Tripped

MY BROWS escalated when I heard him, thinking suspiciously, but I dismissed my thought and even cringed at it. I was ashamed by even thinking about it. Who am I anyway?

"W-what condition?" although I already have a vague idea of his condition.

"Hmm… you just have to beat me at the contest. You have been the first runner, I think it's the time that you shine.." he nonchalantly said.

"Are you serious? How can I even beat you?"

"I don't know, it's up to you, that's why I'm challenging you," he shrugged as if beating him is not a big deal. But for me, I feel like I had to climb up Mt. Everest, uh, no, not that mountain. I mean the tallest mountain I've ever seen in my life.

I fell silent at his remark. Yet, I have to take the challenge. Who knows, I might win against him, but…

"What if I won't beat you?"

"Then I'll give this to you freely and as a gift, and you'll receive it without question and I forbid you to feel guilty or embarrassed. Also, you're not allowed to equate the amount by doubling your work effort," William grinned. And I was taken aback because both of his offers are for my benefit.

"Are you kidding me?" I asked incredulously.

"Nope! Since you won't receive anything from me, I mean, us unless you work for hard for it, so I came up with this idea. Besides, if you can't beat me, just think that it's your prize for even trying." He chuckled.

"Hah! You bet! I will definitely beat you with all the ingenuity that's left in me!" and then I laughed, mimicking a man's sound.

"But wait, can I be sure that you won't cheat?" I eyed him suspiciously, then it was him who was taken aback.

"Woah! Cheat? It isn't in my vocabulary," he smirked. "I'm born to win." He said flatly.

"Pfft! Ugh! What a fool!" I jested. "I realized whether you cheat by giving up your victory and let me win or I lose, still I can have this camera!" I giddily said, "but is there anything that I can do in return – ah, right! I don't have to do anything," I grinned at him.

"Okay, cool! It's a deal then! So let's start our photography session.." William declared cheerfully, and then I saw him smile back at me.

My heart skipped a beat. 'Uh oh!'

I cleared my throat, trying to rub out what I feel. "A-ahh, yeah! Let's go!" within seconds, I marched away from him, knowing nothing where I was heading to.

"Hey, Grace! Wait up! Where are you heading to? That's not the way!" he shouted, then he motioned his hand to the right side.

WE WERE together the whole day. Just the two of us. He lectured me on the techniques he knew and gave me tips on doing it correctly. On one occasion, when I can't seem to gather my wits together, he positioned himself behind me, held both my hands as I was holding the camera.

He whispered behind my ear the view I needed to do to capture correctly. My body stiffened when I felt his breath behind my ear. I just want to faint. His mere presence already affected me earlier, how much more that he was already behind me.

"UGH! What a torture!" I mumbled.

"Are you listening, Grace? You seem distracted. How can you beat me in that kind of performance," I wanted to protest, so I hastily looked behind.

It took me seconds to thoroughly analyze our position. Our face collided, William's lips landed on my right cheek for about five seconds. I instantaneously moved away from. Because of haste to move away from him, I forgot that I was, or we were both holding the camera.

When I moved, his grip on my hands tightened to prevent me from slipping. Unfortunately, my foot stumbled on a stone that I let out a shriek. And before William could stop it, I fell on the sand, face flat while he was on top of me. His chin was on my head. Then, I heard him groan.

Then I heard footsteps coming our way. I just want to vanish!

"My gosh! What an erotic scene! Are you shooting a movie or something?" it was Henry who spoke. At that point, I felt William stood up, and I saw a hand extended to before my face. How I wanted to push it away because of embarrassment, I just closed my eyes firmly and sighed deeply before I took the hand.

When I stood up, Henry and George helped shake off the sand on my clothes. When I looked up, I got to meet William's burning gaze, which I regretted. I heard Henry laughing again.

"Tell me, Ace, how does it feel under William?" his eyes were to and fro between William and me. But I just rolled my eyes at him.

"What just happened here?" all of us turned to where the voice is coming from.

I gulped when I saw Mrs. de Loncreigh and a tall, fine-looking man, who looked like William standing beside her. I smell trouble.

"Son?" it was the middle-aged man who asked.

"Uh, Grace tripped on a stone and I wanted to stop her from falling but it was too late,"

"Grace? Who is she by the way?" Mr. de Loncreigh's eyes surveyed all over me.

"She's my assistant," William answered, but his father just nodded in response. When they checked that everything's fine, the couple decided to leave them.

"I am so sorry, Liam, I was just surprised. Are you okay? Do you have any bruise or wound?" instead of answering me, he went before, lowered his head to level mine. His eyes checked my face then he took my hands, scanning for something.

I felt uneasy again that my foot wanted to walk backward, but he held me tightly.

"Don't. You. Dare. Move." He said in gritted teeth. But then someone faked a cough.

"Ah, excuse, I'm here," my face reddened, but William stared at Henry in an annoyed look. But the naughty man just laughed at William even more.

~O~ O- O~ O- O~ O- O~

THE four of us laughed as we went back to our villas to sleep since it was almost midnight and the last day of a short vacation. When I entered my room, I took a bath before I retire for the night. I felt so refreshed after the bath that I hummed my favorite song. I took my phone from the bedside table to check some notifications, but an unregistered number repeatedly called me earlier when I opened it. It was a hundred missed calls. I immediately dialed the number and called back.

"Hello," a man's voice answered.

"Hello, I received a call from you earlier–"

"Is this Althea?"

"Ahh yes! Who is this?"

"Thank God! You answered the call, it's me Eric. Papá is in the hospital right now.."

"WHAT??" I shouted. "What happened to him?"

"He met an accident. It's not his fault but…"