How was he supposed to chase after women like them? Would you like to watch a movie, Jewel? After he texted her, she didn’t respond for a long time. He grew anxious as he waited. Right when he was contemplating whether to provide her with another option, Jewel responded. ‘You should ask Eugene and Olivia about this, not me.”
Alex felt like persisting for a while longer, but he also felt eager to get closer to her. If Olivia was a tough one to get, Jewel was probably the ultimate challenge. At least North had managed to pull Olivia and Eugene a little closer to each other. There was nothing that tied Alex to Jewel. If Alex continued on with his stubborn, traditional approach, when would he ever be able to get the girl’s heart?
All of a sudden, he felt the urge to reveal his feelings toward her. He no longer wanted to be secretly in love with her, as there had been no progress in their relationship throughout this period. ‘Don’t you know that I only came here because of you, Jewel?’ This time, after he sent the text, he received a response extremely quickly. It wasn’t a short response either.
I’m not that close to you, Mr. Road. You’re Eugene and Olivia’s friend, so I speak to you a little more just out of respect for them. I apologize if I’ve ever given you any mixed signals. You don’t need to do anything for me, and you don’t need to waste your time here.”
Was that clear enough? Was that straightforward enough? Upon reading that she wasn’t close to him, he felt like he was back at square one. All of the progress he thought he had was actually just her being nice out of common courtesy.
Alex regretted his rash decision-he shouldn’t have revealed his feelings toward her so soon. Will this scare her away? He stared at her text and went through every sentence, word by word. I don’t get it. We’ve known each other for nearly a month, and we’ve been texting almost every day. Why is she still so cautious with me? What should I do now? How do I resolve this?
Alex shut his eyes to calm his racing mind down. “You misunderstood me. I meant that I was here to pass you something,’ he texted in the end. However, his text was like a rock thrown into the deep ocean-he didn’t receive a response from her after that. He sent another text a while later. I’ll find time to pass it to you the next day!’
The next day, Brian and North stayed home to spend time with Ellen. Olivia, Eugene, Alex, and Jewel headed out together. Jewel didn’t want to go along with them, but she couldn’t say no due to Olivia’s persistence. They ended up going to a hot springs resort.
It didn’t take long for Olivia to sense that something was going on between Alex and Jewel. Throughout their trip to the hot springs,
Alex kept looking at Jewel, while Jewel seemed like she was avoiding him. She wasn’t just avoiding him; she was even avoiding his gaze. The few of them stayed in the hot springs for about 20 minutes before Olivia suggested going to the rest area.
Jewel quickly agreed to this idea-she felt like she was suffocated when she was there with Alex. Both Jewel and Olivia ordered a pot of tea. After a while, Olivia gave in to the urge to question Jewel. “What’s up with you and Alex?” Both of them hadn’t spoken to each other in the pool, and they didn’t even make eye contact with one another.
What good was it for them to spend time together if they weren’t even interacting? ‘Nothing much.’ Jewel signed.. “There’s an odd tension between you guys. What did he say to you?” Olivia asked.
‘He said he came here for me. Don’t you think there’s something wrong with him?’ Jewel asked. “He’s just trying to go after you. What’s wrong with that?” Olivia laughed.
‘Why would anyone be interested in someone like me?’ Jewel asked again. “What’s wrong with you? You’re cute, pretty, capable… Tons of men would love to go for you! If you don’t like him, I’ll find you some other guy, Olivia offered.
