Dumb Beauty & Genius

65.

Quinn hesitated to look at Shane for a while.
Quinn turns to Anna staring at her.

" Why ?" asked Anna.
Quinn stutters, " Because.. I can't win if I team up with you and your dumb plan. Let everyone win ? Hmph. Don't make me laugh."

" But.. how did you know ?" asked Quinn pausing in the middle to turn to Shane.
Shane smirks.

" Your behavior is indeed weird." said Shane standing up.
Shane walks away and leans against the wall, " you have been giving signals to them too. I saw you showing numbers to the opposite room."

" That's why, if you want to betray, " said Shane glaring at Quinn, " use your brain." said Shane as he points at his head.

Anna squats in front of Quinn.
Shane who is standing behind her turns away.

" Don't be sad, Quinn." said Anna.
Quinn's lips suddenly form into a smile.

" Sad ? You said I'm sad ?" Quinn smiles, " I'm a perfectly happy broccoli ! I can win this game, don't you see ?"

" Nnnno." said Shane exaggerating the effect.
Quinn gets confused, with her eyebrows getting closer in the process.

Quinn turns to Shane, " huh ?"
" Even though we can't win, but we can make you.. lose." said Shane.

" Eh ?" asked Quinn.
" Just think about it. If we let them take red apples as many as they want, their bank's apples will eventually slide down." said Shane.

" B-But you wouldn't want it, right ??" asked Quinn.
Shane smirks, " depends."

Quinn widens her eyes.
Anna sitting faraway at the corner, mutters to herself, " Ethan will lose."

***

Round 6

Anna exhales.
" They think you're too easy to be fooled. So, declare Apple this round." said Shane.

Anna presses the button after mustering enough courage.
Gilbert is shocked.

" Apple, two."

Gilbert moans as he watches his apples confiscated by Anna.

" The guard saw through the thief's lie. The apples go to the guard."

***

" You just got trash, you know ?" reminded Quinn.
Anna smiles, " That's okay."

Shane stands up.
Anna widens her eyes, " What's the matter, Shane ?"

Shane walks to her.
Anna stares at Shane staring at her.

Anna blinks with sparkling eyes.
" W-What ?" asked Anna without a clue.

Shane furrows his brows and walks away.
" I'm going next." said Shane.

Anna doesn't know what he meant, was it displeasure or in deep thought ?

***

Round 7

Gilbert sits down and waits for the next thief.
Much to his surprise, it's Shane.

" Heh." said Shane sitting down.
Gilbert is shocked and terrified.

' Calm down..' thought Gilbert.
" Guess what I brought." provoked Shane.

Gilbert presses the button.
" Apple. Two."

Shane opens the bag, " heh." mocked Shane again.

" The thief deceived the guard to call out two apples. The thief gets two apples from the guard as a compensation."