Chapter 490: Chapter 490: His Care (4)
Shane Caldwell watched the perfectly matched pair, their silent understanding on full display. A bitter feeling churned in his gut, followed by a wave of complete helplessness. He unconsciously clenched his fists, but against a rival as powerful as Nathaniel Nathan, it was completely useless.
He knew for a fact that in a fight, he was no match for Nathaniel Nathan. âWhat a painful realization!â
And he would absolutely never admit that they were truly a perfect match.
Shane Caldwell couldnât bear to watch any longer and returned to his seat.
Nathaniel Nathan glanced at Vera Xavier. She flinched guiltily and quickly started to placate him. "A hundred of him couldnât compare to you. Why would you lower yourself to his level? Heâs just an ignorant kid. You donât have to pay him any mind in the future."
Most importantly, Vera knew that Shane Caldwell was her paternal cousin. She had never, not for a single moment, had any romantic feelings for him.
She had no idea that Shane was the one who had written that love letter back then, so she was unaware of the little conflict between him and Nathaniel. She just thought that since Shane was her cousin, it wasnât right for Nathaniel to beat him to a pulp.
âBut judging by the way Shane is acting, he seems to have feelings for me. Iâll have to find a chance to shut that down completely in the future.â
Trains in this era werenât very fast. They would often stop for maintenance after running for a while, or to let faster trains pass. Each delay lasted at least an hour. As a result, the trip from Crestfall to Veridia took a grueling three days and three nights.
Nathaniel wasnât a man of many words. Vera tried to draw him into conversation, chattering about anything and everything, but he mostly just responded with a simple "Mhm." After a while, Veraâs throat grew dry from talking by herself. It was all getting rather boring. âHeâs so dull,â she complained inwardly.
Nathaniel, however, was looking at her and thinking about certain... "interesting" things. But it wasnât exactly convenient on the train. His face would flush just from holding her hand while others stared. He had a million ideas swirling in his mind, but he could only suppress them, which made him even quieter.
In those days, there were no smartphones or tablets. MP3 players didnât even exist yet. There were only Walkmans and radios. The cassette tapes for the Walkman only had a few songs on them, and the radio signal was poor while the train was moving. The entire journey was, therefore, rather boring.
But someone is always looking to add a little color to a dull journey. This was an era of train robbers and highwaymen, of incidents like the great Moscow train robberies. In the middle of the night, a dozen or so burly men, each carrying a large woven plastic sack, boarded Veraâs train at a small station.
People were constantly getting on and off the train, so Vera didnât pay them much mind. She had drunk too much water out of boredom during the day and had to go to the restroom.
As she passed the restroom, someone whistled at her. She instinctively turned to glance at them and saw the wolfish glint in the eyes of several large men.
Veraâs brow furrowed slightly at the sight of them, but she said nothing and went straight into the restroom.
When she came out of the restroom, a weaselly-looking man in his twenties reached out to touch her face. "Well now, what a pretty little thing. Why donât we be friends?"
Vera was not known for her good temper. âOnly Nathaniel is allowed to touch my face!â
Besides, one look at this man told her he was no good. Nine times out of ten, he was just another punk or a hooligan.