Chapter 84 - 83: The Wager
「The last day of the variety show, 8 AM.」
The livestream had just started, and the screen was filled with the sight of Little Nugget fast asleep.
The dog was snuggled up all by himself on a new little bed, letting out soft "Zzz zzz" sounds.
[Dog-morning, everybody~]
[Little Nugget! He’s so adorable when he’s sleeping~]
[So cute. Love him. Wanna kiss.]
[Wait, don’t tell me this entire room belongs to just one dog.]
[Isn’t it obvious, bro? All his food, water, and toys are right there.]
[Haha, that’s the life, haha, this dog lives better than I do, haha.]
[You can’t do this to us. Hitting me where it hurts first thing in the morning. (Smiling emoji)]
After lingering on Goldie for a moment, the camera cut to the dining room.
The siblings, Yvonne and Caleb Lowell, were sitting at the dining table eating breakfast.
Nina Jennings came down the stairs, yawning ungracefully, and plopped down next to Yvonne Lowell.
"Morning, Brother Caleb. Morning, Yvonne."
Caleb Lowell nodded slightly and poured her a glass of milk. "Morning."
"Thanks, Brother Caleb."
[Time flies. Today is the last day of the livestream.]
[This might be the last time we eat breakfast with Yvonne and Lowell.]
[Sigh, I can’t bear to part with Yvonne. She just came back, and now we have to say goodbye already.]
[Hope the production team does the right thing and releases a special cut with just Yvonne’s scenes to soothe my fragile heart.]
[I second this!!!]
[Count me in!!!]
Yvonne Lowell lifted her gaze and gave her a sidelong glance. "Up so early today?"
"It’s all Brother Harrison’s fault. He insisted on betting to see who could wake up earlier today."
Nina Jennings took a bite of toast and looked around. "Well, looks like I won."
Yvonne Lowell raised an eyebrow. "What, were the stakes too good to resist?"
"You get me!" Nina Jennings gave her a thumbs-up. "He said if I won, I’d get to use his McLaren P1 in the garage whenever I’m in Kingsland."
Caleb Lowell’s hand, holding his coffee cup, paused for a moment. Then, as if nothing had happened, he brought the cup to his lips and took a sip.
"No way! I won!!" Harrison Lowell rushed into the dining room. "I was up a long time ago, I just hadn’t come downstairs yet."
Without even looking at him, Nina Jennings said, "Oh? And your proof?"
"I’ll show you my phone’s screen time! I swear, I just lost track of time scrolling through short videos!" Harrison Lowell quickly pulled out his phone to prove his case.
"Where’s your witness? Who’s to say you didn’t just mute the videos and go back to sleep?" Nina Jennings was completely implacable.
"I’m not lying! Look, I’m only halfway through this video about a dismemberment case!"
Harrison Lowell played the video he’d just been watching, and a familiar background track filled the air.
[Whoa, that sent a shiver down my spine, dude!!]
[What kind of psycho watches this stuff in broad daylight? I save it for the middle of the night!]
[It’s one of those "never shows up on your feed during the day, but you can’t escape it at night" videos.]
[Uh, am I the only one focused on the fact that they’re betting an eight-figure supercar?]
[You are not alone~~~]
[Who are you calling not a person?! You’re the one who’s not a person!]
[...Damn it! I was agreeing with you!]
[LMAO, F for our fallen comrade.]
Nina Jennings squeezed her eyes shut, covered her ears, and started shouting, "I’m blind! I’m deaf! I don’t care! All I know is that I came downstairs first."
Harrison’s lips twitched. ’Okay, fine. So you’re just going to play deaf and blind, are you?!’
Yvonne, getting a headache from the noise, cut in. "By the way, that car is our eldest brother’s. It has absolutely nothing to do with him."
Nina Jennings’s expression twisted for a moment, and she looked ready to murder Harrison Lowell.
Just then, Caleb Lowell spoke up. "If you like it, Nina, just take it for a drive. It’s only gathering dust in the garage anyway."
"Thank you, Brother Caleb! I’ll just drive it occasionally when I’m in Kingsland. Besides, I’m an amazing driver, I even have a racing license! I promise I’ll take perfect care of your baby and bring it back without a single scratch!"
She finished with a glare in Harrison Lowell’s direction.
"No problem. Just be safe," Caleb Lowell said, standing up. "I’m heading to the office. See you all tonight."
"Goodbye, big brother."
"Goodbye, Brother Caleb."
Harrison Lowell muttered under his breath, "You’d rather let it gather dust than let me drive it. I guess your two sisters are the only family you care about."
Caleb Lowell shot him a cool glance before turning and walking away.
’Some people have absolutely no self-awareness,’ Caleb thought. ’Does he really not know how terrible his driving is?’
’Is there a single car he’s driven that hasn’t come back with a scratch?’
’Oh, right. Except for Nola’s ’Little Black.’ He probably knows that if he scratched that one, he couldn’t afford the repairs even if he sold himself.’
’Or maybe he just doesn’t think a car his brother paid for is worth taking care of. Heh.’
Harrison Lowell sat down across from Nina Jennings. "Nina, I still really want to drive your Lykan HyperSport. Give me a chan—mmph..."
Nina Jennings had quickly stuffed a fried dough stick in his mouth, shutting him up. She had to keep up her own charade, after all!
But Yvonne Lowell had heard. She raised an eyebrow, looking at the two of them with a smirk.
Nina Jennings frantically shot him a look. "You misheard, Brother Harrison! What Lykan? I don’t have a Lykan!"
Harrison Lowell spat out the dough stick in annoyance. "I’m not eighty years old. I know what I heard. It’s the same gray model as the flying supercar in *Furious 7*. Didn’t you show me a picture? You even said you’d have it shipped over if I won."
Nina Jennings was blinking so hard her eyelids were about to cramp, but the idiot still wasn’t getting her signals and just kept rambling.
"Why are you blinking so much? Is there something in your eye? I can recommend some good eye drops later. I use them myself."
’Damn it,’ she thought. ’If I can’t shut him up, maybe I should just poison him!’
Knowing the cat was out of the bag, Nina Jennings shot him a vicious glare before turning back to Yvonne Lowell with an awkward laugh.
"Hehe, Yvonne... I was absolutely certain I was going to win, which is why I put your ’Little Gray’ on the line..."
Yvonne scoffed. "You two are really something. Making a bet where even the stakes are mooched off someone else."
[PFFFT HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!]
[Is this the legendary Dumb and Dumber? I’m dying.]
[Oh my god... these two clowns...]
[Lowell and Yvonne: First of all, we didn’t do anything! And neither did our cars!]
[And here I was wondering how they could afford to make such a huge bet. Turns out neither of them was putting up their own car!]
[Yeah, but they at least *actually have* those cars!! A Lykan HyperSport? A McLaren P1? This has to be a novel, right? We’re all just NPCs in some story about the ultra-rich, aren’t we?! AREN’T WE?!]
[Don’t say it! Say it again and I’ll hang myself on your front door, I swear to god!]
"Hmm?!!" Harrison Lowell’s eyes lit up, and he started rubbing his hands together greedily. "Nola, my dear little sister Nola, lend your second brother..."
"Not that one," Yvonne Lowell cut him off. "But I can give you a different one."
’She had plenty of cars, but there were only a few she truly loved. ’Little Gray’ was one of them, and she couldn’t let him wreck it.’
’It was better to just pick one out and give it to him. That would shut him up.’
Harrison was overjoyed for a second, then he eyed her warily. "Tell me what kind of car first. What if you try to give me some old clunker? Who am I supposed to complain to then?"