"Hello?" Gerald replied over the call with sleepiness in his voice.
But the first word from the other side woke him up.
"YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"
Gerald blinked, "Uhh- Who's speaking?"
"Scamming son of a bitch! Return our fucking 4500$ or I swear I will come down to your house and fuck your mom up!" Alice screamed on the other side of the call while Ian watched silently.
It was surprising to see a rich woman from a very 'well-to-do' family cursing like a street thug.
But then again, considering she was cursing Gerald, it made sense.
"4500…" Gerald went silent for a couple of seconds and then there was a beep.
He had hung up.
Alice didn't give up and tried again.
"The number you have called is out of service coverage area. Please try again later."
"Oh he blocked me too." Alice hummed calmly, opposite to her regular thuggish cursing a second ago.
She opened an app on her phone and then typed Gerald's number on it.
"TruthCaller?" Ian read the app's name.
It is a popular utility app which shows you the name and identity of the person who is calling you. It's mainly used to avoid scammer calls.
Ian nodded in understanding and downloaded the app to his phone as well.
He used to have it before his father had reset his phone, and he forgot to download it again.
"Hah! Fucker's already marked as a scammer." Alice scoffed and looked at Ian, "If only your dumb ass knew to download the truthcaller, we would have avoided this."
Ian just nodded.
It's best not to argue with a girl that's already pissed off. It will just make her burst out on you.
"Tsk." Alice clicked her tongue and read Gerald's details.
"Gerald Hoover. 34. GPO, Gangtok."
"GPO, huh? That's a little big of an area. We can't find him there." Ian said.
"Yeah, it was my fault." Alice sighed, "I didn't handle it calmly. If I did, we could've caught him already."
"Well, I considered that 4500 as lost anyway. Let's just be more careful from now on." Ian sighed as well.
"Nah, I ain't letting it go. I will get it back." Alice scoffed, "But tomorrow. Let's sleep, it's our orientation tomorrow."
"Okay. Night." Ian nodded and stepped out of Alice's room which she closed after wishing a "Good Night."
***
The morning at Ian and Alice's shared residence was… messy to say the least.
The kitchen was stinking of raw egg spillage, and clothes were strewn randomly around the sofa and floor.
"I can't pick a decent dress!" Alice said while trying out the 4th dress since the morning.
Her routine was simple.
She would wear a dress, go out and try to cook an omelette, and then soil her dress due to it.
Then she goes back and changes again, before repeating the same loop.
Ian wasn't having it much easier either.
Due to yesterday's 'incident', he had spread all his clothes on the bed and was trying to pick out the 'cheapest' ones out of them.
But despite the chaotic morning, Ian and Alice weren't late to the orientation. Luckily.
***
The Sauff University.
The campus was as gigantic as always, filled with many campuses, stores, outlets, and just random gardens?
Along with huge and lavish looking hostels.
And inside the campus, a pair walked together with confidence in their steps.
The man was dressed in a 'simple' denim jacket and white underlays, paired with a 'decent' pair of jeans.
While the girl was dressed in a black one-piece dress that showed off her long legs and sexy curves.
With the way they were dressed, one might think they were attending some high class party in a 5 star restaurant.
Well, maybe not Ian since he was dressed 'moderately.'
"Where is the auditorium?" Alice asked while gently wiping her sweat off her forehead.
The heat was really getting too unbearable.
"In my pocket." Ian replied.
"Oh yeah? Which one?" Alice shot back, annoyed. She reached to touch his right pocket as well, as if trying to find it seriously.
"Yeah, just like that, keep moving your hand to the center. There is a zip that you can lower and put your hand inside." Ian scoffed, "That's where the auditorium is."
"DIsgusting bastard." Alice retreated her hand back to herself.
She increased her walking speed and tapped the boy in front of her, who seemed to be walking along with another guy.
They were taking a few peeks at Ian and Alice earlier, but they were ignored.
"Hi!" Alice tucked her hair strand behind her ear and smiled, "I am a new student. Can you tell me where the auditorium is?"
The boy she had tapped visibly froze and was surprised before recovering his composure, "Yeah of course. Just keep going straight and take the second right. You will find it, it's quite easy to notice."
"Alrighty, thank you!" Alice smiled and retreated back to walking beside Ian.
She glanced at his expression, but it looked blank.
"That's how you do it." she smirked.
"By flirting?" Ian asked casually.
"N- Yeah, so what?" Alice asked cockily.
Ian glanced at her and gave her a look of judgment, before shrugging and continuing walking.
'I am still 2600 something GP in loss. If it keeps going like this, I won't even be able to unlock the system's features!' Ian sighed in his mind.
"You really don't care?" Alice asked.
"About what?"
"That I was flirting with another guy?"
Ian glanced at her blankly, "Not really to be honest. If he knew your real personality, he wouldn't have been so nice."
"I am not that bad, you know?"
"I know." Ian nodded but didn't elaborate his answer.
The pair continued to walk in silence until the huge auditorium came into the view.
And the boy didn't lie.
It surely was 'noticeable.'
Probably much more than that.
Spread over a huge area, it looked more like a colosseum or some kind of a stadium than a college auditorium.
Ian felt adrenaline rush into his veins.
This was the new start to his life. The life away from the comforts of his family.
"You know the drill right?" he asked to Alice.
"Yea yea, no big deal. Just sit alone in the middle, make some decent friends and then meet up after the orientation to join our friend circle."
"Somewhat, yes."