Riches in Disguise

Chapter 5

Joshua's expression instantly darkened.

He clearly hadn't expected me to know anything about Spring Harvest Agro-Tech, but when Zack and Louis turned their curious gazes toward him, he quickly tried to regain his composure.

"You don't know anything! Sure, the company's owner's last name is White on paper, but my dad owns over thirty percent of the shares."

"Please don't talk like you understand when you have no clue! You're just embarrassing yourself!" Joshua snapped before storming out of the dorm room, not daring to stay a second longer.

Watching him leave in such a hurry, I couldn't help but find it amusing.

"But Joshua, this is just the beginning of your downfall," I thought.

Over the next few days, Joshua was in a constant rush, barely spending any time in the dorm. And even when he did come back, he was glued to his phone, biting his nails as he furiously sent messages.

Zack and Louis tried to talk to him and even invited him out for drinks, but he turned them down every time.

I knew exactly what was going on.

Two days ago, the foundation sent out the student stipends, but Joshua hasn't received a dime since I cut off his funding. Of course, suddenly losing his financial support had him panicking.

With him too busy worrying about his lack of money, I finally had the peace of mind to focus on my startup project.

Dad had always been there for me, supporting my studies and life, and I wasn't about to let him down.

That evening, I returned to the dorm with my laptop and found Zack and Louis huddled around Joshua, trying to console him. His eyes were red like he'd just finished crying.

As I walked in, Zack suddenly piped up. "Look at William-he's got nothing, broke as hell, and he's still doing just fine!"

"Exactly!" Louis agreed to it.

"If someone like William can make it, what are you even worried about? It is just your family that cut off your allowance, and we can lend you some money to get you through this rough patch. You can sort things out with them later."

Joshua's eyes lit up, and he immediately looked at them. "Really? You guys are willing to lend

talking big, started to hesitate

have that much

lend you a thousand dollars, but you've got to promise you'll pay

grin. "Don't worry! My parents just wanted me to learn to be independent, so they froze my card for a while. It'll get unfrozen once I talk to them in a few days. Not only will I pay you back the money, but I'll even

as they heard there'd be interest, they quickly transferred one thousand dollars to Joshua

mouth to say something, but then decided against it.

the truth now, they'd just accuse me of being jealous

whole mess, with them attacking each other later. So, whatever. Let them go ahead and play their game

next day, I had just taken a seat in the back row for class when I noticed

couldn't help but feel

Louis just lend him two thousand dollars

I'll pay you back in a couple of days. My mom froze my card, and it is Lina's birthday today. I need to scrape together some

and glanced at the date, realizing it was indeed Lina's birthday

prepared a gift for her

from one

there was no point in giving

sent me a concept

had developed something entirely independently, and I was eager for it to

pushing forward,"

board,

of applause erupted from the front of the classroom. I looked up to see Lina had walked in at

wearing a light blue skirt, her long hair cascading down her shoulders. With her fair skin and shy smile, she

would've made my heart skip a beat,

able to resist hugging and kissing

even care to

Lina held a necklace encrusted with small diamonds, and she was thrilled. "Can you help

clapping and whistling from the crowd, he fastened the necklace around her neck.

"Kiss her! Kiss her!"

leaned in closer, I thought I wouldn't care. But just before their lips met, I found myself