From Scorn to Throne: William Anderson's Journey

He's not a riff-raff

"Alright," William thought. Since Jordan didn't want to give him his old clothes anymore, William had to buy new ones. The same goes for his college books. He would go to a store to buy clothes.

William deliberately chose a grocery store. He bought a few pieces and then immediately paid at the cashier. Who would have thought, when he was shopping, he met Mickey. Actually, in terms of age, the young man was younger than William, but he didn't show any politeness at all when he met him.

"What are you doing here? How dare a hobo like you show the bridge of your nose in front of my eyes," Mickey said.

William just rolled his eyes. "Do you think I'm so out of work that I had to follow you here?" he asked rhetorically. "Of course I have my own business and I just wanted to buy some clothes, so it has nothing to do with you."

Offended by this, Mickey said, "You're shameless! You already ruined my brother's birthday party and now you're ruining my day! It's really bad luck to be your foster brother."

William didn't say anything, he just let Mickey say whatever he wanted about him. He'd better get going. Just as he was about to leave the store, Mickey received a call from Jordan;. They were talking about a gift to give to Sheryl, their mother who was celebrating her wedding anniversary next week.

Although Daniel had passed away 3 years ago, Sheryl was used to celebrating and usually on such a special day, their children would give lavish gifts. In the past, when Daniel was still around, William liked to give flowers to the man that would be given to Sheryl. Daniel always received them warmly but he never told Sheryl or his two children because if they knew, William would definitely be made fun of.

Seeing that there would be a celebration soon, William thought of giving back to his adoptive mother just once. Even though she was quite cruel, at least remember how kind Daniel had been.

Mickey apparently realized that William had been watching him. Unable to take it anymore, he turned down the speakerphone with his hand and cursed at William. "Why are you listening to me talk?" Mickey snapped.

William smiled. "I just remembered that there's a wedding anniversary for your parents," he replied.

Mickey made light of that. "So what, you don't think you can beg at our house anymore."

William answered quite confidently. "I was just thinking of being able to give a gift to your mother. "The man realized that he was unlikely to be welcome at Daniel's family home again. So, he should buy a gift now and leave it with Mickey.

Hearing William's words about giving a gift, Mickey laughed quite loudly. "Do you think my mom would accept a gift bought from this grocery store?" he said, pointing to a store across the street. It was a famous goods store that only sold top brands at fantastic prices.

William immediately nodded, "If that's what your mom likes, I'll give it to her."

Mickey rounded his eyes. However, he didn't just take William's word for it. "Then go there. I'll be there too," he challenged.The young man challenged and William readily agreed.

Mickey walked to the shop first and grumbled to himself. "Watch out if he embarrasses me this time," he thought. He would not hesitate to beat the man up.

Arriving at the store, the guard of course welcomed Mickey well and let him in to look at the goods. Meanwhile, William received a different treatment.

"Good afternoon, Sir, how may I help you?" one of the store employees greeted William politely. However, her gaze was very dismissive. William himself became suspicious of himself. Is it because his current appearance is quite shabby that he is not worthy to come here?

Mickey was greeted by another saleswoman. He had no intention of buying, just wanted to wander William. However, the shopkeepers were already very busy serving him. They even got a chair for Mickey so he didn't have to stand up to see what was in the store.

"I want to look for a nice item, suitable for gifting to a woman who is celebrating a wedding anniversary," William said to the shop employee.

The employee allowed William to look around first despite his rather cynical attitude. He sighed as he pointed out one of the cheapest collections in the store.

"We only have this that fits you," she said, "it's about 1000 dollars." She said with a skeptical attitude as if William couldn't afford it.

William rarely shops for bags at the mall and he noticed the details of the item just shown. The young man thought it was good and he thought Sheryl, if told, would definitely like it because it was an item that was not in her collection. 

As he was thinking about it, Mickey suddenly interrupted.

"Don't think my mom wants to be given a bag at that price too cheap! Don't you have anything more expensive?" Mickey asked.

Actually, Mickey is not a very rich person. He used to live in Englewood, indeed as one of the rich people, but still far behind the William family. They had recently been able to splurge after cashing in Daniel's death insurance money. However, look at his attitude. How he was really so arrogant as if he had been born a ruler.

William accepted the challenge. "Do you have any other bags that are more expensive and better?" he asked.

Rose-the saleswoman-widened her eyes. She didn't want to get it for him, but she wasn't sure if he could afford it. She might just be wasting her time serving a 'loser' like this.

"Yes, of course we have more expensive items but they are very expensive. I can't possibly get it because if it gets damaged my life is not enough to replace it," said the shopkeeper.

William knew about the risk and asked for the bag anyway. If he liked it, he would buy it.

"I'm sorry, Sir." Rose was still stubborn, "I can't take it if you just want to look around. You'd better check it on the internet and you'll know how much it costs."

Mickey found himself laughing inwardly. He thought to himself, 'how dare this rich William want to give my mom a present!".

Mickey patted William's shoulder, "Never mind, I'd better leave before the shopkeeper calls security to kick you out."

William asked the shopkeeper, "Should I call the owner of this shop or the manager because you as a guard don't want to serve me as a customer?"

Rose suddenly looked frightened by the threat. She sighed, then said, "Alright I'll get it but don't try to touch it because if it breaks you'll have to replace it."

"Alright, just get it," William pleaded.

The woman nodded, then left briefly to fetch one of the store's most luxurious bags and showed it to William. "This is one of the store's collections and no more than 100 were produced. It's very exclusive, it costs 13,000 dollars," she explained.

William looked at the bag. Meanwhile, Mickey was laughing to himself. A poor person like him would never know there was a bag with such an expensive price.

Before buying it, William asked Mickey, "Are you sure your mom will like this?"

"Oh my, a $13,000 bag! What woman wouldn't like that? But if you're just going to make small talk or act stubborn here, you might as well leave and not embarrass me," Mickey said.

William thinned his lips when he saw the reaction of the shopkeeper as well as Mickey who looked surprised. He went straight to the cashier's desk and said, "Prepare the payment. I'll buy the bag."

Everyone was shocked to hear William's decision.