Hannah and Seo Joon had ordered meat and seafood, they were enjoying their late meal while the grilled. In the middle of their conversation, Hannah received a notification from one of the pages that she follows. She casually checked it and her brows furrowed."Joon. Look!", Hannah showed her phone to Seo Joon and he started reading the article.
It was from the entertainment news, they were advertising Nancy"s movie where she played the second female lead.
"Huh. It looks like she"s really climbing to fame."
Hannah nodded, "I actually heard the other day that she"s currently seeing Andrew Park."
"That b.a.s.t.a.r.d? Why am I not surprised. Nancy"s just his type after all."
"His type?"
"Yeah, attractive and easy."
"You just called your sister easy, they used to go out after all." Hannah glared at him and raised an eyebrow, "You really think she"s attractive?"
"She"s an exception, of course, you know he used to follow her around for a year before Sammy reluctantly agreed."
Seo Joon didn"t notice Hannah"s change in expression, "Well as a guy, I can"t say she"s ugly… I guess.. She"s attractive.", he looked up after speaking and that"s when she saw Hannah"s glare. Seo Joon gulped and clarified, "Not that I"m into her. I would never."
At this time, Seo Joon"s phone beeped. When he checked it, his eyes lit up.
"What is it? Are you looking at Nancy"s picture?", Hannah bitterly complained.
Seo Joon shook his head. He stared at his phone before he smiled, "He found her."
"Huh?"
He looked up at Hannah, "Daniel Cho found my sister."
Hannah"s eyes grew wide and she hurriedly went over to Seo Joon side of the booth. She grabbed his phone from him and read the message.
Daniel Cho: [ Having lunch with her. She"s okay.]
Originally, Daniel wanted to tell Seo Joon about Samantha"s current state but he didn"t want to worry her family. Daniel was also determined to help Samantha get through whatever she"s going through right now before convincing her to go home with him.
Together with the text message was a stolen picture of Samantha while she was sitting at the table waiting for food. Hannah also smiled when she saw this because finally, after months of not hearing from her, she was relieved. Her eyes were glued to the screen while she kept on complimenting Daniel for doing a good job at finding her bestfriend that she didn"t notice how close she was to Seo Joon.
Seo Joon was still surprised with Hannah"s sudden approach; he just looked at her from the side, his shoulder touching hers.
Recently, they"ve been spending a lot of time together and Seo Joon found it nice. He used to think Hannah was such a noisy friend of Samantha, he teased her a lot when they were younger. Now, he catches himself constantly missing her chatter... he"s not annoyed by it but rather he finds it amusing. Hannah just seems to have a lot to talk about.
---
After having a scrumptious meal at Lucas" restaurant, Kai, River, and Chelsea slumped on their chairs like they"ve just had the feast of their lives.
Samantha whispered to Daniel, "Um... I can no longer feel my hand. C-can you-"
Before she could even finish, Daniel already released her hand. Though she asked for it, she suddenly felt empty.
"Ughhhhhh... I don"t think I can eat anymore. I feel like I have eaten an entire months" worth of food.", said River as he closed his eyes and tapped his stomach.
Kai nodded, "Yeah, me too. That was the best lunch I"ve ever had in a really long time."
"You guys won"t be able to go back to the skydiving center for today, huh?" Samantha chuckled.
River snickered, "No way... I just wanna sleep and be a pig for the day."
Chelsea laughed at the two guys beside her, she suddenly thought of something and tried to suggest, "Why don"t we go out and play?"
"You still have so much energy after eating?"
"Well... It seems like a really good day and besides, I think Daniel hasn"t really seen the city yet, right?"
Daniel looked at Samantha and shook his head, "I asked her, but she doesn"t want to show me around."
Samantha looked up and glared at him, "How dare? He sold me out to my friends."
"Tsk Tsk tsk... Kira, I don"t know the story between you two but he has clearly come to the country for you. I think that"s the least you could do... right?", Chelsea helped out Daniel. Ever since she saw Daniel and Samantha together, whether Samantha was being distant or nice, she couldn"t help but cheer for them. She honestly thinks that Daniel is a good person and she hopes that they will patch up whatever problems they had.
Samantha felt guilty, she hasn"t done anything for him since he arrived. "Chelsea is right, Daniel clearly came here for me."
But what was she supposed to do? She"s battling with herself, her mind says to stay away from him in fear of inflicting more pain and danger just like what she... "nevermind, why am I torturing myself."
Having all these thoughts in mind, Samantha looked at Daniel and her heart ached, "I could at least show him around, right?"
"Sure, but I"m not a local here... I only went to tourist traps, so I"m not really the right person to decide where to take you."
Daniel gave a light smile, "Aren"t your friends coming? They surely know where to go, right?"
Kai proudly tapped his chest, "Leave it to me. You brought us to have a delicious lunch, now it"s my turn to bring everyone to the best places to see."
Kai wasn"t a selfish person, although he likes Samantha and would sometimes feel jealous when Daniel will be too close to her, he wasn"t the type of person to cause trouble. If Samantha really wants to be with Daniel, then that"s fine for him; he"ll just stay as a good friend and support her.
Everyone followed Kai to a very wide garden, it was actually a tourist attraction but it was one where people could really appreciate the beauty of nature and flowers. When they entered the place, everyone"s eyes were filled with excitement, even Chelsea who was local and had visited the place once still loved the view. Flowers with a variety of colors spread from left to right on the ground and some plants were formed into shapes of characters and art. The area stretched out far and wide for about seven hectares, and all the eyes could see were beautiful flowers; in fact, millions of flowers and plants covered the entire place.
Daniel who wasn"t really fond of flowers had found the place amazing. It was a really special one and being able to visit it with Samantha, he"s quite happy. He looked over to Samantha and found her walking along the path with an aisle and arch made of flowers and plants. He took out his phone and captured a picture of her back as she walked and another when she smelled the flowers. Even though Samantha was in her sporty casual outfit, she didn"t look out of place amidst the flowers. She looked beautiful.
After visiting the garden, the gang went to a shopping district where a lot of locals frequent. The goods were really affordable and the quality is great. Samantha who wasn"t much of a shopper had so much fun looking around and seeing new things, she hadn"t visited this place before so it was a treat for her too. Daniel followed her from behind and watched her carefully, afraid that she"d get lost among the sea of people.
Samantha was walking and looking from side to side when one young man was running towards them and b.u.mped into Samantha"s shoulder. "Ahh!" She almost fell backwards but fortunately, Daniel caught her in his arms.
"Sorry!", the young man shouted before he continued to run.
"Are you okay? Were you hurt?", Daniel asked in concern.
Samantha stood back up and shook her head, "I"m okay... I was just surprised."
"This won"t do.", Daniel pulled her close to him and draped his arm around her shoulders.
"What are you doing?", she looked up at him and tried to pull away but Daniel held her in place making her unable to get away from under his protective arm.
He lowered his head and firmly spoke, "Stay still! It"s crowded in here, you"ll get pushed around and you might get lost."
Samantha looked at him with doubt, "I"m not that weak."
"I didn"t say you were. But I"ll just end up watching over you and getting worried the whole time we"re here."
Samantha didn"t respond and just let him do what he wanted. She doesn"t despise him anyway but for 3 months that they hadn"t had any contact, she felt a little unsettled about being close to him again. She doesn"t know how to act around him anymore; she liked it but she was also feeling scared.
Suddenly, a 5-year-old boy ran towards Samantha and pounced on her legs.
"Kira!"
Samantha and Daniel were both stunned by the little boy"s appearance. She looked down and had a huge smile on her face. She bent and picked him up, "h.e.l.lo, Jakey! What are you doing here?"
"I"m with my dad! We"re buying some things for grandpa Frankie"s birthday tomorrow. You"re coming, right? Right?"
"Oh, it"s Frankie"s birthday. Well since you"re inviting me, of course, I"ll go!"
Daniel looked at the pair in front of him and was puzzled, "Who is this little creature?"
Little Jacob turned his head to Daniel and his little brows furrowed, "??? ??? ???? ??? ??? ??? ??????? ?? ?????"