In the afternoon, Tina bought some fruits from the supermarket downstairs and came to Luca's room. After Luca opened the door, Tina glanced at her and asked, "Is Mr. Crawford still inside?" "He left quite some time ago," Luca explained hastily in case Tina misunderstood something. Seeing that Luca was quite nervous, Tina waved her hand and smiled. "Don't worry. I didn't tell anyone what happened earlier this morning. I know Mr. Crawford's character, and I don't think he'd do anything out of line." Tina walked in, and Luca closed the door. Tina placed the bag of fruits on the coffee table and said, "I was at the supermarket buying some fruits earlier, and I accidentally bought some extra. Here, have some." "Thank you." Luca did not refuse. She knew that Tina had specifically bought the fruits for her. "Right, do you feel better now? I was so afraid earlier. If I had known that you can't swim, I wouldn't have goaded you into competing." Tina felt guilty even though she was
Tina nodded and said, "I wanted to invite you, but you said that you're not into exercise. That's why I invited Dr. Craw to go along with me." Zoey placed her plate on the table. "Yeah, I'd rather not spend my vacation time on tiring activities like hiking. There are many more fun things to do here. I've heard there's a theme park and a karaoke center nearby, so I'd rather go to those places than hiking. Isn't that so, Ms. Lynn?" Jenni sat down on another seat at the table. She looked at Luca, wondering how she could be up and about when she nearly drowned the day before. She thought that Luca had faked the drowning to evoke Luke's pity. "It's up to the individual how they want to enjoy their vacation, Zoey. I'm quite surprised, though, from Dr. Craw's behavior in the pool yesterday, I thought that she's not very active. Why are you going hiking today, Dr. Craw?" Jenni asked. Luca could hear the sarcasm in her voice. Luca was deathly pale after she was fished out of the pool th
Tina could see that the two men were here to hike up Mount Jadeite. She shot a glance at Luca. Luca did not enjoy crowded places, but two more people did not crowd up the place at all… "Why don't we go together?" Tina asked. Luca did not say anything. She knew that Luke would definitely be joining them the moment she saw him. Even if Tina did not invite them, they would be hiking up the same trail anyway. It did not really matter if Tina invited them. That was why Luca kept quiet. "Mr. Crawford? What do you think?" Jason turned his head to look at Luke. They did not mean to follow Luca. Luke was tired of working during vacation time, so he suggested they hike up Mount Jadeite. Naturally, as his assistant, Jason had to go too. Fortunately, Jason enjoyed hiking. "We'll go together," Luke said. He went to the stall to buy a map and two trekking poles, then handed a trekking pole to Jason. "Thank you, Mr. Crawford," Jason said as he took it. Luca spread the map open and
"How about this? There's four of us, and we can split into two teams. One team will take one path, and the other team will take the other path. We'll race to see who can reach the summit first. The two paths are about equally long," Tina suggested. Luca glanced at Luke, then at Jason. Neither of them said anything. She said, "Sounds fun. Let me team up with you, Tina." If she could team up with Tina, Jason and Luke would be on the other team. She would feel better if she did not have to walk along with Luke. Tina looked at the men, who said nothing about her suggestion. She said, "No, Dr. Craw, it's better if we team up one man and one woman." Luca looked at her, at a loss of a reply. "Alright, I'll team up with Mr. Doyle. We've been colleagues for many years, and I can get along with him. You and Mr. Crawford can take the other path." Tina arranged the teams by herself. She did not really have a basis for teaming up a man and a woman, neither did she want to team up with
Luca could feel dull pain spread from her waist to the rest of her body. She had injured herself. The pain caused tears to fall from the corner of her eyes. Suddenly, Luke felt a twinge of pity for her. "Can you stand up?" He asked. Luca nodded. "Yes." Luke looked at the tree behind Luca. The vegetation was quite dense at this part of the mountain, and the trees were quite old with thick trunks. She had slammed into the tree in full force, and it must be very painful. If she were unfortunate, she might even suffer a hairline fracture. However, she was lucky to be stopped by the tree. Otherwise, who knew where she might end up? The forest was natural. Even though the owners of the area had taken every precaution to ensure the visitors' safety, there was only so much they could do to alter the natural landscape. If the tree had not broken Luca's fall, she would have suffered a greater injury, or worse, rolled off a cliff. Seeing that Luca was struggling to get up, Luke re
Luca put the trekking poles away. She saw that Luke's hair was dripping with water. She thought of taking the paper towels from her backpack to dry his hair, but her backpack was not waterproof, and the paper towels had already turned into a pile of mush. There was nothing she could do about that, and she closed her backpack. Luke had always kept an impeccable appearance, so Luca was quite surprised to see that unkempt side of his. In any case, her appearance was in the same sorry state. "What do we do now, Mr. Crawford?" Luca asked for his opinion. Luke took out his phone. His clothes were soaked, and his phone could not be turned on. "Can you use your phone?" Luca took out her phone from her backpack. Her phone had been enhanced by the people on the Island of Despair, so it was waterproof. Even so, it had already turned itself off. She looked at Luke and said, "I can only turn it on after it's dry." Without a usable phone, they could not call Jason or inform the villa s
It was the first time that Luca had to lie outdoors with no regard to her image. She wondered if she would have to spend the night with Luke here. If the rain continued, it would not be very convenient for Jason and the others to find them… After lying for some time, Luca thought that the hard stone surface was quite uncomfortable. She slowly flipped to the other side and happened to meet Luke's gaze. She was surprised. When did he start looking at her? "Are you uncomfortable?" Luke noticed that she was not lying still. Perhaps it was caused by the injury on her waist. "No, it's just that the surface is quite tiring to lie on. I just wanted to change sides," Luca half-closed her eyes to avert his gaze. Lying on the other side was a little easier on her back, but her clothes were wet, so it was not very comfortable. She did not mind the wet clothes too much, but she knew that Luke was a clean freak.Even though Luke was sitting there calmly, Luca could guess that he was s
Luca had drunk from the bottle earlier… Luca saw that Luke had gulped down more than half of the water in his bottle. She could tell that he was thirsty and tired. She thought for a while and said, "Mr. Crawford, I mixed some glucose in my bottle. Do you want to drink from this?" Luke looked at her and said nothing. "But I already drank from it. It's okay if you mind it…" Luca thought he did not want to drink from the same bottle as her. When she was about to keep it in her backpack, Luke opened his mouth. "You should save it for yourself," he said. He thought that Luca needed more nourishment than him because she was hurt. They only had two bottles of drinkable water between them, and looking at the heavy rain outside, they might have to spend the night there. That was why Luke did not want to take the bottle from her. "Alright then…" Luca thought that he was disgusted by the offer. She did not say anything and put the bottle back into her backpack. The strong wind con