A/N: Check out Tina's character card, just don't look too deep into them. 😉
————————————————————————————-
"Happy Birthday" x 13
As soon as he opened the door, a bunch of people congratulated him, Chris glanced at the only two people in the corner, raising their beer bottles in a lazy toast.
Dan and Robert were close friends in terms of drinking, and in a drunken state even they wished. You have to understand, Robert didn't even wish for his own daughter's, and Dan never bothered to even be awake for it.
Melissa ran and hugged him first, while Chris made an impressed face at Faith, who was clapping slowly in a sarcastic way and mouthing 'Happy Birthday' without even voicing it.
Chris nodded his head with a smile, and then, getting a kiss from Mel on his cheek, he walked towards Faith, opening his hands to get a hug. He was trying to make her embarrassed a bit, but suddenly another person interrupted him by embracing him naturally.
Tina couldn't hold herself back when Chris was so close, and today was his birthday. She held him tight, today she didn't care about who saw what. She left her baby with her mom and was here in the middle of the night, she would regret not doing this.
Grace's smile paused as she noticed someone hugging Chris out of nowhere, even Faith frowned with her smile. Dan, on the other hand, nodded his head.
He'd actually invited Tina in his drunken stupor, and she agreed readily. Hearing Robert was coming, he had to change the plans and invite everyone later, otherwise, it would look super bad.
I just want her to be happy.
In Tina, Dan sees Melissa and his old wife, both were robbed of something because he was not present in time. Melissa lost her childhood, while his wife lost her life, so him sympathizing with her was normal.
"Thank you, Tina, Let me introduce you to Grace, she's my girlfriend."
Chris responded instantly, he didn't want this moment to make the whole event awkward for everyone. Tina, seeing Grace, didn't shy away, she just walked ahead and shook her hand confidently.
After that, everyone moved on except Grace, who saw Tina's face when she embraced Chris, it looked very bothersome. It was a mix of fascination, craziness, and extreme love.
I am going crazy over nothing.
Grace shook her head to dismiss this idea of Tina liking Chris because Tina is very pretty and has a child, which adult would go after a barely eighteen-year-old?
Even the slight awkwardness vanished when Faith herself walked forward to give Chris a hug, she always felt like Chris was the brother she always sought in her life, and he always did help her out when she needed a brother.
"The cake was specially made by our Jim."
Marsha hugged Chris first, then revealed the cake. Marsha had seen Chris being born when she first arrived, so him turning eighteen means she has also been with this family diner for eighteen years.
Jim smiled, he wanted to give Chris a hug, but his awkwardness made him shake hands instead. He loves to bring special cakes to show off from his family bakery.
"Thanks, man."
"Don't worry about it, it's Chocolate Marvel Cake. You'll love it."
"You bet I will."
Chris was impressed with this fat man, the cake looked a little too over the top, and there was a small car seated there. It was mint in color, but it was not his Mazda 3, it looked more like a Ferrari.
That car does look nice. How can I afford that? Wait a fucking moment, how many people are here?
A smile crept up on Chris's mouth because this was the time, an event big enough for him to get believed and earn shit tons of money.
17? Let's do charity first, then mix it with timing. Should I go for two rounds or three?
"Chris, Please make a speech before cutting your cake."
After the meet and greet, Grace grabbed his hand and took him in front of the cake. She asked for a speech, which she knows Chris would shy away from, that is why everyone also looked at the introverted boy, not for the speech but for the thrill of seeing someone getting embarrassed.
"I... I would like to say thank you very much, everyone, for attending at least, these snowy nights are cruel, and leaving your bed was not easy."
Some people laughed, while some people smiled at his lame joke, but his charisma was, as usual, carrying him through embarrassment.
"So, last but not least, I want to give each employee $1000 in cash, because I might not work here soon. I am earning from a small business I've been doing for the past couple of months."
Chris glanced at Melissa, as if to let her know, but his real intention was to hear it from someone else's mouth, someone more successful than them.
"That is true, I saw he got $10,000 in cash in my car. It was given to him by Target, he is doing some electronic business. Gracie also saw his Amazon TV delivery pay stub, they held back his taxes."
Hearing Melissa, everyone in the diner was shocked and surprised, even Robert was impressed with his son-in-law. His red, drunken face wanted to say something, but Dan offered him a beer toast, and he couldn't refute it.
"Yeah, I also have fulfilled a contract worth $160,000 recently, they paid me cash."
Please, shove it on my bed.
[You have just been believed. Reward: Your Bed now has $160,000 (with tax-paid documents).]
[ Make People Believe 6 More Times to Level Up the System ]
Damn! Wasted $10,000 for my nervousness.
Chris meant to say $170,000 but blurted the first number that came to mind.