Bring Your A Game, Mr
Chapter 165

Chapter 165 My Car's Malfunctioning

Elise's ranking quickly increased to the top three of her group. As it stood at the current moment, Alexander was ahead of her.

Since this was the preliminary stage where groups competed, she only needed to be in the top three to qualify for the final round. Thus, she maintained her steady speed and had no thoughts of racing toward the finishing line. As she drove, she listened to the hum of the car engine where everything seemed normal and the fear in her heart was finally lifted.

As the car crossed the finishing line, cheers erupted around her once again. In the end, she came in first for the group stage and he followed behind her at a close second.

Her gaze slightly darkened as she sat inside the car. Then, she alighted from the vehicle and upon noticing the on-site car mechanics, she waved her hand at them. "Please help me take a look to see whether the car is malfunctioning."

Although she wasn't speaking loudly, the surrounding employees had heard her and began to look at her one by one.

The lead mechanic quickly responded and started to inspect Elise's car.

"Is something wrong with your car, Sue?"

"There can't be anything wrong with it, can there? You came in first! You're going to enter the final round. What are you going to do if something has happened to the car?"

The crowd chattered, but Elise only pursed her lips silently and waited for the lead mechanic's confirmation after he was done with the inspection. "There's nothing wrong with this car."

It was such a simple sentence, yet it was enough to cause her heart to sink. If the car wasn't in trouble, did that mean the other party hadn't made their move yet?

If so, the final event...

"I see. Thank you," she replied before closing the car door.

After that, Alexander made his way over to her while simpering, "Your keys, Sue."

Now that he was facing Sue, he no longer had his usual attitude and instead gave off the appearance of a humble fan. His kind of uncharacteristic behavior had immensely surprised her. Nonetheless, Elise didn't reach out to accept the car keys; she only coughed lightly as she intentionally altered her voice before saying, "I still intend to use your car for the final round. Is that okay?" While Alexander had no idea why Sue fancied his car so much, he was only all too willing to concede to her request. "Of course! You can have it for as long you want."

"Thank you," she replied as she turned to leave.

Then, he quickly gave chase. "Your return to the racetrack has left me surprised, Sue. I wonder if I may have the honor of inviting you out to dinner."

Upon hearing his invitation, Elise frowned. She never thought that he'd chase after her only to ask that question. Alas, if she were to have dinner with him, he would see that Sue was actually Elise since she only wore a cap and mask today.

Thus, she rejected him off the bat. "I'm sorry, Mr. Griffith, but I have to leave right away as I'm busy."

This time, Alexander was the one to be surprised. Sue actually knows my name.

As he was caught up with that thought, she went farther away. He couldn't help letting out a small smile while watching her silhouette disappear into the distance. It was after many years that he finally had the chance not only to meet her but to converse with her in person. To him, it was a lucky day indeed.

After leaving the race, a brooding Elise sat in the car. She had clearly heard the other party expressing that they intended to make their move today. Yet, nothing had happened at all. That thought itself made her frown deeply, but the sound of her cell phone ringing in her pocket interrupted her at that moment.

"Coming to the bar, H?"

"Yup," she answered. "Give me 10 minutes."

Julius understood what she meant. "Alright. I'll wait for you here then."

Once Elise arrived at the bar, she headed into the room upstairs, whereupon he immediately snubbed out the cigarette in his hand. "Your performance at the race today was excellent. While I didn't get to witness it in person, I could tell from the live stream that you'll have no problem winning this championship. The only thing I'm curious about is why you would want to switch cars on the spot when you went through so much trouble to get a vehicle from me."

Without explaining anything, she merely answered, "It looked good, so I wanted to give it a try."

Of course he didn't think she was telling the truth since he had watched the race and saw Alexander driving her car. Moreover, from what he knew, she was currently staying at Griffith Residence. Nevertheless, he didn't expose her lie and only quipped, "It's a pretty good car, but it doesn't perform as well as yours does."

With a grunt, Elise gently answered, "I don't rely on performance to win my races."

What she relied on was her skill. Nothing else mattered.

As Julius appreciated her confidence, he acquiesced and began to look forward to the race tomorrow.

The final round of the racing competition was even grander than the preliminary one. There were around 20 to 30 thousand audience members in attendance to the point where even Julius had secured a VIP ticket. As a result of his ticket, he was directly ushered into the auditorium to await the beginning of the match.

Over at the backstage, Alexander waved to Elise and held a bottle of water toward her the moment she arrived. Then, she accepted the bottle with a word of thanks before sipping it.

There were only seven competitors for the final round, all of whom stood out during the group stage for their considerable skills.

"Competitors, the race will begin in five minutes. Please head to the waiting area to get ready," a staff member stepped forward to announce.

As Elise stood up, she informed Alexander, who was next to her, "Let's go."

He grunted in acknowledgment and closely followed her.

There was thunderous applause from the audience the moment those two appeared. Everyone was so focused on her that he became nothing more than an accessory, yet he felt extraordinarily honored. "Good luck, Sue!"

"We'll always support you!"

"We'll be waiting for you at the finish line!"

The united cheers of Elise's fans brought the atmosphere to a climax and she scanned the audience with a small smile, finally locating Julius sitting at the front row and watching her expectantly as if in encouragement.

"Get ready, contestants!"

With that, each contestant went up to their own race car with Elise in Track 3 and Alexander in the neighboring Track 4. As they all climbed into their cars, she tightly gripped the steering wheel and looked ahead.

The moment the gunshot rang, she floored the accelerator and sped forward. It took less than half a mile for her to place in the lead, but despite the cheers from the audience that grew louder, her expression remained placid and her heartbeat steady. She focused on the driving instead and steadily accelerated so that she could finish the race in one go.

Meanwhile, Alexander was also driving quickly and in second place, he had remained behind her but in front of the other races. By now, they were almost neck and neck, yet his car shuddered minutely at this moment. As he narrowed his eyes, he tightened his grip on the steering wheel, but the shaking only increased. He quickly slammed the brakes only to discover that there wasn't the slightest bit of use. Instead, the car only continued to gain speed.

"F*ck!" he shouted.

By now, he had figured out that something was wrong with his car.

Yet, he only had one concern, for he knew that he would lose control of the car sooner or later if he had no way of braking.

As his car quickly caught up to Elise's, he forced open his car door and fought against the bite of the wind that hit his cheeks while shouting at her, "Get away from me! My car's malfunctioning!"