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It says here "
whole", so there is an exact number that Nicki awares of. She talks like she never knew about 100k when she came second time but she knew. Of course that 20k has meaning behind, maybe down payment or first installment or something like that but as a whole it is 100k and she knows, she totally lied about it.
We do not know what 100k or 20k stands for; that is sure, maybe 100k was their total debt and 20k was to loanshark maybe something else but that statement "whole $100k" there and it is something she knew.
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Is MC confused because of she disagreed with her bf or 100k stuff? Is she apologetic because she disagreed with her bf or she got caught lying? Definitely not a good thing and she clearly was lying.
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Btw, I totally agree with MC here. What was that attractive about Brent that she took all abuse, manipulation etc. She took everything he threw at her. Was it really because they were splitting rent, bills and expenses? She literally came to MC to whoring herself for Brent. She defended Brent every chance she got. She defended him after this conversation saying "he is not always like this." After he fucked her over, she took blame and said "I knew him and I did it anyway" btw, this is after he forged her signature and used her ID to get loan in her name. Then after MC showing her threatening texts, she said "he is not like that." What is so special about that douchebag I wonder.
That is all based off you assuming that by 'whole' Brent means the 'whole debt'. I still stand by my reading that 'whole' refers to the 'whole amount he asked for',
which doesn't have to be just the total debt. Again, Brent is a greedy asshole who thinks he is owed some of the MC's wealth. Also, he tries to bargain with Nicki on the phone to get her to ask for at least 50K when she refuses, that's not something you do if you're already actually on the hook for 100K. If they already owed 100K together,
that is when you'd expect the truth to come out as Brent pleads with Nicki about how fucked they are and really need that entire 100K. But nope, he instead tries to haggle like he's talking to a used car salesman. So my interpretation fits much better with the entirety of Nicki's phone conversation (Nicki's pushback, the affirmed 20K debt, Brent's haggling); it's also more probable since it doesn't rely on the assumption that there is a grand conspiracy at play.
She didn't come to the MC to explicitly whore herself out. Brent wanted her to lay on the charm, flirt, maybe kiss the MC, and hoped the MC was enough of a pushover to fork over the 100K he thought he was owed. Brent is an idiot, and has nothing but contempt for the MC, so I'm sure this plan made prefect sense in his head. Even assuming Nicki was on board with doing anything more than being friendly and just asking for help, that would put her on par with... what? A lady working at a Japanese hostess bar? Not exactly Grade A escort material there.
As for why Nicki stuck with a dead-end relationship? Fuck if I know, but that situation is distressingly common place. People are not rational actors, and people's actions will constantly surprise you if you work off the assumption that people make rational decisions. They don't. We're creatures of emotion, even when we're trying to be rational. Going by her story in Ch3, it's a very believable take on someone being trapped in their relationship. She couldn't afford their apartment alone; so between circumstances, the sunk cost fallacy, and not wanting to admit that your relationship is a mistake? Yeah, that shit can plaster over a lot of problematic holes; right up until the point it can't. Everyone's breaking point is different, Nicki just found hers after she woke up to find out she was now 100K in debt to extralegal loan sharks. She also accepts culpability for not leaving Brent sooner, hence why she was adamant on solving the debt problem herself; she was too ashamed that Brent had played her yet again, and she wasn't going to ask for another handout after letting the first one slip through her grasp.
So I think that both amounts being 100K is a coincidence. That being said, I think NeonGhosts might want to consider that in his Ch1 Rewrite plans. If my take is the more accurate one, then simply changing the numbers so that they're no longer identical (e.g. Brent asking for 150K, or Nicki owing 80K, etc.) would make it much harder to interpret the dialogue in the way you have. There is a chance you're right, but I'm pretty skeptical.
She is just using MC and I am convinced she gonna pull real something to fuck MC over.
