Coolest Girl in Town (Elise and Alexander)
Chapter 10

After getting back to the Griffith Residence, Elise breathed a sigh of relief. So much had happenedtoday, and she still had trouble making sense of it all. While she was in the car just now, she studiedAlexander's face closely through the rearview mirror, but it was so dark in the car that she didn't getto see his expression clearly. She had thought a lot about it on their way home, but she still couldn“tfigure out why he would step in all of a sudden. It would have been more in character for him to juststand by and look on. Maybe he’s not one to judge people by their looks? An actual good guyperhaps? Without giving it much thought, she went back to her room and changed out of theevening dress. After deliberately putting on a pair of old-fashioned pajamas, she walked intoAlexander's study; placed on the desk were a tall stack of documents and several photos scatteredhere and there. “Here's your suit jacket. Thanks for helping me out just now.” Alexander shot aglance at the woman standing in front of his desk. Then, he replied expressionlessly, “You don'tneed to give it back to me.” Elise replied, “If you think it's dirty, I can send it to the dry-cleaner's.”Alexander raised his head to look at her. “I don't want it anymore,” he replied slowly. Elise feltsuffocated for a second before she replied with a sneer, “You're leaving this to me? Then I'll throw itaway.” With that, she threw the suit jacket into the trash can. After throwing away the suit jacket, sheshifted her gaze to Alexander, who was sitting on the couch and reading the document he washolding without saying a word. Upon seeing this, she felt like she was being snubbed. At first, shehad wanted to wash the suit jacket, return it, and express her thanks, but it seemed that she hadread too much into his act of kindness. She turned around to leave, only to replace Danny standingperfectly still at the door. “Excuse me,” she said snappishly. Danny furiously shifted his gaze to Elisewhen he saw the suit jacket in the trash can. “Is this your doing?” Confronted by his strangequestion, Elise replied with a straight face, “Yeah, why?” The person before her blew his top all of asudden. “As expected of a bumpkin from the countryside! Who are you to copy Ashlyn's way ofdressing? Hah! I almost laughed myself to death back there. Don’t you know yourself? Even theprettiest clothes wouldn't make you look any better. Alexander saved you from embarrassmenttoday, yet you threw his clothes into the trash can after coming back. Do you know how much thesuit jacket cost? Pay for it, now!” Having had an eventful day, Elise didn't have the energy to quarrelwith Danny at first, but she could no longer stand it when he kept calling her “bumpkin.’ She shovedDanny out of her way, took a checkbook out of her bedroom, and tore a check off it. Then, shehanded the check to Danny, saying, “Here, take it. Is that enough?” Danny took the check andexamined it over and over. “This check’s not a counterfeit, right?” Elise was utterly speechless.Thinking that he had gotten something on her, Danny said with a mischievous grin, “Since you'refrom the countryside, I won't force you to fork out the money. How about this? We'll drop thematter if you apologize to Alexander.” Had anyone dared to speak to Elise like that at other times,she would've flung the check in their face right away. But now, she was only an ordinary personfrom the countryside. Shooting a disdainful glance at Danny, she retorted, “Why should I apologizewhen I've done nothing wrong?” Danny bellowed, “Be grateful when someone gives you an out,Elise!” ...... Just then, Jonah walked out of his bedroom. He was startled by Danny's shouts of anger."Apologize? For what?” Elise knew that Jonah and Robin had been friends for decades, so she didn'twant to make a fuss over it. “It's nothing, Grandpa Griffith. It's just a misunderstanding.” Thinkingthat she was wussing out, Danny said, “Grandpa, this bumpkin threw the clothes Alexander lent herinto the trash can. I wanted to spare her dignity, so I only asked her to make an apology. But I didn'texpect her to be so shameless.” “Mind your language, you brat!” Jonah gave Danny a noogie.“Ouch! It hurts!” Danny uttered before turning to glare at Elise. Elise returned the glare. A cleanhand wants no washing. I've done nothing wrong! she thought. “What's the matter exactly, Elise?”Jonah asked her affably.