Chapter 16

**•KAIA•**

"Who's ready to go hiking today?" Miss Levont exclaimed with excitement in the middle of our breakfast.

Silence immediately fell upon us as we all stared at her with confusion while she still smiled around at all of us.

"Are you being serious right now, Mom?" Amy asked while buttering her toast.

"Of course, I'm being serious. What, you all think it's a bad idea?"

Everyone shrugged and mumbled their responses.

"It's going to be fun." She continued. "The front desk clerk had already given me a map and a pamphlet with all the cool spots near the mountains. I want to see something beautiful and exciting today, so y'all are going with me."

She gave me a knowing look, and I smiled before drinking my coffee. I knew she was already expecting me to go with her, and I didn't think it would be a bad idea.

I would love to see some amazing mountain views, too.

"I could use the exercise," Amy said, and her mother beamed happily at her.

"You really do," Adrian said to her, and both Amy and I glared at him at the same time.

"You're all coming, including you, Adrian." Miss. Levont declared before getting up from her seat.

Adrian quickly opened his mouth to say something, but his mother beat him to it.

"No excuses. If Nate is going, then so are you. That goes to you too, Gabriel." She tells her ex-husband, who quietly rolls his eyes while drinking his tea.

"We don't even have any hiking clothes or shoes," I said to Miss Levont, but she just waved her hand at me and smiled.

"Just wear anything comfortable, sweetheart. As long as you can move around in it without ripping anything."

Adrian stifled back a laugh, and I shot him a glare before smiling back at Miss Levont. She left the dining table and started doing a little jog up the staircase to start getting ready.

**OoO**

Twenty minutes later, we all met up outside after getting dressed and securing a backpack filled with water bottles, snacks, and other necessary items we might need during the hike.

Since Amy and I were the only ones without proper hiking clothes, we just put on anything more comfortable to wear.

Since Amy and I were the only ones without proper hiking clothes, we just put on anything more comfortable to wear

The others looked great wearing an actual hiking outfit, plus the shoes. I rolled the sleeves of my sweater up my arms before tying my hair in a low ponytail and covering my head with a cap.

"Okay, family! Let's go hiking." Miss. Levont announced with enthusiasm, and I chuckled before Amy linked her arm around mine, and we all followed her through a clear path in the woods.

The sun was shining brightly from the sky, its rays of sunlight filtering through the trees, casting a warm golden glow on the leaves.

Our path was as clear as the day, making it easier to walk through the trees and enjoy the view.

After ten minutes of walking, Miss Levont suddenly stopped and turned back around toward us while staring at the map in her hands.

"There are three separate routes from here, but they all lead to the peak of that mountain."

She pointed towards the distance, and we all looked before paying attention back to her.

"I say we all take a route with our partners and meet up there." She continued before flashing us a smile.

"Nate's coming with me." Amy suddenly declared, and I immediately frowned at her.

"Hell no," Adrian said with annoyance written all over his face.

"Yes, he is. My ankle hurts a little bit, and I need someone strong to accompany me."

"You can't be serious," I added, and they all turned to look at me.

She shot me a knowing look that I quickly caught on to before my eyes darted back and forth between her and Adrian.

"You're ditching me with him?" I pointed towards Adrian, and he scoffed back.

"I'm not going with her either. She won't even be able to keep up with my pace anyway." He said this while looking me up and down.

"Then it's settled," Gabriel said for the first time. "I'm going with your mother; Amy's going with Nate; and Kaia is with Adrian."

Oh God, this isn't good. I can't stand the guy; how am I supposed to tolerate him during a hike to the mountains?

They also can't trust me to even be alone with the guy at this point. The more he annoys me, the more tempted I am to murder him, and these woods look like the perfect place to bury a dead body.

"Chop chop! Let's move people. See you all up there." Miss Levont says before she and Gabriel start taking the lead and heading east.

Amy quickly came over to me and gave me an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry. I owe you one, babe. I love you!" She skipped back to Nate's side, and together they also left while heading west.

After everyone was gone, Adrian and I just stood there in silence, facing the directions to where they had all disappeared.

Then suddenly, he turned around and groaned before walking past me and heading towards the trail starting behind me.

"I'm not going to wait for you to keep up. If you get lost, then that's on you." He uttered annoyingly.

I rolled my eyes and also turned around to start following him. There was a great two-meter distance between us as we kept walking. He didn't even stop for a moment to take in the view or even catch his breath; he just kept going.

The fact that he was taller than me and had long legs was a great disadvantage to me during this hike. When he takes a step forward, it doubles the stride I have to take just to keep up because he never waited or even checked to see if I was still following.

We came upon a steep hill, and Adrian grabbed hold of the small trees below and started going down without stopping.

I paused at the top to catch my breath for a minute before finally deciding to follow. The hill was so steep, I had to grab hold of the tree trunk with both hands to help me get down.

"You should be careful while making your way down!" Adrian called from the bottom of the hill. "It's quite-"

The rest of his words never made it to my ears when I suddenly lost my footing and slipped down the hill.

I thrashed around to grab onto something to stop myself from falling, but everything just snapped when I kept sliding down on my butt, right till I reached the bottom where Adrian was already standing.

"-slippery." He finally finished his sentence while staring down at me with a weird look on his face.

I stood up while dusting off the leaves and twigs sticking to my clothes. A sharp sting jolted through my body, and I immediately looked down and saw that I had scraped the back of my knee pretty badly.

The cut was red and oozing with blood already, and the pain was slowly starting to hit.

"Shit," I said while twisting my leg to get a better look.

"That looks pretty bad," Adrian says while also looking at the deep cut.

"Yeah, no shit," I replied sarcastically before sitting back down on the ground.

"You picked the wrong shoes to wear on a hike."

I looked up and narrowed my eyes at him.

"Like I had any other options. This was all I had."

He shook his head at me while swinging his backpack forward and starting to open it.

"You're lucky that I came prepared." He said before pulling out a small first-aid kit bag from inside his backpack.

He passed it towards me, and I caught it with one hand before deciding to soften my gaze on him.

Honestly, it's really tiring as fuck to stay mad at someone for so long.

"Thanks." I responded, and he said nothing and just watched me.

I slowly unzipped the first-aid kit bag, finding small tubes of cream and a small pair of steel scissors, plus a roll of bandages.

I picked up the roll-up and then the scissors, contemplating my thoughts for a moment and wondering how I was going to work with them both at the same time.

"Give me that." Adrian suddenly snapped while reaching for the bandages, and I pulled them away from him in time while glaring at him.

"I can do it myself," I argued defensively.

"No, you can't. Just shut up and give me the bandages so I can help you." He scolded while glaring into my eyes.

Clenching my jaw tightly, I reluctantly handed him the scissors and the bandages.

He crouched down in front of me and suddenly grabbed my ankle and pulled it towards him, throwing me off guard.

He rolled out the bandages and cut them in half before wrapping them around my knee, where the cut was.

My face started to feel warm at the mere feeling of his hand on my skin, and I fisted up the leaves and stones around my hands planted by my sides.

He briefly glanced towards me, his eyes barely holding eye contact with mine, before he finished with the bandages.

"There. Now, try not to trip over a rock or anything and screw up your other knee." He said before getting up.

I remained seated to spare myself another moment, but he suddenly offered his hand to me.

I looked up and still saw the angry scowl on his face before reluctantly slipping my hand in his. His hand quickly tightened around mine before he pulled me up to stand.

I dusted off the leaves and dirt sticking on the back of my clothes, and he quickly released my hand and started walking away.

Part of me wanted to appreciate what he had done, but the other part still reminded me of the list of reasons why I don't like him.

With a heavy sigh, I finally decided to leave and catch up with him before he disappeared somewhere. The moment of gratitude was quickly forgotten, along with the feeling itself.

I have decided to keep listening to the little devil on my shoulder and not let anything that happened change the way I feel about that jerk.