VIP Customer

Shock filled everyone's face.

They believed they must have misheard.

Even the manager, who had initially shown indifference, now wore a look of astonishment, though he quickly regained composure.

"Are you playing a prank on us?" he asked,  

"No," Richard muttered.

"Then I would have the bank representative come check." He wasn't saying this because he believed Johan, rather it was because he wanted to see Richard mocked.

With that said, he turned to the lady at the counter.

"Call the senior representative and have him come here." He ordered.

Two minutes later, a man walked down from the upstairs and spoke. " Manager, you asked me?" That voice was the senior representative's own.

"Yes I did. I want you to confirm an alert from this man's bank account." The manager said solemnly.

The senior representative gazed at him confusingly. His expression was clearly saying ' why can't the man come upstairs, instead of him being personally called to help.'

Having gazed at the manager puzzlingly, he glanced at the direction of Johan. Then, a shock expression appeared on his face, which was quickly replaced with disdain. "Is this the person I'm to assist!?" He almost yelled, in rage.

"Yes." The manager said,

"But… " he wanted to argue, but seeing the look on the manager's face, he kept shut and angrily went forward to the counter using the system there. 

Within seven minutes of asking for Richard bank details, an astonished and shocked expression appeared on his disdainful face. 

 Gasp! 

He was beyond shocked!

"What's it?" The lady at the counter asked, with a smile.

She had felt from his reaction, it had been confirmed that Richard was lying. It wasn't just her having that though, the others gathered were also having the same thought.

Before the expression on the senior bank representative's face, they were all scared with the thought that Richard might be saying the truth. 

Richard being right would have cost them embarrassment and shame.

"You're right!" The loud voice of the senior bank representative rang.

A smile quickly appeared on everyone's face.

Meanwhile, Richard had a dumbfounded and disappointed look.

So it really was a prank!?

"Haha, what more lies can you bring up now. The senior bank representative has proven to us all that we're right, so how do you plan on defeating your foolish self?" The lady at the counter, asked loudly with a disdainful smile.

Everyone was furious. 

The manager frowned with mixed feelings. He was glad that Richard had been proven wrong, but he was at the same time angry that Richard had lectured him about his job as a manager. 

Insults and disdain were thrown at Richard without leaving a space for him to defend himself.

However, in the next few minutes.

The loud voice of the senior bank representative echoed. "What are you all doing? I mean he's right, not you all!" He said, "the alert is real!" 

Stunned silence!

"This… this can't be…  be true." They all refuse to believe it.

Even Richard was electrified! His disappointed expression had long vanished and was now replaced with Joy and astonishment.

He was in this state of mind for a while and he only snapped back to reality when the firm disbelief voice of the manager rang.

"No, you might have made a mistake. I have to check it!" He said, impatiently as he walked to the counter and hurriedly checked the system.

Having checked it, he fearfully walked back to Richard front and knelt down. "Sir… sir please forgive me. I was wrong, have mercy!" 

Richard sneered. He knew the manager had confirmed It from his change of expression.

"Have this lady punished!" He ignored the manager's plea and muttered.

" You… !" The lady at the counter quickly feared. "You can't have me punished just because you say so! The manager won't bend to your words, merely because of some alert!" Her tone was confident despite her fearful expression.

Richard scorned and glanced at the manager. It was obvious he wanted him to say something.

"Shut your useless mouth! Kneel and bow to him right this instant!" The manager yelled, fiercely.

Even as he yelled, his whole body was shaky due to the fear of Richard. For such a person to have received that mouth watering alert, he must be a wealthy man, son or big shot!

"Manager why… " the lady wanted to nag, but was completely interrupted by the manager.

"Are you nuts? Did you hear what I said!? Kneel right now or be ready to lose your job!" Sweat poured out of his face, as he shouted.

He really wished he could hit the hell out of the lady. "Why is she making things difficult for me?"

The lady quickly kneeled after seeing that the man was serious. " Please forgive me."

Richard sneered.

The manager noticed that Richard wasn't satisfied with his punishment, so he thought for a while before saying, "you're fired!"

"What!?" The lady was frightened.

The manager ignored her. He was only gazing at Richard and when he saw a small curved smile, he knew he liked the punishment.

He glanced at the two security guards that were standing not too far from them. "Take her away!"

Before she could even say a word, she was dragged out. 

The manager coughed slightly and said respectfully. "Sir we're very honored to have you as our customer and due to the huge amount in your bank, you're part of the VIP members. An extra 15 million dollars will be rewarded to your account as part of the VIP membership." He smiled, 

"Oh." Richard only muttered, as his mind was still filled with happiness concerning the alert.

He slowly faced the gathering customers who all had a shock and fearful expression on their faces.

"Don't you think you should fulfill your words? " He asked one of them,

That customer was the one who said he would rather be slapped by a stranger than believe the alert was real.

The customer's face flushed with embarrassment. If he did do as Richard said, it would really be embarrassing for him.

"I… why should… " he wanted to think of a lie to save himself from all this, but a glare from Richard shot him up.

Slap! 

Slap!!

Slap!!!

He slapped himself hard and now his face was left swollen.

With an embarrassed gaze, he hurriedly left the bank.

Richard also didn't stay anymore. He had gotten the doubt cleared so it was only left for him to leave.

When he got out of the bank, the cloud was already getting dark. It was obvious the bank had closed late because of him. 

He needed to find a place to stay for the night.

He started walking on the street, looking for where to pass the night when he sighted a hotel.

The hotel was huge and if he didn't have a huge amount of money in his bank account, he wouldn't have dreamed of going in there.

He went inside the hotel and met a receptionist.

"Good evening, can I know the price of your best room?" He asked, sounding calm as he had already faced a lot.

The lady glared at him from head to toe as he requested for the best room.

Richard was aware of what she was thinking and hoped she wouldn't behave like the bank lady did.

He had already witnessed a crazy scenario that day and wouldn't want to prove himself to be wealthy again.

"Oh sure, we have rooms that are comfortable for you. We have ones of three hundred dollars, the ones of two hundred dollars, the ones of a hundred dollars" the receptionist Answered him like a professional that she was

"They are quite affordable" he nodded his head.

He needed somewhere nice to sleep comfortably since it's been long. He had a peaceful sleep due to outrageous demands for his ex wife and family.

"Hey pretty. Is the Royal suite available?" A guy came in and asked for the receptionist.

Richard doesn't need to be informed that  the voices sounded familiar.

"His ex-wife new lover?" He asked himself inwardly.

"Yes sir, it's available and it's one thousand dollars per night" The receptionist Answered Phillip, smiling at the same time 

"Excuse me, I asked for the best room and the highest you told me was three hundred dollars. What didn't you tell me about the Royal suite?" Richard queried the receptionist, who scoffed at his words.

"The suite is for wealthy people like us. Even if she had told you the price, I'm sure that you can't afford it. Is it not you? Chloe's ex husband? Where would you get such a huge amount of money from?" Phillip mocked him and faced the receptionist after, "give me the key, I'll give you an additional five hundred dollars as tip"

"Really? Wow!" The receptionist beamed in happiness, upon hearing she would be given additional money as tip.

"I want the exact room" Richard also voiced out, not wanting to let Phillip win over him. Not even when he just realized his true identity.

"Excuse me? Where will you get that money? It's better you go for a standard room of one hundred dollars" Phillips smirked at him and was about to make the payment when the hotel manager arrived.

"What's going on?" He questioned the receptionist.

"They both want the Royal suite and we have just one left." The receptionist explained.

"I came first and should be given the room, as long as I can afford it right?" Richard asked, facing the manager.

All he wanted that night was to sleep but seeing his opponent was Phillip, he wasn't going to let go of the room for him.

"It's not the matter of who came early. It's the matter of who is richer to tip the manager and receptionist with a huge amount of money. By the way, I've changed my mind. I'll give the lady here another one thousand dollars and the manager three thousand dollars , if they give me the room " Phillip smirked.

Richard saw the money as a waste but when he saw the excitement on the Manager's face, he knew that he had to make advances too.

"I'll double the amount for you. Will you give me the key to the room now?" He made a mouthwatering offer, leaving all of them speechless.

"You! Where did you get the money?" Phillip yelled, grabbing him by his collar while Richard also smirked.