Chapter 325: Trading IQ for Beauty?
"Achoo!"
Aboard the plane, Arabella Donovan’s sneeze made everyone turn to look.
Mrs. Donovan turned to her, concerned. "Are you catching a cold?"
"No, no, not at all. My nose just suddenly got itchy. The air in here is probably just too dry."
"That’s good. Let’s get our things together. We’re about to land."
The moment Arabella and her family stepped off the plane, they heard Zane Lynch’s booming voice from a distance.
"Over here! Over here! Eloise! Mr. and Mrs. Donovan! We’re over here!"
The Donovans followed the voice and were taken aback by the surprisingly large welcoming party waiting for them.
"Why did you bring the little one?" Mr. and Mrs. Donovan said, surprised to see Juliet Lyons holding a child. "It’s so cold out. Make sure he’s bundled up so he doesn’t get sick." They guessed she must be the Lynch family’s recently found, prospective eldest daughter-in-law.
Suddenly the center of attention, Juliet Lyons grew a little nervous. "I was afraid he’d wake up in the middle of the night and fuss if I wasn’t there, so I just brought him along. Don’t worry, I dressed him in extra layers and brought a blanket."
Curious, Arabella Donovan leaned over to get a look at the little guy sleeping on his mother’s shoulder, his face adorably flushed. Her eyes brightened. "He’s so cute. He’ll definitely be handsome when he grows up. Eat well, sleep well, and grow up safe and healthy."
A flicker of light crossed Juliet Lyons’s eyes, and a rare hint of excitement touched her face. "Thank you for your kind words."
After observing the two new members of the Lynch family, Arabella Donovan abruptly turned her gaze to the only other unfamiliar face in the group besides Juliet Lyons and her son.
’Ooh, so this is her—my sister’s tragic cousin? The one who mistook her savior, lost her body but not her heart, and was ultimately driven to a mental breakdown by a scumbag and a bitch, forcing her to run away from home, her whereabouts and fate unknown?’
"What was that voice?" Melody Lynch’s expression changed.
Zane Lynch’s eyes also flew wide in surprise. "It sounded like..."
The Donovan family was startled by their reactions. Eloise Donovan reacted instantly, rushing forward to grab Zane Lynch’s arm and giving it a hard twist, cutting off his unfinished sentence.
"Ow! Eloise, what’d you twist my arm for? That was obviously—OW!"
Before Zane Lynch could finish, she twisted again. His arm was probably already purple.
"Cousin, you must be exhausted from pulling an all-nighter to pick us up. You must be hallucinating. There wasn’t any sound just now!"
As Eloise spoke, she stared at him, her eyes wide, and pressed her fingers into the very spot she had just twisted. The threat was unmistakable.
"...You’re right. I must have been hearing things."
Thanks to his dramatic display, the odd reactions of the other Lynch family members went largely unnoticed.
Seeing the situation, Mr. and Mrs. Donovan quickly went over to Mr. and Mrs. Lynch, feigning a need for some parent-to-parent small talk.
As for Juliet Lyons, she was surprised, but not *that* surprised. Using her child to shield her expression, she couldn’t help but glance at her future sister-in-law.
Recalling the words she’d just heard, a flicker of worry crossed her eyes.
Melody Lynch’s brain felt like it was crashing. Before, she had been idly wondering if Arabella Donovan could cast hexes, but now that they’d met, she realized Arabella hadn’t opened her mouth, yet Melody could still hear her voice.
Melody Lynch couldn’t help but wonder if everything that had happened recently, all the stress, was finally... making her go crazy!
After a long moment, she seemed to finally find her voice, though it sounded faint and unsteady. "Hello, I’m Melody Lynch. I’m... Eloise’s cousin."
"I know. Hello. I’m Eloise’s sister, Arabella Donovan. You can just call me Serena."
"Right. Eloise’s sister is my sister too. If you don’t mind, you can call me Melody."
"Okay, Melody."
’Gotta say, this cousin is gorgeous, just as pretty as Eloise. How did she get fooled so easily by a loser like Howard Gallagher? Don’t tell me she traded her brains for those looks?’
"You... you... I... I..." Hearing Arabella’s thoughts again, Melody Lynch completely lost it. She pointed at Arabella, looking one step away from running headfirst into a wall.
Arabella: "???"
Eloise was mentally exhausted. She let go of Zane Lynch and grabbed Melody Lynch’s hand, gesturing for her to calm down.
"She... you... I..." As Eloise held her, Melody Lynch seemed to be subconsciously looking for confirmation, but her words were just a jumble.
Fortunately, Eloise could guess what she was trying to say and nodded at her emphatically.
Melody Lynch was stunned, questioning her very existence, but at least she calmed down.
"So it’s real. I’m not imagining things. Oh, wait—that means I’m not crazy."
Arabella frowned, observing her for a long moment. After hearing Melody’s words, her expression was indescribable.
’Okay, this cousin really doesn’t seem to be the sharpest tool in the shed. So simple and sincere... no wonder she was scammed so badly by Cassandra Lynch and Howard Gallagher.’
The Donovan Family: *Pfft...*
The Lynch Family: ’We’re not entirely sure what’s going on, but why do we suddenly feel so embarrassed?’
Melody Lynch was suffering an agony she couldn’t express. Thinking about the foolish things she’d just done and said, she wished she could dig a hole on the spot and bury herself. ’Listen to my excuse—no, listen to my explanation! I’m not really like this!’ (Insert desperate-hand-reach.jpg here.)
After a frantic, internal meltdown where she was tearing her hair out but couldn’t say a word, Melody Lynch finally processed the latter half of Arabella’s thoughts, as well as the first part—the part about mistaking her savior, losing her body but not her heart, the mental breakdown...
The other members of the Lynch family were slower on the uptake, but their expressions darkened in unison as they, too, processed the information.
’Cassandra Lynch and Howard Gallagher? Wasn’t it enough that Cassandra Lynch hurt our girl once? She had to try and hurt her a second time!’
’And who is this Howard Gallagher? Connecting her two thoughts... could he be the one who conspired with Cassandra Lynch to pose as Melody’s savior, get close to her, deceive her, and cause her to lose her innocence and have a mental breakdown?’
The Lynch family could barely contain their rage at the mere thought of this possibility.
At the critical moment, it was Miss Lynch who steadied the ship. She smiled faintly. "It’s getting late, and it’s too crowded to talk here. Let’s go home first."
"Right, right, let’s go. Our van is right outside."
Considering how many people were coming and how many they were picking up, the Lynch family had brought a van with a dozen or so seats, which was more than enough for both families.
Melody Lynch was now intensely curious about Arabella and deeply concerned about what she had just heard her ’say’.
The moment she got in the van, she couldn’t resist pulling Arabella to sit beside her. "Sit with me."
"Okay!" Arabella had been wondering how she could get closer to Melody, so she happily accepted the invitation.
No sooner had she sat down than she straightened up eagerly and turned to look at Melody.
’Alright, let’s see... let me just take a peek and find out who this little cousin’s *real* savior is.’