Chapter 7: Meeting Him

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She must have looked horrible right now. Mud had smeared her lower body part. Her swollen eyes got worse because she had also cried last night. It was annoying to know that she had cried too much lately.

“Are you alright?” The deep voice was laced with concern.

Her hand wiped the remaining tears, and she choked out, “I am fine.”
He blinked, and the look in his eyes seemed to ask whether she was joking with him. The man brought his strong body to sit beside her.

“I am going to just sit here in silence if you don’t feel like talking, but if you do, I am listening.” His low voice sounded miraculously soothing.

Alana was silent and Lorenzo also didn’t open his mouth after that. His gaze was directed at the lake in front of them, it was not clear what he was thinking about right now, yet he patiently accompanied her.

“I didn’t know you would visit here today.” She suddenly spoke, breaking the silence between them.

“It’s good to relax your mind once a while.” He let out a breath, then laid down with his hands crossed as pillows to his head. He glanced at her, finding that she was also looking at him right now.

He had been focusing on her crestfallen face earlier and even averted his gaze somewhere else, but now that he looked closer, he noticed there seemed to be something wrong. He pulled himself to a sitting position and inched his face closer to her.

“What are you doing?” Alana scrunched her face, confused.

She was surprised when Lorenzo grabbed her hand all of a sudden. He had a frown on his face. “You have an allergy.”

“Ah?” With hasty movement, she tried to cover her arm that was slightly exposed. He had such a sharp eagle eye that he quickly noticed. For a moment, she was caught off guard, then she frantically shook her head.

“Do you want to see a doctor? I’ll take you there.” He asked.

“I don’t want to go anywhere right now. Are you going to kick me out?” She sniffed slightly, affected by her emotional state.

This place was actually owned by Lorenzo and her brother. Ever since they were a child, they had played together in this place a lot of times and later acquired it.

“It’s not about not like that.” He patiently explained, a bit surprised. “Your skin must be feeling uncomfortable. How did you eat peanuts?”

“I am not uncomfortable.” She lied, blatantly avoiding his gaze.

A few moment of silence later, he just sighed. While she took a quick peek at him, looking away as soon as he caught her staring at him.

“Don’t tell my brother.” She said, hugging her knees.

Lorenzo and her brother were practically partners in crime ever since they were a child. Although they spent less time together as they grew older, they were still best friends. Between a best friend and best friend’s sister, which one comes first? It was already obvious.

Although this man had a great relationship with her brother, she and him could still be considered as acquaintances. However, there was something that made her and him drift apart further over the years. It was a shameful event that made her avoid him like plague for years.

The first opportunity when they were able to converse again, he had showed her that he wasn’t affected much by what had happened, so she also acted the same. Still, some moments were still awkward.

Then, she looked at him with confusion upon realizing something. “Did you say peanuts? How do you know that I am allergic to peanuts?”

She must have eaten some kind of food that have peanuts in them during the dinner last night. Originally, she endured a bit since she didn’t want to ruin anything the moment she returned to the house, but things had turned like this.

That woman, Olivia, was also so good at acting that she sometimes feel it was a pity her talent wasted like this. She should have gone to the entertainment industry as an actress. Alana thought bitterly. Her teenager self had suffered a lot under that woman.

“You ate peanuts when you were a child and your family flipped the whole house upside down because of this.” He said seriously, making her fall into a slight daze. She didn’t even remember this memory. As she grew old, she just knew that she was allergic to peanuts. How she or the family came to know about it, she didn’t remember.

“Your family never allow products with peanuts in your home afterward.” Lorenzo continued.

She buried her face on her knees. Obviously, they allow peanuts in the house now that she rarely home anymore. Everyone in the family knew she allergic to peanuts, well, probably except for one person that often take care of everyone’s meals.

Oh, nevermind. Alana now remembered that the woman also knew. Previously, a new chef had gotten fired because of this. In her teens, she had accidentally ate food that had peanuts as the ingredients in it and a doctor was called to treat her. She doubted that Olivia even remembered or care much about it.

“They obviously do now.” She muttered with muffled voice. It was not certain whether Lorenzo could understand her words or not, but he didn’t react much.
When she raised her head again, she just noticed that the man was now gone. She looked around blankly and still couldn’t find his figure anywhere.

With a sigh, she laid down on the grass again. Perhaps Lorenzo also got tired and left. With slight frustration, she closed her eyes. She had her eyes closed for what seemed like a long time until she jolted awake because of the sudden cold sensation that assaulted her skin.

She opened her eyes wide in surprise. The skin on her arms were exposed earlier because the fabric was making her feeling more uncomfortable. Furthermore, she didn’t need to hide it anymore.

Lorenzo was putting damp cloth on her arms to help her reduce the itchiness and pain. The cool feeling indeed helped her to ease the discomfort.

“Did I wake you up?” He asked with apologetic gaze.

“No, no.” She shook her head. “I wasn’t sleeping. I simply closed my eyes.”
After a moment, she finally said, “Thank you. Sorry for troubling you.”

“Don’t think too much about it.” He flicked her forehead, causing her to glare at him.

The fierce expression made Lorenzo chuckle. There was a flash of reminiscence in his eyes. “I remember that you used to be a little troublemaker.”

“Me? A troublemaker?” She tilted her head. “When?”

After that she let out an amused laugh upon seeing his expression. Lorenzo continued his words. “Don’t you remember that you used to fight a lot with children bigger than your size? You would drag your brother with you, not to help you fight them, but to clean the aftermath of the battlefield.”

She scrunched her face and scowled. “It wasn’t my fault. It was those children who were looking trouble with me first.”

The two of them continue to talk, recalling a lot of memories in the childhood. A lot of time passed as they drowned in nostalgia of the past. Without realizing it, the girl on the grass gradually quieted down.

Lorenzo gazed at the her. Her hair was messy and face was slightly red because of the crying, but she looked peaceful as she slept. He didn’t wake her up.

Alana slept for what seemed like a very long time. She didn’t dream or feel anything. It was a nice rest that she feel refreshed when she finally woke up again. She yawned and was about to go to the bathroom do to her usual business when she noticed something wrong.

This grey-colored bed, simple sofas and the furniture, all inside this room wasn’t how she remembered how her bedroom in her apartment looked like. She clutched her head, horrified, especially when she noticed that the clothes in her body had been changed.

She was no longer wearing her T-shirt and trousers, but another pair that seemed too big on her, which signaled that they were also not hers.

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