Chapter 26
After dinner, Elizabeth and her friends took a stroll around the village before heading back to their lodging. By then, Kevin and his crew had already finished eating. Brenda took it upon herself to wash the dishes and clean the kitchen. She hated these chores but put up with them to look good on the live stream. Just as she finished and stepped out of the kitchen, she saw Elizabeth and her group walk in, laughing and chatting. Remembering the photos they had shared earlier, Brenda felt a pang of resentment. Why did she have to do all the work while Elizabeth got to enjoy a meal out?
Back at the lodging, Elizabeth and her friends sat in the courtyard, chatting and weaving storage baskets. Seeing this, Kevin couldn't help but think about how they had all been out in the sun earlier. He walked over and found a spot near Elizabeth. "Those straw hats you wore today, did you make them?" he asked.
"Yep!" Elizabeth quickly caught on to what Kevin was hinting at. He probably wanted her to make hats for them too. Sure enough, Kevin said, "Can you make a few for us?"
Elizabeth shot him a look. "Don't you have hands?" She was done doing favors for him. Actually, she was done doing favors for anyone in the Clark family.
Feeling a bit embarrassed after being turned down again, Kevin muttered, "If you don't want to help, then don't."
Elizabeth nodded, "Glad you understand."
Kevin fell silent, finding Elizabeth more infuriating by the day. Raymond, noticing Kevin's discomfort, picked up his own straw hat from the table and showed it off. "Isn't this hat nice? The wide brim gives great shade. Pretty cool, right?"
Kevin, with a dark expression, snapped, "What are you trying to say?"
Raymond grinned. "I'm saying you can keep envying us. Enjoy the sun tomorrow."
Kevin stayed quiet, feeling that Raymond was getting more malicious. Brenda, seeing Kevin getting close to Elizabeth again, felt a wave of unease. She walked over with a sweet smile. "I want to learn how to weave straw hats too. That way, our group won't have to suffer under the sun tomorrow."
She figured if Elizabeth could do it and Nancy could learn it, then she could too. Elizabeth, aware of Brenda's possessiveness over Kevin and her competitive nature, didn't respond. The others stayed silent, making the atmosphere awkward. Brenda's smile started to falter.
Kevin frowned. "Elizabeth, Brenda is talking to you." He was getting fed up with Elizabeth's attitude. "If you have a problem, take it out on me. Brenda is innocent. Can you stop being so unreasonable?"
Elizabeth shot him a cold look. "I told you before, don't provoke me. I have no desire to deal with any of you. Is that clear enough?"
Kevin was taken aback. "You!"
Brenda hadn't expected Elizabeth to be so blunt. Though she felt humiliated, she was secretly pleased. The live audience would surely criticize Elizabeth for being arrogant and rude. Putting on a look of having done something wrong, she said, "Don't be like this, it's all my fault." She tugged at Kevin's sleeve. "Kevin, let it go. If Elizabeth doesn't want to teach, then I won't learn."
Elizabeth turned her gaze to Brenda. "We know each other so well, don’t we? You're so hypocritical." She gave Brenda a half-smile. "Oh, and by the way, I recorded everything that happened the other day."
Brenda's expression faltered for a moment before she composed herself. "I don't know what you're talking about." She hadn't expected Elizabeth to have recorded that day. Elizabeth was too cunning. If she had known about the recording, she wouldn't have let her brothers let Elizabeth off so easily. Although Brenda didn't think she was wrong, if the recording were made public, it would be detrimental to her. She suddenly regretted volunteering to learn how to weave straw hats earlier. She had guessed that Elizabeth wouldn't teach her and had said it on purpose to make Elizabeth look worse to the live audience.
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "If you provoke me again, I won't hesitate to let everyone hear the recording." At this, most of the people present looked intrigued. It seemed there was indeed something between Elizabeth, Kevin, and Brenda, given that there was even a recording. Arthur's eyes also lit up; this was big news!
Kevin looked at Elizabeth in shock, his face showing disbelief and confusion at how she had changed. Elizabeth felt uncomfortable under his gaze. Compared to his other bad brothers, Kevin was indeed much more naive and foolish.
Eugene knew Brenda didn't want everyone to know about her relationship with Elizabeth. Since Elizabeth arrived, her actions had indeed been a bit excessive. So he tried to mediate, "We're all acquaintances here. If there's any misunderstanding, we can sit down and talk it out when we get back to Clifftonshireburg." His implication was for Elizabeth to let it go.
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at him. "So, Eugene, you think I'm the one being unreasonable? Every time, it's not me who starts the trouble, but it always ends up being my fault. I can't understand your logic. I've already said I don't want to engage, so please respect that. Just take care of your Brenda." She looked exasperated. "I can't even avoid you, can I?"
Since Eugene wanted to help Brenda, they could deal with it together. Elizabeth's words carried a lot of weight, and the curiosity in everyone's eyes grew stronger. The live audience was also increasingly curious.
Eugene hadn't expected Elizabeth to not only continue misunderstanding his relationship with Brenda but also drag him into it. What did she mean by "just take care of your Brenda"? Wasn't she leading everyone to speculate about his relationship with Brenda? Eugene looked helpless. "Elizabeth, stop making a scene." He couldn't understand why Elizabeth couldn't at least pretend to get along with Brenda for the sake of the show. This was a live broadcast; did she have to make such a fuss?
Before Elizabeth could respond, Raymond chimed in. "Eugene, listen to yourself. It sounds like you're accusing Elizabeth of doing something wrong and being unreasonable. But as an onlooker, I didn't see her do anything wrong!" He added meaningfully, "If I didn't know you and Elizabeth grew up together, I'd think you had a grudge against her."
Elizabeth, smiling wryly, added, "I agree."
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