That spoiled little rich dwarf when she insulted people, every word cut deep, stabbing right into our weakest spots.
What she said hurt all three of us straight to the core, leaving a tight ache in our chests.
We'd been looked down on for being poor so many times that we thought we were already strong enough immune to words like that.
But in the end… it still hurt.
So much that the three of us fell silent together.
We went to rinse ourselves off at a temple near the market, bought a loaf of bread, and sat by the canal behind the temple feeding the fish.
In a daze, we tore pieces of bread some for the fish, some into our own mouths.
Me, the prettiest one in the group I stared at the fish, then turned to look at the friend on my left, then the one on my right.
Both of them looked just as lost.
"We might really be as poor as that short brat says," I finally spoke up, trying to comfort my big soft-hearted gang,
"but being poor isn't all bad, you know. It means we don't have to wear masks around each other. We don't have to buy things just to show off. And we don't have to throw money at people just to make them love us."
"Yeah… I think so too," Mok said, slowly lifting his head, his spirits rising from the slump he'd been in.
"The fact that we're scholarship kids hanging out together already filters our friends for us. We're smart, we learn fast, and we still have to be responsible helping our families, working hard. I think that's pretty damn cool."
"Right?" I said. "What about you, Tawan? Still feeling down because they mocked us for being poor because of me?"
"I'm not the type to overthink," Tawan replied. "Having you guys as my friends is more than enough. Being friends with a dessert vendor's kid is awesome eat too much and get diabetes, lose a leg, and still don't have to pay as much as those fancy snacks at university. Your mom even gives stuff for free all the time. And Mok he's a beast in practical work. I can totally rely on him!"
"You guys can definitely make it," I said with a grin.
"That dream of owning a full-service auto shop both of you can totally open a company someday. You're crazy talented. You'll make it for sure."
"Oh yeah?" Mok laughed. "Then what about you? Wanna come be a househusband for our company? Position's open cleaning, cooking, sweeping the floors~"
"The hell with you!" I shot back.
"I'm gonna land myself a rich husband. Listen carefully I have to catch a rich guy at this university before I graduate. I'm not dating poor people. I'm going for someone richer than that high-society dwarf. I'll make my boyfriend buy bread from her shop just to feed the catfish at this temple. Just you wait!"
"What kind of messed-up dream is that?!"
I had to get serious about finding a husband now.
Ever since that mess with the short high-society girl, I hadn't even dared to look at her. Whenever I spotted her from afar, I'd immediately turn and walk the other way. In class, we sat meters apart.
The three scholarship kids sat at the front.
Miss Perfect scrolled on her phone at the back.
No gathering.
No reconciliation.
That's how it had been for almost a month.
But when people hate each other, no matter what the other side does somehow, you always end up knowing everything.
Short little Eve was dating the faculty's "Moon," the campus heartthrob. She walked around with her chin held high, proud as ever. Rumor had it he was the one who pursued her first super romantic, picking her up and dropping her off, buying roses every day, feeding her food and drinks, foreheads touching like they were in some cheesy drama.
Hopelessly in love.
I seriously felt like grabbing my sandal and smacking it onto the pink-highlighted head of hers like she wanted the whole world to know love could turn your hair pink.
Ugh. Disgusting.
Around campus, they walked arm in arm, hands linked, calling each other by those sickeningly sweet nicknames.
Cute? What part of that is cute?
"Lilith, stop glaring at Eve out of the corner of your eye," Tawan said again.
"One day your eyes are gonna get stuck like that, and your mouth'll twist too. Just look straight at her if you're gonna look."
Tawan was always on my case about side-eyes.
But come on my idol is P' Gig Suwajanee. If you're gonna express jealousy, it has to be dramatic so people know exactly how much you hate her.
"Eve looks cuter with those pink highlights and bangs," one of my two friends said.
"Guess people in love always glow up."
My two buddies weren't the type to hate others just because I did. And honestly, that rich girl had always looked good from head to toe classy manners, perfect image… except when she fought with me.
Whenever we fought, rich or not, we both turned into mangy dogs tearing each other apart.
"Tawan~you're praising her. You're praising her right in front of me. I'm gonna cryyy."
"Lilith, you don't even have tears. Stop acting."
"I'm not saying you have to hate her like I do," I snapped,
"but why praise her in front of me? What's wrong with me? What do I lack compared to her?!"
"Did you forget to shave your mustache, P' Lilith?"
Mok grabbed my chin and shook my face side to side. I bared my teeth and tried to bite his hand in retaliation.
"Hey! Rude!" I shouted.
"I'm just fed up with rich people. They wanna be pretty? Easy just inject some skin, get facials, do treatments, swallow glutathione pills, sip tea, eat cake nicely, and boom guys fall for them.
But look at me. I stir desserts at four in the morning, wrap them at five, sell at six, eight or nine I'm already in class. Where else are you gonna find a wife this pretty and this hardworking?
Bunch of blind fools! Just because my face's a little tougher, my hands a little rough, my voice a little loud that's unacceptable now?
Huh—wait Tawan! Mok! Where are you going? Wait for me!"
The two big guys took off without waiting for their small friend, who was still ranting dramatically at fate despite being the most shameless one in the group.
A bottom who envied only one person the one girl who was the same height as him.
And the jealousy only grew stronger now that she was winning the popularity race surrounded by guys while he was still painfully single, day after day.