Noah helped Vicente up and asked, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Vicente stood firm and yanked her hand out of Noah's clutches.
Noah could feel the rejection. He pried, "What's wrong?"
"What?" Vicente looked into Noah's clear eyes but refused to get lost in his gaze. "Nothing. Where are they? Let's go and find them. I'm afraid that they will get hurt."
The way she changed the topic just made Noah more confused. He helplessly followed after Vicente.
While they searched for John and Nina, Noah's attention was pulled by Vicente's fidgeting hands. She curled her fingers and rubbed her palms as if she was lost in thought.
"Do you have something to tell me?" Noah asked, stopping her.
Vicente paused, gritted her teeth and turned around with a smile. "It's nothing serious. I just wonder whether you are..."
'No, I can't just ask him if he's attracted to men. I don't want to embarrass him.
I have to think of a better way to bring it up.'
"Noah, you know that I like...You should know what I mean. If you get too close to me, I'm scared that you may get confused about your sexual orientation."
"No. That's not going to happen," Noah said affirmatively.
Vicente smiled, "Well, that was what I wanted to tell you. Let's go and find them."
"Okay." Noah past Vicente and walked ahead.
Vicente suddenly had an epiphany. 'Oh, no, I'm not a man.'
They soon found John and Nina, who were fighting in the corner of the garden. John seemed to have the upper hand and was on the attack. Nina could only defend and couldn't even seize the opportunity to attack.
However, John was striking very tactically. It wasn't hurting Nina in the slightest but it was just used to consume all her energy.
Sweat rolled down from her cheeks to her neck as she began to pant. She was very obviously tiring.
John had a slight lapse in concentration and felt a little distressed. It was the perfect moment for Nina to launch her counterattack.
Her fist burst forward towards John's head, but he tilted and dodged the attack. Her arm flew past his head, accompanied by a gust of wind.
They stared at each other for a moment.
John was so focused on dodging Nina's fist, that he ignored her leg which was primed for her next move. She leaped into the air and kicked right in his chest, knocking him back.
They stood apart, eyeing each other up.
"Sean, you are far too absent-minded." Nina smiled defiantly. "If you keep getting distracted, you will lose your job."
'Yes, I need to stay focused if I want to keep seeing her.
I can't let her win.'
John charged forward and they continued their brawl. However, this time, he launched a fast, accurate and ruthless attack. Once again, Nina was forced to defend and even had to retreat away from his powerful strikes.
No matter what her next move was, John was able to foresee it. He predicted every move, dodged and then countered her.
He caught her fist. His palm slid to her slender wrist and pulled. He grabbed her with his other hand and manhandled her like she was nothing.
Nina tried to break free, but to no avail whatsoever.
"I've lost." With a gloomy face, Nina turned her head. "Why were you holding back before?"
Without saying anything, John let go of her arm.
"Ouch..." Nina gently retracted her arm as she scrunched her face.
Just by the sound of her voice, John knew he was too forceful. He was so worried about her that he almost stepped forward to make sure that she was okay.
"Nina, are you okay?"
Watching Vicente come towards Nina, John had to stop and quietly watch her.
"It's okay. Don't touch me." Nina stopped her before Vicente could get any closer
Noah turned around and lifted her arm up to check if it was dislocated or hurt. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine. It's just a little painful."
"Then it's probably nothing serious. I'll rub it for you later." Noah heaved a sigh of relief.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Only you in my love