Chapter 197 Double Premiums
“Looks like I need to purchase two life premiums when I return,” Matthew teased next to her ear.
Although he was clearly teasing her, she somehow felt that he was flirting with her. Indeed, this jerk is up to no good at all.
“Hey, can you keep some distance?”
Despite him being gorgeous and was the ideal man of thousands of girls in Bloomstead, Veronica was an exception. Like a tough woman with a built-in barrier, she instinctively blocked all of his moves on her and wouldn’t fall for them.
In order to get a better view of the road ahead, Matthew tilted his body to the side a little, whereupon Veronica freed up her left hand and jabbed backward strongly, hitting him right in the chest with her elbow.
Even with the whistling sound in her ears, she could still hear his gasp.
“Don’t fool around. It’s dangerous.”
After all, they were riding on a motorcycle, and even though he was in pain, he didn’t release his grip on the handlebars.
His voice was low and husky, and it sounded utterly seductive. Although his tone was a little strict, as though he was reprimanding her gently, there was also a trace of unwillingness in his voice.
Veronica’s heart skipped a beat and started to pound against her chest, throbbing without a reason. Damn him and his charm!
“Stop, stop!” she cried out immediately as she wanted him to stop the motorbike.
“Sit still. I’m taking you home.”
“Who says I wanted to go home? I don’t want to go home.”
“What? Are you planning to sleep on the streets tonight?” His face turned a little, and he glanced at the woman in his arms, whispering into her ear, “It’s already 3.00AM.”
“I don’t want to sleep. I can’t sleep,” she said in a spoiled manner and snorted softly.
It was true that she couldn’t fall asleep.
“I’ll take you somewhere, then.” He accelerated, and the bike sped up, but it steered very steadily.
At the intersection, he took a right turn and continued to ride eastward.
Utterly helpless, Veronica leaned in his arms. From being uncomfortable in the beginning until the acceptance that came afterward, she seemed to have become less resistant.
Another half an hour later, they arrived at the foot of a mountain, and he rode up around the mountain until they finally stopped at a platform halfway up the mountain.
There was no more flat, concrete road going upward, but steps instead.
After getting off the bike, Veronica asked, “Where’s this place?”
“Come with me.”
He held the keys in his hand, turned around, and started walking up the stairs. Following behind, Veronica climbed more than a hundred steps and reached an observation platform, which had a wide and spacious view.
Both of them paced to the bench on the observation platform and took their seats. “Look up,” Matthew said.
Leaning on the back of the bench, she lifted her legs and rested them on the fence of the observation platform. Staring up like this, she was able to see thousands of stars in the dark sky above.
“There are so many stars. It’s so pretty.”
Her troubled heart slowly calmed down as she stared at the sky filled with stars. “Since my arrival at Bloomstead, I’ve never stargazed so quietly before.” Suddenly, she pointed at a star above her head. “Look, the seven brightest stars which are connected together is the Big Dipper.”
“It’s beautiful.”
Matthew rested his arm on the back of the bench as Veronica lifted her head and leaned back, resting her head on his arm nicely. After speaking, he lowered his head at his cell phone in his hand, wrote a text message, and then kept it away.
“Say… do you think the stars in the sky have troubles?” She sighed sadly; just a casual question from her had indirectly revealed the predicaments she had in her heart.
He turned to face her, but in the dark, she didn’t know how gentle his eyes were.
“Every experience and encounter is a trial. After you’ve been through a lot of them, you’ll become invincible and unbeatable.” Pausing, he then added, “So, it’s not necessarily a bad thing.”
“That makes sense.” Veronica nodded, but then she shook her head and clicked her tongue. “You’re a businessman indeed, sounding so convincing when you speak. It’s such a waste that you’re not a salesman.”
The muscles on Matthew’s face turned stiff, and he shook his head as a helpless smile spread across his face.
Seated on the observation platform, they chatted absent-mindedly, and Veronica’s irritation gradually faded away until she fell asleep in exhaustion at 4.30AM with her head on Matthew’s shoulder without her realizing.
In the dark, a few beams of light flashed, accompanied by the sounds of footsteps as someone came up.
Upon seeing Matthew, the people who came up saw his hand signal and kept quiet. Then, they propped up a high-quality folding bed, then placed a soft mattress and pillows on it together with a thin blanket before leaving quietly.
Moving aside slightly, Matthew held her up in his arms gently, paced to the bed, and placed her on it.
After that, he lay next to her.
Maybe it was because of his presence that Veronica felt an unknown sense of security and slept soundly.
It was autumn, and the night was a little chilly. At 6.30AM, the sun rose and peeked out from the horizon.
For the entire night, Matthew didn’t sleep a wink, and he gazed at the beautiful view in front of him. Initially, he planned to bring her here for stargazing and to watch the sunrise, but seeing how soundly she was sleeping now, he felt unbearable to wake her up.
Slowly, he got up, took out his cell phone, and turned on the camera. Then, he changed some settings in preparation to film the sunrise.
In the end, as though Veronica had felt something, her eyes popped open all of a sudden, and she saw Matthew holding his phone horizontally at her.
“What are you doing, Matthew Kings? Are you sick? Why are you making a recording of me when I’m asleep?” she exclaimed, unable to restrain her annoyance.
Abruptly, she sat up in bed and looked around, only to realize that they were on the observation platform.
“Where did this bed come from?”
“Look over there.”
Without any explanation, Matthew pointed at the sky to where the mountains overlapped each other.
Turning around to look, the woman saw that the sun was peeking out from the mountains. The bright rays from it were turning the clouds red and casting an orange halo on the greenish peaks of the mountains. A thin layer of mist drifted between the valleys, moving along with the breeze, and the whole scene was like a breathtakingly stunning drawing.
“It’s gorgeous.” Sitting in the bed, Veronica covered herself with the thin blanket.
As it was already autumn, the morning was especially cold.
Slowly, it dawned on her that Matthew had brought her here to see the stars as well as the sunrise.
Meanwhile, Matthew scooted next to her and sat down. “Are you sure you don’t want a few pictures?”
“Oh, yeah. That’s right!”
Reaching into her pocket, she felt for her phone. After pressing on the buttons, she realized that her cell phone was not responding. “It ran out of battery,” she said and glanced at Matthew’s phone. “Borrow me your phone to take a few pictures and send them to me afterward.”
She set aside her own phone and snatched his phone from his hands tyrannically.
After that, she turned on the camera, switched it to professional mode, and snapped a few pictures at the horizon with a straight face.
When all that was done, she opened the album and flipped through the pictures she had taken one by one.
While she was swiping, another picture came into view; the background was a mountain in Dawnpol Village, and a rainbow was hanging high above as the both of them stood next to the mountain and took a picture with the rainbow.
In the picture, Veronica was looking into the camera with a victory sign while the man next to her had his head turned and was looking at her with affection in his eyes.
The smile on Veronica’s face slowly turned stiff. As a person who was once in love, it was easy for her to tell Matthew’s interest in her from the picture.
