"Are you really not going to explain how you end up in a man's jacket?"
Claire asked her best friend for the one millionth time. She could help but give Rhea a look over. she stood hand akimbo waiting for an answer.
Rhea thought she would hide the jacket as soon as she entered the room to avoid Claire probing but she did not know that Claire had already left the camp fire to search for her in the tent.
As soon as she entered the tent, Claire was also about to go outside. Immediately Claire saw the difference in her wears, she began questioning her.
"It's not what you think okay, calm down... take deep breaths" Rhea said. She racked her brain for possible escape route.
"Don't even try to act like you are smarter than me, who owns this jacket!" Claire questioned.
"Okay, I promise to tell you later, not now. I will definitely tell you everything, just not now" Rhea explained.
"Are you sure about that?" Claire narrowed her gaze as if scrutinizing her friend.
"Cross my heart and hope to die" Rhea swore.
"I will gladly kill you myself if you don't tell me or you tell me lies" Claire threatened.
"Okay, now let is sleep. I am so tired" Rhea said. She removed the jacket and sniffed it subconsciously. It smelt so nice like mint and man. Little did she know that her best friend was watching her. She folded the cloth and placed it away before going to sleep.
Claire who had been watching her every move could only shake her head. 'She might end up falling in love soon' she thought, looking at the sleeping structure of her best friend. She changed into her night dress and went to sleep.
The next day, after morning drills with the rest of the students, Rhea and Claire returned to clean up. After cleaning up, the had breakfast in the thatched dinning hall.
As usual, several delicacies were served. Rhea, Claire and Carter had crispy Tortillas simmered in a spicy tomatoes sauce and topped with eggs.
After breakfast, they were assembled to play a group game. It was called orienteering. They would use a map leading to parts of the forest to find different trees and plants. For each group, what they would find is already given to them in a list.
Rhea and Claire are placed in different groups. The search may take the whole day depending on how organized the group is. Rhea and Claire went different ways to find their teammates.
Rhea belong to a group that were supposed to find some weird plants. The fun part of the game is that the name of these plants are written in their botanical forms.
While still waiting for her teammates, Rhea tried to decode the name of each plant but they were not familiar.
"Or.ni.tho.ga.lum Py.re.nai.cum, Cy.pri.pe.dium Cal–cal.ce.o.lus, Me.lam.py.rum Cris.ta.tum—" she dragged. She was unable to pronounce the jaw breaking names properly.
"What the fuck is wrong with this plants!" She snapped glaring at the piece of paper in her hand. If it were possible, she could beat the moderator of this silly game to pulp.
"Look who is here" Someone said in a obviously annoyed voice that carried an intent of mockery.
Rhea turned and saw Amelia walking towards her with six other students who were in the group. Why would the Amelia be in the same group as her, she thought. Her luck seemed to be really bad this time. This is going to be trouble.
"I see we happen to be on the same group, it is a pleasure meeting you again" Amelia said with a smirk.
"I wish I could say the same" Rhea retorted. There was no need wearing a facade with her.
"Whoa, we have same thoughts actually" Amelia voiced and her smirk deepened earning a scowl from Rhea.
"Let's go straight to the game" A member of the team started. "Since we are searching for four plants, I would suggest that we divide into four groups to make it easier. Two persons will find a plant. I already got the common name and pictures of the plants we are searching for so I will send the ones we will search for to us" she said and everyone nodded.
She divided the group ones again and unintentionally placed Rhea and Amelia together. Rhea could not help but glare at her. Amelia seems pleased.
"The two of you look good together" The girl explained as she sent the plant they would search for to them.
'What a weird definition of looking good together' Rhea rolled her eyes. She and Amelia were looking for a plant whose botanical name was Campanula Patula. The common name is Spreading Bellflower.
Everyone left for the search leaving Rhea and Amelia behind. Neither of them moved for a while.
"We should split" Amelia instructed.
"I agree" Rhea said in one breathe. She could not stand her any longer.
Amelia is quite impressive at understanding maps. She gave Rhea the longest and most dangerous route to the Flower while she picked the shortest and right route.
They went their different ways after that. Rhea began her journey into the forest. Her first difficulty was how to use the map. She was naturally not good with understanding routes. She knew she would get lost as she ventured deeper into the forest.
"You silly mosquitoes, get away from me!" Rhea yelled. She was now alone and the forest was getting thicker.
Although she was not scared, she could not help but get troubled. She found it very difficult to understand the map. The more she walked, the more the flower seemed farther to her. She cursed, groaned and stomped her feet at intervals.
She noticed that she never came across any of the landmarks on the map. Did Amelia give her a wrong way? She thought.
She heard a small movement in the bush and suddenly stopped on her track. She listened but heard nothing. Thinking she heard wrong, she took steps forward. She heard rustling of bushes again, this time it was louder and she was certain something or someone was around. She was a little scared.
"Hey! Come out now if you dare!" She said turning around. She picked a broken branch to protect herself as she took cautious steps backwards.
She kept on moving backwards then stepped on a stick, as soon as the stick snapped, something gripped her back.
"Ahhhhhhh!!!" She screamed and tried to escape from what held her but the grip was iron tight. She only found out it was a person holding her when he turned her around to face him.
"It's–it's you" She stammered. Her voice still shaking from fear.
Eris did not respond, he only kept on gazing at her. He frown that she had to be searching for a stupid flower alone in the damned forest. She had even gotten lost. It was a good thing he was following up with the activities.
He only wanted to know which she would participate in and it happened to be this so he came ahead of her. He had guessed the obvious that she might get lost if she was alone and he was right.
"Why are you here?" She asked. She was calm now since she knows no one was out to hurt her.
Before now, Eris would have thought she asked that because she did not want him around, but now he knew it was not like that. She was only just asking to know.
"What do you think?" He started and took a deliberate step closer to her. She could not dare step back, she was suddenly rooted to a spot.
"When something attracts me, I can't possibly let it go right?" he said holding her gaze. She dare not look away, she was hypnotized.
'What does he mean by attract him? I attract him? Can't be!' She thought still maintaining eye contact with him.
"Rhea" He called. It was small as he said it but she heard him loud and clear. Her name gave out a pitch perfect sound out of his mouth. The way he called it sooth her nerves.
"You attract me" He added and her heart skipped a beat. He raised his hand and placed it on her cheek. She subconsciously leaned into his touch.
It took all that is within him not to pull her into his arms. He cannot possibly cross her boundaries. Now that he knows having that one woman in your arms can be so comforting, he would make a slow and steady plan to put her in her rightful position, into his embrace.
The stood there, no caring about the time that ticked. Rhea never felt this warm in her life. A big part of really wanted this moment to last a big longer. Maybe the forest can make it happen, she thought. Only if she knew the forest can also be disastrous at the same time.