More Than a Soldier

Chapter 50 - Kuli'ou'ou Ridge

Scarlett's POV:

Y/n and I woke up a bit earlier today to head out on a hike. We wanted to get up and go before it gets too hot. Over dinner last night, we picked the hike that we wanted to do and decided to challenge ourselves. We'll probably end up being out for most of the day, but the route looks beautiful. It starts off in the forest and goes past waterfalls and ends up with a beautiful view of the island at Kuli'ou'ou Ridge.

As I come out of the bedroom, I see Y/n filling up the last of our chilly bottles and place them into her backpack. She has it all under control as she makes sure she has snacks for the trail and a towel if we want to go in the water at any point. "Are you ready my love?" She asks when she notices that I've joined her. "Yep, have you put suncream on?" I ask her, knowing that we're going to be in the sun a lot today. "All done, though I'll need you to do my back if we go swimming." She replies, walking over and placing a kiss to my head.

"OK. Do you want me to take anything in a bag?" I ask her whilst we get our walking shoes on. "Uh, I don't think so. I've got water and food. Unless there is anything you want to take?" She responds but I shake my head. "Perfect, well the car will be here to pick us up any minute. I'm excited for this." She smiles at me, and I love when she gets that glint in her eyes. She becomes almost childlike and it's so cute. "Me too. It'll be nice to get out an explore the island." I share in her excitement.

She's right and within a couple of minutes, we hear the honking of a horn to indicate the driver has arrived. Y/n locks up and we make our way into the taxi. He's taking us to the beginning of the trail so we're not adding unnecessary miles to our hike just to get to the starting point.

When we arrive, Y/n pays the driver and gets out, holding her hand to me, which I easily take. She slips her sunglasses over her eyes and gets out the map. The owners of the house had kindly left a number of leaflets and maps for things to explore. It's how we decided on this hike to do. I think I'll leave Y/n to guide us as I know I'll end up getting us lost, even if there is a track to follow. Besides, I'm not adverse to walking behind her and getting a good view...

"Ok my love. Seems pretty straightforward, we follow this trail and there are a few points that we can take a detour to see different things." She explains, tucking the map into her back pocket. "Shall we start?" She asks and I nod easily. "Let's go babe." I smile, taking her hand in mine and starting on the trail.

It's a nice easy start to the hike, mainly thought the lush green forest. The incline is gradual, and we make good headway along the track, hand in hand. Considering we're not far from the city, it feels like we're in a different world here. Like something from a fantasy movie. The wildlife and nature are beautiful. We take moments to take photos, wanting to not only record the walk for ourselves, but we also want to share it with Ava when we're back.

About an hour into the walk, we reach our first fork in the road. "If we take a right, it goes down to some waterfalls, but it's a little steep. Otherwise, we can stay left and stick to the forest." She explains. "Oh, waterfalls no question. Let's see if you have any of that military stamina left." I tease her, taking off at a quick march ahead of her. "I think I proved my stamina yesterday!" She shouts after me. Luckily, I'm facing away from her, and she can't see the blush forming on my cheeks.

She catches up to me, wrapping her arms around my waist and lifting me from the floor, spinning me around. I let out a squeal of shock as she laughs. "Put me down!" I giggle and she does as I ask, with a kiss to my cheek. She then links our hands together and we make our way towards the waterfalls.

The trail is steep but is downhill to get to the water. I am not looking forward to coming back up this when we head back. We don't pass many people on this part of the trail, I guess some don't want the strenuous walk. It's peaceful and I take in the sound of the birds around us. You get so used to the sounds of the city, it's strange when you're somewhere like this where all you hear is nature. I love it.