[Flashback continued - ]

Emily could not find the courage to look at his bruises anymore. She took in a deep breath before fixing her eyes on his face while he tried his best to avoid looking at her.

​​

She felt her heart getting heavier as she asked, "How can you even date to say that you are alright? You are not perfectly fine. This is the third time I've caught you injured within the past two weeks. Can I ask you exactly what is going on with you? Why are you always hurt? Were you also hurt this badly at those times too? How long are you planning to keep me in the dark? Don't I deserve to know anything about you?"

The tears that she had been trying to keep in check were now freely running down her cheeks as she found nothing but silence in response to her questions.

Neither did he look at her nor did he reply to even a single one of her questions.

"Shadow..."

She called him again, feeling like his silence was crushing something inside her and it was too painful for her to bear.

A whispered groan of pain escaped her lips as her hands flew to cover her chest which was suddenly filled with an intense pain that it was becoming impossible for her to breathe properly.

Her painful cry finally succeeded in pulling Shadow's attention towards her and the next moment she was safely wrapped in his arms as he channeled his soul energy into her body to ease the pain.

It was probably only a minute but for her, it felt like long painful hours but the good thing was that it disappeared completely just like that without leaving any side effects.

"Are you okay?" Shadow asked her in a worried tone and Emily immediately nodded her head to calm him down.

She watched as his muscles relaxed while he pulled her in a tight hug while whispering, "You scared me, Princess. You are not allowed to cry for me ever again after today. I'll tell you everything. Give you all the answers and explanations that you want from me but you have to promise that you will never shed a tear for me."

***

[Present - ]

Emily woke up as she heard her brothers buzzing like bees outside the tent. She checked the time and found that it was barely six-twelve in the morning.

A few minutes later, she walked out of the tent and was immediately greeted by Domenic who was once again busy on his laptop while sipping his coffee.

"Do you even know the meaning of taking a break?" She asked him as she looked at his laptop to see what important work he had to take care of this early in the morning.

"Good morning to you too, Emilia," Domenic replied calmly while he continued his work.

"You are hopeless brother." She muttered with a shake of her head before she left to freshen up and get ready for the day.

By the time they all finished eating their breakfast, it was already half-past seven o'clock and Emily was filled with exciting ideas to continue the day.

"Are you sure there are fishes in this stream?" Emily asked Leo who immediately shook his head in denial while giving her a sheepish smile.

The girl wanted to throw her hands at this point. No one agreed with any of her suggestions and now here she was, trying to catch a fish when she was not even sure if there was any fish in the water or not.

"I'm tired. It's been over an hour and we haven't caught a single fish. In not doing this anymore." She told her brother and Rylan who was also giving them company or more like he was clinging to Leo like there was no tomorrow.

"Are you sure you wanna go?" Leo asked her with an evil smirk on his lips which made her frown as she tried to guess what kind of crafty ideas were floating in his mind.

The next moment, both Leo and Rylan shared knowing looks and immediately started attacking her with water splashes, making her squeal as the cold water touched her skin.

"Are you guys nuts? Stop it!" She tried to stop them but of course, it was futile. The boys were in no mood of listening to her.

"Come on, Em. This is so much fun!" Leo shouted as he picked up his speed and even sent a splash towards Rylan who was definitely not expecting it.

Seeing that they were not going to stop until she would be completely drenched, she decided to run away. However, she would have barely taken a few steps when something sharp pierced the skin of her left foot, making her cry out in pain as she lost her balance and landed on her knees which immediately got bruised after coming in contact with the sharp pebbles and rocks that were hidden beneath the water near the side of the stream.

"Emily...!"

"Em...! Are you okay?"

The dumb question was asked by Crist who had appeared beside her as he tried to help her stand with the help of Kaiden and Rylan who were also surrounding her. But the sharp pain in her foot and knees made her again lose her balance.

Fortunately, before she could have ended up in the water again, Mark had already picked her up in his arms as he raced towards the tent where Shadow, Domenic, and Simon were waiting with worried expressions covering all of their faces.

"Get me a towel and the first aid kit." Mark hurriedly ordered as he placed her on the carpet and crouched down beside her while inspecting her knees and left foot.

Through the pain that was making her grit her teeth, Emily succeeded in witnessing the warm moment when she saw the worry in Mark's eyes. Suddenly, she was no longer feeling bad for getting hurt even though the pain was really too much at the moment for her to handle.

"Let me heal her."

"I can heal her."