CHAPTER 7: CHAPTER 7: THE PASSENGER SEAT WAS SNATCHED BY MISS PICK-ME

Eugene ignored his words, grabbed the doorknob, and prepared to open the door.

"Brother, give her to me." Ethan’s voice softened, tinged with a pleading tone, "I like her. Two years ago, when you first brought her home, I was deeply attracted to her."

Eugene’s hand paused, his body stiffened, standing motionless with his back to Ethan, enveloped in a somber aura.

"I’ve never asked anyone for anything since I was a child." Ethan got up from the ground, touched his mouth corner, and wiped off the blood, "I’m begging you, brother."

Their brotherly bond had always been good; that word ’brother’ was warm yet humble.

Eugene calmed himself, his voice deep, "Anything else I can let you have, but not her."

Finishing his words, he opened the door and went out.

Ethan yelled angrily, "If you have the guts, keep guarding her all your life. Besides me, there are many men waiting to steal her away. With your attitude of not cherishing her, I wonder how long you can hold on."

Eugene strode towards the room, the voice behind especially grating.

The elders in the living room who heard the commotion stood up nervously, "What happened? What’s going on?"

Eugene, with a cold face, ignored everyone, entered the room, and slammed the door.

——

After discussion, the second uncle and aunt stayed in the hometown to accompany grandma for a while. The others returned to the city for work.

In the afternoon, almost all the luxury cars in front of the villa drove away.

Victoria Sinclair packed her clothes, bid farewell to grandma, and walked out of the villa with her luggage bag in hand.

Not far away, Ms. Feng and a group of sunflower-seed-cracking women gathered under the big banyan tree, whispering to each other, glancing in her direction from time to time.

She headed to Eugene’s car.

Through the windshield, she saw that Vivian Miller was already sitting in the passenger seat.

She went to the trunk, put the luggage bag in, and closed the door.

She came to the rear door of the car, just opened it, and Jenny Vaughn cast a cold glance at her and impatiently said, "Sit over there."

Victoria didn’t argue with her, closed the door, walked around to the other side, and got in.

She fastened her seatbelt, silently gazing at the scenery outside the window.

Eugene started the car and drove away.

As the wind blew, the lush green countryside flashed frame by frame across her eyes, the evening glow dyeing half the sky red.

The scenery was beautiful, but her mood was gloomy and damp as if it were about to rain.

"Let’s listen to some music." Vivian naturally operated the car’s sensor screen, with a familiarity as if it were her own car. Her tone was light, "Jenny, what song do you want to hear?"

Jenny Vaughn smiled broadly, her body beginning to sway slightly, "Play a DJ track, let’s get hyped."

"Okay." Vivian searched for a very popular DJ track.

The explosive and catchy melody vibrated in the car, with Jenny and Vivian singing along and sometimes swaying their bodies, full of enthusiasm, bursting with excitement.

Victoria only found it noisy.

The noise made her head buzz painfully, as if her eardrums were about to shatter, even her heart felt somehow irregular.

She leaned her head against the window and closed her eyes.

Eugene reached out and pressed a button.

Instantly, the car was enveloped in silence.

Vivian stared in astonishment at his cold profile.

Jenny leaned forward, turning her head to look at Eugene who was focused on driving, pouting, "Brother, why did you turn off our music?"

Vivian glanced at Victoria, who was resting her eyes, and pretended to be considerate, "Jenny, Eugene doesn’t like music that’s too loud; it affects his driving."

Jenny complained, "Sitting in the car for four hours is so boring. Listening to music makes the time pass faster."

Vivian adopted a sister-in-law stance, siding with Eugene, patted Jenny’s head to comfort her, "Be good, we won’t listen to music so your brother can drive well."

"Humph!" Jenny pouted and sat back against the seat, turning her head to gaze out the window.

Vivian’s lips curled in a smile, her eyes coolly glancing at Victoria. After sitting up straight, she started a conversation with Eugene, "Eugene, I remember there’s a new product launch tonight, can you make it?"

Eugene replied unhurriedly, "Yes."

"I would like to go and have a look, take me along, will you?"

"Hmm."

Vivian smiled shyly, "Since it’s such a grand occasion, should I wear a gown?"

"Whatever." Eugene’s tone was indifferent.

In the following conversation, Eugene’s responses were few and far between.

These four hours felt exceptionally long for Victoria.

When they entered the city, it was already dark. The southern city was bathed in dazzling neon lights, brimming with vitality.

Arriving at the entrance of the residential complex, Victoria was the first to get out of the car.

She looked exhausted, all her energy drained, and she slowly closed the car door.

Without saying a word of goodbye, she even forgot to take her luggage bag from the trunk, dragging her heavy steps into the complex.

The security guard greeted her, and she forced a smile, nodding slightly.

She took a deep breath, looking up at the towering luxury apartment building.

With thousands of lights on, she thought the families living in such a luxurious space must be very happy, right?

Why has her life turned out like this?

Outside the complex, the vehicle remained unmoving.

Eugene looked out the car window until Victoria’s figure disappeared from view.

Vivian looked at Eugene’s forlorn profile, tightly clenching her jaw.

Jenny, impatient from waiting, asked curiously, "Brother, what are you looking at? Let’s go, take me home!"

Vivian smiled, "Let’s go. Don’t you have that new product launch event later?"

Eugene retracted his gaze and turned the steering wheel.

The vehicle slowly departed.

——

Victoria arrived home, turned on the lights, changed into slippers, and placed her shoes in the cupboard.

She closed the door, walked to the sofa, and lay down sideways weakly, closing her eyes.

The sourness of the past several days could no longer be contained at this moment, and tears silently streamed down, slipping from the corners of her eyes.

The house was empty, enveloped in solitude.

Just then, her phone rang.

She took the phone out of her pocket, sat up weakly, wiped away her tears, and looked at the caller ID.

Her heart grew even more weary.

The word ’Mom’ made her feel a suffocating pressure.

She couldn’t not answer.

Victoria answered and held it to her ear, "Mom."

"I heard your husband’s grandfather died?"

"Mm, it happened a few days ago, and now he’s buried."

"Why didn’t you tell us? As in-laws, we should have gone over for the funeral and given some money." Her mother’s complaining voice was extremely sharp.

"I already gave the money for you." Victoria didn’t want her family to come over.

She herself didn’t get any respect from her husband’s family, her family would only be more neglected.

Such grievance was enough for her to bear alone.

Her mother was silent for a moment, cleared her throat, then formally got to the point, "Victoria, you haven’t sent us the family expenses this month."

Victoria frowned, "Didn’t I give you ten thousand last month?"

"Last month was last month; this month is this month. How can you mix them up?"

The only purpose of her mother’s call was to ask for money.

Like a bottomless pit, never having enough to spend.

Victoria leaned powerlessly against the sofa, "Mom, I already told you last time, that ten thousand was all my savings, I don’t have any money now, and business is bad at the company, I need to spend a lot of money on research..."

"If it weren’t for you, would our family have had to live so miserably? Your brother originally had a promising future, if it weren’t for you, would he be so poor that he can’t even support his own family? You ungrateful..." Her mother’s voice was sharp and angry, with a crying tone.