Chapter 102: Chapter 102: The Strange Neighbor

``` The girl struggled and screamed as the drunk man pulled at her. But the mother didn't appear overly excited; instead, she stepped forward, attempting to intervene, sadly to no avail as the drunken man had lost all reason, and the situation was deteriorating. Joe Ga couldn't figure out what was happening, so he and Karman sprinted over and quickly subdued the man. The man's neck was pinned under Karman's knee, and a stream of vomit, heavy with the stench of alcohol, sprayed from his mouth. Then, perhaps due to the blockage of his windpipe, the man's face began to visibly redden. Joe Ga didn't want a death at his doorstep, and was just about to tell Karman to ease off a little when the girl, who had been screaming desperately moments before, rushed forward and grabbed Karman's shoulder, trying to topple him to the ground. Attacked, Karman's first reaction was to drop his left shoulder and thrust forward powerfully. Then, as the girl involuntarily moved closer to him, he delivered a vicious back elbow right into the girl's abdomen with his right arm. The girl didn't even have time to cry out miserably; she could only emit a painful gasp before collapsing to the ground, clutching her abdomen. She lay there on her side, twitching like a shrimp thrown into hot water, until she managed to let out a long moan of agony. Seeing Karman pull a small knife from his waist and ready to strike backwards, Joe Ga hurried forward and grabbed the African. As Joe Ga stood pulling Karman up, he looked at the mother, who was anxiously checking on her daughter on the ground, and spread his hands, asking, "What's all this about?" As he spoke, Joe Ga went over to the man, kicked him onto his side to keep him from suffocating, and then addressed the mother, "Is there some kind of misunderstanding? Do you need me to call an ambulance for you?" Karman's elbow didn't hit any vital spot on the girl, and she seemed to be in really good physical shape; she looked thin but was quite sturdy. While Joe Ga was talking, the girl struggled to sit up, clutching her abdomen with one hand and propping herself up with the other, glaring at Karman with angry eyes. Seeing her daughter appeared to be okay, the mother stood up, her expression apologetic, and with an Eastern European accent she said in English, "I'm so sorry for the trouble. Please, don't call the police. This is my husband; he was a bit upset last night and got drunk. I'm going to take him home right away." Joe Ga waved to Nis, who stood by the interior of the cabin door, indicating that there was no issue, and then nodded decisively, "Where do you live? I'll help you take him home so those runners don't get the wrong idea as they'll be passing by here soon." Not wanting to attract the police needlessly, and seeing that this family didn't want any trouble, Joe Ga cooperated and drove the family to a holiday cabin about a kilometer down the mountain road. At the door of the wooden cabin, the mother first helped her daughter, who still had trouble moving, out of the car. Looking at her husband who had passed out and the back seat smeared with vomit, she said with a mix of apology and difficulty, "Could you, perhaps, help out with this?" At this point, Joe Ga just wanted to conclude the unpleasant situation quickly. He nodded toward Karman in the passenger seat and said, "Get him inside; I need to go clean the car." Karman, expressionless, opened his door and got out of the car. Under the resentful gaze of the girl, he rudely grabbed the man by his waistband, hauled him out of the car, and, carrying him with one arm—easily lifting at least 170 to 180 pounds—walked toward the open door of the cabin. The ordeal was minor, but incredibly irritating. He drove a few kilometers to find a car wash, gave the attendant a ten-dollar tip, and asked him to spray two cans of air freshener. Everything settled, he returned to the cabin by ten in the morning. Nis greeted the returning Joe Ga and Karman with coffee and after asking about the morning's events, she couldn't help but smile and say, "This morning I saw that man tripping and falling into the opposite ditch. When he charged out, I really didn't react in time." Joe Ga took a sip of his coffee and shook his head, "Just a drunkard. I've seen guys who start drinking early in the morning, but I've never seen anyone get that drunk so early. His life must be particularly hard, otherwise, it really wouldn't come to this." Hearing this, Nis frowned and said, "I didn't see anything about him that's worthy of sympathy." Joe Ga shook his head, "The difficulties of men are hard for women to understand. Now that I think about it, that man, aside from pulling at his daughter trying to get her to go home, didn't do anything outrageous. His wife didn't utter a word of complaint to the end. It was her who apologized first, even after her daughter was hit. It was actually the sister who screamed and struggled that led us to misunderstand." Experience exclusive tales on m v|l e'-NovelFire.net ``` Joe Ga glanced at Karman, who was sitting at the door spacing out, and shook his head with a wry smile, "That family is lucky. If they were in Africa, what they did might have cost them their lives." Nis nodded with a smile and then curiously looked at Joe Ga, "I thought you had taken a fancy to that girl. She is indeed very pretty." Joe Ga recalled the girl's figure and looks and shook his head, "She's pretty, that's for sure, but unfortunately, she's not my type. If her mom had been twenty years younger and I wasn't in my current job, maybe I would have had the courage to give it a try." Upon hearing this, Nis had a strange expression and said, "You like strong women?" Joe Ga didn't notice Nis's expression and shrugged, "I like sporty women, and preferably not too skinny. Several famous Russian tennis players, what are their names... when they were young, they were my type." Nis, looking a bit odd, stood up and walked towards the kitchen while saying, "What do you guys want for lunch? I'm going to start preparing now." Joe Ga stood up smiling and said, "I'll do it. How about some Italian pasta, then a black pepper steak? I really can't handle ketchup anymore. Let's change it up today." As Joe Ga was speaking, Karman suddenly stood up at the door and knocked, saying, "The mother and daughter are here again; they must be here for us." Joe Ga scanned the living room of the cabin, signaled to Nis to quickly tidy up anything that shouldn't be seen, and then walked to the door to watch the mother and daughter slowly step onto the cabin's front lawn. The mother had changed into a fitted dress and the sporty aura she had was gone. Now, with a warm smile on her face as she walked, she gave off a very refreshing vibe. Seeing Joe Ga at the entrance, the mother paused under the gallery, then walked up with a transparent box of pastries in her hands and said, "I'm sorry for the trouble we caused, these are pastries I've made myself. Searᴄh the Nôvelƒire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. My name is Valentina, this is my daughter Anna, and my husband's name is Ivankovic. I'm sorry for the trouble we caused this morning. My husband feels very sorry about this morning's rudeness and wants to invite you to our place tonight. He is not in a good state right now and cannot apologize in person, so he really hopes to apologize to you face to face tonight." Joe Ga looked at the box with pastries that didn't look very appetizing and couldn't understand why someone would rush to apologize after having been knocked around. After accepting the gift, he said, "Don't worry about it, we should be the ones apologizing since we were the ones who got physical. As for dinner, I think you should try to convince your husband not to drink so much. This morning he fell down near the roadway across from us, just a few meters more and it would have been a cliff." Valentina listened and replied with a wry smile, "My husband had a bit of a work issue, and there's been some arguing between him and Anna, that's why. My husband wears his heart on his sleeve and is now very regretful after knowing about his state this morning. Please give us a chance to apologize no matter what, otherwise, he's going to be very unstable for many days." With that, Valentina looked at Joe Ga's odd expression and said helplessly, "My husband has mild OCD, he's very strict with himself, so..." Joe Ga pictured the man's condition that morning and couldn't imagine how someone with 'OCD' could allow themselves to end up like that, so he asked subconsciously, "What does your husband do?" Valentina hesitated and then said, "My husband is a salesman for the Serbian Eugen Huber Company. We are about to go with him to Tunisia for an exhibition, but their cargo ran into trouble in Marsala. My husband's behavior this morning isn't his true nature. We are very sorry for troubling you, but he must have your forgiveness or he will feel bad for a long time." Joe Ga was about to refuse, but when he heard the name 'Yuginebert,' he paused, nodded, and said, "Then tonight at eight, we'll be there on time."