The next morning, their team building organizer, Sun, prepared the group for a scavenger hunt. He wanted the team to split into two smaller groups."Alright, we want each group to have the same number of men and women," explained Sun.
He shook his head, very much aware of his lie. What he said was an alibi; an excuse. As he called out the names that would complete Group 1 and Group 2 Sun remembered that the lists for each group had been handed to him directly by the Dr. CEO"s a.s.sistant, giving him clear instructions on who would be in each group.
"Here are the lists of items you should look for," Sun explained, handing out the lists on small index cards, "and things you have to do. Deadline is at 11:00 AM," he continued, explaining, "just before lunch. By then everyone should be back here. The first team to accomplish all the tasks, win!"
Just as usual, Yera and Xander were in a group together, but surprisingly, Dion and Rizie were also with them. A few minutes after Sun"s explanation, the scavenger hunt began. The two teams split up; scattering around the resort. The private island where they stayed was beautiful; with gorgeous blue waters and nature spots overflowing with greenery.
Yera glanced around. She smiled as she wished they could just sit around and relax.
Xander muttered, "Nice place right? You will like the villa more once you decide to visit that favorite place of mine," he said, noticing how much his wife seemed to admire the place.
"Hmm, yes let"s visit it then and let me see how great your favorite place was." Yera murmured before she ran to join their team to complete each task.
One of the tasks was to give a teammate a piggyback ride for ten minutes. Dion offered to piggyback Yera, as she was the smallest on their team . Yera thought Xander would make a fuss, but to her surprise, Xander agreed and offered to record the video.
After completing that task, Yera and Xander wandered behind. Walking behind the rest.
"What"s with you and Dion?" Yera asked suddenly. Yera noticed that Xander always paid extra attention to Dion, but unlike before he seemed more considerate, or was it generosity she was seeing more of?
Xander coughed, then glanced at Dion, who was next to Rizie. They had drifted about five meters behind them. He sighed. He clearly remembered giving Dion advice on how to tell Yera the truth about his ident.i.ty. Xander hated lying to Yera, but he understood and respected Dion"s decision to wait for a better time to disclose the matter with Yera directly. She was his half sister, and until now she had no idea he existed.
"Hmmm, nothing. I like Dion"s company. It"s like what you say: I should treat him nice since he is one of your closest friends. Or do you want me to bully him instead?" Xander asked, teasing.
Yera wasn"t fully convinced. She opened her mouth to say something, but Rizie hushed them, "Guys walk faster. Let"s hurry up and finish this. Oh look, there"s an egg nest!"
The pair sped up. Xander said, "Don"t think much Darling and let"s go. I will love to hold your hand but then…"
Yes, Yera wanted the same thing, but right now they couldn"t openly show their relations.h.i.+p. Seeing how Xander was interacting cheerfully with everyone, Yera smiled. Dion noticed, and smiled back awkwardly.
"Those smiles," she mused. He had the same awkward, funny smile as her dad. Everytime he would smile she felt like she was seeing him again. She remembered his face from when she was still a kid. Maybe it was one of the reasons that she was so comfortable with Dion.
"What a coincidence," she thought. She and Dion shared that same, stiff smile. Her grandfather would often tease her on how unrelaxed her smile was.
Yera"s parents died a day after her sixth"s birthday. During the celebration, the day before all of them were happy, especially her. The next day, her parents left on an important business, using one of their private planes. But a tragic accident occured, killing both her parents instantly.
"Dr. Song… You"re so slow, do you want me to carry you? " jested Xander once he noticed that she was still far behind. Xander smiled lovingly at her, then winked. Yera could not help but return his beautiful smile.
"Grandpa, can you see how great my smiles are now?" Yera thought proudly as she looked at her husband. Since she had been with Xander, Yera learned how to smile. Her smiles were relaxed, full of love and sincerity.
Xander with two more men in their team separated from Yera and their remainder of the group to find some of the more difficult things they needed. While Xander"s group did that, Yera"s group completed some of the scavenger hunt"s simpler tasks, like taking photos of insects and animals.
"Do you guys know how the Dr. CEO"s mother died? I heard it was in the woods just like this... I"m not too sure about the details, but I heard she was stabbed several times while she protected some kid" one of their group mates suddenly said..
Rizie looked shocked and turned to the employee, "Where did you hear that? I tried to look into it to be honest, but only found out a few articles that only said that she died. There were no details about it."
"Of course, the Yang family shut it all down; they have a large web of connections so censoring whatever they want is easy. I only know about this because a friend"s father of mine was there at that time... He said that our Dr. CEO"s mother got killed and was a hero. Even then, he still didn"t disclose much detail then too. That father of my friend only talked like this when he was drunk. When sober, his lips were sealed shut," the employee continued nonchalantly.
Yera pursed her lips, curious. She wanted to know more, but then, with something so tragic, no wonder Xander didn"t tell her too many details. He suffered a lot, even if it was just retelling the incident to her. It was surely a painful incident for him at the age of seven.
Dion looked at Yera with concern and quickly interrupted the conversation. He purposely changed the topic back to what they needed to do.
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