Chapter 246: A Comparison
Arthur immediately took a step back, as if avoiding a plague, keeping an eight-meter distance from Tina. Realizing everyone was looking at him strangely, he coughed awkwardly and said, “No, Mom, I’m a big star now. There are so many people in the jade market. What if someone recognizes me?” He glanced at Tina. “She doesn’t need my care; she should be the one taking care of me.”
He had finally escaped that dreadful place and swore never to get within ten meters of Tina again. But now, the newly recognized cousin of the Reed family was Tina! This wasn’t good news; it was a death sentence!
“Big star my foot!” Esther became increasingly irritated. “Juliet is an award-winning actress, yet she still goes out every day when she’s home. Why don’t I see her having as many issues as you?”
“That’s why she’s chased by fans all the time.” Arthur rolled his eyes. “Last time, she got trapped in a men’s restroom by a group of fans and had to be rescued by the police. It even made the news. Did you forget?”
“Are you going or not?” Esther didn’t want to waste any more words with him.
“Do I have a choice?” Arthur looked at Tina with fear.
“If you don’t want to go, forget it,” Tina said lightly, even sounding somewhat kind.
Arthur shivered all over, his attitude changing 180 degrees as he nodded vigorously. “I’ll go. I want to go. I also like jade.”
Esther and Audrey Woodwind frowned at Arthur’s strange behavior since seeing Tina but didn’t ask further.
Audrey Woodwind was happy to have a brother along to carry her bags. However…
The nine of them took two cars. Lily Ward and her daughter, along with Liliosa and her son, sat in one car. Griffin insisted on squeezing into their car to be their driver, so Damian let him be.
Tina and three others sat in Damian’s car. When Arthur saw Damian’s new car, he eagerly demanded to drive it himself.
From Whispering Pines to Oakhaven in Tongcheng District was a two-hour drive. They had been on the road for less than half an hour when Audrey Woodwind was already feeling nauseous from Arthur’s terrible driving skills and felt like she might throw up at any moment.
“Brother, stop the car! I feel sick,” Audrey Woodwind hurriedly called out for Arthur to stop.
But Arthur loved to play around despite being bad at it. When he saw Griffin’s car overtaking them with a disdainful look, he got angry and stepped on the gas without regard for anything else, nearly losing control while turning a corner.
Even Tina couldn’t stand it anymore, feeling her stomach churn. She couldn’t bear it any longer and yelled at Arthur, “Stop the car! Get out! I’ll drive!”
“No way!” Arthur kept his eyes fixed on Griffin’s car ahead. “I have to catch up with them!”
“Are you getting out or not?” Tina’s tone carried a hint of danger.
Arthur stiffened, feeling a chill crawl up his neck. His voice became as meek as a kitten’s. “Okay, cousin.”
When he pulled over, Audrey Woodwind immediately jumped out, breathing in fresh air and glaring fiercely at Arthur. “I will never ride in your car again!”
Arthur sheepishly scratched his nose as Tina yanked open the driver’s door, pulled him out, and threw him into the back seat before taking the wheel herself.
“Cousin…” Arthur glanced at Damian’s equally pale face and whined to Tina, “I don’t care; you have to catch up with him!”
He and Griffin were the same age and had been competing in everything since they were kids.
Tina shot him a cold glance, buckled her seatbelt without saying a word.
“Tina, can you handle this?” Audrey Woodwind asked doubtfully after recovering and getting into the passenger seat. She hoped Tina wouldn’t drive worse than her brother.
“Seatbelt,” Tina said flatly.
As soon as Audrey Woodwind fastened her seatbelt, Tina floored the gas pedal and sped off.
Audrey Woodwind screamed and grabbed the handle above her head but found that although Tina drove faster than Arthur, her driving was steady enough not to cause motion sickness even during sharp turns.
Up ahead, Griffin had his car stereo blaring disco music as he drove rhythmically.
“Damn it! We can’t lose to him!” Seeing Griffin’s flashy car ahead, Arthur rummaged through his phone connected to the car’s Bluetooth and found an even noisier song.
The faces of all three passengers turned green as Audrey Woodwind covered her ears and reached out to turn off the player.
“No! Don’t turn it off!” Arthur cranked up the volume even higher.
Griffin was driving Liliosa’s car. He enjoyed underground racing and was quite skilled behind the wheel. Although he couldn’t treat Liliosa’s car like a racecar due to its performance and road conditions, losing Arthur-a lifelong rival-was easy for him.
He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel in time with the music while checking his rearview mirror. To his surprise, Arthur’s car quickly caught up despite having disappeared from sight earlier, blasting loud music like they were challenging him.
“Damn!” He barely spared a glance at Lily Ward frowning at his taste in music before flooring the gas pedal again.
On the same road…Material © of NôvelDrama.Org.
Jared Farrell had just picked up Marie and Sophia and was driving toward the Farrell family’s southern district residence when loud music erupted behind them. Two luxury cars appeared besides his own vehicle-one chasing the other with blaring music echoing through the air.
“I haven’t been back in Ashbury for some time; is this some new trend?” Marie wondered aloud.
Jared Farrell frowned but then saw through his rearview mirror that one luxury car quickly overtook another right before his eyes-and inside that overtaking vehicle was Tina’s cold little face which almost made him mistake the gas pedal for brakes!
What was going on? How did Tina’s taste become so peculiar after only two hours?
He wanted to catch up but couldn’t drive too fast with Marie and Sophia onboard-so he could only watch helplessly as those two luxury cars sped away down an intersection ahead while playing disco tunes loudly enough for everyone around them hear clearly!
After thinking about it briefly-he decided sending voice message might be better than chasing them down physically: “Where are you going?”
After quite some time-Tina replied: “Oakhaven Jade Market.”
Jared Farrell paused momentarily; when did she become interested in jade?