?<strong>Chapter 392:</strong>


    At the counter, Carrie straightened up, her curiosity piqued. “Camille?”


    The pped sales associate clutched her reddened cheek, her expression a mixture of pain and disbelief. She nced desperately at the other associate who had brought Camille in, now standing frozen by the door, wide-eyed and stunned.


    “What… just happened?” the other associate whispered, unable to process the chaos she had unintentionally unleashed.


    The sales assistant by the door paused, her expression a mix of confusion and rm, before she darted over to Camille and cautiously said, “Miss Nixon, there surely must be some misunderstanding…”


    Before the assistant could insinuate that Carrie was the temptress, Camille had already noticed Carrie. After throwing a cold nce at Albin, Camille made her way over to Carrie. As she reached her, her tone wasced with delight. “Oh, Carrie, what a surprise to see you here of all ces!”


    Realizing the two were acquainted, the sales assistants froze in shock. Even the one who had been pped kept silent, too afraid to utter another word. Clearly, if Carrie was in Camille’s circle, she was either a powerhouse in her own right or closely tied to the elite. This was not a woman to cross lightly.


    The humiliated assistant, her cheek still stinging from the p, subtly edged back, wishing she could melt into the shadows. Meanwhile, Albin, clueless about the underlying currents, mistook Camille’s outrage for mere theatrics. He approached, his hands open in a calming gesture.


    “Honey, wasn’t I told to meet you by the cinema entrance?”


    “Meet you? With the film already rolling, what exactly am I supposed to be watching now?” Without giving him a nce, she scoffed, “Or perhaps you were too busy here, entertaining some flirtatious distraction?”


    Albin, visibly distressed by her usation, countered earnestly, raising his hands in defense. “Honey, you misunderstand! It was only Carrie here—I saw she was being troubled, and I feltpelled to intervene. Confirm it for us, Carrie, won’t you?”


    He turned to Carrie, looking to her for support in the chaos. With a reassuring nod, Carrie confirmed, “He’s telling the truth this time.”


    Camille, convinced by Carrie’s assurance, redirected her concern with a furrowed brow. “Has someone been giving you trouble?”


    Carrie cast a frosty nce sideways at the sales assistant, who had just endured a p. “I merely wanted to examine a pen, yet it seems I’m deemed unworthy.” cing her hands defiantly on her hips, Camille fixed a stern re on the offending sales assistant. “It appears I was too lenient before. Had I known you were bullying my friend, I would have doubled your p!”


    Albin stood there, dumbstruck. Carrie was deemed more significant than him? His flirting barely warranted more than a single p?


    Realizing he was nearly ensnared in their drama, Albin lost his patience and turned to the most uninvolved sales assistant he could find. “Fetch your manager, please.”


    The sales assistant who had been pped suddenly recalled she had Lise’s contact on WhatsApp. Desperate for a way out, she clumsily retrieved her phone and dialed Lise in a panic.


    Just as the connection was made, Kristopher entered, his face set in an icy mask. The normally arrogant store manager scurried in behind him, bowing deferentially. “I was just retrieving stock from another shop; I had no idea such chaos had erupted here. Rest assured, proper apologies will be extended to Mrs. Norris.”


    The sales assistant, whose face had flushed with hope as Kristopher strode in, suddenly dropped her hands, unaware that she had already activated the voice call. Her only thought was to use Lise as a buffer.


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