They said simultaneously.
Sophia wanted them to get along, and so she took a hard line, "Sit down!"
Louie reluctantly took the window seat and looked out the window.
Kevin had to sit next to him and turned his head to the aisle.
Sophia was speechless.
Soon, everyone found their own seat. Carol ran over to sit with Sophia. The Malone brothers sat together. Mariah sat with Melissa.
Everyone talked and laughed along the way. Only Kevin and Louie remained silent; they didn't even look at each other.
In order to mediate the atmosphere and ease the inexplicable hostility between the two, Sophia turned around and asked Louie, "Are you an only child, Delgado?"
She shared a table with Louie and chatted with him sometimes. But she had never heard him talk about any siblings.
Louie was surprised, "Um, yes… no…"
Kevin mocked him, "Yes or no? Are you not clear about that?"
Louie lowered his head, "I… used to have a big sister. But she fell ill and died…"
Kevin paused for a moment, "I'm sorry…"
Sophia hadn't expected that. She had just asked the question casually, but she had touched on something serious and deeply personal.
Louie smiled bitterly, "It's alright. It's been a long time now. I've let it go. My sister took good care of me when she was alive. She liked to decide everything for me. It all happened very suddenly. I couldn't get used to it for a long time. That feeling, you probably can't understand…"
Kevin turned his head to look at him, "I know it! My sister passed away because of an accident before the summer vacation…"
Louie was surprised, "You…"
Sophia then heard the two boys talking about their sisters. Later, they talked about cooking, and they even started sharing tips and ideas on cooking and baking.
Their relationship was suddenly surprisingly friendly.
The bus took five hours, and they reached Bridge Town at noon.
The architectural style here was colonial and archaic. The buildings were all legacies of the past. The old-fashioned pavilions lined both sides of the street. In this old town, it was as if history was alive and actually present somehow.
When they had wandered quite far through the old quarter, they came across some more modern buildings. There were shops selling souvenirs and lots of restaurants.
Katherine had arranged the place for them to eat lunch, and a simple meal was already prepared.
But many of the tourists wanted to eat some of the more local specialist cuisines, so they gave up the free lunch arranged by the tour group and went to eat somewhere else. Katherine was happy but reminded them to be careful and told them to assemble in the original place on time, or they would risk being left behind.
"There are so many restaurants here. Shall we go and find a place to eat? It's not like we're here everyday! It would be a waste not to eat some special food!" Melissa brought it up at first. Afraid that others would disagree, she added, "My treat!"
"My treat! What would you like to eat?" Barry said.
"Since we're all hanging out together, let's just pay for what we eat. Let's look around. You can eat whatever you want." Sophia said.
Everyone endorsed the proposal. They immediately set out to search for delicious food.
Kevin searched on his phone, "There's a restaurant called' Fresh Mutton'? Their mutton is delicious and has an excellent yelp rating. Shall we check there? It's not far from here."
"Yeah, let's go!" Louie agreed first.
The others were also up for it. It sounded good.
They found it easily despite it being slightly out of the way and small.
It was lunchtime, and Sophia thought that a restaurant with such a high score might be overcrowded. But when they arrived, there was only one person in front of the counter. They didn't even see a waiter.
"Is it closed today?" Kevin asked curiously.
"But the door was open."
"Shall we go in?"
"It's so strange… I don't want to go in. Kevin, are we sure it's good?"
They were hesitating when suddenly, a car stopped at the door of the restaurant. The car door opened, and two people got out of the car.
The clerk at the counter immediately got up to greet them, "This way, please!"
Sophia's eyes lit up. She cried," Mr. Pearson!"
The two people were only Albert Pearson and Ryan Sampson.
Albert turned around, but before he could speak, Ryan had already run over and laughed, "Did you come here to look around, Miss Green? How lovely. Ooh, I have an idea, would you like to have dinner with us?"
Albert Pearson followed Ryan over and greeted her, "Nice to see you again."
Kevin knew Pearson and went forward to say hi.
Melissa had been gazing at Louie, but when she turned and saw Pearson, she then couldn't take her eyes off him.
When Pearson had been drunk on KTV, she had been in the washroom and had not seen him.
"Are you here for dinner? We haven't seen anyone around, and I'm not sure why…" Sophia said.
Pearson smiled, "Probably because it's awful."
" Really? Then why are you here?"
"Well, this way we don't have to wait in a line. Well, would you like to join us?"
Melissa jumped in before Sophia had time to talk, "Yes! We'll come!"
A waitress came out and greeted them, "Come with me, please!"
She led the way and took them upstairs. They met several waitresses along the way, but no guests. The restaurant was very quiet.
They came to a large room. The waitress opened the door and invited them in. Then, she took out the menu and asked, "May I have your order?"
They were embarrassed to order first, all looking at Pearson.
Ryan stood up and laughed, "Order whatever you want. It's on Mr. Pearson's account. Don't stand on ceremony."
He said and looked at Sophia.
Sophia felt that something about this was strange.