Chapter 26

After finishing their meal, Phoebe and her three companions took a stroll around the village before returning to their courtyard. By this time, Jamar’s team had also finished their meals. Sienna, with initiative, washed the dishes and tidied up the kitchen, though she was inwardly impatient and detested doing these chores. However, to perform well on the livestream and make the audience truly see her as a nice girl, she had to endure it.

As she finished tidying up and stepped out of the kitchen, she saw Phoebe and her group laughing and chatting as they walked in. Reminded of the photos Maddox had shared in the group chat earlier, Sienna suddenly felt extremely wronged, complaining inwardly, “Why did I have to do everything while Phoebe could enjoy freshly cooked meals?”

After Phoebe’s team returned, they sat in the courtyard chatting and continued weaving straw hats. Seeing this, Jamar couldn’t help but recall how badly they had all been sunburned that day. So, he walked over and sat down near them. “The straw hats you all wore today—were they made by you?”

“Yes,” Phoebe replied, knowing he definitely wanted her to weave straw hats for him.

Sure enough, Jamar said in the next moment, “Could we have some, too?”

Phoebe glanced at him, shooting back, “Don’t you have hands!” She wouldn’t indulge him anymore. To be precise, no one from the Jenkins family would ever receive her help again.

Being rejected by Phoebe again, Jamar felt a bit embarrassed. “If you don’t want to help, be my guest.”

Hearing this, Phoebe nodded in agreement. “Sure.” ‘She’s getting more infuriating,’ Jamar thought to himself.

Maddox, seeing Jamar at a loss for words, picked up his straw hat and deliberately boasted, “This straw hat looks good, with a wide brim that provides excellent sun protection, isn’t it great?”

Jamar, with a darkened face, retorted, “What exactly are you trying to say!”

Maddox grinned. “I’m saying this is something you guys could only envy. Keep soaking up the sun tomorrow.” This guy is getting more and more insufferable, Jamar cursed inwardly.

Seeing Jamar move closer to Phoebe again, Sienna felt an inexplicable sense of crisis and irritation. She approached with a sweet smile. “I also want to learn how to weave straw hats so our group won’t have to bake in the sun tomorrow.” She believed that if Phoebe could do it and Lexie had learned it, then she could too.

Phoebe was well aware that Sienna’s possessiveness over Jamar, along with Sienna’s competitive nature to outshine her, would prompt such a request. Therefore, she chose not to engage in the conversation. The other three in her team also remained silent, causing the atmosphere to suddenly become awkward, especially for Sienna, whose smile was about to freeze.

“Phoebe, Sienna is talking to you,” Jamar frowned. Thinking Phoebe was becoming increasingly unreasonable, he added angrily, “Bring it on me, but Sienna is innocent. Can’t you be reasonable!” Phoebe glanced at him with a cold gaze. “I’ve always said that don’t mess with me. I don’t want to have anything to do with you. Is that clear enough!”

Jamar was left speechless, choking up on his words. Sienna didn’t expect Phoebe to be so fierce. Although she was humiliated, she was actually quite pleased because viewers watching the livestream would definitely criticize Phoebe for being arrogant and rude. She looked like she had done something wrong. “Guys, stop fighting. It’s all my fault.” She reached out and tugged at Jamar’s clothes. “Jamar, it’s okay. If Phoebe doesn’t want to teach us, forget it.”

Phoebe shifted her gaze to Sienna. “Come on, who doesn’t know your true colors here!” She gave Sienna a half-smile. “By the way, I forgot to tell you that I recorded everything that happened that day from start to finish.”

Sienna’s expression changed slightly at Phoebe’s words, but she quickly composed herself. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She hadn’t expected Phoebe to actually record that day. ‘Cunning bitch!’ she cursed inwardly. If she had known that Phoebe was recording back then, she definitely wouldn’t have let her brothers let the other party leave so easily. Although she didn’t think she was wrong, it would be detrimental to her if the recording were to be released. She suddenly felt a bit regretful right now to have volunteered to learn how to make straw hats. She had originally guessed that, given Phoebe’s personality, there was no way Phoebe would teach her. So she said that on purpose to give Phoebe a worse impression among the live audience.

Phoebe raised an eyebrow, threatening, “If you come at me again, I won’t mind playing the recording for everyone to hear.”

Upon hearing this, most people present had a look of pure gossip in their eyes. It seems that Phoebe and this brother-sister duo really have some private relationship going on. Even a recording has surfaced, they wondered. The director’s eyes also sparkled, sensing the gravity of a new gossip.

Jamar looked at Phoebe in shock, with an expression that screamed, “I can’t believe you ended up like this. And how did you turn out this way?” Phoebe felt a pang of discomfort at the sight of his expression. Compared to her other brothers, Jamar was indeed far less cunning and far less intelligent.

Reece knew that Sienna didn’t want everyone to know about the relationship between her and Phoebe. Since coming here, Phoebe had been too aggressive. So he spoke up, trying to smooth things over. “We all know each other. If there are any misunderstandings, we can sit down and talk it out properly after we get back home. It’s no big deal.” This meant he wanted Phoebe to let it go.

Phoebe raised an eyebrow at him. “So, Mr. Hill thinks I’m making a mountain out of a molehill? Whenever someone initiates a conflict, it always ends up being my fault. I really can’t understand what you are thinking about. I said before I don’t want to have anything to do with you, so please, stay away. Just take good care of Sienna.” Her face dripped with helplessness. “Can’t I just avoid you?”

Since Reece wanted to help the angelic birch, she wouldn’t mind exposing a little more secrets. Phoebe’s words carried a lot of information, and everyone’s eyes were even more gossipy. Viewers in the livestream were extremely curious as well.

Reece didn’t expect Phoebe not only to continue misunderstanding his relationship with Sienna but also to drag him directly into the mess. ‘What does she mean by taking care of Sienna? Is she leading everyone to think wildly about my relationship with Sienna?’ He had a look of helplessness. ‘Theebs, stop messing around.’ He couldn’t understand why, even if Phoebe didn’t like Sienna, she couldn’t pretend to get along harmoniously on the show. After all, they were living together.

Before Phoebe could speak, Maddox chimed in, “Reece, you make it sound like Phoebe was doing something wrong and being unreasonable. But as a bystander, I didn’t feel she did anything wrong at all!” With that, he added meaningfully, “If I hadn’t heard that you two grew up together, I would have thought you had a grudge against her.”

“You’d be surprised because even I thought so,” Phoebe added with a wry smile.