Free Web NovelChapter 331: Chapter 329: Second Brother Is Here
"Pfft... COUGH, COUGH, COUGH!"
Choking on a mouthful of water, Mia Grant coughed and explained, "That’s not it at all!"
Carla Sinclair didn’t doubt her or press the issue.
"If you don’t want to contact him, I can handle the follow-up communication."
Mia agreed, but after a moment’s thought, she changed her mind. "No, it’s better if I talk to him."
Carla was too busy, and it would be too much trouble for her to keep relaying messages back and forth.
She wasn’t a helpless baby who needed her family to help with everything.
It was just a phone call, not an execution.
Carla was still a bit worried and confirmed with her again and again.
"It’s fine, I can handle it. Like you said, it’s not like we can’t be friends anymore. Besides, he should be the one who feels awkward for being rejected. Since he’s okay with it, there’s no reason for me to be dramatic."
"Alright, then."
After hanging up, Mia didn’t rush to call Simon Adler.
The call had been a bit long, and Hayes Hughes was almost done with his preparations.
Mia could already smell the aroma of instant noodles.
She put on her jacket and crawled out of the tent. The sky outside had already darkened, and the sunset painted the horizon red. Mia’s gaze was captivated.
Hayes heard her come out, but when he didn’t hear her footsteps approaching, he turned and saw her staring blankly at the sky, her head tilted up.
Following her gaze, Hayes finally understood what she was looking at.
Seeing how engrossed she was, he couldn’t resist taking out his phone to snap a picture.
Because he often received work calls, Hayes’s phone was almost never on silent.
Naturally, the camera’s shutter sound didn’t escape Mia’s ears. She froze for a second, looking at Hayes with a dazed expression.
He just smiled calmly. "Want to see? It’s beautiful."
As if drawn by some unseen force, Mia walked over and saw that he had taken a picture of her with the sunset.
After a moment, she nodded in agreement. "You’re right. I haven’t seen such a beautiful sunset in a long time."
Hayes sent the photo to her and added in a low voice, "Actually, I was talking about you."
Mia’s hand paused as she was unlocking her phone. Her dazed expression gradually cleared, replaced by an unusual reaction: a blush slowly creeping onto her cheeks.
She didn’t look at the photo again, hastily putting her phone away and changing the subject. "Are the noodles ready?"
"They’re ready. Do you want to eat out here? We can go in the tent, too."
"Let’s just eat here." Mia washed her hands and helped set up the table and chairs.
Just as she finished, Hayes brought over two bowls of noodles.
He was a bit of a neat freak, so he rinsed the chopsticks and spoon twice and wiped them dry before placing them on her bowl.
Mia thanked him and, in return, poured him a glass of juice.
It was dinnertime, and the air was filled with a mix of food aromas. Mia even caught the smell of barbecue.
Noticing her little nose twitching as she sniffed the air, Hayes quickly understood what she wanted. "Want some? Barbecue?"
Mia shook her head and picked up her chopsticks. "I want to eat noodles."
Partway through the meal, Hayes excused himself to go wash his hands. When he came back, he was holding a handful of grilled skewers.
Mia stared, stunned, and asked him where he got them.
"I talked with the people in the next site over and bought some from them."
Hayes sat down, grabbed a plate, placed the skewers on it, and pushed it in front of her.
"See how they taste."
Mia really did want to try them. The smell was just too tempting, making her feel like she was at a street food market instead of a campground.
But it wasn’t like she absolutely had to have them.
She was amazed by Hayes’s initiative, and also by how he really seemed to have the ability to "read minds."
’Could it be related to his job? A cardiac surgeon with a Mind Reading Technique... that actually sounds kind of plausible.’
Mia almost laughed at her own thought.
"What are you laughing at? Do they not taste good?"
Hayes hadn’t tried them. He couldn’t find a barbecue stall anywhere nearby, so he had to settle for the closest option.
As he spoke, he picked up his phone, about to search again.
"No, they’re delicious."
Mia smiled. "I was just thinking about something else. It was just a funny thought."
"What was it?" Hayes asked instinctively.
Resting her chin in her hand, Mia gazed at the fading sunset behind him and said with a smile, "A long time ago, I dreamed that I died."
The man’s hand trembled.
Across from him, the girl’s voice was calm and unhurried as she continued, "It was also in the winter, and the evening sky was just as beautiful as it is now. The only difference was that it also snowed that day."
Hayes’s eyelashes fluttered as he looked into her eyes.
But her gaze was fixed on the distance, the magnificent sunset filling her shimmering eyes as if reflected on the sparkling surface of the sea.
He stared at her for a long time, until his eyes began to sting. Only then did he blink slowly, hiding a strange emotion he himself couldn’t quite identify.
That night, inside the tent, he turned off the light.
Mia looked up at the night sky. It was indeed much more beautiful than the starry sky in Jynsia.
After a long while, tired, she closed her eyes, turned over, and snuggled into his arms. "I’m going to sleep."
"Okay." Hayes held her through the blanket, not daring to embrace her too tightly.
As if she were a porcelain doll that would shatter at the slightest touch.
The night grew deep.
It was utterly silent outside, not a sound to be heard, only the soft, shallow breaths of the person in his arms.
Mia wasn’t fast asleep yet. Lying on his chest, she could hear his unsteady heartbeat.
In a hazy state of near-sleep, she shifted her position, moving her ear away from his heart. While trying to find some quiet, she didn’t forget to show her concern. "Aren’t you tired?"
"What are you thinking about? Your heart is beating so fast."
She was so sleepy she could barely open her eyes, and her words were mumbled and indistinct.
The figure before her stiffened slightly before quickly hugging her again, his warm palm patting her back gently. "It’s nothing. Go to sleep."
"Second Brother is here."
Mia’s mind was fuzzy, and without giving it much thought, she quickly fell asleep.
Hearing her even breathing, Hayes brushed a stray strand of hair from her cheek and sighed silently.
He had actually been wanting to ask her about it ever since she’d said that one sentence during dinner.
He hadn’t been able to focus while they were stargazing just now, his mind completely filled with the scene she had described.
It was impossible to shake.
He didn’t want to ask about the minor details for now, and she probably wouldn’t want to say much anyway.
Somehow, he could sense that this was no ordinary dream.
And so he desperately wanted to know... when she left, was she alone?
He didn’t want her to have been all alone at the very end.
’But thinking about the time she’d jumped into the sea, with her personality, she wouldn’t have made a fuss. She would have just found a corner to hide in and slowly faded away with the passage of time.’
’Humans are incredibly fragile, their lives so short they might not even have time to meet.’
Hayes lowered his gaze, his arms gradually tightening as he pulled her closer into his embrace.
’From the very beginning, I never asked for too much.’
’Especially after she "came back from the dead."’
’I just hope that time can pass a little more slowly, and that she can be safe and sound.’
