Bear | ✔

Chapter Eight

"Leila!" She heard David call in her state of half-asleep. Her mind was working full-time but her limps just weren't into it. She groaned in response, showing him that she was awake.

"Come on, Leila! We landed," He called again and she heard his steps slowly retreating. Groaning, Leila urged herself to sit up, struggling to keep her balance. She felt as exhausted as ever and she just couldn't understand why. She quickly fixed her scarf in front of the bathroom mirror, peed, brushed her teeth and stormed out of the room to meet up with David.

"Okay, now. Can you please tell me where exactly we are?" She asked as they started walking in the direction of the exit, blending with the other passengers.

"You'll see for yourself. Quickly, let's go." He grabbed her hand out of the blue and made his way through the crowd of people, guiding him behind her. All Leila could think about at that moment was: Damn those hormones.

It's just an involuntary move, Leila. There is nothing affectionate about holding someone's hand. It means nothing, nothing at all.

"But I want to know. My mind isn't at it for guessing right now," Leila whined as they headed for the luggage line to receive their bags. Leila had only packed one single suitcase. She had planned to stay at the hotel most of the time, anyway, so she didn't really need much stuff. Only the basics, she included. David, on the other hand, got quite a few. A lot of them were for his paper, business items and his laptop. Leila offered to help him to return the favor - no, the favors -, but he rejected it completely.

"Where the hell are we, David?" Leila nagged when they finally stepped outside the airport. She had attempted to read their address from any board sign or flight plan, but they never specified their place exactly. It was all typed in plain English with no translations, but they couldn't possibly still be inside the US, since their flight took longer than twelve hours. Australia and New Zealand weren't on the list as well. The only possible chance she had expected was the United Kingdom.

Seriously, though?

"We aren't in England, are we?" She asked warily, arching a brow. David chuckled and shook his head in response.

"No, we're not," He replied as they kept walking on the sidewalk, watching the cars go by. On the other side, a long shore extended beyond her eyesight. It was beautiful, yet nothing she was familiar with before.

"Of course we're not. If we were, it would be freezing cold right now." She held up a hand to shield her eyes from the sun. David fumbled with one of his bags, then pulled out a parasol and offered it to her.

Leila eyed it like she was being offered a baby. "Are you kidding me?" She gasped. "You paid money for shipping this?"

David shrugged his shoulders carelessly. "What's wrong? It didn't really cost that much."

Leila shook her head, feigning offending. "God, you're such a waster. I can't believe I never noticed that before."

"Stop over-thinking things, Leila. It's a break time and you need to relax and just enjoy your stay." David ignored her comment and unclasped the parasol, startling Leila as it opened like a bird spreading its wings.

"Wow!" Leila whispered in amazement.

David arched a brow at her reaction. "What? You've never seen a parasol before?" He asked in utter shock.

Leila slowly shook her head. "Not when you're living in a climate zone as boring as mine." She headed on, and David followed with the shield held up in his hand above them.

"Not really," She heard him mumble and looked up.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing."