Chapter 99: Picture

This was not a very smart choice.

Lyca immediately regretted following Shen Qui towards the hill. She couldn't help but wonder if Shen Qui was trying to punish her for being too lazy. Why would he want her to walk too much?

"We're almost there," Shen Qui uttered, his hand holding hers tighter. "Are you alright?" He immediately noticed the sweat on her forehead. Shaking his head, he knew that this was because of her lack of exercise. "You really should jog with me every morning."

"Why can't we do it at night?" she mumbled, making him chuckle.

"The sun is good for your skin." Lyca had been too pale. He knew it was because she rarely goes out.

Lyca sighed but said nothing. She eyed the stuffed toy in his other hands. "Where did you put the goldfish?"

"I gave it to some kids." He shrugged. Earlier, Lyca caught twenty goldfish in a short amount of time, because of this, the lady asked them to pick a prize and stop catching goldfish anymore. In the end, Shen Qui picked two beautiful goldfish but gave it to some children as he knew Lyca would be too lazy to take care of them anyway.

Because Lyca won, she told Long Yi and Huang Xiaoxuan to find their spot for the fireworks. No reasons were given, aside from the fact that everyone was supposed to do her bidding since she won. Of course, this made Long Yi frowned, but he curtly nodded as he realized that they already had a deal about this earlier. In the end, he went back to the school while leaving Huang Xiaoxuan to find her ride back to the school.

Lyca couldn't help but wonder if Huang Xiaoxuan would continue this crazy infatuation after all that Long Yi did to her. Of course, if Huang Xiaoxuan is a masochist, then she would continue acting like a lovesick fool. 

"What are you thinking?"

Lyca had been in a daze, she didn't notice that they had stopped walking. "We're here?" She roamed her eyes and immediately noticed that they were on standing on top of a hill. She inhaled the scent of leaves that enriched the air. It made her smile. "This is a beautiful place." In front of them were a few trees that elegantly casted their shadows towards the carpet like grass. The warm breeze and the rustling of the wind reminded her of the forest. But this place had fewer trees, with obvious walking trail marks everywhere. 

"Come."

She turned her head and realized that Shen Qui laid a coat just under one of the trees. He sat and motioned her to sit next to him. Lyca complied, a smile was already plastered on her face. "How did you know that this place exists?"

"This place was off-limits. This used to be a place where you can have some picnic and stuff like that. But the city decided to close it when they notice that people started vandalizing the place. They don't throw their garbages in the bin, and some of them leave their bonfire without putting out the fire. So, the city decided to close it until they can develop some sort of laws about this place. But this has been delayed because some corporations wanted the place. This is now a battle between environmentalists and big corporations."

Amusement flashed in her eyes as she sat next to him. "So… we are here illegally?"

"Does it matter?" A sly grin slithered on his face. "It is only illegal if someone catches us."

"Smart," She looked at the lights of the festival just a few kilometers from where they were. Shen Qui drove for about fifteen minutes to this place before they started walking. She turned towards him and stared at his gentle side profile.

She watched as his long lashes fluttered before he slowly dragged his gaze towards her. "Please don't tell me you're hungry again." He teased and used his hand to tuck a strand of her white hair behind her ears.

"No. Not yet." She laughed and turned her head away. The gentleness in his eyes was too obvious it made her feel a little guilty. After all, she doesn't feel anything towards him. Aside from the overwhelming desire that needed to be satiated, Lyca doesn't feel any emotional attachment towards Shen Qui. And she wanted to keep it that way.

Seeing her look away, Shen Qui only shook his head inwardly before looking at the festival again. A long stretch of silence descended between them.

He liked her and everything about her. It wasn't something that he decided. Hell, he didn't even know he had been in too deep until his mouth asked her to marry her. He chuckled inwardly. 

Of course, Shen Qui wasn't planning to do something drastic and force her into something she doesn't like. He wouldn't dare push her into liking him. The fact that she had been more talkative, that she had been showing a little bit of herself was enough. Little steps... little baby steps.

"Hey," Shen Qui suddenly nudged her.

"Hm?"

"Let's take a picture." Without waiting for her to say anything, Shen Qui already held his phone and clicked the camera. In response, Lyca snapped her eyes shut from the blinding flash. "Smile." Another flash followed.

"Are you crazy?"

He responded with a chuckle and ignored her as he looked at the photos. "Look, you are frowning, and I look handsome. This is like the beauty and the beast. Of course, I am the beauty." He pointed at the first photo where Lyca's eyes were closed, her brows furrowed while Shen Qui who was sitting next to her, was smiling. 

"Delete it."

"This is… going to be my new wallpaper."

"Hey! Delete that!" This man was not cute at all. She watched as Shen Qui set the photo to be his new wallpaper. How embarrassing. "Delete it…"

"Or what?" He turned and smirked at her. "You're not going to kill me, are you?"

She frowned in response. Again, he laughed the amusement in his voice was apparent. 

"Take another photo."

He beamed and once again lifted his phone. "One… two…" Shen Qui didn't continue his words when he felt her lips on his cheeks. Surprised glinted in his eyes as the clicking sound of his phone followed.

....

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