Paying for Her Clumsiness

My dormmate falls in the dorm and sends the rest of us the hospital bill. She wants us to compensate her.

"I only fell because you guys left a puddle of water at the door. It's only right that you compensate me, don't you think? It's not much—you each just have to give me a thousand dollars to cover the checkup, medication, transport, the classes I missed, and the mental distress I suffered."

I exchange looks with my two other dormmates. All three of us politely decline.

That's when she goes berserk. She screeches threateningly, "Do you know who my father is? I'll make sure you guys can't graduate if you don't compensate me!"

I felt a headache coming on when I saw the long list of claims in the chat group.

Seeing that all of us had remained silent, Lisa Stewart sent a bunch of photos of her injury before adding, "I'm warning you. I have evidence that I fell in our dorm room! Celia's the one who always uses the bathroom the last in the morning, so she's the most likely suspect.

"However, out of the kindness of my heart, I don't want to make things too humiliating for her, so I don't want to go through the effort of figuring out who the real culprit is. Therefore, you guys can just split the compensation evenly."

After a moment, Rose Clark, one of my roommates, couldn't resist replying, "Are you expecting us to prove our own innocence?"

Ivy Henderson, who had always been a meek and honest young woman, also expressed her doubts. "Even if there had been a puddle of water on the floor, you should've been able to spot it, right? There are plenty of puddles out on the streets all the time. Does that mean you go around demanding compensation from everyone?"

Infuriated that she didn't get the response she wanted, Lisa lashed out at us. "Does this mean you three aren't going to pay up?"

Just barely containing my laughter, I typed out my reply. "Is it that obvious?"

I exited the chat group before Lisa could respond.

Rose and Ivy returned to our dorm room soon after. When they saw me, they couldn't resist grumbling about what happened.

"Lisa probably sees nothing but dollar signs in everything! She called that an injury, huh? I wouldn't even call it a scratch! How is she even injured? And yet, she wants us to pay her a thousand dollars each!"

Shrugging, I declared, "Either way, I'm not going to let her take advantage of me."

Rose and Ivy exchanged looks before nodding earnestly in agreement.

Lisa didn't message us in private, so we all thought she was giving up after failing to extort money from us.

However, half an hour later, Lisa returned to the dorm room looking rather livid. She had a bag of medication in one hand and her phone in the other.

First, she stepped gingerly into the room, clutching her knee in an exaggerated manner. Then, she angled her phone camera toward the floor and cried out, "Here it is, everyone! Here's the scene of the crime!

"They did it on purpose! Once they were done with the bathroom, they left a puddle of water on purpose so that I would slip and fall! I was in a rush this morning, and I ended up slipping on the water before I even knew what was happening. I'm still in so much pain right now. Who knows if I'll end up with a permanent injury?"

Lisa sniffled as she spoke, making it sound as though she was about to burst into tears.

Then, she abruptly pointed her camera at me and shrilly accused me, "All you had to do was admit your mistake, and I would've forgiven you! You just had to compensate me for my medical expenses and the mental distress I suffered. Why won't you admit what you did?"

Resisting the urge to roll my eyes at Lisa, I pointed out, "Since you're the one accusing me of doing something, shouldn't you be providing evidence of that? Are you trying to pin the blame on me with nothing to prove your claims?"

Just then, Ivy discreetly passed me her phone. Lisa was livestreaming.

Lisa mistook my silence for fear and started arguing, "If something falls off a building and that culprit can't be identified, everyone in the building has to pay the compensation, so why can't I expect the same from you guys?"

Her strange logic made me scoff in annoyance. "No one can anticipate when an object falls off a building, but in your case, you could've easily avoided the puddle. In any case, do you have any evidence to prove that we're responsible for that puddle of water? The three of us left the room earlier than you this morning, so why is it that we're all fine?

"Are you having fun putting on a show when you're the one at fault just so you can get sympathy from everyone?"

My retort rendered Lisa speechless. For a moment, she didn't know how to respond.

The viewers of her livestream were swayed by my arguments as well.

"She has a point. The streamer should be the one providing the evidence to back her claims."

"That's right. She's even asking for a thousand dollars each in compensation for her mental distress! That's too much."

Once Lisa noticed the viewers' sentiments shifting against her, she changed her tune and started wailing, "I'm the only one who got injured, so of course they don't care at all! They might even be secretly rejoicing at my misfortune!

"They've been isolating me all along. It's not surprising if they teamed up to set me up by coming up with a cover story beforehand. They did it on purpose!"

Having said that, Lisa walked over to her chair and lifted her skirt. She started applying ointment to her thigh. Unsurprisingly, after she revealed her skin, a number of guys in the comments section started coming to her defense.

"Don't cry, gorgeous. They're the ones at fault!"

"I feel so bad for you, babe. Add me on WhatsApp, and I'll comfort you."

Eyeing me tauntingly, Lisa smirked and declared, "I believe that there are more good people in the world than bad."