Chapter 53: Wallpaper
Michael took Wendy to the top floor of the mall.
All the shops located on that floor provided personal customization services. They sold tailored clothing and jewelry, and the prices were much more exorbitant than the designer brands on the lower levels.
Even though Wendy had visited Barney’s to shop many times, she had never once visited the top floor, purely because she could not afford anything there.
Before today, Wendy had never bought clothes that cost more than 500 dollars. In fact, she rarely bought clothes that exceeded 100 dollars.
She recalled her first visit to the Lucas family mansion three years ago after she got married to Michael. Knowing that they were affluent people, she had spent a few hundred dollars on a dress for that visit. Even though it was already a big amount to her, it was nothing to the Lucas family. No one welcomed her except for Mrs. Lucas. That day, everyone humiliated her, but Michael did not stand up for her at all.
Since the majority of his family did not like her, she rarely visited them. As a result, she had visited the mansion only a few times over the last three years.
"You can choose from any of the shops here and buy whatever you want," said Michael generously.
All the shops here sold customized products, and if those words had come from any other man, they were almost certainly either faking it or just joking. However, it was different with Michael.
Perhaps Wendy was too accustomed to being poor, but she was not comfortable with this extravagant shopping spree. "Let’s just forget it, I already bought enough clothes," she said.
"Let’s take a look at this shop," said Michael, ignoring what she had said completely. He pulled her into the first shop they saw.
"Welcome," an enthusiastic sales assistant greeted them the moment they entered, "What are you looking for? Our shop sells customized dresses and high-end clothing and jewelry. I’ll be glad to give you some recommendations."
Wendy was not used to having a sales assistant linger around her like that. Feeling awkward, she said, "It’s fine, we’ll just look around."
She looked at the dazzling array of clothes in front of her and had to admit that the customized dresses were much better looking than the ordinary, mass-produced ones.
However, she peeked at the price and realized that just one dress alone cost many thousands of dollars. Although it was Michael’s money that she was spending, she still found this too wasteful. She could buy hundreds of ordinary dresses with the same amount of money that one item here would cost her.
Back when Wendy was studying at university, she really enjoyed going on shopping trips. As she was a designer with a great reputation in school, she often came out to explore the latest trends and styles of clothes that were selling well. But ever since she married Michael, she rarely touched design, and her overall sensitivity and taste in fashion had been mostly left by the wayside.
Michael watched as Wendy’s gaze lingered on a red dress. However, she merely touched the material before dropping her hand. He could tell that she liked the dress.
"Let her try this red dress," said Michael.
When the sales assistant heard that, she immediately responded with a smile, "This dress is not a custom product, but it sells very well. With her good figure, I’m sure she will look very beautiful in it. Our shop is patronized and well-liked by the wealthiest ladies in Lake City. In fact, Mr. Lucas’s girlfriend shops here often and buys many customized dresses from us. I’m sure you all know who Mr. Lucas is-he’s the richest man in all of Lake City."
When Wendy heard the last few lines, her smile slowly faded. She turned around to look at Michael. Michael had a bad feeling about this. He knew that the so-called "girlfriend" that the sales assistant was referring to was definitely not Wendy, but Yvonne.
Although the news of Wendy being Michael’s wife had spread within the company, most outsiders remained in the dark. After all, Michael’s status often made him the subject of many rumors. People would gossip about him being married one day and having multiple girlfriends the next-this is just how things went.
Moreover, Yvonne often shopped at the major shopping malls, and she always introduced herself as Michael’s girlfriend. To boost their own performance sales, sales assistants often told potential customers about reputable people who had bought from them to increase the popularity of their products. This was a sales tactic that many of them resorted to. As Michael’s girlfriend, it was only natural that Yvonne had more publicity value than the other wealthy but ordinary women. However, the sales assistant never would have thought that the customers standing before her were Michael and Wendy.
"I just asked you to let her try on this dress, what’s the point of talking so much?" Michael reprimanded her with a cold look on his face.
The sales assistant was stunned. She usually had a high success rate when she promoted the shop’s products like this. She thought, something about this situation feels wrong.
Observing the unnatural expressions on their faces, the sales assistant guessed that perhaps they did not get along with Mr. Lucas’s girlfriend.
Smiling, she took the dress off the rack and said, "Please, follow me to the fitting room."
Wendy had already lost her enthusiasm from earlier. However, she did not wish to fall out with Michael over this matter right here, right now.
After all, Yvonne’s existence had always been a wedge between them. She followed the sales assistant into the fitting room and changed into the red dress before emerging Even though Wendy was still on the rather thin, she had a nice figure and enough flesh in the places that mattered. Her cheeks were rosy, and her skin was fair and delicate. The red dress accentuated the fairness of her skin and made her legs appear longer.
When the sales assistant saw Wendy, she could not help but gush over her, "You look so beautiful in this dress. This is my first time seeing it on someone with such a good figure."
Wendy twirled around before the mirror. Indeed, the dress did suit her perfectly. Unfortunately, her pregnancy meant that she would not be able to fit in it soon.
Michael had been waiting by the side, and he could not stop himself from walking over to check on Wendy when he heard her come out. He could not deny his attraction to her. His eyes were filled with admiration as he said, "It looks good on you."
This was the first time Wendy had seen such surprise in Michael’s eyes. However, because of Yvonne, she did not feel happy. Without saying anything, she turned around and entered the fitting room again. Then, she changed out of the red dress and handed it back to the sales assistant.
The sales assistant asked, "Would you like me to wrap it up for you?"
Wendy shook her head.
"You don’t like it?" The sales assistant had thought that Wendy would definitely buy it since it looked so good on her. She continued, "But the dress suits you really well, and you look exceptionally good in it."
Michael nodded, indicating his approval. He said, "It really does suit you."
"Just because it suits me doesn’t mean I need to get it," Wendy persisted in her rejection. "Just because I like it doesn’t mean I can get it." The sales assistant did not understand the meaning behind her words, but Michael did. He knew that the sales assistant’s comment from earlier was still weighing heavily on her heart.
He did not blame her for this. After all, he knew that Yvonne’s existence had always been a thorn in her foot.
"Wrap it up for us," said Michael, who knew that Wendy did like this dress. Turning his head, he told her, "You should see if there’s anything else that you like."
Wendy’s chest still felt stuffy from anger. She had not wanted to lose her temper here because of Yvonne, but she could not hold herself back any longer. "Were you also like that when you brought Yvonne here to shop?" There was a smile on her face, but her tone was bitter.
"Wendy..." Michael rarely called her name like that. He helplessly tried to explain himself, as he said, "I rarely went shopping with her."
"Is that so?" Wendy snorted, obviously unconvinced.
Michael sighed. There was a helpless expression on his face. He did not like having to explain himself, and he never had to in the past with Wendy. But now, sensing her unhappiness, Michael lowered his voice and whispered in her ear, "The sales assistant doesn’t know who I am. If I often came here with Yvonne, why doesn’t she know that I’m Michael Lucas?"
This logic made sense. Wendy had focused so much on her anger earlier that she has forgotten to examine this situation rationally. Now that she thought about it, she could understand why the sales assistant had mentioned ’Michael’s girlfriend’ to her-she just wanted to make use of Yvonne to boost the popularity of their clothes.
Michael’s explanation also made her feel more at ease.
When Michael saw Wendy’s face soften, he continued, "This dress really suits you, it looks beautiful on you."
Listening to Michael’s repeated compliments about her, Wendy’s lips gradually curved into a smile.
"Get another dress," said Michael.
Wendy really did not need any more clothes. However, Michael had already picked out a few dresses for her. He held them up for her and said, "Try them on?"
Seeing that Michael was in high spirits, Wendy took the dresses from him and went into the fitting room again. They all suited her body very well. She chose one of them and planned on purchasing it along with the red dress, foregoing the rest. But before she could speak, Michael told the sales assistant, "Wrap everything up for us."
Wendy had tried a dozen or so dresses, which meant that everything would add up to tens of thousands of dollars. Her eyes widened slightly as she tried to stop Michael, "Don’t do that, just getting two dresses is plenty for me."
Michael waved his hand at the sales assistant. "Wrap them all up." He did not stop at simply purchasing these dresses.
He specifically instructed the sales assistant to take Wendy’s measurements so that they could tailor the dresses to suit her body perfectly. However, the tailoring would take some time and the dresses would not be ready immediately.
Afterward, Michael took Wendy into a few more shops and bought her bags and jewelry.
Similarly, they were all customized to her liking.
After Wendy finally emerged from the last shop, she took a deep breath. She did not dare to calculate just how much money Michael had spent on her today. Since it was getting late, they decided to stop shopping.
Suddenly, Michael thought of something and stretched his hand out to Wendy, "Give me your phone."
Wendy felt confused about why Michael was asking her for her phone once again and asked, "Why?"
She wondered if he intended to tease her again.
"Just give it to me," replied Michael as he reached out further. In the end, Wendy unlocked her phone and handed it to Michael.
Michael turned on the camera, put his arm around Wendy’s shoulders, and quickly snapped a photo of them. There was a flash, and a new photo immediately appeared in the gallery, featuring Michael and Wendy in the same frame.
In the photo, Wendy looked rather dumbfounded. Her eyes were wide and dazed.
However, she still looked very cute.
Michael, on the other hand, had been prepared. The corners of his lips were raised, and his smile was both charming and graceful. He set this photo as the new wallpaper before returning the phone to Wendy, "Don’t take secretive photos of me from now on. I’ll take more photos with you if you want. Now that this photo is your wallpaper, you’re not allowed to change it without my permission."
Michael’s tone was domineering, but Wendy’s heart fluttered. She thought, it turns out that he does remember the little things that happened between us.
