?Chapter 718:


    Just as the boredom was bing unbearable, Karen showed up. She sauntered over, a ss of watermelon juice in one hand and a deck of cards in the other, plopping down into a chair with a wide grin. “Perfect! We’ve got four. Let’s get a game going!”


    Malcolm raised an eyebrow, tapping his fingers on the table. “Alright then. What are we ying for?”


    Cards without some kind of wager were just a snooze-fest.


    Karen mentally calcted her rapidly dwindling funds and quickly blurted out, “Anything’s fine! Just not money!” Her dad had pissed off Wesley, and as punishment, her allowance had been shed. If she lost this game, she wouldn’t even have enough cash to watch Helena’s match.


    Malcolm gave her azy, knowing smirk. “Rx. Your pocket change doesn’t interest me.”


    Karen’s cheeks flushed crimson.


    “Feeling a little flushed there, huh?” Malcolm teased with a grin.


    Karen fluttered her hand in front of her face, mumbling, “Yeah… a little warm.”


    Suddenly, her chair was yanked back. Karen looked up, startled. Malcolm had dragged her chair into the shade and plopped himself down in her sunny spot. Her face turned an even deeper shade of red.


    After the chair swap, Malcolm turned to Wesley. “You wanna y?”


    Wesley didn’t answer right away, his eyes drawn to Elena. “Hey, you wanna y?”


    With nothing better to do, Elena nodded casually. “Yeah, sure. Let’s y.”


    Wesley just looked at Malcolm. “Deal them.”


    “Hold up, we haven’t decided what we’re ying for,” Malcolm pointed out. “Since nobody’s saying otherwise, how about this: whoever loses has to either down a drink or answer a question. And no bullshit answers.”


    Karen didn’t care, and Wesley just shrugged—as long as Elena was ying, he was in.


    And so, the four of them started their little card game right there by the ocean.


    g?lnσν???s．c????, a world of tales


    The rules were simple enough. Whoever got rid of all their cards first got to dish out a punishment to whoever was stuck with the most cards at the end.


    At first, Karen was all cocky and confident. But by the end of the round, she hadn’t even managed to y one card.


    “My luck is seriously terrible,” Karen groaned. “Am I really gonna lose the very first round?”


    Malcolm chuckled. “Karen, did you even consider who you were dealing with when you brought out the cards?”


    “Forget Wesley. Why the hell is Elena so damn good too?” Karen muttered to herself, annoyed.


    Before Karen could even blink, Elena was down to just two cards in her hand.


    “Wesley, you can’t go easy on Elena!” Karen whined, pouting like a spoiled brat.


    Wesley raised a subtle eyebrow. He hadn’t been going easy on Elena. The fact that Elena had wiped the floor with everyone at the bar made it pretty clear she knew her way around a deck of cards.


    Karen looked at Malcolm, hoping he’d be on her side for once.


    But Malcolm just shrugged. “Honestly, I can’t beat either one of them.”


    As expected, Elena won the round, and Karen, of course, was stuck with the most cards.


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