr view.


    Eating the barbecue and sipping ice-cold c, Shakira felt a warmth in her heart, squinting her eyes in contentment.


    Walter gently patted her hand. "Pace yourself with the c; it''s cold."


    Shakira stuck out her tongue. "I know, I know!"


    Just as she put down her drink, her phone buzzed with a message-it was a New Year''s greeting from Xanthe.


    Shakira replied with a few words, and shortly after, Xanthe sent her a screenshot.


    Shakira opened it, raising an eyebrow.


    It was an Instagram post from Yvette, showing off the holiday gifts she had received along with an extravagant New Year''s feast. Her caption read: [Grateful to have family who love me and whom I love.] Xanthe scoffed: [Ugh! Family? She''s totally shameless, taking what''s not hers and acting so smug! Why doesn''t she show off what her birth parents gave her?]


    Shakira just smiled without saying anything.


    Lago had been asking Yvette for money, so there was no way he would give her any of the valuable gifts the Nelson family had sent.


    Xanthe was furious. [I can''t stand watching that fraud show off to everyone, with all the ssmates fawning over her in thements!]


    She then dug through her phone, managing to scrape together a few photos of cash piles, and asked Shakira, [Think this will put her in her ce?]


    Shakira nced at it. [Not quite. It doesn''t look like as much as Yvette got.]


    Xanthe replied: [Damn it! Only my parents and a few close rtives give me gifts. The Nelson family has more people. Even if a few of mine are generous, she''s still got the numbers on her side!]


    What annoyed Xanthe even more was that she''d sent a New Year''s greeting to the man she''d been flirting with, and he hadn''t even bothered with a gift in return. He owned such argepany, but he was so cheap. Shakira thought for a moment and then shared the transfers from Walter and Sk with Xanthe.


    Matthew and the others had sent her expensive gifts too, but she couldn''t share those publicly. Xanthe went quiet for five minutes.


    Then she began bombarding Shakira with voice messages.


    Shakira converted them to text, which turned out to be just strings of "ah!"


    Good thing she didn''t y the audio; she could imagine Xanthe going wild.


    Xanthe continued [Oh my gosh! I''ve never seen a transfer thatrge in my entire life!]


    [Mr. Lopez''s aunt is incredible! 3,333,333 dors? She must adore you!]


    Shakira chuckled. Sk adored her.


    GT.


    {24 89 1


    A new message came in from Xanthe. [But... why did Mr. Lopez give so little? I mean, I''m notining, butpared to his aunt''s transfer, this amount is a bit less.]


    Only then did Shakira remember the check and send a photo of it to Xanthe. [I almost forgot-his transfer limit was reached, so he wrote me a check.]


    Xanthe replied: [How could you forget 3 million dors! If you ever forget again, tell me. I''ll ''pick it up!]


    Without dy, Xanthe posted the transfer screenshots on Instagram, captioning them: [The proper way to show off holiday gifts.]


    Shakira had already unfriended Yvette and didn''t know what she had posted or thements that followed. But once she opened Instagram, she saw that Xanthe''s post shared two minutes ago was flooded withments. [I just scrolled past Yvette''s post, and now here''s yours... Why am I not a rich kid?]


    [To thement above what Yvette got is nothingpared to this; Shakira''s out of her league...]


    [Millions spent on gifts? I''d never dare dream of that!]


    [No wonder the app announced unlimited transfers today; it was just for you guys!]


    [Now that''s a proper New Year''s gift-ours are barely enough to get anything nice!]


    As Shakira scrolled through thements, Xanthe sent her a screenshot in frustration. [That pretender disgusts me!!]


    It turned out Yvette hadmented on Xanthe''s post: [Could you help transfer some money to Shakira? Half my holiday gifts belong to her, after all.]This belongs to N?velDrama.Org: ?.


    Yvette and Shakira''s dramatic rtionship was public knowledge at school.


    Narrowing her eyes, Shakiramented under Xanthe''s post: [Reply to Yvette: you can keep that pocket change-I''m not interested.]


    Xanthe was pleased.


    The others were intrigued.


    Yvette thought in anger, ''She got the money from a man; what''s there to brag about?''


    0