Amanda's POV

I basked in the jungle for a while, there was a great commotion of voices of different kinds for example of the dry leaves, birds chirping. I could even hear some kind of roars. My legs hesitated to walk any further. Maybe I was right for choosing this side but my opinion had no relevance since I was not optimistic regarding my decision.

"Maybe Amanda you should turn behind and go in the direction where Mr. Reynolds is, he can safeguard you ", the positive me guided me.

"No, you silly, you're right. Stay confident and keep going. Mr. Reynolds is nothing but a pain in the ass. ", the negative me offended.

I stopped at once to take a quick decision because Mr. Reynolds may not have walked very far away. I tried convincing the negative Amanda whilst agreeing with the positive one. "Maybe I shouldn't have argued so much, this will give him a reason to mock me down again. ", my sub-conscious objected with my actions and words I used in the past.

I turned around quickly and returned to where I started. I finally reached the place where we actually parted and took the right way. Mr. Reynold's exaggerated 'RIGHT' word echoed in my ears.

I took the right path and kept moving further expecting to see if Mr. Reynolds left any trail behind. I took longer steps than usual to match up with Mr. Reynolds's speed. I kept walking for approximately 10 minutes but to my discontentment, I saw no human figure. I regretted my stubbornness and firm behavior very much.

I was never good at making choices since a child. I kept moving further to at least find a highway so that I could reach home. I lost hope of finding him as the forest got deeper with every further step of mine. I felt inconsolable due to my loneliness, his company annoyed me completely but his presence comforted me just like some invisible armor as I knew that he'd always have my back in any difficult situation.

I then saw someone's shadow from the back, I was pretty sure that I found my man but a part of me was very shy to walk and join him so I decided to follow him silently without making him realize it. I walked tongue-tied preventing myself to make any noise whilst walking.

Suddenly, my legs hit a rock so naturally, a voice like"OW", came out from my mouth, I caught my mouth instinctively with my hands and concealed myself behind the back of the tree. I peeped a bit to inquire about Mr. Reynolds, he was turned towards my side. He did get some hint that there was someone.

He looked here and there for a while and later caught up with his walking speed. I tracked him a little more cautiously this time. To my disappointment, I saw a huge lizard on my shoulder traveling across my back.

"Ooh, you filthy creature. move away. Shoooo ", I swiped it off my shoulder and ran at my fullest speed towards Mr. Reynolds. My screech obviously alerted Mr. Reynolds, he turned around. It was such a creepy feeling that I couldn't stop myself from being loud. I had some sort of phobia from lizards, their existence caused discomfort in my eyes. I was lizophobic, if that's even a word in the English dictionary.

I yet remember how much I was scared in the past when Sam kept a fake lizard near my pillow, I freaked out so much in the morning that I started crying since the very moment I saw it. I was later alarmed by the fact that was unreal.

"Oh, I was being stalked ", Mr. Reynolds was the first one to speak up.

"Took you too much time to believe ", I tried covering myself up.

"I knew it the moment you got hit by a stone ", he smirked " I am Aaron, don't forget the name "

"But why did you leave me alone when I rushed towards the left side ", I looked at him.

He pointed towards me " Because I have no right to rule over you. You are no one to me in this jungle just like you said ", he placed his hand in his pocket " Not my girlfriend, not my wife and not my sister, why would I want to push my opinion on you. Every one of us possess freedom of expression and choice "

"Right! ", I agreed dissatisfied.

"That's what I said, I am always right ", he messed his hair "So if you now agree, let me take the lead. Just follow me ", he kept his attention straight. I knew that I had seen enough of his good side last day and night and I was eventually prepared for this. We walked silently for a while, my slippers were losing its grip since they were definitely not meant for trekking.

"There's a lake there ", he pointed towards it, his eyes shined in the sun and his cheeks showed a shade of redness due to excessive exposure to heat. He looked adorable even in this dirty white teared up shirt.

"I see ", I turned my attention towards it " But its okay, we can tidy ourselves up after we reach home safely ", I commented

He pouted "Are you always this dumb Miss Waters, we can drink water from this lake ", I looked away embarrassed on my blonde statement.

"Come on now ", he pulled me towards the lake. He sat on the big rock placing his ass on it, he washed his face with the water and continued the same with his hands and legs. The water didn't look very clean to me so I just stood there. He joined his palms, filled water in them, and drank it.

He raised his brows "Are you not thirsty ", he stood up finally and sighed. He looked refreshed and relaxed. I shrugged showing confusion on my face.

"This water is quite muddy though ", I filled my palm with some water showcasing the mud.

"If being a billionaire, I can have it for survival purposes then why not an ordinary girl as you drink it ", he never failed to blab about his wealth but this time he actually made sense but I didn't want to express that to him.

"That doesn't mean ordinary girls drink muddy water ", I filled the water in my palms and took a sip of it "To every ordinary girl " I tossed. The water tasted salty but fine enough to compromise for the condition. I smirked at Mr. Reynolds and drank another sip of it . "can I confess something honestly ?", I interrogated.

"Yes ", he nodded signaling me to carry on.

"Do you hear some noise ?", I generally questioned.

"No. What does it sound like ?", he questioned back so I pointed towards my tummy "You hear the growl, do you?

His facial expressions turned worse from the bad . I definitely needed to work on my lames when in Mr. Reynolds's presence. I never ever thought before speaking until it created serious circumstances . This quality was passed on to me from Francis, Gina always objected at our lames but ended up laughing anyway.

"If you can shut up for a minute, I can think something ", he wiped off the sweat from his face. The weather was very humid and moist, the sun shined brightly on top of my head causing it uneasy for us to walk.

"yeah, take up the lead ", I directed him to move ahead. "Don't forget I am hungry ", I confirmed first that my face was turned towards his back before commenting.

We walked for a while but then I stopped "Oh my God Mr. Reynolds, look up there ", I grabbed his hand preventing him from walking anymore. He looked towards the tree where red apples were hanging.

"They're way too up ", he tried jumping to behold the apple but failed miserably. He continued doing it but there were no successful results obtained through his actions.

"Let me try ", I jumped along "Ouch ", I shouted the moment my feet hit the ground, the pressure exerted doubled my pain so I just sat on the ground straightening my legs. Mr. Reynolds sat on his knee closer to me, he rubbed my legs warmly. It was effective indeed, the sprain on the joints of my toes reduced, I kept calm for a while and then stood up.

"How about a team effort?", I raised my brows "and thanks by the way "

"No I don't have the power to pick you up again so don't mention it and YES I know exactly what you mean, just stay calm, okay ",

"I will", I nodded. Mr. Reynolds sat on the ground lowering his head. I parted my legs on either side and sat on his shoulders, my dress lifted up showcasing my upper thigh which touched his cheeks on either side. "Careful please ", I kind of doubt on his balancing skills.

"Don't move, unless told ", he slowly and gradually stood up. I balanced myself trying hard not to move. Yes, our plan was effective . "gotcha ", I stretched my hands and plucked the nearest apple from the tree and threw it on the ground softly. "Turn left ", I commanded.

"Don't you command Miss Waters ", he warned me and later turned left after a few moments. I plucked two more apples jointly one by one. "A little more left please ", I asked him to shift.

He was infuriating which could be felt. I tried stretching my arms so that I could have one last apple too. I wasn't greedy for apples, I just wanted to pluck as much as possible to suffice our hunger for the rest of the journey until we reached home.

"A bit more please ", my hand didn't reach that spot with much ease, as a result, I pushed my body towards the left side which resulted in the quivering of my balance. My legs glided through his back falling on the ground, exerting force on his body too.

We fell down together as his head rested on the ground whilst mine rested on his chest. I could hear his heartbeats which got fastened up due to my clumsy act. I gathered all my courage to lift myself up and face him, I was shocked to see that Mr. Reynolds laid on the ground with his eyes closed.

I at once parted my body away from his and examined him further closely. "Maybe his head hit the ground with great force so he probably fainted, he will get back to his senses soon ", I consoled myself. I rubbed his hands with mine, I basically didn't know what effect it has on someone but I couldn't think of a better option too.

I waited near him for minutes placing his head on my lap and wiping off his excess sweat from the leaves which were scattered on the land as the leaves had water in it, so it had a soothing effect on one's skin plus excess heat could turn out to be dangerous causing serious issues such as lowering one's blood pressure.

"Come on Mr. Reynolds, wake up please ", tears started to roll through my eyes as I was the one solely responsible for this gloomy condition "I even promise that I won't pass any more lame jokes or cause any trouble purposely ", my voice shook while speaking because of my wail.

"You do promise, eh ?", he slowly opened his eyes. I helped him to uplift himself.

"You're okay ", I trailed my fingers through his messy hair slowly touching his cheeks. " I am so glad that nothing happened to you ", I pulled him closer to me into a hug caressing his back, our bodies touched. I suddenly realized that maybe I just got carried away a much more than normal after knowing he was fine.

"Hey shush, I am fine ", we parted and it was very awkward for me to behave in such a way for him. "Why do I care ?", I questioned myself expecting an answer but there was none.

"To be honest Miss Waters ", he cleared his throat "I was just kidding, nothing really happened to me. I kept my eyes close for a while but then you took the situation another way round so decided to playfully act in it ", he stood up "but then things got really intense with you panicking so I decided to speak up "

"This is to a completely another level ", I punched him on his chest.

"Yet didn't match with your level of lames ha ", he picked up the apples and gave half of them to me "Now eat them, I can hear the voices from your stomach ", I laughed on his humor to which he just smiled, cannot expect more too. I could feel our knots loosening every consequent day as I got to learn a new side of him.

"Where to, CAPTAIN ?", I took a bite of the apple, it was very sweet and juicy.

"How Melodramatic ", he frowned faking a smile. "Let's keep walking with a hope that we find the highway ", he continued.

"Yes, let's make this walk interesting then. Let's play a game ", I tucked my baby hair behind my ears "The game is, A walk to remember. I am the host of course but we can play turn wise ", I peeped at his face to figure his facial expressions whilst walking.

"I am not really playing any games with you ", he responded.

"Please -please -please ", I set the word 'please' on repetition mode. "So is that a yes ?", I made a puppy face.

"No obviously ", he raised his brows.

"Fine, then I won't walk anymore", I stood still.

"Stop behaving like a 4-year-old ", he made eye contact " plus you can stay here, I'm unstoppable .", he kept walking without giving a damn about me.

"How dare you ", I ran to match till his speed "I am so bored, what's wrong with being entertained though "

"Fine but this game will be according to my guidelines. Explain to me how it is played ", he finally agreed.

"YAY! " I did a small happy dance by jumping whilst stretching my hands upwards. "So since we're walking I just renamed it to A walk to remember, it's one of my favorite movies ."

"so the game is that you do the talking and I do the listening, more or less of it right "

"Stop being sarcastic for once ", I pouted, "I say a word and you say feelings of yours towards that word without taking more than 2 seconds. Its originally called rapid-fire, I'll say words and you have to react to them. You can have your turn only if you want to ask me otherwise never mind "

"Carry on, I'm in ", he showed a bit interest.

I paused for a while then asked the first-word "FEAR "

"None now ", he smirked which clearly meant he has overcome his fright.

"Favorite food ?", I readied my third question up already.

"Homemade food, I don't mind whatever it is. I like and prefer healthy as 80% of the time I have to order food from the restaurants"

"Just Mr. Reynold's things", I murmured.

"Did you say something", he pretended he didn't hear but my mutter was clear enough for him to understand.

"One person you live for ?", I asked without a full stop ignoring his last statement.

"Myself and the millions of people who earn their living because of my company ", he slowed down.

"Wow diplomatic and thoughtful ", I never knew he had a good side too. I figured out one thing that he never mentions or want someone to mention his good side. He liked it closed and private. "The person you hate ?"

"Uh I-I think you ", he winked at me " Kidding, I don't hate you. I dislike you, the words stand out differently and have huge differences in their meanings. I hate James. I do", his face dimmed a bit so I tried to change the topic.

"Favorite actress ?"

"None, I don't believe in fiction. Oh, wait. I have a thing for Mother Teresa, I respect her so much. She is my heroine. "

"Feels like I am interviewing you as you're standing up in elections as your answers are so neat and diplomatic.

"that's who I am ", he offended "I am being honest eh. Enough of me, your turn "

"Me", I pointed at myself "I am in, Thought you'll never ask me, yay", I clapped out of excitement.

"Favorite person?"

"Mom, of course ! so obvious. Ask me challenging questions ", I winked doing a quick hair flip. I could feel his level of annoyance.

"Are you a virgin?", he cornered his eyes to check on my expressions.

"Don't you think this is kind of a below-the-belt type of question", I offended in a higher pitch and then resorted back to normal.

He made a straight face "Someone wanted challenging questions eh. Anyways you lose Miss Waters, this game is supposed to have a question followed by an answer rather than a question followed by a question", he smirked.

"Oh my God. I should've understood your strategy. One last chance, please. ", I knew I lost and wasn't getting any second chances.

"Anyways, I am definitely a virgin. A 20-year-old virgin in this modern world ", I cleared my point purposely as I didn't want him to create any false opinions regarding me.

He didn't look much convinced with my answer. He finally broke the silence "I don't think so Miss Waters, I witnessed your make out with James for a second at Pallapora town with my damn eyes, I didn't want to eavesdrop so I left ", he cleared his throat "No one is really virgin among us Miss Waters, stop playing all nice and innocent ", he was very confident regarding losing his virginity in the past, his words were indirect yet straight-forward

"Trust me, if I told you the whole truth you won't believe it nor will you believe me ", I tried convincing him about the truth because what he saw was only the half-truth.

"I don't want to believe and I am guessing the game is over plus I'd not like getting indulged in your personal space. It's your life after all ", he was so stubborn. He wasn't giving me a chance to speak up for myself. This misunderstanding was affecting me so much, I didn't even realize why.

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