Infinite Cashback: My Wealth Rebate System

Sarah stepped further into the apartment, her eyes naturally wandering around the room. It wasn’t luxurious by any means, but it was surprisingly clean, everything in its place save for one glaring exception.

Her gaze settled on the flower petals scattered across the floor, and she blinked.

"That’s romantic."

Jason instinctively followed her line of sight, his face twitching.

Romantic? If only

Those flowers had been a bouquet yesterday, one that he carefully picked, carefully wrapped, carefully carried with trembling hands to a confession that had ended with his heart being stomped flatter than the petals lying on the floor now.

For a brief second, he considered telling her the truth but instead, he scratched his cheek awkwardly.

"Oh, those? I-uh was testing gravity."

Sarah looked at him, then at the petals, then back at him.

"Testing gravity."

"Yep."

"With flowers."

Jason nodded with complete seriousness.

"I wanted to make sure they still fell."

A few seconds of silence passed before Sarah couldn’t hold it anymore, a quiet laugh escaping her lips.

"That has got to be the worst excuse I’ve ever heard."

Jason rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah. I realized halfway through saying it."

And they both laughed, first triggered by Sarah and then followed by a soft chuckle from Jason

The atmosphere lightened just a little, not enough to erase the heaviness lingering around him, but enough that breathing didn’t feel quite as difficult anymore.

Realizing she was still standing, Jason hurried toward the small table by the television and pulled out the only spare chair tucked beneath it.

"My bed’s kind of..." he glanced at the clothes resting on top of it before clearing his throat,

"...occupied. So you’ll have to settle for this."

Sarah smiled as she accepted the chair.

"I’ve definitely sat on worse."

"That’s oddly reassuring."

She took a seat while Jason remained standing for a moment, unsure what to do with himself, before awkwardly sitting on the edge of his bed. Then came the silence, a painfully long one and Jason’s brain immediately shifted into overdrive.

Say something. Anything.

Nice weather? No, who said that indoors.

How’s work? No, that’s boring.

Why are you here? Too blunt.

Do you like bread? ...What? He frowned at himself. Why would he ask if she likes bread? Was he actually an idiot?

While he desperately searched for something that wouldn’t make him sound socially incompetent, his eyes drifted toward Sarah almost by accident. She wasn’t wearing the convenience store uniform he was used to seeing.

Instead, she had on a simple cream colored sweater tucked neatly into a dark skirt that stopped just above her knees. It wasn’t flashy in the slightest, yet it suited her perfectly. Her long black hair rested naturally over her shoulders, framing a face that somehow looked softer outside the bright lights of the store, and a thin silver necklace caught the light whenever she moved. Before Jason realized it, he’d been quietly staring for several seconds.

She’s really pretty. Prettier than he remembered. Or maybe he’d simply never looked long enough to notice.

"Your room is nice."

Sarah’s voice pulled him back to reality so abruptly that he almost jumped.

"And..." She took a small breath. "It smells nice too."

Jason blinked twice before answering almost on instinct.

"Yeah, thanks."

A small smile tugged at his lips.

"I figured if my life’s already a mess, at least my room doesn’t have to join in."

Huh? What the fuck

The words left his mouth before his brain had a chance to stop them, and the moment they did, Jason mentally smacked himself. Nice one, genius. Way to casually dump your emotional baggage into the conversation.

He resisted the overwhelming urge to rewind the last five seconds of his life. Unfortunately, reality had yet to invent that feature.

Across from him, Sarah’s smile softened, the concern that had brought her here quietly returning to her eyes.

Sarah gently folded her hands together on her lap, absentmindedly smoothing the fabric of her skirt before turning her body slightly toward Jason.

The smile she’d worn since coming in hadn’t disappeared, but it had softened into something quieter, something more concerned.

"So" Her voice was careful, as though she were testing the water before stepping in and it brought Jason’s attention to her

"How are you doing?"

Jason met her eyes for a moment before looking away

"I’m alright"

The answer came almost immediately. Too immediately. Sarah noticed.

"Really?"

"Yeah." A small shrug rolled off his shoulders.

"It just happened yesterday. I’ll get over it."

He forced a smile that looked convincing enough from a distance. Up close, not so much

Sarah studied him quietly. She didn’t immediately ask about Amanda. She didn’t ask how badly it hurt. She didn’t ask whether he’d cried. Instead, she took the longer route.

"Were you able to sleep?"

Jason nodded

"A little"

"And have you eaten?"

"I had breakfast."

"Did you?"

Jason delayed for a moment

"Eventually."

Another brief silence settled between them, though it wasn’t an interrogation. If anything, it felt like she was gently circling around a locked door, hoping he’d eventually decide to open it himself.

Jason understood exactly what she was doing, and because he understood, he carefully avoided giving her that opening.

"It just sucks a little," he admitted with a small laugh.

"Getting rejected isn’t exactly fun. But I’ll be alright."

Sarah looked at him for another few seconds. There were clearly more questions she wanted to ask like why he’d looked so defeated earlier, why he’d ignored her outside, why there were flower petals scattered across his floor. Instead, she simply smiled.

"I’m glad."

Jason blinked.

"Glad?"

She nodded

"If you’re okay, then that’s all that matters."

The words landed far more heavily than she probably intended. Jason stared at her, and for a second, he genuinely didn’t know how to respond. Why does it matter to her? The question echoed through his mind.

They weren’t childhood friends and they weren’t particularly close. At most, they chatted whenever he stopped by the convenience store. Yet she’d noticed something was wrong. She’d walked all the way to his apartment. And now she was telling him that as long as he was okay, that was enough. Something inside his chest shifted ever so slightly.

Before he could think of what to say, Sarah’s eyes wandered toward the floor.

"Oh."

She pointed beside the bed

"Your phone."

Jason followed her gaze, and only then did he remember dropping it earlier.

"Oh. I completely forgot."

Sarah stood from her chair and walked over to pick it up, and Jason’s eyes followed her almost absentmindedly. The dark skirt she wore swayed lightly with each step, stopping just above her knees, her long black hair flowing naturally behind her and catching the afternoon light filtering through the window.

It was such a simple sight, nothing dramatic, nothing extraordinary, yet for some reason it felt oddly captivating.

As she bent down to pick up the phone, the hem of her skirt shifted slightly, revealing a little more of her smooth thighs before settling back into place.

Jason immediately looked away.

Idiot. Don’t stare. She’s being nice enough to come check on you. At least pretend to be a functioning human being.

By the time he gathered enough courage to look again, Sarah had already picked up the phone. She didn’t hand it over immediately. Instead, she stood there quietly, staring at the screen, and Jason frowned.

"Sarah?"

She remained silent for another second before slowly turning around, her expression carrying a hint of disbelief.

"Jason, I don’t know if you’ve noticed"

She rotated the phone so the display faced him.

"but your screen is completely shattered."

Jason’s brows knitted together.

"Huh?"

He took the phone from her and instinctively pressed the power button. The display lit up, a spiderweb of cracks stretching across nearly the entire screen, branching from one corner to the other. He stared at it blankly.

Jason let out a slow sigh before laughing under his breath.

"Of course."

"As if yesterday wasn’t expensive enough."

[A/N]

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