Lana looked at his smug face with her cheeks inflated and flipped her head to the side. Raph smiled helplessly. This was the first time he was dealing with angry Lana. All these years while growing up together, he had never seen her getting mad even while playing or doing pranks on each other. Well, at least not against him. So, her acting like this was completely new to him. He did not know how to coax her.
"Hey. Lannie. I'm sorry... Don't get mad, okay?" Raphael started with apology. After all he also invaded someone's privacy.
"It was wrong of me to look into your diary without your permission." Raph half-hugged her while they both looked at the scenery from glass wall.
"Well, I'll forgive you if you let me paint this." The brunette pointed at the gorgeous view.
"And I'll forgive you if you let me buy these." The redhead pointed at his portraits in the diary.
"Why do you wanna buy them?" Lana faced him and asked.
"Uh... I look good in these and I could boast to everyone that my best friend is such a great artist. I... If you don't wanna give, that's also fine. I'll look for something else you can do." Raph said sheepishly as he rubbed his hair.
"No. I meant, you don't need to buy these. You can take them. These are yours anyway." Lana shook her head and said, seeing he misunderstood her.
"Ah... Thanks, Lannie." The redhead smiled happily as he cut out his portraits from the diary and took out his project file from the bag and unstitched some transparent folders from it and preserving the drawings into them carefully. Lana smiled at his rushing figure.
"When are you gonna start painting? Do you want me to go? I'll go meet Carter if you want a quiet place." He said while arranging the drawings.
"Why would I want you to leave? When you are the one I am painting." Lana said while taking a seat on the couch.
"What?" Raph asked placing the folders packed with drawings into a different file one by one as he thought that he heard wrong.
"I said, I'm painting YOU. Naturally I don't want you to leave." Lana emphasized.
Raph's head spun violently to look up at her. His eyes were round in astonishment. The drawings just now were quite casual compared to the full-fledged model painting.
"Lannie... You have changed." Raph said pitifully.
"The Lana I know, wouldn't say this. You are not the sweet, innocent Lannie I knew."
Lana rolled her eyes. "I think you would look great, if you wear white shirt and khaki trousers. You can stand here like this and play with the curtain tie-back. You don't even have to smile. Just look somewhere or the floor very intensely, like this." Lana sprang into the live actions, explaining him about the position she wanted him in.
"Oh... You wanted to paint casual painting..." Raph murmured.
"Yeah. What did you think I wanted?" Lana asked back. Seeing his blushing face and eyes not daring to look at her, she understood something.
"What? I'm not a pervert. And I am not practicing human anatomy right now." She hissed as she threw a soft pillow lying on the couch at his face.
"Are you planning to invite me once you start practicing then?" Raph ducked and teased her.
Lana rushed to him and started smacking him with the pillow on the bed.
"Haha Ha. Ahh... Ah... Wait, wait, wait. Let me put this back." Raph chuckled and winced as a smack came down harder than others. He remembered his precious drawings and held Lana's upper arm to stop her from ruining them and went to put them back in his backpack.
"We'll start after the touring the town. Be ready by then." Lana ran to the door as she left behind a sentence.
Raph looked at her slender back which went to the door and swiftly went out after opening the door. Their eyes met as she turned around to close it. He put his backpack into the wardrobe compartment which was unused after hanging all of his cloths. Then he went to bed to take a nap. Well, twin telepathy.
Harper woke after more than three hours. She washed her face and got out of her chamber to find her friends. Seeing that their rooms were shut tight, she assumed that they were sleeping. Deciding to let them rest a bit more, she took off towards her grandfather's study. She climbed down and went to the hallway. She couldn't see Butler Simon or any servants. So she directly knocked on the door of the office. Not hearing any command she found that the door was already open.
She stepped in and turned on the lights. The report, which her grandpa was reading this morning, was lying on the desk, edges riddled with sticky notes. She did not touch any file or documents on the desk. She went straight towards the cabinet of books. She was very surprised when Carter showed her the book subjecting Farming Technology. It had many practical illustrations for different equipment, listing from sensors and autonomous harvesters to water management technology and Minichromosome Technology. Finding too little information in the book they found that this was the introduction book. And there were detailed versions for each technology. The book had credits from a prestigious Agriculture Research University and with the collaboration of some distinguished scientists in Agro field.
Harper found the series of books on the same shelf. Which surprised her as these were not here when she and Carter were discussing about the book before. Looks like Grandpa noticed it. She took out first five volumes along with the introductory book and put them on the chair one by one. Looks like my arm strength is lacking a bit, she thought. She made up her mind and lifted the pile of books up with all her might. Well, have to say. My arm strength is lacking a lot. She thought again.
The atmosphere outside was still sunny. The sun was starting to bow down towards west horizon. The afternoon wind was slightly warm and quiet. The backyard of the Vlahos Manor was filled with lawn. A gorgeous octagonal gazebo sitting area was giving a comforting sight. The roof was built a bit high, so enough lighting could penetrate in siting area. Well, it did not matter as much because with a flick of finger the entire gazebo could light up as a star. Four large sized rattan single sofa chairs were placed beside comfy sectional sofa set rounding a coffee table. A lady in elegant white clothing was sitting of the single sofa chair, reading a thick book with golden thin rimmed glasses sitting on her nose. Her legs covered in white trousers were crossed to the side on the sofa. The rattan single sofa chairs were big enough to stretch your legs until only feet were outside with parasol base. They were covered with soft, smooth cushion. Several small pillows were sitting on the sides for comfort. A jug of Grape juice and a tray of fruits were placed on the table.
The lady looked at the side where she heard the noise of footsteps coming from. It was her beloved granddaughter, who was walking here while struggling to balance the pile of books. The thin girl was obviously gasping as she flopped on the sofa chair opposite of hers, not after slamming the pile of books on the table.
"Huff... Huff... Hi, grandma." The girl said.
Kary filled the glass with grape juice and handed it to her. The redhead drank half of the glass with one gulp. She smiled at her grandma as she exchanged pleasantries with her.
"Why are you carrying so many books by yourself? You should have called Simon for help." Kary scolded her seeing the books were quite large and heavy considering the girl's slender frame.
"Ah... I thought that my arm strength was enough to carry these. But I forgot to consider the distance from there to here." Harper sighed while feeling her upper arm with a frown. She obviously was fit enough to punch down Raph and Carter. How could she loose against these puny books?
"Oh, yeah. I stole these books from Grandpa's study. We have to make a summer project concerning industry and growth of technology. I and Carter found a book concerning farming and modern agriculture research. After checking we found that it was only introduction and next volumes had the detailed information. I found these five volumes. I think Grandpa should have found our interest. Next two are not in the study." Harper squeaked while slapping the top of the pile.
Kary leaned forward to look at the title of the book. She exclaimed an "Ah..." as she read it, making Harper look at her with some expectation.
"Well, these are the study books which contains the noting of techniques and experiments done by the professors of Berton International Agricultural University and Clair Institute in collaboration. These books are the original prints after the first notation. There will be seven volumes after all the experiments are passed successfully. Five Volumes are already completed. Sixth is under the care of Insight Library. Seventh is still on the way to get completed. Do you guys have eyes of falcon that you could find a gem right out of glass pieces?" Karen shook her head as she gave her the detailed introduction on making of these books.
Harper was shocked. These were unpublished copyrighted books which will make a history once they are out for the world.