In less than five minutes, the fun was over and the pain began. The big grains of salt at the bottom of theke hurt her feet.


    ir had to pause before taking every step.


    She tried to find spots where the grains were smaller, but even so, she was almost in tears before long. ''Doesn''t this ce sell shoe covers or something?'' she thought miserably.


    ir looked around and was surprised to see that some people in theke were wearing shoe covers. She sighed. ''Why hadn''t I thought of this before I got down here?''


    Her eyes then fell on the pavilion board which said, "Shoe covers for rent." She had been in too much of a hurry to notice it earlier.


    And now, to enjoy the most beautiful view she had ever seen, ir had to grit her teeth and walk on. Finally, she reached the middle of theke. She had the best angle to take the pictures of theke where the water met the sky.


    She lifted her camera and clicked.


    Little did she know that while she was engrossed in taking the picture of the view, someone else was secretly taking pictures of her, freezing the picture-perfect moment with her in the dead center of the white saltke.


    As time ticked by, more tourists walked into theke. Some were wearing shoe covers, and others were walking barefoot, wincing just like her.


    She wondered if she should text Niles and ask him to rent a pair of shoe covers for her.


    Once she was satisfied with the pictures she had taken, ir put away her camera and turned around to look at where Niles was sitting. But instead, her eyes fell on a familiar figure standing a meter away from her.


    The handsome man stood out from the crowd of tourists. ir was breathless for a moment. "When...when did you get here?" she asked.


    "Just now." Wesley walked closer to her. "Doesn''t it hurt?" he asked, looking at her legs. Despite the thick calluses on the soles of his feet, even he could feel some pain. He knew that she was in a lot more pain than him. Besides, her feet had been severely injured once.


    "It does," she admitted.


    "Silly woman." Wesley lifted her into his arms.


    ir buried her face in his chest and smiled. "I didn''t walk barefoot into theke on purpose. I just didn''t know that this


    r them at the tform.


    Niles had even convinced the driver to slow down when the train passed the tform Wesley was at, just to make sure that ir could see him. Niles was being very considerate towards ir. ''He must be up to something, '' Wesley figured.


    He threw the shoe covers aside, rolled up his sleeves and moved dangerously towards his little brother.


    Niles'' eyes widened like saucers when he saw Wesley approaching him slowly. He yelled, "Wait. Wesley! You can''t be taking it seriously. I was just kidding, man. How could I possibly fight you? ir! Help me out!"


    "You like ir, don''t you?"


    Wesley asked grimly.


    Niles panicked. He didn''t have a crush on ir.


    It was just that he had been feeling guilty about putting philter in their wine that one time. He was just trying to make up for what he had done. But he couldn''t tell Wesley that. Wesley would kill him either way.


    Niles tried to make him understand.


    "Bro, first of all, ir is older than me. I don''t like older women. Secondly, ir used to be such an outgoing and perky person. But ever since she got together with you, she has be more mature, and after what happened in the past few years, she is no longer the kind of person she used to be. She is nowpletelyposed and grown-up. Not my type at all. And more importantly, she is my sister-inw! How could I possibly fall for her?"


    "Then why are you acting so gantly around her?" Wesley hit the nail on the head.