Days passed and Phoenix got used to living in City M. But she hadn't moved in to The Grandeur as she needed to make some renovation and hadn't filled the house with furniture yet.
Her friendship with Mia was getting closer each day, and she became more comfortable with Mia's presence. How could she not? Mia would pop up without notice at the hotel or her office for a meal or to just simply hang out with her. Other than that, Mia also helped Phoenix with furniture shopping and interior decorating for her new house.
Mia was an up-and-coming fashion designer who had recently opened her own clothing brand. She had an aesthetic eye on things, her opinion and insight helped Phoenix a lot in choosing furniture and other things for her home.
'It wasn't so bad having a friend,' Phoenix thought. She definitely didn't feel alone, Mia was really good at filling this loneliness and she was a really great company, she always has something planned, and would always include Phoenix in her plans.
"Phoenix, do you have anything to do this weekend?" asked Mia while they were having lunch one day.
"No. I don't." replied Phoenix.
"Great! My brothers and I are planning to go hiking this weekend. Come and join us! I won't take no for an answer."
"....."
"You'll join right? You haven't gone to Sunny Hill before, right? The track is not that hard and the view at the top is spectacular. You should see it, trust me, it will be worth the climb."
Phoenix shook her head at Mia's antics. She didn't mind Mia's plan. It was not like she had anything better to do on the weekend.
*****
"Nice weather! Perfect for climbing." Mia was delighted to see the clear sky, and she already felt restless in her seat, and couldn't wait to go out and started the hike.
Mia, Ashton, and Phoenix get out of the car. It was around four in the evening and they just arrived at the foot of Sunny Hill. They planned to watch the sunset, and camping for a night and watch the sunrise on the next day.
A while later, another car parked next to their car.
Ethan and a tall, beautiful lady exited the car. Surprisingly, Phoenix recognised the pretty lady.
"Hello Ms Li. What a surprise to see you here!" Tiana Chu greeted Phoenix.
"Sis Tiana, you know Phoenix?" Mia asked in surprise.
"Yes. I met Ms Li a few days ago for work. We'll be working together for Intan Jewellery's new jewellery line.You are looking at Intan Jewellery's new model," Tiana said enthusiastically while posing to showcase herself.
Tiana Chu is a well-known model, she was a big fan of Intan Jewellery for a long time now, thus when she was selected as Intan Jewellery's ambassador, she was elated. As a model and as a fan of the brand, one of her dreams had finally come true.
"It's nice to see you too, Ms Chu." Phoenix nodded, acknowledging Tiana.
"This is my boyfriend, Ethan Han." Tiana said, while wrapping her hand around Ethan's arm and smiling lovingly towards Ethan.
'What a small world, our new ambassador is President Han's girlfriend, and President Han had just bought an engagement ring from us for Ms Chu.'
"Hello Ms Li, nice to see you again." Ethan pretended to be cool and greeted Phoenix. Inside, he was a nervous wreck, he was afraid that Phoenix would blurt out about him buying an engagement ring and spoil his plans for a proposal.
"Hello President Han." Phoenix greeted Ethan with her usual emotionless face, not giving out anything, pretending she knew nothing.
Ethan smiled, he felt that a burden had just been lifted off his shoulder.
Ashton noticed Ethan's uneasiness towards Phoenix and he wondered what was going on between the two of them. It was not hard for Ashton to read Ethan's behaviour; he had known Ethan all his life, but he was surprised by Phoenix's poker face.
'Ethan looks like he was sweating buckets, while Phoenix can still wear her usual aloof face. What's going on?' Ashton looked at the both of them sceptically.
Before he could scrutinize their behaviour further, Mia broke his flow of thinking.
"Since everyone is here, Let's start climbing."
Mia was eager to start climbing, the climb would take about two hours, and the sunset would be around seven. They had better start climbing, or they might just miss seeing the sunset.
Thus, they all pick up their supplies and start their journey. Ethan was leading the group while the ladies were climbing in the middle and Ashton was at the back, protecting them from behind.
As Mia had promised, the trail wasn't so hard, but they still took their time and were very careful while climbing. They would stop once in a while, when they were tired and drink water to keep hydrated.
They finally reached the top of the hill at 6.30 o'clock in the evening, just enough time to have a short rest, and waited for the sky to turn its colour.
Mia and Tiana dropped to the ground to get a rest as soon as they arrived at the top, while Phoenix still managed to stand and take on the beautiful view from a higher ground.
Mia looked at Phoenix, "Aren't you tired? How come you can still stand?" Mia said while panting heavily.
"Yeah. Ms Li. You don't look like you even sweat!" Tiana added, while gasping for air.
Phoenix just pursed her lips at them.
'If only they know this is nothing compared to what I had been through before.'
Yes, Phoenix was already used to climbing. She was not climbing for leisure or chasing sunset like what they currently did; she used to climb hills, mountains, trees for survival.
Ethan and Ashton heard what Mia and Tiana said, and they also wondered the same thing. It was not that Phoenix wasn't looking tired at all, but she seemed like she could climb some more while the other girls looked like they were already dead tired.
Soon, the sky turned into a mix of golden and purple colour and the atmosphere became serene. Everyone was looking at the magnificent sunset and taking in its beauty.
"Isn't it beautiful? I told you it will be worth it, right Phoenix?"
"Yes. It's beautiful." Phoenix smiled a genuine smile, looking at the view in front of her.
Ashton saw that smile on Phoenix's face, and he was captivated by it. "It's beautiful…'' He unconsciously blurted out.
It was the first time that he saw a genuine smile from Phoenix. It was not only her tilted lip that formed the smile, her eyes squinted into a beautiful crescent shape, and those genuine happiness that were in her light brown eyes captured Ashton's interest.
After they had enough rest and were fulfilled with savouring the sunset beauty, they climbed down a little to the camping site that was not far from the top of the hill and set up their tent.
They bought two tents with them, the three ladies would be staying in one tent, while the guys would be sharing the other one.
Other than that, they also bought some barbeque meat, canned foods, snacks and drinks to enjoy their night. The guys set up the bonfire while the ladies were preparing the foods and drinks.
They all gathered around the bonfire and enjoy the night scenery. There was another group at the campsite with them. As usual, Mia went to make friends with others, she brought some snacks to share with them, in exchange, they gave her some prepackaged military style ration for her to enjoy with her company.
They all ate happily while talking and laughing.
'The most beautiful curve on a woman's body is her smile- Bob Marley'
While they were eating, Ashton found himself stealing glances towards Phoenix. He wanted to see that smile again. The image of her smile was imprinted on his mind, and he couldn't seem to shake it out of his brain.
Unintentionally, he noticed other things about Phoenix. Phoenix didn't eat the meat that they brought, and only ate snacks and canned foods. All the meat that was passed to her, she gave it to Mia, without Mia noticed.
After meeting Phoenix a few times, Ashton had accepted Phoenix as Mia's friends. Two times that Mia was in bad shape, Phoenix had called him from Mia's phone to inform about Mia's condition. Ashton had crossed checked with his people, who he had secretly sent to guard Mia about what happened that day and what Phoenix and Mia were doing every time they met.
He found out it was Mia who was always looking for Phoenix and not the other way around, and they only either have meals or hung out in the hotel. There was no going out to the bars, parties, or any other suspicious places that Mia usually did with her other friends. That made Ashton look at Phoenix in a different light.
Time passed by when we were having fun. The night was getting darker, and the temperature was getting colder. They all agreed to call in the night and go to sleep, so they could get up early to catch the sunrise tomorrow.