Duke never thought that he would get to see something so touching and meaningful, especially from another youngster. And to top it up, the youth was his girlfriend, and that feeling was quite magical.
He toured the Monroe tiny village as he was told and, honestly; he fell in love with the place.
It was different from what he was used to. And the purpose of the place was meaningful, so it felt special.
Although in the end, he wasn't able to hear fully the kids that would be staying at the village, from her words, he knew that it was the less privileged.
But as for how these kids would be chosen for that wonderful program, he would have to wait till the time was ripe to see that.
What impressed him the most was the container house, which belonged to Darica. It was larger than other houses and it was beautiful inside.
He could see traces of her inside, and that made it very special in his eyes.
He also wanted to stay in that house, but the glare he received from her uncle made him stop on his brakes.
'It is still too early for us to cohabitate. At least I get to stay with her in the same place, which is better than before.' He thought as he looked at the nearby van that had been temporarily assigned to him.
They were both tired after a long day. But it seemed like Darica wasn't the kind of person who would just rest when there were things to do.
With the screen wall being built, Darica seemed to be more interested in that than accompanying him, which was a bit upsetting.
'No wonder she told me that she would be so busy and wouldn't have time for me!' he lamented, as he finally realized when he saw how busy as a bee she was.
If she hadn't told him before, he would have thought that she was giving him a cold shoulder or ignoring him. And that would have caused a rift in their relationship, which would be bad.
Time quickly flew, and evening finally arrived. Each van was meant to be self-sufficient when it came to preparing meals and so forth, so Duke was surprised to see that everyone was eating as one.
To be able to sit with a lot of bulky men in one room who had seen the world more than him. And within the group, there was one female who seemed to fit more than him, it just felt unreal.
Darica was so relaxed and with a glance, he could tell that she was home.
She looked like she belonged there from just seeing the way she was, just so casual with her uncles.
He had this foreboding feeling that there was more to their relationship than what he already knew, and he hated himself for always thinking negatively.
Dinner went well, and it was the first time in his life that he ate such a simple meal.
As someone who was used to eating extravagantly, whether at home or school, to have a meal with no sight of meat in it, at first, he thought he was hallucinating.
But when he saw the joy on everyone's faces as they ate their food heartily, it felt as if it was the best meal in the world.
And Duke knew that he was in for a ride and he had a feeling that he would be learning new things every day and he couldn't wait.
Just like how he would want her to adapt to his lifestyle with time, it seemed that he would be the first required to adapt to hers.
From everything he had seen in just less than a day after coming to the Monroe village. He could tell that his girlfriend was more of a saint than he thought. And that people underestimated her in so many ways, which was a pity.
And that trait of hers she didn't show to the people made his love for her increase. He was tired of seeing hypocritical people who loved showing off and yet doing nothing useful in return.
That was why he never bothered to hide his nature, whether before he met Darica or during the period he was pursuing her.
Being truthful to yourself is one of the qualities a decent human being should have. If you lie to yourself repeatedly, what kind of life would you even live?
He didn't want to live such a fake life that didn't provide him with any benefits apart from future problems. He would rather be labeled as a villain than a hypocrite. He was better than that.
To think that for nearly a year, Darica in a low-key build the village so that she may solve the housing problems faced by college students?
Looking at the materials that had been used in the village, it might seem expensive, but when looking at everything in the long term, it was visible that the investment would be worth it.
And all the methods that she used were conventional and conservative to begin with. And if the place was managed well, he was sure that she would be famous and even those NGOs involved in environmental protection would support her.
He didn't know what she was planning for the future, but he would support her with whatever she chose.
As long as she let him be by her side throughout the whole thing, then he was okay with everything else.
The meal ended on a good note and when he thought that he would be having some quality moments with Darica alone, her two uncles magically appeared.
"Boy, we need to talk!"
He was quite nervous actually as he walked between the middle of two men, who looked ferocious at a glance.
From the moment he arrived at the village, he had sensed the hostility from the man that Darica called Uncle Travis.
If it wasn't for the fact that he was used to the same kind of hostility as Darica's friends used to look at him that way, he would have thought that he had committed a grave sin.
However, he knew fully well that everyone around Darica was simply worried about her and that they all loved her dearly.
They were protective of her, though he wasn't sure why they would go to such great lengths to do that. After all, she was more capable than him, judging from the many things he had been learning on his road to pursuing her.