A week had passed since the day of school. Erina's schedule was almost full. Every day at four o'clock in the morning, she and Henry went up the mountain to learn martial arts, then came back for lunch and then sat in the same car with him to go to school.
Thinking that she only had one year left before graduating, she didn't care about the rumors anymore.
This afternoon, Erina will follow Henry to the shooting range. Even though she doesn't want to touch guns, because he insists on forcing her, she has to obey to keep the peace at home.
Sometimes, she felt like Hubert and Henry were training her to become a professional assassin.
Seeing the phone on the table vibrate slightly, Erina quickly picked up. Just a few seconds ago, she texted Clement to inform him of her schedule, and a few seconds later, he called back. On the other end of the phone was still the soft voice like the sound of a piano that she always liked to hear.
“Erina, I will stop by there to visit you.”
“Is that okay? Henry will be annoyed.” She asked worriedly.
“Don't worry, I'll go with a friend. I haven't seen you for a few days, so I miss you so much.”
Hearing him complain, Erina burst out laughing. He hadn't contacted her for nearly two months but he had endured it, now only a week had passed and he was like this. But honestly, she wasn't much better than him, she missed him a lot too.
“Who will you go with?” Erina asked.
“Ryder, not Mabel.” His voice carried laughter.
“I didn't say anything. Then I'll see you later. I'm hanging up now.”
Erina quickly hung up the phone because she heard a knock on the door from outside. Knowing it was time, she quickly tied her hair up high and hurried out.
Seeing her appear, Henry nodded, smiled lightly, and turned around to walk away.
After the night of dancing together, Erina thought that they would be awkward when they met each other in the future, but she didn't expect that after a night's sleep, when they met in the dining room early in the morning, Henry was still calm, smiling and asking her questions as usual.
So, she had to pretend that she and he had never danced together. She felt that he was becoming more and more scary. He is Hubert's son, so he is not a simple person.
Leaving the villa gate, Venn drove towards the main road. Henry had been down the mountain for a long time, but his next schedule was so packed that the meal Isa wanted to invite him to could not be made. This made Venn sad, but he couldn't shamelessly ask her to eat alone with him.
The car drove for more than half an hour before stopping. Venn quickly jumped out to open the door for both of them and then drove into the parking lot to wait.
The shooting range was quite crowded with shooters on weekends. As soon as the head coach saw Hubert's son with the beautiful girl, he immediately rushed out to say hello.
“Young master, you brought your friend here to visit the shooting range, right?”
“She came to learn how to shoot. We will take a walk around and then I will teach her myself. You just do your job.”
Henry bowed, quickly grabbed Erina's hand, and pulled her away. Looking around, she was extremely overwhelmed with the vast scale of this place. Being licensed by the government to operate this facility proves that Hubert's relationship and potential are very great.
After hanging around for a while, Henry led Erina into the separate shooting room and went into the warehouse to get some things. This was the area reserved for Hubert whenever he came, later Henry and Clement joined, while the other shooters practiced in another room.
Looking at the things he was holding, Erina was dizzy, clothes, helmet, earplugs, goggles…
“Please wear them.”
Henry handed the clothes to Erina and then turned to check the pistol. She quickly did as he said because she was worried that Clement was looking for her outside.
After everything was done, Henry led her to the shooting lane, started to explain the rules, and instructed her on posture, movements, trigger-pulling skills, and aiming.
Fortunately, after several months of crawling around in the mountains, Erina's health and psychology improved, so he skipped a few stages and did not force her to hold additional bricks to practice her hands and stabilize her direction.
“Young master, I see that the athletes in the shooting competitions all hold the gun with one hand, why do I have to hold it with two hands?” Erina looked at Henry and asked.
Henry smiled and slowly explained to her that using two hands to hold the gun helps the shooter control the recoil better as well as fire more bullets in a short time while still ensuring relative accuracy.
Because this technique was discovered and spread quite slowly, the technique of holding a gun with one hand with almost absolute precision naturally became a tradition, becoming a rule of tournaments.
“Erina, wait until you get used to it, I will teach you other shooting techniques. We practice shooting not for competition but to apply in combat situations when something happens, remember?”
“I got it. It's so complicated, right?” She lowered her head, speaking softly.
After instructing Erina on how to load the gun, Henry helped her put on earplugs and goggles. While he was attentively helping her, suddenly the greetings of two men rang out behind him.
Henry quickly turned around, his unfriendly eyes staring straight at Clement.
“Are you here to shoot?”
“Yes. I was busy all week so I went out with my friend to relax on the day off. Let me introduce you, this is Ryder, my friend, a future lawyer.” Clement happily replied and introduced the person next to him.
“Hello, my name is Henry.”
Although Henry was not happy when these two men appeared, he still politely shook Ryder's hand, he was afraid that Erina would consider him like a child who did not understand.
Seeing all three mouths mumbling but not hearing anything, Erina immediately took off her earplugs.
“Erina, are you learning to shoot too? Have you fired any shots yet?” Ryder looked at her, winked, and asked.
“I haven't practiced yet.” She answered softly.
“Oh, Clement, please guide her, after all, you are the one with the most experience among us.” Ryder said while nudging Clement's shoulder.
Looking at Henry and seeing him silent, Clement nodded slightly, walking to Erina's side. Because she had just started practicing, he guided her in a gun barrel position facing the target.
Seeing the beauty moving her arms and legs back and forth, he removed her earplugs, leaned close to her, and spoke softly.
“You can stand with both feet parallel or one foot in front and the other in the back. It doesn't matter if your arms are in a triangle or a trapezoid. Just keep your body from leaning back too much, you'll figure out everything else when the bullet leaves the barrel.”
After saying that, Clement quickly put the earplugs back on Erina and then fired the first shot for her to see. Because he was by her side, she was less nervous. After taking a deep breath, she focused on the target and pulled the trigger.
After finishing the mission, Erina looked at Clement. He smiled and signaled her to continue.
Besides the first bullet because she was a bit surprised by the recoil of the gun, she became more confident in the following shots, and her standing style was also adjusted to the best state.
Ryder picked up the binoculars, looked for a while, then put them down. Although it was the first time Erina held a gun, the bullets she fired were all close to the bull's eye, making him extremely impressed. It seemed that the girl Clement loved was not ordinary.
Next to Ryder, Henry was also using binoculars to observe. His lips smiled slightly when he saw the results she achieved. He secretly thought that his future wife was truly peerless.
“She's running out of bullets.” Ryder said softly.
“Let me get more.”
Henry put down the binoculars and quickly ran into the warehouse.
Hearing Henry's footsteps fading away, Clement turned to look at Ryder and nodded slightly to express his thanks. Ryder waved his hand and hurriedly walked to another shooting lane.
Erina was so focused on loading the bullets that she didn't know what had just happened. It wasn't until Clement gently took her hand that she raised her head to look. Without saying another word, they both understood what the other wanted to say to them.
When Henry returned, Clement and Ryder had returned to their original positions. Both of them said goodbye at the same time.
“Didn't you two come to shoot?” Henry tilted his head and squinted.
“We have an urgent matter so we will come next time.” Ryder replied politely.
The sound of shoes tapping lightly on the floor made Erina's nose sting. She didn't turn her head to follow them because she was afraid Henry would notice the change in her face.
Leaving the shooting range, Ryder happily hugged Clement's shoulder. He really admired the gentle love like water that Clement had for that girl. Always trusting and loving her absolutely.
“I feel so sorry about what you asked me to do. The detective group searched everywhere but still couldn't find any news of Roy.” Ryder complained sadly.
“It's because I let him slip away, of course, he will be more cautious. Just try to wait.”
Although Clement said so, he was very impatient. As long as he did not find that one clue, the truth would never come to light. The longer it drags on, the more pitiful Erina will be.
Clement understood that after she returned, she had no way to avoid that marriage. As for him, if he lost her, he would no longer care about this life. She was the reason for his existence.
“At worst, I'll take her far away, maybe we'll go abroad.” Clement sighed.
“Clement, I know you're just reassuring yourself, if you could, you would have taken her away a long time ago. Hubert and Henry won't spare you two.”
As soon as Ryder finished speaking, the two arrived at the parking lot. Clement patted Ryder on the shoulder and unlocked the car.
Ryder was right, he really couldn't bear to let Erina live in worry, hiding, he always wanted the best for her. If he hadn't reached a dead end, he wouldn't have done it.
Looking at the man's figure disappearing behind the car door, Ryder rubbed his forehead because he felt a slight headache. He understood the couple's suffering and wanted to help them, but unfortunately, the man named Roy kept moving house and the detectives were always late.