Emilia's POV
I changed my outfit for the fourth time before finally settling with one of the outfits my mom bought me for my twentieth birthday.
I checked the time on my phone and saw that an hour had already passed.
"Shit," I cursed as I grabbed the first bag I saw and ran out.
To my surprise, Santo was patiently leaning on the wall with his hands in his pockets.
When he noticed me, he leaned up and walked closer to me. "Finally, I thought you passed out in there for a second."
I rolled my eyes and pretended I was mad before walking outside. He soon came following behind me and opened the car door for me.
"Where to?" he asked as he started the car and I froze. "Emilia, you wanted me to send you out alone and you didn't even know where you were going?"
"I thought I would figure it out on the way," I said as I looked down in shame. "I saw an ad for this tourist site in the mountains."
I handed my phone to show him the address and he sighed as he pulled out his phone to enter the coordinates in his GPS.
"I'm beginning to regret this," he said lowly as he started to drive.
The drive was around twenty minutes before we reached the mountainside.
As soon as he parked, I rushed out of the car to feel the strong breeze brushing against my skin.
The green mountain which stood in front of me was higher than I expected but I had a feeling it would be way easier for me than Mr. Grumpy.
I turned to look at him as he got out of the car, already setting up his face to complain.
He put on his sunglasses as he locked the car and walked over to me.
"This is what you want to do for fun?" he asked, not even trying to hide his judgment.
I smiled as I began walking. "Yes."
He caught up to me while holding his phone in the air. "Shit, there's no reception."
"Maybe that's a good thing?" I suggested as we started climbing. "You can start noticing the beautiful things in front of you."
He raised his eyebrow. "Are you trying to send me some kind of coded message, Emilia?"
I scoffed. "Of course not."
He handed me water from his backpack and I looked at him.
"So you do care?"
"No, I would prefer you dying by my hands rather than dying of thirst," he said as he shoved the water in my hand. "Take it. I know you didn't come prepared."
I held in my smile and took the water before putting it into my bag. "Well, thank you."
We continued following the trail and walked in a comfortable silence before he broke it.
"Why are you so determined to do this crap?" he asked as we reached halfway.
"It is not 'crap'," I defended myself. "My papá never let me go anywhere. He was always so concerned with my safety."
Surprisingly he stayed quiet.
"What?" I asked as I looked at him. "No comments about me being a spoiled princess?"
He looked at me. "No, you have a pretty valid reason."
I turned to look ahead of me.
I didn't expect him to be understanding so easily considering who he is.
"You know, when you said I couldn't go out, I thought it would be all over for me," I admitted. "I thought you'd wanted to keep me locked away."
He stayed quiet for a while as we continued to walk. "I think people should be able to do what they want; at least the ones who have freedom."
I watched his body language change for a second. That sentence had a deeper meaning than what he portrayed it to be.
I immediately stopped and screamed when my eyes landed on a green caterpillar crawling on a rock that leaned against an Eucalyptus tree.
"What?" he shouted, already starting to reach for his gun.
I quickly ran to it with a beaming smile on my face. "It's a caterpillar!"
"Emilia!" he shouted angrily as he marched up to me. "You screamed because of a damn caterpillar?"
"It's beautiful," I said as I watched it make its way up the rock.
"It's a caterpillar, Emilia," he said, not sounding too impressed as he let go of his gun.
I ignored him as I observed the caterpillar.
"We're never going to reach the top at this rate," he mumbled from behind me.
I rolled my eyes.
"Goodbye, caterpillar," I whispered before continuing the trail.
Thirty more minutes passed before we finally reached the top of the mountain. It wasn't as high compared to other mountains, however, it was still a challenge.
The top was filled with various vendors selling souvenirs and local dishes with fellow tourists purchasing.
Santo began walking to the edge and took a seat on the grass. I followed him and then sat next to him.
"Wow," I said as we overlooked the sea.
"It's pretty isn't it?" he asked as he looked calm for once.
I smiled. "This is exactly what I thought exploring would be like."
I stood up. "I'm going to look around to see what the vendors are selling. You coming?"
He suddenly started to look down again. "I'll catch up. Don't go too far."
I wanted to ask him what was wrong but I couldn't risk starting another argument and ending our day early.
"Okay," I said before walking away.
Up here was very festive. There was music, locals dancing, and the mouthwatering scent of food being prepared.
I first stopped at a stall that was selling shoes before moving on to the following one.
This stall sold jewelry. A silver, butterfly necklace surrounded by diamonds captured my eyes. It was beautiful.
"You should buy it," a male voice said and I looked up to see it was the owner or worker of the stall.
He looked around the same age as me and he had long, blond hair.
He smiled. "I will give you 50% off because you're beautiful."
I blushed as I picked up the necklace. "I don't know, it seems like a scam to me."
"Which one?" he asked. "Me giving you 50% off or me calling you beautiful?"
"Both," I answered honestly as I returned the necklace.
He smiled before stretching out his hand to me. "I'm Leo."
"Nice to meet you, Leo," I said as I shook his hand. "I'm Emilia."
He bit his lip. "Emilia? What a sexy name."
I folded my arms. "This is the first time I've heard this one."
"Why don't you give me your number and I'll make you hear it whenever you want," he said and I laughed.
I jumped as someone wrapped their arm around my waist. When I turned it was Santo.
"Santo, what are you-"
"Let's go," he said in a nonnegotiable tone.
"Go?" I asked. "I've only gone to 2 stalls so far."
He pulled me away. "Can't you see that creep was flirting with you?"
"What are you talking about?" I asked. "He was just being nice."
"Are you kidding me right now?" he asked confused.
"And so what if he was flirting?" I asked him and he froze. "It's not like you would care."
"I wouldn't."
"So why does it matter?" I asked him.
He held my hand and started pulling me. "It's getting late and it's a long walk back down. Let's go."
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