Chapter 35: Chapter 35

Isabella's pov;

"I feel sleepy. Let me sleep for sometime."

"How long?"

"Just give me 5 minutes."

"I'll go get ready then."

Mr Martinez left after tapping on my shoulder for a long time to wake me up from my sleep. How can he wake up so early after going to bed late?

When I finally opened my eyes, he was buttoning up his shirt. Does he have to do that in front of me? Is he doing it on purpose?

I whined, "What am I going to wear now? I didn't bring any clothes with me since someone didn't inform me beforehand that we're going to stay in an inn. What am I supposed to do now? Do you want me to dress up in a bathrobe?"

He placed a paper bag in front of me saying, "There's clothes here to change."

I took the bag and looked inside it. A white shirt with brown pants with a denim jacket. Not bad. When did he buy this?

After showering, I walked out of the bathroom while ruffling my hair. My hair was wet and hanging in my eyes. I pulled it back into a high ponytail with my fingers, and then tied on some headband to keep it from falling in my face.

When I looked at Mr Martinez, he was staring at me without blinking his eyes. He was looking in my direction with that blank stare of his and when I made eye contact with him it was as if I could feel the heat of his gaze and all his emotions were on display. Why is he looking at me like that? Suddenly, he stood from his place and said, "If you're done, we can leave."

I took the hairdryer and started blowing my hair dry while asking, "Aren't we going to eat in the room?"

"I chose a place for breakfast. Let's go there."

I gave a nod and continued drying my hair.

In the diner,

"It's been years since I've been to an outdoor seating diner. This place has a fabulous view by the lake which gives a lively ambience to this diner as well. It sounds a bit loud but everyone seems to be having fun. I wonder how you find these wonderful places like this to eat."

"It was recommended."

"Whenever you mention 'recommended' , I really want to see this person who is recommending you to these places. I bet he's the type of a romantic guy."

He pushed the menu card towards me while saying, "Order. We have a place to go after this."

"Where are we leaving already? We just came here."

He took the menu card and looked into it without answering my question.

While I was looking at the menu I said, "I want a tiramisu!"

"Desserts can be eaten in the end." And continued looking at the menu.

Even though he changed a lot, he still orders me around like before.

I let out a sigh and said, "Fine! Then I want Roasted mushroom pizza, meatballs al forno, ravioli, braised short rib, dipping oil for the rib and a tiramisu."

"There's wine on the menu. Don't you want it?"

"Don't tempt me, Mr Martinez. Otherwise, you'll be the one who has to drag me around if I get drunk."

After the food arrived,

"Delicious food and incredible atmosphere. I love this place! We should come here often. It feels like a vacation place from a busy schedule." And continued eating my ravioli.

He gave a nod and continued eating his food.

After a while, Mr Martinez stopped the car in front of a mountain with a nameboard Sunny Brae forest.

"What are we doing here?" Asked while looking at the forest through the window of the car.

"We're going to hike today." And got out of the car.

"I got the picture now."

I got out of the car and took a look around the place. It was all green and gave me fresh air to breathe since there were many trees around.

He made me wear a cap and said, "Are you ready?"

I tiptoed to reach his height and asked, "What if I said no, would you take me back to the hotel?"

He patted my head and turned away and said, "No." And walked before me.

I followed him behind after reading the instructions on the board.

While we're trekking up the mountain, he asked, "Do you think we can reach the top before sunset?"

Was he worried that it would get dark before hiking up?

"Don't worry, it's not a long way so we can also return down before the sunset, Mr Martinez."

"Really?"

"Yup! I read the distance in the instructions board along the way."

After a while, I saw a stream of water across the trail, "Mr Martinez, let's take a break here."

"Doesn't it make us late to reach the top?"

"We can't hike without taking short breaks. If you do, it will make you tired soon."

He gave a nod and sat beside me while drinking water out of this bottle.

I washed my face with water and looked at him, he was sweating all over his face while he was taking a break. I walked over to him and sat beside him and gave a tissue paper to wipe his sweat.

"Do you carry tissue paper with you?"

"No, it's for you. Come on, wipe your sweat using this."

"It seems like I'm going to sweat a lot so how much tissue do you have with you?"

"If you don't want it, you say it to my face."

I stuck it back into my bag again and sat looking at the stream.

"Do you want to play?" Mr Martinez asked me while I was looking at the stream.

"Huh?"

"You were looking at the stream so merrily."

"It's not like that. It reminded me of memories with Sophia."

"What kind of memory?"

"Sophia was also like you. She's also scared of water. There was a time when one of Harry's friends pushed her into a stream making fun of her fear of water. Since the steam wasn't deep, she didn't get hurt. I stepped in and held her tightly. Do you know what she did after that? And let out a chuckle and said, "She hugged me tightly and placed a kiss on my cheek."

"You are really a dumb."

"Huh? What did you just say?"

He stood from the place we sat for the break and said, "Break time is over." And continued walking up the mountain.

I followed him while asking, "What do you mean by dumb?"

"Nothing."

"What do you mean nothing?"

He stopped and looked at me and asked, "Doesn't your mouth hurt while talking for a long time?"

"Are you mocking me?"

"I heard people don't talk much while hiking. Was it a truth or just a fact?"

"Fine. I get it. You don't want me to talk. Okay, I won't talk. Understood. I'm not going to talk and disturb you anymore so don't worry. I'm going to shut my mouth from now on. Be happy with being silent…"

When we reached the Mountain top, I screamed, "ISABELLA!!!" and it echoed back.

"Are you a kid?"

I turned and looked at Mr Martinez and asked, "FYI. I'm not 26." And showed my tongue.

"You're not behaving like a 22 either."

I walked to him and asked while staring at his eyes, "How do you want me to behave then?"

He let out a smile and patted my head and said, "You look like a cat when you're mad."

I snapped his hand and walked to the edge and said, "I don't want to waste my time by arguing with you. Let me enjoy this for a bit."

After a while, "Can we go down now?" I asked Mr Martinez.

"We'll wait till the sunset."

Sunset? Doesn't he's the one who wants to go down before the sunset? I thought he wanted to return back before the sunset when he asked me about the hiking time. But now, it looks like he wanted to be here at the time of sunset. Okay, let it be.

I gathered some sticks which were lying around on the ground to make a fire. Using the lighter, I lit a small fire beside me.

"You made a fire." Mr Martinez said while squatting down beside me.

"Many years of experience."

Mr Martinez put a jacket over me and called out my name, "Isabella.."

"Yeah?"

He sat comfortably beside the fire and asked me, "Tell me about your hiking experience with your friends. How many did you do in total?"

I thought and said, "That was… one in middle school, one in High school and two times in college so it's four in total. What about you, Mr Martinez?"

"None." Said with an expressionless face and continued, "How was the hiking for you?"

"Every hike gave me a different experience, among them, middle school was the worst one."

"Why?"

"After returning from hiking to the camping site, I found that my tent had a hole in it in the middle of the night because of the scourge of mosquitoes flying around me everywhere. Among them, some bit me. I rushed out of the tent and taped the hole and searched for the repellent but forgot to bring it so I went to my friends but they were already asleep. I asked my classmates but they teased me."

"Then did you stay away all night?"

"No, I slept."

"How?"

I avoided his eyes and said, "Someone helped me. Harry."

I remained silent since mentioning Harry's name brought back some memories of him.

"What about in High school? How did it go?" He asked me which brought me back to reality.

"Didn't you hear it while I was talking with Big brother?"

"I was doing my work."

"Oh, really?"

While I was teasing him, The last rays of the sun were just starting to disappear into a dark horizon. It is truly beautiful, even more so in the distance than it ever was during the day. the air smelling like freshly mown grass. And the sounds. It was all so peaceful as to be almost heavenly for someone who had spent most of their life in a bustling city. There were the occasional bird chirps.

While I was looking at the sunset, Mr Martinez tapped on my shoulder and said, "Isabella, look! The sunset!" And sounded merrily.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm seeing too."

He pointed at the sunset and said, "It's the gift I was talking about. The reason why I am here is…"

Before he finished, I said, "If you're going to confess, tell me beforehand so that I'll be prepared."

He said, "It's not a confession. It's a promise that I made."

"Promise? I don't remember you making a promise to me about something like this."

"It's not a promise made to you. It's my mother."

"I don't get it, Mr Martinez. What promise are you talking about?"

"Before the accident, mom and I were in a fight so she consoled me saying that she'll take me to a zoo and a place full of flowers. And I asked her to take me hiking so I promised her back that I'll never be mad at her. I didn't get a chance to visit this place after the accident to make her promise come true."

He sounded upset.

"What about those restaurants? Was that included in that promise too?"

He let out a chuckle and patted my shoulder saying, "No, it was for you. I know you like to eat so I found… I mean I asked someone to find those places."

"Why are you stuttering, Mr Martinez? Are you telling a lie?"

"I-I didn't stutter."

"Fine." And looked at the sunset and said, "I bet mother would have loved this place since she wanted to bring you here to enjoy this view along with you."

"Yes."

Mr Martinez moved closer to me which made me ask him, "Wh-What are you doing?"

"Stay."

Mr Martinez put his head on my shoulder and said, "I'm feeling happy."

"Are we going to stay here for the night because we didn't bring any tents with us?"

"No."

"Okay. Um… how long are you going to put your head on my shoulder like this?"

He moved closer and snuggled his hand inside my arm and said, "Let's be like this for a while."