Chapter 121: Chapter 121: Soaking in a Hot Spring

You can’t soak in a hot spring for too long, so the three of them got out before long.

Of course, a sauna session had to follow the hot spring.

The sauna rooms were in the lounge area upstairs, which was very convenient.

The three of them ordered two large tubs of ice cream, various snacks, and even fried chicken, and ate them while sitting in the sauna.

“This was supposed to be for losing weight…” Jessie Sterling said, eyeing the creamy ice cream before taking a huge bite.

“Oh, well. We’ll lose weight after we eat,” Serena Lynch said, laughing heartily.

Lynn Jennings nodded in agreement. “This creamy ice cream is really good! It’s made fresh.”

Serena Lynch picked a variety show that was currently popular and started playing it.

By the time the episode was almost over, the three of them couldn’t take the heat anymore and stepped out of the sauna to cool down.

After they rinsed off, it was nearly noon.

Jessie Sterling said, “I’m going to head back to my cabin for a bit.”

“Okay, I’ll go with you,” Serena Lynch said. “Out of the three of us, I’m the most familiar with those ATVs, and I’ve got nothing else to do anyway.” After she said that, she turned to Lynn Jennings. “There’s a spare ATV parked in front of every cabin, Lynn. If you feel up to it, you can drive it yourself. If not, I’ll come back and get you after I drop Jessie off.”

Lynn Jennings waved her hand to show that she understood.

The log cabin Jessie Sterling and Victor Morgan were staying in was a fair distance from Lynn Jennings’s place; it was a seven or eight-minute drive by ATV.

After stepping inside, Jessie Sterling went, “Huh?” and said, “Doesn’t look like anyone’s here.”

Serena Lynch was still in the yard. Hearing Jessie, she called out, “They’re probably in the communal pool at the summit, then. Come on, I’ll take you.”

Jessie Sterling turned and came back out.

“The hot spring pool at the summit is huge, and it’s also the hottest one,” Serena Lynch explained after Jessie Sterling got back on the vehicle. “I’m not a big fan; it’s a little too hot for me.”

“But the view is incredible,” Serena Lynch continued. “The mountain isn’t that high, but you can see the whole area from there. And with the snow, it’s perfect for photos. Hey, Jessie, why don’t you call Lynn and see if she wants us to pick her up? We could all go up together.”

Jessie Sterling was about to say yes, but a message from Lynn Jennings popped up on her phone.

“No need,” Jessie Sterling said with a smile after reading the message. “She already drove an ATV up there and is waiting for us.”

The snow grew deeper as they drove up the mountain.

Fortunately, the staff had already cleared a path on the road, so aside from a few slippery spots, the ride was smooth.

The lingering warmth Jessie Sterling had absorbed in the sauna began to fade as she took in the increasingly beautiful snowscape.

Finally, they reached the summit.

Maybe it was because the hot spring pool was huge, or maybe because the water was as hot as Serena Lynch had described, but Jessie Sterling didn’t feel that cold when she arrived.

Serena Lynch parked the ATV and pulled Jessie Sterling through the entrance.

“We’re here!” she announced, her voice loud enough to draw the attention of everyone in the pool.

Jessie Sterling felt a little awkward. She didn’t have to think twice to guess that the people at the summit pool were probably all men.

Victor Morgan hadn’t been soaking in their private hot spring, so he’d likely been called up here by Xavier Warren and the guys. Her eyes scanned the group, searching for Victor, but her gaze suddenly stopped, fixed on another person.

Just then, Serena Lynch also spotted a pale figure in the pool, a stark contrast to the group of rough-looking men. Her brow furrowed instantly. “Nina Walsh?! Didn’t you say you were going to bed?”

Who else could it be in the pool but Nina Walsh?

Both Jessie Sterling and Serena Lynch, standing by the pool’s edge, knew exactly what that girl was up to, getting into the hot spring with the guys while wearing a bikini.

Nina Walsh didn’t seem flustered by Serena Lynch’s sharp tone. She turned and gave Serena Lynch a pitiful look. “Serena, I just came up after taking a nap. I didn’t realize my brother and his friends were here too…”

After speaking, she glanced at Jessie Sterling, who stood beside Serena Lynch, and explained earnestly, “My brother and I grew up with all of them. Besides, I just got back from abroad for Christmas, and I have a lot I want to talk to him about.”

Serena Lynch was getting annoyed. Unwilling to waste her breath arguing with Nina Walsh, she looked up and yelled at the person she knew best among the men: “Roman Lynch, do you not have a brain?”

Blindsided by the shouting, Roman Lynch was still processing what was happening when he met Serena Lynch’s blazing eyes.

He felt helpless. It seemed the two of them had never gotten along, even since they were kids.

But how could he choose between them? For a moment, he was at a loss.

“Nina Walsh didn’t come up with us…” Roman Lynch explained. “You can’t just make her leave right after she went to all the trouble of coming up here, can you? She’ll catch a cold going back and forth like that.”

Serena Lynch was speechless, but she couldn’t find a good counter to Roman Lynch’s argument.

Just as silence fell over the group, Jessie Sterling suddenly smiled and patted Serena Lynch’s hand. “It’s fine. They’re all so close, anyway. If anything were going to happen between them, it would have happened a long time ago. To them, Miss Wyatt is just like a real little sister.” Here, Jessie Sterling let out a soft sigh. “Maybe customs are just different up north. Lynn has a real brother, too, but when we hang out, she couldn’t care less about huddling up with a bunch of boring guys. There’s just no common ground. I wonder what on earth Miss Wyatt finds to talk about with Victor and the others?”

As she finished speaking, Jessie Sterling looked at Nina Walsh with an expression of intense curiosity.

Before Nina Walsh could reply, Jessie Sterling’s pretty eyes shifted, as if she’d just spotted a flaw in her own logic. “Oh, wait, that’s not right, is it? Luna doesn’t like sharing a pool with a bunch of grown men either. Does that mean Miss Wyatt’s relationship with them is even better than hers?”

Listening to the first part of Jessie Sterling’s monologue, Serena Lynch had thought she was genuinely unconcerned about Nina Walsh. But by the end, she had to suppress a laugh.

’It wasn’t that she and Nina Walsh were true rivals, but there was an indescribable tension. Every time I looked for Roman, Nina would be looking for ’her brother’ too. Maybe because I’m older than her, I was willing to let it slide at first.’

’But over time, Roman seemed to get into the habit of helping Nina first whenever we both needed him.’

’If I said I was upset with Nina for stealing my brother’s affection, it would sound so petty. Besides, I’ve always been independent and don’t need to rely on anyone. I could never say something like that out loud.’

’Still, there was always this subtle, undeniable irritation.’

’And unfortunately, it was the kind of frustration that was hard to explain to anyone else.’

’After all, everyone would just tell me, “No matter how doted on Nina Walsh is in your family, her surname is Walsh, and yours is Lynch. She can never have what you have in this life, so why would you even give her a second thought?”’

So now, hearing Jessie Sterling’s perfectly calibrated, passive-aggressive takedown of Nina Walsh, she truly wanted to burst out laughing.

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