Chapter 9 The Driver Took Leave

Arabella gave a faint smile. "Not necessarily."

Flora leaned in and gave Arabella a hard slap on the shoulder. "What do you mean 'not necessarily'? It's definitely you. Last time you beat second place by more than ten points on that diagnostic test, and the paper was so hard."

"But now that there's a transfer student, do you think the rankings will change a lot?"

Arabella just smiled and said nothing.

The chatter in the classroom kept going, and Regina caught every word.

She hadn't expected Arabella to be this popular at school, and apparently her grades were pretty good too.

She'd been in this class for almost half a day, and only a handful of people had come to talk to her. Meanwhile, Arabella was practically surrounded by a crowd.

She told herself the only reason Arabella had so many people around her was because she was a daughter of the Obelon Family.

Once she secured her own place in the Obelon Family, people would treat her the same way.

Since she had just enrolled, there were a ton of forms to fill out, which took up the entire day.

She finally made it to the end of school and figured that since Arabella hadn't come with her in the morning, at least they could go home together.

But the moment she reached the school gate, she watched that new sports car she'd seen in the Obelon Family garage speed right past her.

Regina was so furious she could scream.

Her face fell, and the whole ugly expression was caught in the rearview mirror.

Arabella glanced at it lazily, then turned back to the road. She had no interest in wasting her time playing chauffeur for Regina.

Back home, she went straight to her room. School was everything to her now. In her past life, she'd been so caught up chasing after Theodric that she'd dropped from top of her grade all the way to the bottom, and never got into a decent university.

She'd told herself back then that if she married Theodric and joined the Boleyn Family, grades wouldn't really matter.

Looking back now, that thinking was just laughable.

She had nearly finished her homework when a sharp knock suddenly rang out at her door.

She frowned, her pretty face clouding with irritation.

"Arabella, get out here!"

Easton's furious voice cut right through the heavy door.

She wasn't going to bother responding. She could already guess exactly why he was here.

But Easton wasn't letting it go. The knocking got harder and harder. "I know you're in there. Get out here! If you don't come out, I'll have someone take your door off its hinges!"

The noise outside kept getting louder, and Arabella couldn't ignore it anymore.

She pulled the door open. "Easton, what do you want?"

The door swung open so suddenly that Easton's hand was still raised in mid-air. He pulled it back and demanded, "You're home. Where's Regina?"

"Am I her guardian? Do I need to track her every move?" Arabella asked, genuinely puzzled.

"Winston already told you yesterday that today was Regina's first day of school and to go with her. So what happened? You came home alone without her. What were you thinking?" Easton was furious. If he hadn't left work early and happened to pass the bus stop on his way back, he never would have known Regina had walked the whole way.

That far, all by herself, and she hadn't even said a word to them.

Regina was just too kind-hearted.

Arabella smiled. "Thinking about my studies, obviously."

"You were studying. What about Regina?" Easton was beside himself.

He'd thought that after everything he'd said, Arabella would at least realize she'd done something wrong and go apologize to Regina. But she didn't even seem to think she'd made a mistake.

Arabella found it even more baffling. "She studies on her own. What does that have to do with me?"

Easton pointed at her. "Come downstairs. Now."

He turned and headed down without another word. Arabella sighed and followed. She knew if she didn't, Easton would just keep bothering her. Better to get it over with in one go than drag it out.

What she didn't expect was to find not just Regina in the living room, but both of her other brothers as well.

She remembered that before Regina showed up, Winston was always swamped and barely home. Ever since she arrived, Arabella had been running into him far more often.

They really did care about Regina.

The moment Arabella's foot touched the living room floor, Winston's low, rough voice cut through the air. "Apologize."

"I have nothing to apologize for," Arabella said.

Winston's head snapped up. His sharp, furious eyes locked onto her. "You promised me last night you'd take Regina to school. So why did she go there and come back alone?"

He kept his anger in check, but every word came out hard and deliberate.

Meanwhile, Regina stood in the middle of the living room with her head down, not saying a word. But behind her lowered lashes, the excitement and delight in her eyes were almost impossible to hide.

She knew it. The moment the three Obelon brothers found out Arabella had ditched her on purpose, they'd blow up. And all they'd see was Arabella as someone who broke her promises and deliberately pushed her out.

"Winston, maybe Arabella had something come up last minute and didn't have time to tell me," Regina said softly. She'd grown up in that kind of environment and knew exactly how to play the victim — using weakness to get what she wanted.

"You're still defending her? Regina, you're too kind. Summit Academy is a half-hour drive from the Obelon house. Arabella took the driver and left you stranded. Who exactly was she trying to humiliate?" Easton's voice was rough with anger.

Regina already had it hard enough. Now that the Obelon Family had taken her in, she was still being treated like this.

As her brothers, they were ashamed to have a sister this petty and spiteful.

"So you're all staging an intervention just because Regina had to get to school on her own?" Arabella said, putting it together now.

She looked around the room. Her brothers all wore serious expressions. The air had thickened into something heavy and suffocating, and even breathing felt slower somehow.

Justin looked at Arabella with clear disappointment. "Arabella, what happened to you?"

Easton walked over to Regina's side, pointing at Arabella through gritted teeth. "How can you have zero empathy? The driver has been taking you to school for years. All we asked was for you to bring Regina along. That's it. And you can't even do that?"

The tension in the living room kept building. Every time someone opened their mouth, it was to go after Arabella.

Then, off to the side, the butler suddenly spoke up. "Mr. Winston Obelon, Mr. Justin Obelon, Mr. Easton Obelon — could there be some kind of misunderstanding here?"

Every head in the room turned toward him at once.

Caught under all those burning stares, the butler couldn't help but bow his head and wipe the cold sweat from his brow.

Easton let out a cold snort. "A misunderstanding? What misunderstanding? Arabella openly shut Regina out and took the driver on purpose to embarrass her. That's what happened."

"But... the driver called in last night to take the day off."