Riches in Disguise

"It's fine. I get scolded even more at school. I'm used to it. Charlotte scolds me much worse than they do," I said, smiling. I made a light joke to ease Gabrielle's guilt.

But unexpectedly, Charlotte's tears started flowing immediately. "William, I've apologized to you so many times. Why won't you forgive me?"

"Wait. Why are you crying?"

Now, I was the one in a panic. I only stated the truth. I wasn't scolding her or yelling. Why would she cry?

Gabrielle quickly handed Charlotte a tissue, asking with curiosity, "Charlotte, why did you scold William?"

Charlotte couldn't answer. She simply wiped her tears away. She was too

embarrassed to explain.

There was no reason for her to scold me other than that she looked down on me. It was that simple.

Gabrielle stopped asking when Charlotte didn't respond.

She smiled at me. "Let's just forget about the past. From now on, the three of us will be good friends, okay?"

I looked at her. "I really do want to be friends with you."

Gabrielle was kind, gentle, and not snobby. On the surface, she might seem delicate, but she was very brave. She ran away from home to stand up to her family and even lived in a budget apartment to save money.

She reminded me of Juliette from Firelight.

Although she wasn't as naive and sweet as Juliette, nor did she have the same luck, her resilience in the face of adversity made her even more dazzling.

As for Charlotte, I would rather not be friends with her.

She hadn't changed her snobbish ways; she was only nice to me now because she suspected my identity, not because she actually respected me.

Gabrielle waved for Charlotte to sit on my other side.

"I've never had particularly good friends growing up. William, I really want to be friends with you. Please don't reject me, and Charlotte too!"

Each sentence included Charlotte. To show her respect, I nodded.

"Thank you!"

Gabrielle hugged me lightly and then took a selfie of the three of us. immediately posted it to her

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Instagram with the caption, "The Brotherhood of the Iron Forest."

"Charlotte, William, can you post it too?"

I was confused as to why I had to post it, too. I rarely posted anything on my Instagram.

As I hesitated, Charlotte pulled out her phone. Imitating Gabrielle, she posted an identical message with the same photo.

The two women weren't afraid of being misunderstood, so I had no reason to hesitate as a man.

I also took out my phone and posted it.

As expected, as soon as I posted it, the comments exploded.

First, Travis wrote, "What's going on, bro? Aren't you looking for Felicia?"noveldrama

Then my mother wrote, "Sweetheart, you can't be playing both sides. Be sincere,

or if I find out you're being a jerk, I'll ensure you get a vasectomy."

Matthew's comment was even bolder. "William, this is still during the day. Can you handle it?"

I looked at the photo. There was a

pink bed in the background, and

was sitting on the edge of the bed with two women who were I two

awkwardly close to each other in the

selfie.

It was easy for others to misinterpret.

Within a short time, dozens of comments came in. I couldn't keep up with all the replies, so I gave a standard response. "Everyone, please don't overthink it. We're just friends. Didn't you see my caption about 'The Brotherhood of the Iron Forest'? I'm just making friends."