When the scene changed, a sign welcomed us to a scout camp. This is one of the events that Elisia put up with and she was excited looking around while instructions and some warnings were given.

“From what I’ve heard, there are occasional rains in an area but most places would not get it,” she leaned closer to Leon but her eyes were still busy.

He made a glance at her, maybe checking if it was him who she was talking to before asking, “Aren’t you scared? Don’t you believe in fairies? What if they want you to be soaked in the rain so you can wander around and end up on their realm.”

“Wow,” was the only thing I could say, helping Elisia not to think more into his words.

He rolled his eyes when our names had been announced as a part of Team B. How I ended up with Leon is probably one of the ‘help’ the tour guides were telling us before.

What she did in this event is that the group would be divided into two, Team A and Team B. They would be assigned to do the activities on both ends since it’s a circular course and would still meet at the same point.

“They said that it’ll be a challenge for Team B since everything should be done backward. It is because the farther the number, the harder obstacles are. But I don’t think so,” said Elisia in my head. “I think if you do the hardest parts first-”

“You can go easy ‘til the end,” was how Leon cut through her thoughts.

When she looked at him, he was surprisingly studying the map that was given earlier. He seemed immersed with it that she could not bring up that she was thinking about the same thing.

He tapped my shoulder and told me, “On their signal, let’s go.”

The last obstacle is where a 10-meter-rope was tied on the edge of the cliff that you will use to go up. As we are doing it from the end, we will use it to go down.

I was ready to ask Leon what he thinks should be harder, but I saw him slowly walking away.

I grabbed one of his hands to stop him. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“I don’t like those things,” he said with furrowing brows.

With one eyebrow raised, I asked, “Are you insane?”

“I’m not, that is why I won’t go-”

His reply got interrupted by a woman calling him from a distance. “Hey, hey. It’s the pretty boy from last time. Hello!”

It was not the same lady as before but they appeared to be acquainted with each other as she walked towards her as she pointed to Leon with a smile.

“Alright. Let’s go,” said Leon in a hurry.

We were the first ones to start and we were drifting roughly down. “Watch it, egghead!”

In a matter of seconds, we were standing on straight, flat land but with lots of mud in our shoes.

“What are you-” I could not continue my sentences when I saw his frowning face. “Are you okay?”

From the top, one of the guides asked, “Ma’am, is everything alright?”

Leon was the one who answered, “Yes, I’m fine.”

I looked at him in disbelief. “You’re fine, you say? Are you sure, Mr. Constantino?”

“Didn’t I tell you to call me Leon for now? I said I am so let’s go,” he said.

Obstacles eleventh and tenth are in the same area. It is a steep road filled with large donut wheels that we needed to hop on.

Leon started hopping from wheel to another like a little kid. He even showed a gummy smile that made me laugh.

He turned to me and asked, “What’s so funny, and why aren’t you starting yet?”

Elisia shook her head and just followed his lead.

“I can’t say that I laughed because of his smile. Everyone can be offended by that, even if I’ll explain, so no,” said her thoughts.

The ninth obstacle is where we should pass over a running river by stepping on five huge stones.

“This is easy,” I said with confidence, but it made him stare at me like I said something crazy. “What? Why?”

“Can’t you see the moss around the stones? Those are pretty slippery, you know,” he said while pointing it down at me. He took one step before turning his head back to me. “Are you just going to stare? The current’s pretty strong so I suggest you go with me.”

I was hesitant to grab his reaching hands, but I don’t want to be left behind so I get a hold of it.

“Your fab clothes are wet now,” I told him as we were crossing.

“These are not my fab clothes, plus I’d rather let these soak than slipping with your head first then die.”

Elisia laughed at his weird thought, but I got scared by how negative he thinks. “Jumping over some creepy conclusions, aren’t you?”

She was not done laughing at him when her foot slipped.

Days passed in a heartbeat when I wanted them to be longer. Right after I closed my laptop, Desiree reminded me that I would soon see Lucio again.

It’s Thursday and I’m on leave tomorrow and on Monday to celebrate Desiree’s birthday. We decided that we are going to meet Lucio and his friend later tonight at the same coffee shop I got to meet him.

I kept on weighing if we could just go to my apartment and eat dinner there, but I’m not sure if doing so is a good idea as there are a lot of bad guys in the world, and some are even good-looking.

But what would happen when I see him again?

“No roses and butterflies in the background when I first saw him yet something occurred after. Am I just thinking a lot about it? I don’t know,” I thought to myself with a groan as I stretched my arms. “I’ll find out later.”