Winning My Ex-Crush

Fenella’s POV

“Is it true that you’re going to pay for the items to be given away for free?” An elderly woman gasped, asking for confirmation.

“Yes, it’s true. Take whatever you like, and I’ll pay for it.” Alan nodded quickly.

“Don’t listen to him!” I tried to hold them back, but the older women were getting more and more excited.

“Even this book, will you pay $200 for it?”

“Yes, anything.” Alan nodded confidently again.

“Oh no, that’s cheating. We are selling them at standard used-item prices,” my mother shook her head.

“Yes, but this is my form of donation. Please don’t hesitate. Consider it a Christmas gift from me.”

“No, just ignore him! Go away,” I pushed Alan’s body with both hands, but he didn’t move from there. The older women also took my words lightly, as Alan seemed to have won over all their hearts.

“God bless you, son.”

“What a kind-hearted angel,” the women praised Alan.From NôvelDrama.Org.

“Hey! Why are you taking things first? That’s cheating!” Someone apparently took the opportunity while they were all distracted. She jumped ahead, and suddenly everything got out of control.

“Uh, ladies, I still need to note down the items you are taking, honestly. Please don’t push,” my mother tried to calm the crowd of ladies at our stand.

Hearing the words “free” and “take as you like” from Alan’s mouth, everyone around our stand rushed in without thinking twice. Chaos erupted at the stand, drawing even more people to come and grab things.

“What have you done?!”

I scolded Alan, but the man only laughed like an evil spirit. Our small stand now looked like it had been looted!

“Stop!” I shouted, but they didn’t listen to me.

The women swarmed into the stand, grabbing whatever they liked. They fought and yelled at each other. The devil seemed to have possessed their hearts, replacing their common sense with greed.

“Mom!” I screamed in shock when my mother fell because someone pushed her.

“Oh my God!”

“What are you doing?!”

“This is your fault! You pushed me!”

“It wasn’t my fault! I was pushed from behind!”

They kept arguing while I struggled to squeeze between the items. The women didn’t care as I crouched to help my mother up. Then, finally, I couldn’t support my mother anymore and couldn’t withstand the pushing from the crowd.

“Ouch!” This time it was my turn to fall, and I nearly hit the table with the eggnog thermos on it.

I thought I would be injured, but I wasn’t. Alan caught me as I was falling. He willingly pushed the table roughly to break my fall. Unfortunately, his heroic action ended with the eggnog thermos falling to the ground with a thud, and its lid popped open immediately.

“Aargh!” Alan groaned loudly in pain as the hot eggnog spilled onto a part of his leg.

“Stop! Everyone, stop!” I screamed, shouting like a madwoman.

Everyone stopped immediately. Sanity returned to their heads. Someone had been hurt in the chaos, and they froze in place.

“Oh…” Everyone slowly backed away from the stand. However, their hands still held onto the items they had taken.

“Hey, Fenella. It’s okay,” Alan reassured me, squeezing my shoulders.

“I’m fine! But please, you all need to line up in order! Only one item per person!”

Alan shouted until everyone finally obeyed him. They lined up in a long queue. Why did they listen to Alan so easily? I couldn’t understand it!

“Are you okay, son?” My mother came up to Alan and looked at him with concern.

“I’m fine, Mom.”

“Mom?” I furrowed my brow as Alan called my mother “Mom” as well.

“Fenella can handle me. You just focus on the customers,” Alan chuckled as he leaned on my shoulder.

“Thank you, son. What’s your name again?”

“Just call me Alan,” the man smiled, though a hint of pain was visible at the corner of his tense eyes.

“Oh, forgive us, Alan.”

“It’s okay. Please, dear ladies, you must queue, or I’ll cancel the donation.”

The women nodded. A few still muttered apologies as I supported Alan away from the stand. We sat at a picnic table under a tree that was now bare of leaves.

I ran to the water faucet with whatever cloth was available at the stand. I soaked the cloth in the cold water, then ran back to where Alan sat waiting. He had rolled up his pants to his knees and taken off his shoes.

“That was so horrible,” I sighed as I wiped Alan’s leg with the wet cloth, cleaning and compressing his reddened skin.

“I know. Luckily, everything could be handled,” Alan smiled at me.

“Ugh, but you also started it! If only you hadn’t suddenly come up with that idea without warning, they wouldn’t have gotten so wild.” I groaned and gently hit Alan’s leg, causing him to wince and clutch his leg.

“Hey, I just wanted to do something good, Fenella. What’s wrong with donating and doing something good for those old ladies?”

“You should have looked at the situation and the conditions first! Why do you always act like this? You always start something bad and then come in as the hero.” I argued with him.

“Was that also your plan with that ad? Were you planning to be the hero in saving the ad scandal?” I interrogated him with strong suspicion.

“Listen, there was no such plan at all. However, it’s my responsibility to save it. If not me, then who?”

“Ugh, I really hate you.” I groaned in frustration and finally sat down in the chair facing him.

We sat in silence while I pouted. I shouldn’t have paid attention to him, but he was injured now, and I couldn’t bear to leave him alone. Besides, he had dared to rush into the crowd and let his leg be burned by hot eggnog just to prevent me from falling and being trampled.

“Thank you, Alan.” I looked at him briefly, still with a sullen face. “Or maybe I should call you Clark.”

He looked at me for a long time. I returned his gaze because I realized he wasn’t answering me.

“It’s been a long time since anyone called me by that name,” he said softly with a wry smile on his face.

Oh no, why is he becoming sentimental? I sighed. I was still angry about all the tricks and deeds he had done to me and Laird, but after this incident, I couldn’t stay mad at him!

“How did you know I was here?”

“I asked your neighbor. Don’t tell me you forgot that I have your mother’s address as an emergency contact in the employee data.” He smiled crookedly at me.

My lips still pouted in disapproval at him. I had to admit that he was clever, just like a sly fox.

“Are you really going to pay for all those items at $200 each?” I asked, feeling a heaviness in my chest. My emotions were a mix of anger, guilt, and gratitude towards him.

“Yes, of course. Besides, all those items were given to you by clients for free. Why are you selling them as if they are secondhand items that mean nothing to you?”

“It’s for charity. Besides, one woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure. I thought others would be happier to receive them.” I shrugged.

“Oh, yeah. Looking at the long line over there, I’m sure that saying is true.” Alan gestured with his chin towards our stand, which was now calmer with an orderly line.

“Can you keep Jessy with Gene and not throw him away?” I asked.

Hearing that question, Alan took a deep breath. His hands moved away from his leg, and he placed his elbows on the table. His body leaned towards me, though his position was awkward with one leg stretched out on the bench.

“As long as you don’t dump us into your trash.” He grinned at me.