Take My Breath Away

Two salesgirls quickly walked towards them. But when they saw that the customers were an old couple in cheap clothes, they lost interest immediately. "Welcome," one of them said perfunctorily.

"Thank you," Marie said to the girl with a sweet smile.

The girls forced a smile. As the old couple walked around the shop, they followed them and whispered to each other. "They must have come from some rural area. Look at what they are wearing. Twenty bucks tops!"

"You bet! They must have bought them from a street vendor. Let's follow them, in case they try to steal something."

The couple might have been old, but they were not deaf. Greenwood heard everything, and the smile on his face vanished.

He pretended not to hear and wanted to leave soon. But Marie, who hadn't heard a thing, was still looking around for something that would look good on him. So, he had to put up with it a little longer.

Marie finally found something she liked. It was a jacket. She touched it with caution and asked the two girls with a smile, "Will this jacket fit Grandpa?"

One of the girls grumbled under her breath, "Grandpa? Oh please, I'm not his granddaughter." Then, she said to Marie, "We do have his size. But that jacket is one of the new arrivals of this season. It's $46, 000. No discounts. Can you afford it? If you can, I'll get you the right size. If not, don't bother trying it on."

The snide words were a wet blanket on Marie. "$46, 000? That's so expensive. Did I hear that right? Did you say $46, 000?"

"Yes," the girl answered, sluggishly leaning on a cupboard. Then, she turned to talk to the other girl.

"It's really expensive. What about this one? How much is it?" Marie asked, pointing to a shirt. If everything was pricey, it would be better if they left the store.

The girl sighed impatiently and glanced at the shirt. "$19, 000."

Greenwood had had enough of their attitude. He took out his phone from his pocket and opened the contacts page with his shaky hands. It took him a while to find Wesley's number. "Wesley," he said into the phone when the call connected. He was so loud that the two girls rolled their eyes at him disdainfully.

"Yes, Grandpa?"

"Your grandma and I are shopping in the mall."

Wesley was confused. It was he who had dropped them off at the mall. Of course, he knew where they were and what they were doing. Why was Grandpa calling him to say this? "Did you find anything you like, Grandpa? Buy whatever you want. I'll come over later and settle the bill."

"Well, Grandson-in-Law, the two girls who received us at this store think that we can't afford any clothes here and are trying to throw us out. They are saying we are too poor for their...their…hang on. What's the word? I don't know. Apparently, we are too poor for their taste and they want us out of here before we make their store look bad."

The girls heard him. One of them cast him a contemptuous look and muttered, "Humph! The old man is telling on us. Is his grandson-in-law rich or something?" The other girl replied, "Let's hope he is. If he pays, at least we wouldn't have wasted all our time on them."

Wesley frowned. "Grandpa, which store are you in?"

Greenwood thought about it. "We're on the fourth floor. The name of the store is a bit long. I can't read it." Then, he turned to one of the girls. "Excuse me, what's the name of this store?"

The girl put on a fake smile and replied, "Honorable."

"I didn't catch that. Something ball," Greenwood said.

Wesley heard the name. "Grandpa, wait for me at the store. I'm on my way."

The call ended. Marie grabbed Greenwood's sleeve and complained, "Why did you call him again? He is a busy man. We could just leave and go to another store."

"I won't. I'll wait here for Wesley to come," Greenwood said stubbornly.

He wasn't too happy about being treated so rudely. In less than half an hour, a group of men in uniforms walked into the store.

The man in charge was wearing a frosty expression on his face.

The eyes of the salesgirls glinted at the sight of the soldiers.

They dashed over and greeted them in unison, "Welcome to Honorable!"

Wesley ignored them and walked straight to Marie and Greenwood. The girls were stunned. "Grandpa, Grandma," he said with a slight nod.

The soldiers who had followed him to the store spoke in unison. "Grandpa, Grandma!"

Their voices were so sonorous that the whole mall heard them.

Marie and Greenwood were startled. Then they laughed heartily, waving at them. "Good kids! Good kids!" they said, with warm smiles.

The whole scene made the two girls realize that they had gotten themselves into huge trouble.

Wesley looked around the shop and asked, "Grandpa, is there anything you like here?"

"We did like some of them. But everything is so expensive; we don't want it anymore," Marie cut in with a smile before Greenwood could say anything.

"Where is Blair?" Wesley asked.

"she got a call and left a while back. She said it wouldn't take a long."

Wesley nooded. He looked around the store and picked out two items of clothing. ", Grandpa, why don't you try these on?"

One of the girls hurried over to them and checked the size. wrong ones. She turned and busied herself looking for the right size.

Once the old couple had walked into the fitting room together, Welsey strode to the couch and sat down. The store manager walked over with a cup of tea in hand. "Mr. Li, please have some tea," he said respectfully.

The two salesgirls held their breaths as they stood there nervously.

Wesley didn't speak to the manager. Instead, he called Carlos. "I'm at the Shining International Plaza. Something is up. Who is in charge of the Dubhe Building?"

"Zelda. Which store are you in? I'll send her over."

"Honorable." Wesley hung up.

With all those soldiers inside the store, many customers in the mall figured that something was going on in there. They walked in, pretending to be interested in the clothes, but their eyes were fixed on Wesley and the soldiers.

After a few minutes, Greenwood walked out of the fitting room in the new clothes. With a grin, he walked to Wesley and asked, "How do I look?"

Wesley stood up from the couch and said with a smile, "Grandpa, you look ten years younger."

Greenwood grinned from ear to ear. Wesley picked out some more clothes for him and asked the salesgirl to help the old man try them on.

Shortly after Greenwood walked into the fitting room again, Zelda arrived with some people. "Sorry that I'm late, Mr. Li." She said to Wesley. She also greeted the soldiers, "Hello, everyone."

Realizing that they were screwed, the two sales girl hid behind a wall, refusing to come out.

Wesley sat back on the couch and said in lukewarm tone, "My grandparents came here to shop but were looked down upon. The salesgirls even dared to say that they made the store look bad, and tried to kick them out. Is this how you treat your customers?"

Zelda understood what had happened by this point. She smiled apologetically. "I'm so sorry for everything, Mr. Li. This is completely our fault. I'll attend to it right away."

She turned to the store manager. "Who received Mr. Li's grandparents?"

The manager asked the two girls to step out. As they walked towards Wesley, they gulped, too scared to speak.