The early rays of sunlight on the first day of spring seem to be more brilliant than ever, with flowers blooming all over the villa's grounds.
After breakfast, Hubert asked Erina to bring gifts to visit Nelly on his behalf like every year.
The Hubert family didn't have many people, the elders passed away, the descendants gradually dispersed and their feelings faded, they no longer visited each other, and Henry's maternal family were all in country B.
“Let me take Erina to the farm to visit Ms. Nelly.” Henry quickly spoke up.
“Yes. That's good.” Hubert immediately agreed.
“Get ready, Erina, we'll leave right away.”
Looking at Henry's face as fresh as a fish just caught from the sea, Erina could only smile and nod.
It seemed that her plan had gone up in smoke. Initially, she planned to go alone and then invite her lover to climb the mountain and go sightseeing, but now that Henry is with her, what can she do?
Both of them quickly brought the gifts to the car. Henry carefully covered Erina's head with his hand so she could get in the car before running to the driver's seat.
He drove very slowly, deliberately prolonging the time with her. Unfortunately, the farm was not that far away, it would only take more than ten minutes for the car to arrive.
Walking along the rows of grapes, Erina reached out to lightly touch the tiny buds sprouting from the old branches. As soon as she stepped over the threshold, she glanced around and softly called out.
Just a few seconds later, Clement appeared. Seeing Henry accompanying Erina, he hesitated but quickly appeared natural, smiling politely.
“Ms. Nelly is busy in the kitchen. You two, please come in.”
Henry handed the heavy gift to Clement and followed Erina into the house. Since he grew up, partly because he was busy studying, partly because he didn't want to meet his love rival, he hadn't come here.
Every morning when he went up the mountain to practice martial arts with Erina, he just drove to the gate, asked the guard to watch the car for him, and then left.
As soon as Nelly walked out, she saw Henry and immediately patted him on the shoulder and spoke up.
“Oh my god, long time no see, this boy is all grown up, he's about to get married.”
“Yes, because I'm so busy…” Henry bowed his head shyly.
“I know that. Come on, sit down.”
When everyone was seated, Clement came out from the kitchen with a teapot in his hand. He gently placed it on the table and carefully poured tea into each cup.
The moment he handed the cup of tea to Erina, their fingers accidentally touched each other, making her smile happily. Their affectionate eyes looked at each other very quickly and then quickly returned to normal.
Nelly took the opportunity to ask Henry about everything from his studies, and health to his plans for the near future, causing him to answer so many questions that his throat was dry, and he kept pouring tea to drink.
“Erina will graduate this summer, so when are you two planning to get married?”
Nelly's question made all three people suddenly startled. Erina coughed and Henry hurriedly put the spilled teacup on the table, smiled, and lowered his voice.
“After graduating, Erina will go to country B for two years to help the branch there. We'll have to wait until she returns before we discuss further.”
As soon as Henry finished speaking, there was a very soft sound of footsteps coming from outside the porch. Everyone simultaneously turned to the door to look and saw that the girl with a gift basket in her hand bowing politely was Mabel.
Looking at Nelly's friendly appearance when inviting Mabel into the house, Erina bowed her head silently. Perhaps this was not the first or second time this girl had come here.
“Why didn't you visit your relatives at the beginning of the year but come to our farm?” Henry raised his face and asked.
“I stopped by my uncle's house, which is near here, so it's convenient to get here. Modern times are different from the past.” Mabel winked, playfully replied, then walked over to sit with everyone.
Clement nodded slightly to greet the new guest. Looking at his lover's gloomy eyes, his heart suddenly ached. Although he had explained before, she was a girl, so it was hard to avoid being sad and thoughtful in this situation.
Not only Clement but Henry also noticed that Erina's expression was not very good. Afraid that sitting for too long would make her more uncomfortable, Henry quickly stood up, said goodbye to everyone, and asked for permission to take her home.
“Let's go to the mountain to visit Master.” Clement suddenly suggested.
“Isn't the third day of the new year the day to visit the master?” Henry asked stupidly.
“Master is like father, anyway, we are all free today, let's go together for fun.” Clement continued to persuade.
“It's been a long time since I went there. The Rhododendron flowers by the waterfall are probably blooming now. Let's stop by and take some pictures.” Mabel excitedly begged.
Glancing at Erina, seeing her nod slightly, Henry immediately agreed. At first, he only thought about going to the farm with her to avoid her having an affair with Clement, but he didn't want to create an awkward situation. If she was sad, he wouldn't be happy.
Because they were going up, Clement led everyone to the left side to get to the top of the mountain faster. He planned to follow the right side down to the waterfall to admire the scenery when they returned.
The two young men wore very polite shoes, while the two young women wore two pairs of slippers that Nelly had given them, and they carried their high heels in their hands so that they could wear them when they got to Orson's house.
Fortunately, Henry had left Orson's gift in the car, otherwise, when Clement suddenly invited them to go up the mountain, he would have had to run back to the villa to get it.
Seeing three disciples and a strange girl appear, Orson smiled at them. After greeting, introducing, and giving gifts, the four of them gathered around the wooden table in the middle of the yard and took turns playing chess with him.
At noon, Erina and Mabel went into the kitchen to cook, while Henry and Clement stayed outside to chat with Orson.
The vegetarian meal was simple and frugal, so the two girls cooked it very quickly. Erina did not expect that a rich girl like Mabel would be as skillful and knowledgeable in cooking as Lucia.
“When my grandmother was sick, I ate vegetarian food for a year to pray for her, so I know all these dishes.” Mabel spoke up.
“I thought you wouldn't have to cook.” Erina smiled lightly, quickly scooping vegetables onto the plate.
“My grandmother taught me everything, she said I should know so that I can take care of my husband and children in the future.”
Hearing Mabel's words, Erina's hands suddenly stopped. Seeing the expression on Erina's face, the corners of Mabel's lips curved into a hidden smile. She believed that if Henry kept holding Erina tightly, she would be Clement's next choice.
After eating and cleaning up, the four of them rested a bit and then led each other down to the foot of the waterfall. Henry, Erina, and Clement were already familiar with the terrain here, but Mabel was different, so Clement had to walk beside her to support her.
Seeing Erina's sulky face, Clement could only cry in his heart. At first, he wanted to hold on to the moment with her so he invited everyone to go up the mountain, but he didn't have time to think about anything else, in the end, he made his lover even angrier.
After a while of walking, the white waterfall appeared before them. Looking at the passionate red color that was not dazzling at all of the Rhododendron carpets, Mabel could not control her emotions, shouted loudly, and raised her camera to take pictures continuously.
“You three, please pose, let me take a photo for you, and then you take a photo for me.”
Mabel said as she grabbed Clement's hand and pulled him closer to Erina and Henry. All three of them had the same thought that the bad things in the house should not be seen by outsiders even though they already knew, so they all obeyed Mabel's orders. Photos of one person, two people, and three people continuously appeared on the camera.
Returning to the farm, Mabel went in to say goodbye to Nelly and then drove away. Henry and Erina also quickly left.
Glancing next to him, he saw her occasionally looking back, looking regretful. She didn't pay attention to the person in front of her eyes but kept waiting for the person in the distance.
Just entering the room, Erina quickly took out the phone to call Clement. From the time they met until the time they said goodbye, they didn't have much chance to talk to each other, so she was not satisfied.
Not long after the phone rang, she heard his urgent voice on the other end of the phone.
“Erina, have you arrived home yet? About Mabel...”
“I believe you, Clement. It's just... I'm sad. In the past year, we rarely had the chance to meet, but when we did, we didn't talk much.” Her voice carried sadness.
“Erina, on the fifth day, I'll come and take you out all day. I'll ask Fayre to pick you up, okay?”
“Of course, I agree. So see you on the fifth day. Happy New Year, my love.”
As soon as the New Year's wishes ended, Erina heard a warm laugh and his voice saying he loved her. She blushed, hurriedly ran to the glass door, and lifted the curtain, her pink lips slightly smiling.
Last Christmas, Henry suddenly had a high fever, so she couldn't sneak out and had to stay home because Hubert kept sitting there.
So this time she didn't want to miss the precious moment with Clement. After all, the feeling of holding hands and walking around the streets with him on holidays was much better than usual.
When the sun set, a pair of swallows appeared in the sky, flying back to their nests together. Erina kept watching them until they disappeared. She wished that in the future, she and he could also freely stand side by side like them.