There was no sound of human presence. He looked up when Mei reappeared, a triumphant smile on her face and a small dented suitcase in her hand. "We found it!" she announced, sitting down beside him. The case is damaged and dented, but appears to be intact. "I looked for your cell phone, but couldn't find it." She placed the briefcase on her lap and opened it. Please immediately smell the sweet scent of berries emanating from within.
The first thing he saw in the open suitcase was a pair of red lace panties, and his mind immediately pictured her wearing them and nothing else. Warmth enveloped him and he tried to push his vision away. She quickly stuffed the panties under the pile of innocuous clothes, then grabbed a zippered plastic bag and closed the box. "I don't know about you, but right now a breakfast of corn and apples sounds great," she said, cheeks flushed. "I'm hungry." Xin was also hungry, but his hunger had nothing to do with appetite.
It was a hunger he had suffered for a long time, a hunger that filled him with anger and shame. He watched her tear the bag of chips, then carefully separate them into two stacks. "I hope the search team will bring water. I feel like after eating these crisps, we'll both be thirsty," she said. Please know it's time to tell her the truth, and he's scared of her. So far, she has shown her usual poise in the unusual situation.
But he didn't know how she would react to his little confession. "Uh, about that search party…" She looked up at him, half a potato chip in her mouth. "Correct?" His eyes narrowed. "I guess not." "What do you mean? Of course, there will be a study group. Didn't the FAA send people when the plane went missing? Wasn't the airport where we were going to land to find out that we hadn't gotten there? "I don't fly at the airport. I'm using a friend's runway and flying VFR. "What does it mean?" His eyes narrowed even more. "It stands for 'Intuitive Flight Rules'. I'm not under the control or supervision of the FAA, but my own." "Well, why doesn't that surprise me?" she said dryly. She pushed her portion of fried corn toward him. "You should eat. You will need all your strength to help me get you out of this forest.
When she and Xin finished their last apple and chips, Mei struggled with a multitude of emotions. She was angry at him for not planning the flight, for not taking precautions. He likes to think that he can control, can run the world by himself. However, Mei knows not to give in to emotional appeals, knowing that a lot of energy can be wasted when angry. And she needed every little bit of energy she got to get them out of that damned forest.
"Are you ready?" she asked when they had finished eating. "You're mad at me." He stood up painfully. "Don't be ridiculous," Mei scoffed. "What makes you think I'm angry?" "You have a slight tug next to your right eyebrow. I've noticed that before when you're angry. Mei raised her hand and touched her eyebrow.
She started protesting, then changed her mind. " a little uncomfortable," she admitted. "Do you ever take a breather?" he asked, his voice a little irritated. "When you're angry, do you ever scream and get angry, throw things and swear?" "What is the purpose?" Mei closed her suitcase and also stood up. "Radiation and illusion have never solved anything. I learned early on that letting off steam only caused trouble. Besides, you should talk.
I have never seen you lose your temper. I always find it boring to you. "Let's not start listing things that we find nasty about each other. It's going to take too long and we have to get out of here. He took a step, then winced in pain. Mei moved again. under his arm, allowing him to lean on her enough to take some of the weight off his injured knee.In an instant, she felt the heat from his body transfer to hers, a strange intimacy that made her Her raw nerves trembled even more. .
He frowned as he looked around, then pointed in the direction of the crashed plane. "I think we should go in that direction," he said. "Are you sure?" May asked. "No, I'm not sure, but that's my best guess," he replied, his voice sounding irritated. "Okay," Mei retorted. "And being grumpy isn't going to improve your knees or cause a rescue team to show up all of a sudden." "Let's go," he said, but this time his voice contained only tired resignation.
They walked away, Mei supporting him as much as she could. It was slow going and none of them tried to speak at all. The trees were close together, the bushes were dense and dense. The squirrels were jumping from tree to tree, venting their anger at those trespassing on their territory.
Mei tries to focus on their surroundings, but Xin's closeness overwhelms her. His arms wrapped around her and his body pressed against hers as they made their way through the forest, the strength and firmness of his body did not surprise her. She has always secretly admired Xin's broad shoulders, slim hips and fat-free belly.
She wondered what it would be like to be held in his strong arms, not in an attempt to help him walk, but pressed against him in a moment of lust. She tripped over a thick, half-exposed vines and gasped as Xin grabbed her and placed her against his unbelievably firm chest. "How are you?" Her hot breath fanned the top of her head, and she moved away from him as if he'd set fire to her hair. "I'm fine." She took a deep breath to calm herself. "Why don't we rest?" "Sounds good to me," he agreed readily, and together they fell to the ground, face to face. "How's your knee?" ' she asked.
She wanted, needed a conversation to forget the feeling of his chest against hers. "Bad," he admitted. She frowned thoughtfully. "Hope you don't do more damage by stepping on it."
"I don't have much of a choice." He frowned and ran his hand through his hair. Mae noticed the dark stubble covering his cheeks and chin and the growing sideburns that only made him more attractive. - I'm sorry, May. About all of this." She looked at him in surprise, expecting a sharp remark, a touch of sarcasm, a subtle hint that somehow everything that had happened was her fault.
None of that happened. His eyes expressed sincere remorse. - Nothing to excuse.
She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them while still staring at him. You didn't crash your plane on purpose, did you? "True, but I intend to speak to my mechanic. The hard gleam in his eyes filled her with gratitude that she wasn't in charge of maintaining Xin's plane. "So, tell me about Twin Oaks. Why was Lori so keen to take me there? Why did he want me to meet him there? Xin leaned against the tree and stretched his legs out in front of him. "I can only guess what Loi things from the conversation we had before he left.
I told you he's been mulling it over for the past week or so, and when he has it's been about Twin Oaks.
Twin Oaks was the place of our childhood, the time in our lives when everything seemed wonderful." May leaned forward, taken by his words, at the mere imagining of a childhood when everything seemed "wonderfully right" while her own childhood was terribly wrong."Tell me about it," she pleaded.
His features relaxed and his lips curled into a smile, letting her know his memories were pleasant. "Twin Oaks is so tiny it doesn't even deserve a spot on a map. We lived there until we moved to Morning View, Kansas. It was a year before our mother and father died. Twin Oaks is a town where everyone knows everyone, where there are lots of dinners and town meetings. "Sounds good." And even more beautiful than his words was the warmth that emanated from his smile.
She had never bathed in the warmth of Xin's smile before and it was clearly a pleasant experience. "That was it," he said. "I remember it was the only time in my life that I was carefree and the biggest responsibility I had was going to school." His smile widened and his eyes lit up with humour. "And my biggest worry was that Mom would make another of her horrible surprise casseroles for dinner." May looked at him thoughtfully, suddenly realising the burden of his parents' early deaths.
"It must have been hard for you to suddenly take on the responsibility of a fourteen-year-old at twenty-one. He shrugged, the smile fading. "As I saw it at the time, there was no choice. I took care of Loy, or I let him become a ward of the state and go into foster care.
He's my brother and I could never let that happen." He stood up. "We have to move," he said, and in his words she heard him slam the door to keep from talking about his past. But as they walked , Mei thought of twenty-one-year-old Xin, who had taken on the role of parent to his younger brother.