If he thought that bringing me to this place would make any change in my life then he was wrong. When Daniel went to his car, leaving me standing at the edge of the lake I observed my surrounding to see if I was missing something but I found nothing else than a beautiful lake illuminated by the white moonlight and the yellow light coming from the lamp posts surrounding the lake. There were trees, bushes, and houses that were a little far from the sight. The place was peaceful but I was confused as to why he brought me to this place.

"Here, take this." He came over to me and passed me a magazine.

I frowned in confusion. "What is this for?" I asked.

"To make the paper boat." He announced. He then tore a paper out of the magazine and folded it to make a paper boat.

"Now, we'll make it float on water." He said before heading near the water. I trailed behind him and when he was about to settle the boat on the water, I said, "Let me do it."

He swatted my hand away and said, "Make your own." I narrowed my eyes at him before heading back to make my own paper boat. I folded the paper to make a boat and settled it on water but to my bad luck, it fell sideways.

Daniel erupted into fits of laughter. "You can't even make a paper boat. Look, mine is floating." He pointed at his boat.

"It's not like I always do that. I don't know when I last made the paper boat." I retorted as my eyes flickered from my boat to his boat. I envied him; how perfectly he folded the paper that it was perfectly floating on the water.

He again tore the paper, made a boat out of it, and handed it to me. "Try this one." He said. I did the same and a wide smile broke on my lips when the boat didn't drown. I bent down and put my hand into the water to wave it so that the boat could move forward. It floated to a small distance before the water got filled into it and it started drowning.

"Daniel, give me one more," I said loudly, still looking at my drowning boat.

"Won't you make it yourself?" I heard him say.

"You make it," I said, waving my hand at my back as my attention was still on the area where the boat drowned. In no second he passed me another boat then another and another. I pulled my hair in a bun as my open hair was disturbing me whenever I bent down to float the boat.

I forgot everything at that moment. My mind was free of any thought. I was just enjoying the activity. I felt like a little girl. I was jumping and squealing not caring about anything or anyone.

Daniel was right, simple and small things really gives happiness. He was right, happiness can really be created by oneself. I have done this activity in my childhood but at that time I didn't know about the contentment it gives.

Busy life and the burden of the work took their toll on me and I forgot what actual happiness is. I kept finding happiness in the people. Until now I wasn't aware that it was always within me, I just had to do a little effort to bring that out.

Daniel was passing me boats and I was floating them on the water. I don't know for how long it went like that but I stopped squealing when I heard Daniel say, "I'm out of papers."

My lips curled downward, I faced him and said, "Don't you have more magazines in the car?"

"Nope."

"You should have brought enough magazines or newspapers when you knew you were going to make me do this activity," I grumbled, crossing my arms.

"Hey, don't blame me. I didn't know that you would love this so much." He raised his hands in the air.

"I was enjoying this. I did it after a very long time." I said sadly, glancing back at the water.

"Don't worry we can do another thing and I can assure you, you will enjoy it too," Daniel said as he approached me.

"What?" I asked, facing him.

"Rock skipping." He replied, grinning.

"Rock skipping? I don't know how to do that." I told him.

"That's why I'm here, to teach you." He smiled and picked up the smooth, flat stone and swirled his arm to throw the stone on the water. The stone landed parallel on the water and skipped three times.

"Wow! How did you do that?" I looked at him in amazement.

"Come here, I'll teach you." He bobbed his head. Without thinking I made my way to him.

He picked up the stone and handed it over to me then said, "Stand here." He pointed at his side. I stood beside him. I gasped when he came behind me. He was closer than he should be. My breathing rate started to elevate. I opened my mouth to ask him why he was this close to me but nothing came out of my mouth when he slid his right hand on my right arm.

"Wh..what are you d..doing?" I asked, breathlessly.

"Teaching you." He whispered huskily which led to the eruption of goosebumps on my skin.

I gulped hard when he snaked his left arm around my waist, under the crop top I was wearing. The skin to skin contact turned me into jelly. Tingling sensations woke up in my body.

"Daniel..." I whispered.

"Shhh, just concentrate on the stone." His lips were close to the skin of my neck. I cursed under my breath for tying my hair up. I bit my lips and absent-mindedly nodded my head.

He held my right hand with his right one and adjusted the stone between fingers. Then he slowly drew my arm and my wrist behind me and whispered, "Put your left leg forward and bent your knees."

I did the same, he too came in the stance as mine. "Now swing your arm and flick your wrist in one swift motion." He said and helped me flick my wrist. The stone spun off my index finger and landed parallel on the water but it skipped only once.

"There you go." He said but didn't let go of me. My mind was so hazy because of the closeness that I couldn't even celebrate my first throw. Giddiness flowed inside me.

"You wanna try once again?" He said and drew circles on my stomach with his index finger. My head involuntarily bobbed up and down.

"Okay, try it yourself this time." He kissed my neck and pulled it apart, leaving me dumbfounded. I blinked several times to register what just happened.

Damn, him! He played with me. He wanted me to try stone skipping myself but I couldn't remember how to do that as my mind was not in the right state while he was teaching me.

He again placed the stone in my hand and said, "Try." And I just stared at him.

"What? You don't remember how to do it? Where was your mind when I was teaching you? Eloi, you should concentrate on what your instructor teaches you. Bad manners, Eloi." He remarked. I didn't miss the amusement in his voice.

At the moment I wanted to strangle him. He did that intentionally.

"I..I do remember how to do it." I forced out.

"Show me then." He smirked, crossing his arms in front of his chest. I glared at him before facing the water. I took several deep breaths and ran my mind to recall what he taught me.

I did what I recalled and instead of skipping, the stone drowned. The atmosphere filled with the sound of laughter of Daniel.

"Don't laugh that was my first try," I retorted harshly and again picked up the stone.

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I laughed and sat leisurely at a distance behind Eloise. I don't know why I did that. But being close to her felt so good. The sweet sensation that prickled in my body when I touched the bare skin of her stomach was still prevailing in my body.

When I touched her, I almost forgot that I was here to show her what actual contentment is, instead of that my focus went on my pleasure. The soft-touch of her skin kept me spellbound. I don't know what possessed in me at that time. I didn't want to be away from her but I had to otherwise I would have done something we both regret.

I kept my eyes trained on Eloise who was busy trying to make the stone skip on water. She looked so carefree and full of life. Her excitement was beyond expectations. Her smile was more than enough for the little effort I did to bring her to this place.

She kept on huffing when the stone drowned but she didn't give up, she kept on throwing the stone. She wasn't succeeding as her stance wasn't accurate but I couldn't bring myself to go near her and teach her again. I left it on her, she would definitely succeed over time. At least the activity was keeping her away from the tension and pressure of work.

Initially, I thought that paper boat would be enough to keep her away from unwanted thoughts swirling in her head but she gave the task of making the boat to me. I had a pile of magazines in my car but I refused to let them out as I wanted to watch her and folding papers wasn't letting me do so.

Nonetheless, I felt satisfied as I succeeded in teaching her the most important lesson of life — how to bring out happiness hidden inside oneself.

I was pulled out of my reverie when Eloise suddenly squealed my name.

"Daniel." I stood up and ran up to her.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I did it. The stone skipped two times." She jumped in happiness. "I'll show you." She bent down to pick up the stone and threw it on the water, it skipped three times on the water.

"Yes! Three times." She squealed and surprised me by snaking her arms around my torso. I froze in my place. She sensed my stiffness and pulled away.

"Uh... Sorry. I'll show you again." She said and bent down to pick up the atone but I stopped her.

"No, Eloi. It's okay. I think we should leave now. It's getting late." I said. I didn't know how the time passed, we were there for three hours.

"But I want to show you." Her lips curled downwards.

"I'll watch it some other time. We'll come here again, okay?" I tried to convince her.

"Well, okay." She gave in.

We sat in the car and I drove back to her place. In between, we stopped to eat. I stopped the car in front of her apartment building.

"So, the day is finally over," I said, drumming my fingers on the steering wheel.

"Yes, it is." She shifted on the seat and faced me. "Thank you, Daniel, for bringing me to that place. It was so much fun. I have played with the boat much time in my childhood but stone skipping was new to me. Thank you for teaching me that. And most importantly, thank you for bringing out the little girl hidden inside me. I don't remember when the last time I had so much fun." She said sincerely.

I smiled and ruffled her hair. "No need to mention. I still have so much to teach you, so much to show you."

"I'm looking forward to it, Good night." She said.

"Good night," I said but I didn't want her to leave. I wanted to spend more time with her.

"Bye." She said and stepped out of the car. I leaned back in my seat and kept my eyes focused on her. When she was about to enter the building, she stopped and then turned back. I frowned when she started walking towards my car. She came around and the car and sat on the passenger seat.

"I forgot something." She said.

"What?" I started looking around for her belongings but nothing was there.

"There is nothi—"

My breath caught in my throat when she suddenly cupped my face and kissed my cheek.

"I had forgotten this. Thank you." She smiled warmly and again got out of the car and left me sitting there, stupefied, giddy, and turned-on.

"What have you done, Eloi."

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