Chapter 58 - A Shield (1/2)

The couple continued with another activity offered by the mountain resort. Yera gradually felt at ease with Xander, who was as bubbly as always and would shamelessly do the things he wanted to do, although there were times when the intimate scenes between the two of them would flash through her mind and made her feel shy. Her cheeks would flush out of nowhere as those scenes replayed in her head.

”Do you want to try that?” Xander asked as he pointed his finger up to a zipline ride. Yera felt Xander touch her chin so she would look at him as he said, ”Are you perhaps scared of trying it, Darling?”

She shook her head, so Xander clasped her hand with his and led her toward the entrance of the ride.

”Make sure you take a lot of nice photos, okay? Give me a lot of shots, the more, the better,” Xander instructed the zipline attendant.

Due to its intimate position, Xander chose to do tandem traversing, in which he and Yera would zip in one single harness together, instead of two separate ones, while facing each other.

”Here, make sure to hug me well…” Xander instructed her as he guided her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. Seeing Xander's mischievous smile, Yera could already guess what Xander was planning, but she could care less because all she wanted was to try ziplining. She was nervous, so she held on tightly to Xander because, for some reason, sticking onto him like that took her nervousness away.

”Here we go,” Xander whispered as he tightened his grasp on Yera when the operator gave the signal for them to be released. Yera closed her eyes as she felt the cold air brushing against her face while her body floated high in the air.

”Open your eyes, Darling… The view is great,” Xander encouraged her, so she did as she was told. Xander was right, the sight was spectacular.

”We should strike a lot of pose for the photos…” Xander said, grinning as he sneaked a kiss on Yera's lips. Yera scrunched her face, which made Xander laugh as he enjoyed her mixed expression… She was annoyed, nervous, but also thrilled at the same time, and she screamed as they zipped quicker on a downward slope.

Yera could feel a mix of excitement and anxiety all over her body as they continued ziplining. They feasted their eyes on the sweeping views of the lush forests beneath. All throughout the ride, Xander kept stealing a kiss on her lips, cheeks, and even nose, that Yera had lost count of how many times it was. She swore that Xander was the most shameless person she ever met in her life.

After the ride, Xander excitedly checked their pictures that were snapped by the zipline operator and bought all the copies.

”Let me see them,” Yera said, but Xander kept the envelope and said, ”Let's look at them later.”

Yera suddenly remembered Xander's promise to teach her how to swim and decided to ask him to do it during this trip. She was determined to make the most of their vacation because she knew that once she joined the Life Hospitals group, she wouldn't have time to do this kind of thing anymore. ”Alright, let's go back to the cabin, then? You promised to teach me how to swim,” Yera reminded him.

”Okay, Darling… Let's have lunch first, and I'll teach you how to swim after that…” Xander complied as he walked hand in hand with Yera.

Back in their cabin, Xander was laughing at some of the pictures, in which Yera was screaming. Yera was in the middle of cooking, and Xander kept teasing her with those pictures.

”Do you want me to put some poison in your food right now?” Yera hissed.

Xander walked toward her and hugged her from behind. ”Okay, I'll stop. I'll just hug you like this instead. Hmm, that smells good…” He praised as he nuzzled Yera's neck. He rejoiced inwardly because he succeeded in being touchy-feely with Yera quite frequently nowadays. Yes, he was doing it on purpose to make Yera get used to him more, and he had no plans on stopping.

”Maybe I should change your name on my phone into 'The Shameless One' instead,” Yera said, to distract herself.

Xander chuckled and whispered in her ear, ”Hmm, if trying to get your attention means I'm shameless, and not just a bully, as you said before, then I don't mind… As long as I can hold you like this, and have all of you, then you can call me shameless all you want…”