The weight I'm feeling across my middle was at first uncomfortable, but as soon as I moved, it wrapped me around possessively, making me feel warm and fuzzy all over. Surrendering to the feeling, I turned and snuggled closer to the warm body, letting the heat surround me even more.

The familiar warmth of the body made me feel so comfortable that I let myself succumb to another dream-filled sleep.

It was already morning the next time I stirred from my sleep. The sunlight was invading the darkness behind my eyelids as I try to blink my sleep to focus on my surroundings.

Other than the light coming from the windows, I noticed that half of my body is lying on a warm bare-chested body. My hand across his waist, my head on his chest. And something heavy is draped on my shoulder.

Not good

Although the comfort was so inviting, I can't help but feel embarrassed at the position I am in with the one and only Nathaniel Westwood.

I just gave him another chance to tease me! I am never going to live this down.

Right at that moment, I noticed that the weight on my shoulder tightened.

I stiffened and knew that he's probably been awake even before I woke. Slowly, very slowly, my eyes travelled from my hand, the one that was across his waist, to the bare chest I currently pillowed on, until I reached the bright green eyes that stared at me with joy, and not amusement?

"Good morning," he greeted.

I stared at him in surprise, unable to greet him back.

He chuckled before asking, "It is a good morning, isn't it?"

This time, I managed to smile as he started to stroke my face. Yes, Nate. It is definitely a good morning. I wanted to say that so much but decided to just keep it to myself.

"You know, we could stay here all day, do this all day, if you want. Somehow, with you being in my arms makes me feel complete," he said.

Although what he said supposed to make any girl blush, I, instead, remembered that we are in an adventure. And remembering that, I immediately sat on the bed before dashing to the bathroom.

I emerged from the bathroom five minutes later and found Nate already dressed in his casual clothes.

"Where are we going? Although, I know it's a bit too late, I don't know where we," I confessed. "You never told me where exactly we are, and I somehow, never asked."

"That's good," he said. "Now, I know that you trusted me. As to where we're going, we're going to the palace in the sky."

*****

Thirty minutes later, we found ourselves on top of the incomplete mansion that sits atop the mountain.

The place seemed to be not on its full swing of business because there are only few other tourists milling around. As far as I know, the place is supposed to be a mansion of some sort to honor a certain visitor, but when that somebody cancelled on the visit, so does the construction. What remains from that construction is what people see now, well, and a few added things for small business for the locals.

I can't remember who ordered construction of this place nor who the visitor was supposed to be so I decided to ask a few Filipinos that my eye caught milling around. Although they are Filipinos, they seemed to be surprised at the notion that the place was supposed to be a mansion. I was a little disappointed that some Filipinos are not even aware of the history behind such tourist destination.

"You know, you don't have to be sad just because people are not like you." I heard Nate said.

I raised an eyebrow. "And what do you mean by that?"

"I am not saying that they do not crave knowledge. All I am saying is that not everyone is interested in knowing the history of the place. Although, it will be nice to learn such information, some people would not want to talk about academic subjects during a vacation. Besides, some people are already satisfied with having to see such great view." He stopped and looked out. "And the view is so worth that short walk on that steep road."

I laughed. I can't believe someone as masculine as Nate would complain to such a short walk.

"Give me a break. I wasn't really expecting that."

"Fine. Let's just enjoy this place. I'll just research on its history later."

And I did enjoy the place, as a matter of fact. We took a few pictures at the balcony that probably overlooks the whole province, including the famous Taal Lake. We stayed there for a few more minutes after exploring every corner of the place.

After having our eyes fill with the view, we decided to buy some souvenirs as a remembrance of our moments here.

When we left, we trekked back down to the steep road, and rode a jeepney.

By the way, I was actually surprised when Nate decided to ride a jeepney instead of hailing a taxicab on our way here. What was more shocking is the fact that he knows how to pay. I asked him about this but he only shrugged.

I can tell something is bothering him. He's acting strangely again after receiving another phone call. He seemed out of it and a little shaken. I asked him if he's okay, and if he wanted to go back to the hotel, but he just told me that he doesn't want to ruin our time together.

We passed our hotel and stopped at what seemed to be an amusement park.

We got down from the jeepney and proceeded to enter the park.

I learned that the amusement park is called Sky Ranch. (Does everything here need to be something related to the sky?) Anyway, I was a little peeved at the turn of events so I decided to drag him to one of the rides. After the riding the Super Viking, we rode the Drop Tower next. Ride after ride seemed to make Nate forget about the blasted phone call he received earlier.

When we finally exhaust ourselves from the extreme rides, we decided to cool down and rode the Sky Eye, the Ferris wheel with 32 air-conditioned gondolas. It was a perfect timing because the sun was just about to set. With the clouds that seemed to turn pink as the sun once more made its majestic exit to the horizon.

Sighing, I smiled. "That is really beautiful."

I turned to face Nate when I heard him mumble in reply. Looking at his eyes, my mind managed to comprehend what he just said; "Yes, you are."

I felt my cheeks immediately flush at the comment and broke the eye contact. I heard him chuckle. And despite the temperature inside the gondola, I suddenly felt hot.

Focus on the sunset.

The sunset is beautiful so focus on that.

I scooted closer to the glass windows to avoid seeing Nate on my peripheral vision. Unfortunately, he did the same, but this time it's to probably see me front and center.

I was so anxious throughout the ride. The silence was thick, and what's worse was, Nate was unabashedly looking at me. I was already uncomfortable at his stares when my stomach suddenly grumbled. I'm hungry. I almost sighed out loud in relief when the ride ended.

He held out his hand and said, "come on. I have decided a perfect place to fill that pit inside you."

I blushed again.

Damn you, Nate!

I haven't even recovered from the ride when Nate slightly teased me. And now, my head became a blushing mess.

When we arrived at a restaurant named Leslie's I was still a blushing mess. Although Nate tried to soothe my nerves, it wasn't really working, considering he's the cause of my nervousness.

We placed our orders and had some small talk (because, seriously, that's the only thing my mind managed to conjure in my haze.

When the food arrived, I took a huge sniff of the soup in front of me. The hot meal we ordered was just perfect for the climate outside; warm and fuzzy makes a perfect blend to the cold climate of the whole province.

"You know..." I started.

Nate immediately pointed his spoon at me. "Don't you dare..."

I would have probably spoke what's on my mind when at the last minute, decided against it. I don't want to ruin Nate's remaining moment on this day and just focused on the meal laid out for us.

Drinking the last drop of Bulalo, I felt satisfied. Not only did we finished our meals, but also managed to taste a special Filipino dish that is very famous in the province.

When we started walking back to the hotel, Nate started to become agitated once more. His pace seemed to increase as we slowly made our way back at the hotel. It was a silent conclusion of the day, all in all. Like really silent. Nate didn't say a word throughout our work and neither did I attempted to.

Even as we turned in for the night, Nate didn't even tell me goodnight, he just bee-lined to the bathroom, emerged later, and slumped on the bed without telling me goodnight.

What just happened?