Seeing Tyler's look of impotent rage.
Evan leaned over to watch the drama unfold. "What's wrong? Fight with your girlfriend?"
Tyler dramatically recounted how Chloe had used suggestive language to hint she wanted a handbag.
Finally, he said indignantly, "Nowadays female college students generally use brands like Zara or Calvin Klein, which is perfectly fine. At most they might use an accessible luxury brand like Coach—bags over a grand are rare. LV? Yeah right!"
"Exactly!" Ryan echoed.
This Chloe had really gotten full of herself, actually asking a local real estate kid to buy her an LV. Does a real estate kid have that kind of money? He doesn't have that kind of money, you know.
Although Tyler was the esteemed owner of a Volkswagen Passat, when it came to liquid assets, Evan was still superior.
Evan offered his opinion: "True, LV's entry-level models are too common and widespread, making them look cheap—no taste. The good-looking styles are way too expensive."
"Dude, it's rare for your opinion to align with mine!"
Tyler slapped his thigh, as if he'd found a kindred spirit.
He quickly zoomed in on the bag photo and held up his phone for Evan to see.
However, Tyler did not continue to receive Evan's validation.
Evan merely pushed up his glasses and carefully examined the picture.
His eyes sparkled with recognition.
His voice trembled: "Th-this is... the Louis Vuitton x Murakami Takashi collab series Speedy Bandoulière 25!"
"What the hell?" Tyler was dumbfounded. "What gibberish were you just spouting!"
"This bag is a discontinued limited edition. You can't buy it in stores even with money—you can only wait for the resale market to release stock, or if a store manager happens to get their hands on one." Evan spoke like an expert. "Tyler, do you know what its most recent resale price was?"
"No dude, your expression is way too dramatic. Even if it's limited edition, how expensive can it be? It's just a bag," Tyler said dismissively.
"Heh, you know nothing about the power of wealthy women!" Evan wagged his finger. "As far as I know, the resale price for this bag last month had already hit twenty-two thousand five hundred ninety-five dollars. It might've even gone up recently. Conservative estimate, it starts at twenty"
"How much??"
"Twenty-two thousand five hundred ninety-five thousand."
Holy crap!
Tyler's worldview was genuinely shattered.
Honestly, his relatives occasionally bought luxury items for appearances. A bag costing a few thousand, even tens of thousands, was still within Tyler's comprehension.
However, this kind of flashy handbag costing one hundred sixty grand truly opened Tyler's eyes.
"No, seriously, do rich people's money just fall from the sky?" Tyler grumbled.
"I estimate Scarlet's boyfriend is top-tier wealthy in Bayside City—even in Los Angeles, he'd be seriously powerful." Evan analyzed, not forgetting to add a dig: "After all, the bag he gave her is more expensive than your car."
"...Bullshit! I drive a Volkswagen Passat with an MSRP of twenty-four thousand nine hundred. How is it cheaper than a bag?"
Tyler's voice suddenly grew louder, his face flushed, looking like a raw nerve had been struck.
Actually, Evan had hit the nail on the head.
Although the MSRP was twenty-four-nine, in reality, car prices had generally dropped in recent years due to the impact of domestic electric vehicles.
When Tyler's parents took him to pick up the car during summer break, they happened to catch a sale.
After haggling with the salesperson, they got a five-thousand-dollar discount, and the final price was nineteen thousand nine hundred.
You really can't say it, you really can't.
It really wasn't as expensive as Scarlet's LV bag!
Of course, if you included purchase tax and insurance, then Tyler's Volkswagen Passat narrowly won.
But what's the point of that?
It didn't change the harsh reality:
Scarlet's boyfriend's wealth and social class were far above Tyler's.
"Man, compared to that guy, I'm just a broke loser. What's the difference between me and Ryan?"
Tyler sighed.
Ryan: ... (sweating profusely)
Evan snorted coldly, saying triumphantly, "Indeed, as I expected, Scarlet is the type of girl with high material standards. Ordinary rich people simply can't satisfy her. Haha, coincidentally, I don't like her type either."
"What difference does it make whether you like her or not? She doesn't want you anyway," Tyler shot back.
"...Nonsense!" Evan said in a deep voice. "Is that even the point? The point is, Imogen would absolutely never be such a gold-digger."
"Heh."
Tyler couldn't be bothered arguing. He'd figured out that this dude Evan was completely brainwashed by his simping, and there was no reasoning with him.
He was smarter, using his advantages to "win over" the cute Chloe just a month after school started...
Thinking of this.
Tyler couldn't help feeling depressed again.
While chatting with his roommates, he didn't forget to send messages to placate Chloe.
But Chloe didn't respond at all.
Seemed she was genuinely pissed.
To appease her, he'd definitely have to make some sacrifices.
He couldn't really buy her an LV, could he?
But girls were often like this: if their very close best friend got certain material things, they wanted to match it too.
So annoying!
Tyler couldn't think of a solution for the moment, so he irritably opened his computer and played ARAM.
Fortunately, Tyler's frustration didn't last too long.
Because Evan soon encountered his own misfortune.
Around ten o'clock.
Evan's phone rang with a special notification sound.
After reading briefly, Evan tossed his phone aside, sat cross-legged on his bed, blankly staring at the dorm's plain white wall.
As Ryan headed to the bathroom, he was suddenly stopped by Evan.
"Ryan."
"What's up?"
"Tell me, if Imogen returns from off-campus in a luxury car at this hour, what does it mean?"
"...Huh?"
Ryan was stunned.
Tyler's ears perked up. "Hahaha, what else could it mean? She's dating, same situation as Scarlet."
"No way!!!"
Evan clutched his head, letting out an anguished wail. "It's not like that, it's not like that... Wait, actually, you have to look at specifics. The main thing is how luxurious that so-called luxury car actually is."
"Uh, is there some deeper meaning?" Ryan asked, puzzled.
"If it's just an entry-level luxury sedan, then she might've just taken an Uber Black."
"Dude, I'm speechless. How are you so good at rationalizing?" Tyler chuckled. "Do you even believe what you're saying?"
Evan said coldly, "It's not whether I believe myself, but I believe in Imogen's noble and principled character."
"..." Tyler was speechless. Kid, you're unbeatable.
Noble and principled? Are we doing AP Lit analysis here?
Wake up, high school's over!
Ryan stifled a laugh, his face expressionless, thoroughly enjoying the show.
How blessed are we in Room 510 to have both Tyler and Evan, these two legendary characters?
We really need to recruit Arden.
If the legendary girls' dorm is where Scarlet lives.
Then our Harrison Hall Room 510 is definitely a God-Tier Dorm.
Do other dorms have such divine specimens? Truly legendary!
"Knock knock knock!"
Suddenly someone knocked on the dorm door.
Ryan opened it to find a well-proportioned woman in athletic wear.
It was their RA, Emma Anderson.
"Hello, Emma."
"Good evening, guys." Emma Anderson smiled gracefully. "I just finished running on the track and it's close to the guys' dorms, so I came to check on you... Where's Arden? Is he not here?"