Chapter 20

Phoebe and the others heard the notification and checked the group chat. When they saw Maddox’s post, they all burst out laughing. Lesic and James agreed that Maddox was definitely a well-known troublemaker in their circle. It wasn't nice to hurt someone's feelings like that, but they couldn't help feeling good about being on the same side.

Phoebe could just picture the guy getting all puffed up with anger like a blowfish. Imagining Jamar’s twisted face, Phoebe grinned and told Maddox, “Nice one!” She knew Maddox didn’t like Jamar and was happy to see him getting under Jamar’s skin. Maddox smirked and said, “You got it.”

After chowing down and having a few drinks, David Haynes took Phoebe and the rest to the orchard. Besides them, there were some other folks lending a hand. When they got there, David handed out gloves to each of them and said, “Time to pick some peaches.”

They all grabbed the gloves and said, “Sure thing.” Then they put on straw hats and followed the other helpers to start picking peaches. The three of them got really into it at the beginning, but after a while, their hands and necks started to ache from all the picking and looking up. Standing for so long made their waists and feet sore, and the sun was scorching hot.

Lexie sighed and said, “Thank goodness Pheebs thought ahead and made these straw hats, or we’d be in a real fix today.” James and Maddox chimed in, “Yeah, we’re lucky to have Pheebs around.” Even though they were gay, and all public figures, they still cared about their looks. They chatted while they were picking peaches. They were struggling; they had never done this before, especially in the blazing sun. If it wasn’t for the live broadcast, they would have given up. But seeing Phoebe’s cheerful face while picking peaches made them all push through.

A little later on, David grabbed a few bottles of water and handed them out to Phoebe and the others. Phoebe took the water bottle and looked at David, saying, “Thanks.” Then she noticed David’s pale face and remembered the strange star she had seen the night before. Phoebe asked, “Where’s your son!” David grinned and answered, “He went out to play early this morning.” His son was only seven and wouldn’t be much help in the orchard anyway. He was at that annoying age where he would run around the village all day, and they could barely keep him still.

Phoebe’s face tightened a bit. “From your stars, your son’s life is in danger.” David was shocked. “What do you mean?” “Can this attractive lady actually read stars? Is that even possible?” David wondered. Phoebe said, “It looks like he’s going to drown.” She quickly recalled something, then turned and bolted toward the orchard gate. “Hurry, we might be too late!”

Everyone there was stumped to see Phoebe take off like that. Maddox tossed the peach he was holding into the basket. “Let’s go see what’s happening.” Then he ran after her. David didn’t believe it at first, but now he felt a bit uneasy for some reason. He took off after them without a second thought. Seeing this, the others also ran after him. The photographer followed behind.

Chapter 201

Everyone was glued to the screen, and even viewers from other live broadcast rooms tuned in after hearing about the incident. Jamar’s and Reece’s fans responded with sarcasm and disbelief, flooding the comments with curses that annoyed others. Ten minutes later, Phoebe dashed to the irrigation reservoir in the village. As she stood by the reservoir, she spotted two boys splashing around in the water, having the time of their lives, completely oblivious to the danger looming ahead. Without wasting a moment, Phoebe tossed her hat and gloves on the ground and plunged into the water, swimming towards the two boys.

The people who were watching were totally shocked by what they saw. Even the folks in the live chat were super confused. David was relieved to see his son swimming in the water. When he saw Phoebe swimming over, he immediately yelled to his son, “Swim up here, you little rascal.” David’s son heard his father’s voice and looked over, but instead of swimming over, he swam away, saying, “No, I want to play for a while.” Then his cousin swam over as well.

Maddox noticed Phoebe continuing to swim forward without hesitation. Even though he hadn’t been in touch with Phoebe for a long time, he felt that she had her reasons for doing this. He looked at the two little boys swimming away into the distance. Then, he took off his hat and gloves, threw them on the ground, kicked off his shoes, and jumped into the water, swimming towards the two children. The people on the shore were shocked again when they saw Maddox’s actions, wondering what he was up to. The people watching the live broadcast didn’t understand either.

Everyone was complaining, and then out of nowhere, the water in the reservoir just surged forward. It formed these huge waves and grabbed the two kids. Lexic freaked out, yelling, “Oh no, they’re being swept away!” David’s face turned serious. “Who the heck opened the reservoir gate?” He had seen this happen before. Every time they released water for irrigation, it was a big deal.

Chapter 21