Arabella wore an ugly look on her face. She directly took a step forward and walked ahead of Randy. Clearly, she wanted to prove that she can climb the mountain in boots.
Seeing that, Randy and others shrugged their shoulders. On the way to the mountain top, Randy would occasionally have casual chats with other team members. Emily and Vincent followed behind. Rex wasn't with them. This time, Vincent only brought a guard with him. And that guard was also the driver today. Right now, the guard was following closely behind with a bag full of bread, chocolate, and other snacks.
Janessa, who had just pretended to be taking pictures, put away her camera and waved to Armando, "Let's go."
"Show me the photos you just took." Armando reached towards the camera. He thought just now he was modelling for Janessa. He wanted to know what he looked like in Janessa's photos.
"What photos?" Janessa asked Armando. Soon she figured it out. "Oh, I know what you mean! But I didn't even take off the lens cover. How could there be any photos? Just now, I said that on purpose to avoid lending my shoes to that 'princess'."
"..."
Emma's suitcase was very neat. The clothes on the left were hers, and the right was Stony's. There was a shoebox in the middle compartment. Emma took out a pair of shoes from the box. The moment Jaquan saw it, he was somewhat stunned. "Aren't these my shoes?"
Although Emma had worn it once, based on the fragrant smell of that shoes, Jaquan knew that she must have washed it. The shoes smelled of washing powder.
"Yes, these are the shoes that I borrowed from you last time. Now I return them to you." Emma closed the suitcase again. Then she took the key, preparing to lock the door.
"There are the shoes you just talked about?" Jaquan frowned. It was hard for him to accept that.
Emma raised her head to look at him. Her expression silently answered his question.
"..."
Jaquan asked again, "Do you have any other shoes? These must be big for her."
"Yes, the shoes I am wearing." Emma pointed at her feet and said, "Will she wear my shoes?"
"..."
Jaquan knew Arabella was like a princess who was hard to please. He knew she would never wear shoes once worn by others. He could only walk out with his shoes.
Apart from the Stony, there was no one else at the door. Looking at the road ahead, Jaquan estimated that Randy and others have climbed about fifty meters. Jaquan was about to catch them up with the shoes. Then he thought of Emma, who was behind him.
She was limping. She walked rather slowly. Stony supported her and they moved up step by step.
The road to the mountaintop was paved with tree trunks. Further up was a stone staircase. A child like Stony would definitely not be able to hold up the weight of an adult.
Jaquan walked over and said, "I'll do it."
Without waiting for Emma's reply, he walked over and grabbed one of her arms to support her. However, he overestimated his impression in Emma's heart.
Emma frowned slightly, pulled back her arm to avoid his touch, and said politely and distantly, "Thank you. But there is no need to do that."
Jaquan found himself unable to understand Emma. He put the shoes in the corner of his arm and directly grabbed Emma's arm. After being rejected, there was some awkwardness on his face. "Why are you so hostile to me?"
Stony walked forward, pushed Jaquan away and said, "Let go of my mother!"
Jaquan could only loosen his grip. "I just want to be nice. Has your mother been hurt by a man before? Why she treated me..."
Emma smiled, "Yes, I was hurt by a man. So I don't like you."
"..."
Before Emma admitted, that was just his guessing. But now Jaquan knew that was the truth, which made him somewhat feel complex. Emma was indeed been abandoned by a man and raise her child on her own. No wonder she was holding a wary attitude towards men.
Jaquan was trying to change his attitude and help her in a more comforting way. Then he saw Armando running down from above. Armando directly supported Emma and said, "There's a stone staircase ahead. It was hard for you to pass that. Let me help you."
Jaquan watched Armando support Emma to pass the staircase. And it was she who said that she was once hurt by a man! Jaquan was a little angry. He thought in his heart, "Her hostility is only aimed at me! Shit!"
Up the stone staircase, there was a lush bamboo forest. Halfway up the mountain, there was an observation deck. A waterfall was spraying out from a stone lion's mouth in front of the observation deck, forming a rainbow in the air.
Janessa couldn't wait to take the camera to record the beautiful scenery. Then she saw a woman holding water to ... wash her feet.
Shit!
Janessa cursed in her heart and put down her camera. Then she saw Arabella standing by the stone lion. Holding her shoes in one hand, Arabella was finding a napkin from her bag to wipe her feet. She was indeed a princess. Perhaps she figured out climbing the mountain in her boots was a bad decision. So after finding the mountain path was quite clean, she directly took off her boots.
Randy and the rest of the team were all indoorsy. They didn't exercise much. Besides, they would occasionally stop to discuss even argue over some issues. On top of that, they often stopped to drink or eat. As a result, Arabella was ahead of them. When they arrived at the observation deck, they saw Arabella sitting by the stone lion, with her face indicating she had been waiting for them for a long time.
Janessa ignored Arabella. She took the camera and found a place to sit. Following the stone steps, she could see Armando supporting Emma to walk up. Stony was walking in front of them with his little schoolbag on the back. And he would occasionally turn around to make sure his mother was okay.
Further ahead were Emily and Vincent. They were here to travel. Watching the scenery all the way, they would occasionally discuss with each other and take pictures with their mobile phones. But romance eluded them. They only took pictures of the scenery. They didn't take selfies, nor did they take pictures of them being together.
Janessa adjusted the focus of her camera and couldn't help but take a profile of them. In the camera, Emily found a rare insect. She called Vincent to look at it. Emily looked surprised. And Vincent was looking at her dotingly.
Janessa had always felt that Vincent was too distant. He had the power to let people not daring to come close to him. He looked too cold and indifferent. But now, this arrogant man was standing on the stone staircase, looking at the girl in front of him dotingly.
They didn't do anything intimate. But they gave people such an illusion that the air suddenly became sweet because of them.
Jaquan, who was in front of them, quickly rushed to the observation deck. He held the box and said to Randy, "You should slow down and walk behind Vincent."
"Why? What's the matter?" Seventh was about to stuff a piece of chocolate into his mouth. He glanced at the stone staircase as he asked.
Jaquan snatched his chocolate and said, "This way, you will feel that you shouldn't be on the mountain."
"..."
Emily took a lot of photos. She has not climbed a mountain before. The most impressive view of her previous life was that of the Britt's and the Tea Manor. These two places gave her a lot of inspiration. Now that this place was so full of scenic spots. She had many interests. Not only did she take a lot of photos, but also introduced the plants she didn't know to Vincent with Wikipedia. They didn't feel much tired. After finding a place to sit down, the guard took out two bottles of water and handed the water to them.
Emily took the water and thanked the guard.
On the other hand, Vincent did not receive the water from the guard. He unscrewed the bottle cap of Emily's water and then handed it to Emily.
Emily took a sip of water and asked, "Aren't you thirsty?"
Vincent did not answer Emily directly. Instead, he took the water in Emily's hand and poured it into his throat before saying, "What do you say?"
His voice was a little hoarse. Because of the thirst, his voice was a little low. His voice landed by Emily's ears. Emily felt it was so hot. She thought perhaps this was because the surrounding air was a little stuffy.
Emily rubbed her ears and pushed Vincent, "Don't speak to my ear."
"What's the matter?" Vincent let out a laugh.
Emily glared at him. She knew that he was doing it on purpose, so she purposely blew into his ear and said coquettishly, "Vincent.... Vincent.... Vincent..."
She was purposely blowing her breath to Vincent's ear. She didn't have any intention to do something romantic. But her breath stimulated Vincent's nerves. Opposed to them, there were many people. So they couldn't act without scruple.
Vincent tilted his head slightly and his thin lips brushed past Emily's mouth and cheeks. His fiery breath landed by her ear again. He did not say anything. He only gently touched her ear bones with his teeth.
Emily didn't know what to do. She felt her limbs unable to support herself.
Looking from afar, they seemed to be whispering to each other.
This was what Arabella saw when she came over. She twisted her fingers and turned around unhappily. As she walked away, she often turned around.. Vincent had never noticed, even when she was less than three meters away from him.