Using My Heirloom Crown? Enjoy Prison Instead

Staring at the screenful of replies flooding the family group chat, along with all the relatives gushing with praise, I made no reply to any of the messages.

The group kept buzzing with messages until the early hours of the morning.

It wasn't until noon the next day that my cousin, Jeffrey Coleman, finally called. His tone was light and breezy, as if everything was already set in stone.

"Hey Chrissy, you saw the invitation, didn't you? I've already mapped out the route. We'll head out from your place at 7:00 am. The first run will be to pick up the bride, then we'll make a second trip for the relatives.

"Let's set it at two runs for now, and we can add more if needed. Make sure you wash the car and fill up the gas the night before."

The coffee in the mug I was holding had already gone cold.

"Jeff, I told you last time. I'm not lending you the car."

Jeffrey went silent on the other end of the line for a couple of seconds.

"Christine Schmidt, this is all because of the money, isn't it?" he asked.

Then, lowering his voice, he said, "If 500 dollars isn't enough, then I'll add another 300. That'll make it a total of 800 dollars. How about that?"

"It's not about the money."

"Well, then what is it about?" Jeffrey challenged, letting out a cold laugh as he did so.

"You're treating that beat-up old car like it's a family heirloom! How much did the refurbishment even cost?

"I'll have you know, I've already put down the deposit at the restaurant, the invitations have been sent out, and the bride's family has already been informed. And now you're saying no? Have you got any idea how embarrassed I'll be?"

"That's not my problem," I responded flatly. "Did I not tell you that I wouldn't be lending you the car when you came to my house yesterday?"

The sound of teeth grinding came from the other end, and his voice dropped even lower. "Fine, Chris. You want to do things the hard way, huh? Well, don't you dare think for a second you have any say in this.

"Just you wait, Chris. Just you wait."

He hung up, then immediately transferred me 500 dollars with the remark "car fee".

In less than ten minutes, the family group chat started blowing up.

Jeffrey singled me out and tagged me in the group chat.

"What an awesome cousin I've got! I've really got to thank Chris for this. I can't believe she'd be willing to lend me the Toyota Crown to use as my bridal car!

"We've just talked things through a while ago, and if there aren't enough seats when the time comes, we'll just arrange to make a few extra runs to pick everyone up!"

My Aunt Mindy—Jeffrey's mother, Miranda Coleman—immediately followed up with a long voice message.

"That's my Jeff, always thinking of everyone! I'm telling you, this car is an original import from the '90s. Back then, there couldn't have been more than three of these in the whole city! When the bride's family sees it, they'll have to look at the Coleman family in a whole new light, won't they?"