"Did you honestly think you could take on all of those men by yourself? Do you think so highly of yourself?”

The mockery in his tone was unmistakable.

Rosalynn immediately bristled in indignation:

She opened her mouth to counter him, but the sudden sting on her wound made her swallow her words. Instead, she hissed and scowled at Brian.

He made a point of pulling back a little.

"Oh, did that hurt? Since it hurts, you should know better than to act so recklessly in the future.”

Though his tone remained sarcastic, his movements slowed and became even gentler.

Rosalynn lowered her eyes to hide the brief flash of tenderness she felt.

To her chagrin, she found herself wondering if the reason for his anger was that she had gotten hurt.

“You're not very pretty, to begin with. You'll only grow ugly if you get a scar on your face.”

Brian let go of her chin and pulled away.

Just like that, whatever warmth Rosalynn had felt just now fizzled into thin air. She had to take a moment to collect herself before she found her voice.

"Well, | apologize for being ugly."

Brian was just a shallow man; she knew it.

"I'm not that shallow," Brian muttered as he tossed the tube of ointment into the bag.

For some reason, Rosalynn thought she heard a trace of embarrassment in his voice.

It occurred to her then that just a few hours ago, she had indeed called him a shallow man in a roundabout way.

Was this his misguided way of showing her that she was wrong?

His efforts were quite pointless, and she was still suspicious of his motives. But Rosalynn thought it was cute of him to go to such lengths.

Then came a frantic rapping at the car window, breaking the comfortable silence inside the car.

Rosalynn looked up and saw Carson.

"Stay in the car," Brian said, his entire demeanor turning cold in the blink of an eye.