The man closed his eyes tightly and hugged Lilia even tighter. If Lilia turned out to be sorry later, then this hug would be even more precious to him.
Three hours after they woke up, Lilia and Jean left the hotel. Their destination was Sarangan, which was only half an hour by car. But it still took them another three hours to reach the remote village where Jean's old friend lived.
When Lilia got into the car, she was shocked to realize that the driver was not the usual Clifford. She immediately turned to Jean with a confused look.
"Can't Clifford come with us?" Lilia asked, worried that something might happen to the guard who always accompanied her.
Jean shook his head and replied, "He went ahead to prepare something. Take it easy, you will meet him later."
Their trip to Sarangan turned out to be taking longer than planned due to congestion on the road. It was eleven sharp in the afternoon when they arrived at the place. Their car slowed down until it finally stopped at a gas station.
Lilia stole a glance at the gas tank indicator on the dashboard, it was still half full. She then gave Jean a questioning look. If they didn't need to refuel, then why did they stop at the gas station?
But Jean just smiled and got out of the car, then reached out to Lilia. "Trust me. You will love it," he said.
Trust me. Those simple words moved Lilia's heart. So far, Jean had never done anything that betrayed her trust. Lilia then took Jean's hand and let the man help her out of the car.
Her eyes widened when she saw an RV or camper van waiting for them there. Clifford was standing beside the large snow-white car.
"Young master, Madame Lilia, all the preparations are complete." Clifford reported calmly. "We can leave at any time."
"Very nice." Jean nodded with a satisfied expression.
Lilia sensed that she heard Clifford muttering, 'With this, our mistakes will be forgiven,' but she decided not to ask any further.
Jean tugged gently on Lilia's arm. "Come in. Don't you want to see what the inside of this RV looks like?" He invited her.
Lilia wasn't really that interested, but she felt that Jean was more excited than usual. So she nodded and let the man pull her into the RV. As soon as Lilia set foot into the car, she was shocked again.
The atmosphere inside the RV was more comfortable than Lilia thought. The interior was dominated by pastel colors that seemed warm and soft. The front of the RV was made into a sitting room, with two sofas facing each other and a table between them. Opposite the entrance was a small bar counter decorated with bottles of expensive wine.
Meanwhile, the back of the RV was filled with two beds facing each other. The two beds could be combined that could accommodate up to three people.
Jean and Lilia sat on one of the sofas, while Clifford and another bodyguard sat in the driver's seat. Lilia took an orange from the fruit plate that was placed on the table.
She started peeling the fruit asking, "Is this something Clifford needs to prepare that he has to go ahead before us?"
Jean put his arm around Lilia's shoulders and pulled her closer. Lilia leaned back against the sofa that was made of the finest materials. It was so soft that she felt as if she was sinking into a cloud.
"The journey from here to our destination village is still quite far." Jean explained. "I don't want you to be exhausted from a long journey. At least with an RV, you can rest whenever you want."
Lilia nodded and fed Jean a slice of orange as her thanks. She was grateful that the man always thought of her interests first. In addition, Lilia remembered vaguely that the road conditions leading to the remote village were not good. They would be more comfortable driving on damaged roads in an RV than a regular car.
At that point, Clifford interrupted them by removing the barrier between the driver's seat and the rest of the RV.
"Young Master, are we leaving now?" The man asked.
"Yes. Let's go."
As soon as Jean said the order, Clifford nodded and closed the barrier again. In just a few moments, the RV was starting to accelerate. The village Jean wanted to visit was at the foot of the mountain.
At the start of the trip, Lilia sat by the window and gazed outside intently. For the past few years, Lilia had only traveled to her campus or for work. It seemed like a long time since she had a relaxing time away from the noise of the city life. Lilia began to miss the out-of-town trips she had taken with her family.
The natural scenery in Sarangan was no less good than Magetan. There were no skyscrapers or large buildings that were usually found in Surabaya. As Lilia got further from the city center, the buildings outside her windows began to be replaced by dense hills and forests. The scenery was so beautiful, like something out of a famous painting.
But after a while, Lilia couldn't hold back her yawning. Her eyes were starting to feel heavy, so she tried rubbing them. Maybe she was getting sleepy because she was too excited to go and didn't get enough sleep last night. The comfortable temperature in the RV didn't help Lilia to fight her drowsiness either.
"Are you sleepy?" Jean asked as he noticed Lilia rubbing her eyes a few times. The man grabbed Lilia's chin and observed the dark circles under her eyes.
Lilia nodded obediently. "Yeah ... maybe because I woke up too early this morning." She deliberately didn't mention that she couldn't sleep all night because she was too excited about this trip. Lilia didn't want Jean to see her as ridiculous or childish.
Jean pulled Lilia up to her feet and led her to one of the beds. "Then, take a nap for a moment. I'll wake you up when we get close," he suggested.
"Hmm ... alright." Lilia hesitated for a moment, but the bed looked so tempting to her eyes right now. Finally, she took off her shoes and climbed onto the bed.
It seemed that Lilia was more tired than she thought, because as soon as her head touched the pillow, she fell asleep. Even though the RV was on a bumpy road, it didn't disturb Lilia's sleep at all.
Jean sat beside Lilia's bed while observing her peaceful sleeping face. Just like her, Jean always liked watching Lilia asleep. His wife looked very innocent and adorable, like a child who didn't know the harshness of the outside world. If possible, Jean wanted to keep Lilia pure like that. He didn't want anything to make Lilia lose her smile.
The man reached out to stroke Lilia's cheek, but he stopped before his fingers touched her. His expression was filled with doubt, as if he was afraid that his touch might stain Lilia's snow-white skin.
"Will you…" Jean whispered with an unusually melancholy expression. His voice was so low, as if he didn't want anyone to hear it. "...rejected me when you found out the truth?"
Jean's whisper didn't reach Lilia's ears, and lost to the wind.
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