Darryl the beast, suddenly captured her lips cutting all the words she wanted to say.

Xhemin's heart was pounding like a million trillion beats a minute as Darryl continued to consume her lips—it was fiery at first then he slowed down smoothly and gently exploring her mouth as if he was tasting all the sweetness in her. ​​

Xhemin unconsciously reciprocated his kiss and when she did, she felt how Darryl jolted in surprise. And she knew why. It was the first. The first time she responded to his kiss. He kissed her back then in response, open mouth, soft lipped and puts his other hand to the back of her head slowly stroking her hair as he pressed it toward his. Hard.

It felt so nice and Xhemin couldn't think straight even at the time he ended it.

"Stop doing that" She said referring his sudden kisses.

"Lips are meant for kissing" He answered, his voice is different, its ragged and raw as if he was controlling some urges that Xhemin knew nothing about. "no more nagging"

"But—"

"…Or I'll kiss you again" he added as a threat, a sexy enthralling threat that made Xhemin shut her mouth.

Immediately she turned her back from him again to stop any other attempt of kisses from him. Also, her cheeks were warming up and she knew her face were all in red.

'This beast is turning into a kissing monster'

She thought in her head. She chose to be quite then, letting the ocean of silence engulfed between them because for some reason everything turned extremely awkward, not to mention her veins are starting to heat up.

A little later, Xhemin noticed that they are nearing a beautiful scenery up ahead. Through a grouping of trees, she can see a lovely little stream that babbled surrounded by clusters of pink and white flowers that bloomed here and there. The scent of moss and lichen be-fowls the air for the leagues across them and just in one corner, a short but mighty tree stood. Large boughs sprouted from it and reached into the water as if it was a part of it. The scenery was beautiful and serene, shouting greens and the joy of spring time.

"Beautiful" With much love Xhemin murmured unconsciously. Her ink eyes were suddenly drawn to the scenic view and her ears were very much attracted to the songs of the forest insects as if announcing the arrival of a well-loved familiar guest.

"My favorite place in this valley" Darryl uttered with pleasure knowing how she came to like the place ever from afar.

As soon as the reach the scene they both adore, Darryl halted his horse, mounted down and tied it in a shade nearby. Right after, he held unto Xhemin's waist unexpectedly to help her mount down the horse.

"Hey!" She exclaimed—caught off guard by his manly gesture. She let him though even his hands on her hips brought some uncommon feelings in her veins. She stopped breathing then and just held onto his shoulders to support her body wishing he will not notice how screwed up her feelings were.

Xhemin's feet landed the earth and she purposely distanced herself from him, disrupting her attention from her mixed-up emotions to the scenery. Seeing how smooth the green grass looked, she took off her boots and made her naked feet feel the glory of it. Sooner she found her way to the stream and without hesitation dipped her bare feet at the water. It was cold, but she needed it to calm up her tensing nerves.

What's happening anyway? What's with all those sparkling, tiny hot sensations that's rising within her when some part of Darryl's body glide against hers?

The water was shallow, but it was enough to wet the ends of her jeans.

"Do you come here often?" She asked while playing in the midst of the water.

"My last visit was when I was eight" Darryl revealed. Although wasn't sure if this place was still as gorgeous the way he remembered it back then, he did want to bring the girl here for he knew she would certainly be glad.

"That's a shame" She responded "This place is just so magical to be forgotten like that"

"I didn't forget it that's why I brought you here. Just that I never had the time after all these years" He answered as he settled himself in one of the boughs and started picking up stone to throw into the stream. His first throw sent some forest insects away and disturbed the calm silver water.

"Such a lame reason for a Lagdameo heir" She answered sarcastically trying to annoy him for fun. She tossed one of her feet against the water and unto Darryl's direction and her move sent some water flying toward the boy who was about to throw another stone into the water. The splash left some small watermarks on Darryl's suit and it caught him off guard.

When Xhemin saw how surprise he was with her sudden splash, she laughed at him. The sound of her laugh echoed off the place, filling the space with life and depth.

In the middle of laughing, something hit her that made her stop.

"Ouch!" She cried a little as she tried to find the thing that hit her.