Linara was now in Arka's car. She had finally been forced to go along with the arrogant man's wishes. She didn't care if she lost her grandfather's other assets, except for the house. Linara couldn't lose that house filled with precious memories—memories of her late grandfather and her mother, more valuable than anything in the world.
Beside her, Arka smiled smugly at having won his argument with Linara. Unfortunately, that smile didn't last long when he accidentally drove through a muddy puddle. Mud splattered all over his expensive imported car.
"Damn it, what a terrible road!" he cursed.
Linara, sitting beside him, merely snorted when she heard Arka's outburst. "Who told you to come here in an imported car like that? You should've taken a pickup truck instead!" she shot back.
Arka, who had been focused on the road, turned to look at her. "How was I supposed to know the roads in the village would be like this?"
Linara laughed mockingly. "Aren't you supposed to be that supposedly brilliant lawyer? Why didn't you research what the village was like first?"
Arka gripped the steering wheel tightly. He was too embarrassed to admit that the village girl's words beside him were true. He was furious with Fahri and had left for the village immediately without finding out what it was like first.
Linara chose to look at the scenery beside her rather than at Arka, who continued grumbling irritably.
She hadn't expected to leave the village where she had grown up all this time—not for such an absurd reason as an arranged marriage, no less. What on earth had her late grandfather been thinking, arranging this marriage for her unilaterally?
Linara's reverie was broken when her stomach suddenly growled loudly.
GRRRR.
Arka's sharp eyes immediately flicked toward her, making Linara instinctively pull her loose knit jacket closed, her face flushing with embarrassment.
"Well, it's only natural. I was taking care of work and haven't had a chance to eat," Linara explained, trying to ease her embarrassment.
"Then just endure it," Arka said indifferently. After all, there were only rice fields and forests on either side of the road. Where were they supposed to find food?
Linara gave him a crooked smile. She had prepared for anything. She opened her tote bag and pulled out the crackers she had bought that morning, planning to have them with lunch later.
CRUNCH!
The incredibly crisp crunch made Arka press the brakes a little harder in surprise. He turned toward her in horror, eyes bulging as he watched white crumbs begin to fall onto Linara's pants, with several of them rolling merrily onto the car's velvet carpet.
"What are you doing!" Arka shouted.
"I'm filling my stomach. You told me to endure it, remember?" Linara replied casually, continuing to put the crackers in her mouth.
"Miss Linara, do you know how much it costs to maintain the leather seats and custom carpet in this car? Don't dirty my car with that... greasy food!"
Linara stopped chewing and stared at Arka with a furrowed brow, as if the man beside her had just forbidden her from breathing. "It's just a cracker, Mr. Arkana. Pick it up and it'll be gone. Besides, I'm hungry. I haven't eaten since this morning because I was busy getting everything packed before you showed up and ruined my day."
"That doesn't change the fact that you shouldn't dirty someone else's car, Miss! I don't care how you do it—clean up all those cracker crumbs." Arka handed Linara a tissue box.
CRUNCH!
Contrary to Arka's expectations, Linara didn't care. She continued eating her crackers serenely.
Arka was stunned by Linara's attitude. "You're truly the most stubborn and ill-mannered girl I've ever met, Miss Linara."
"And you're the most nitpicky, arrogant, and annoying man I never want to see again," she shot back.
Arka drew a deep breath and gripped the steering wheel tightly, forcing himself to control his emotions so he wouldn't suffer a heart attack at such a young age. He drove on, cutting through the road as it began to enter an area of smooth, paved highway.
Once they arrived, somehow, he would have to discuss this engagement with his grandfather all over again.