Chapter 173: Does It Still Hurt?

It took a few more days after the first few challenges of the lover’s test before another one was issued, and this one took everyone by surprise.

By now Celine was getting used to Tristan’s disappearing act or his frequent absence, where most of the time he would just decide to leave and would sometimes return late in the night, she wondered where he would be going to in Rowena city since he didn’t have much work to do here at all.

Rather than going outside the old dwellings, Celine was somewhat beginning to prefer it here instead, the people were nice and lively, there was this air of simple sincerity in everyone, they just seemed to live their lives without a care in the world of what others thought of them.

That night, after having dinner with Hailey who was also alone as her husband had gone on some errand with the island chief, they both took a stroll along the islands and even helped a few women in carrying their baskets back home, making Celine become more acquainted with some more locals of the dwellings, Celine finally decided to return to their cottage as she separated from Hailey on the intersection of the bridge.

But she had just almost reached the cottage when she saw a few people coming out of her and Tristan’s cottage, she was momentarily taken aback until she recognized the man instructing the people to be Antonio, the organizer of the lover’s test and he was the one who’d made the announcement at the restaurant that night.

“Mr Antonio, what’s going on?” Celine asked hastening her steps.

“Oh there you are, I was going to leave a message since you and your husband weren’t in the cottage.” He beamed upon seeing her, but the usual crafty look in his eyes gave Celine a premonition.

“What message?” She asked doubtfully.

“The third challenge of your lover’s test.” He stated then turned back to the people who all hugged some things from their cottage and left the place, Celine recognized one of the things in their hands to be the blanket on the bed.

“Wait, why are they taking all those things?”

“Oh that? It’s the third challenge, we’ll see how you and your husband ace this one huh.” He uttered then strutted away on the bridge disappearing from her view before she could even utter a word.

She was left bewildered and was about to rush into the cottage and see what was happening when Hailey’s voice stopped her in her tracks.

“Hey Celine, did those people take your things too?”

Celine turned to answer her seeing her rushing over, “They just left from here, I think they took some things from our cottage, what sort of a challenge is that?”

“Not just some things, they literally took everything!” Hailey exclaimed.

“What?” Celine quickly rushed into the cottage and was rendered speechless at the sight that met her eyes.

Other than the bed, the couch, the now open wardrobe that was emptied, and the glass table, there was nothing else in the room. There weren’t even sheets on the bed and all the windows were fully opened making the cold breeze from outside blow Inside.

“Do they call this a challenge, this is literally robbery!” Celine exclaimed.

“Well, technically, it isn’t, since they will be returning everything tomorrow morning, I heard the challenge is to test a couple’s tolerance, it means we’d have to survive the night without daily essentials with our partners, a lot of couples can’t handle that.”

Celine still didn’t see the sense in any of it, but she caught the excitement in Hailey’s voice as she turned to ask, “Why do I feel like you’re not upset about this?”

“Why would I be? This is great, It doesn’t matter if there are daily essentials or not, Simon and I can live through it just fine.”

“Are you kidding? It’s freezing cold and they took all the blankets.” Celine complained.

“So what? Then just cuddle all night!” Hailey beamed, giving Celine a playful wink.

Celine stiffened, her heart jumping for a second in shock but she didn’t show it on her expression.

“What? Don’t tell me you wouldn’t want an excuse to cuddle up with Tristan all night? Hmm, and I’m sure a lot more things will happen more than cuddling.” Hailey added suggestively before laughing to herself at her own naughty words.

At her suggestive words, Celine’s cheeks immediately flamed red.

Cuddle? And…Do other things?

“Aww, look at how shy you are, I should be the shy one since I’m the one on a honeymoon, but don’t worry, now that I’ve given you an idea, I’ll just leave you to prepare for a… Ahem, steamy night, while I’ll go prepare for mine.”

“Hailey, you’re just too shameless!” Celine exclaimed averting her gaze from Hailey to hide the awkwardness in her eyes. How was she supposed to tell Tristan that everything in their cottage was gone because the lover’s test organizers wanted them both to survive the night by sharing their bodies?

“Believe me, I can get even more shameless with my husband,” Hailey giggled then leaned in to whisper, “Especially in bed.”

Celine could only exclaim then shake her head at her while Hailey sped out of the cottage after that yelling behind, “Have a lovely night.”

Nevertheless, Celine smiled at her playfulness after she left, then began thinking of how they were supposed to survive the night in this terrible cold, without sheets or blankets in the room.

She strode over to the wardrobe hoping to find at least something in there, they had to have left something right?

But it was left completely empty, their clothes were gone, all the extra blankets and sheets, even the bath towels were taken from the bathroom. The only piece of clothing she had left was the shirt and sweat pants she was currently wearing.

She stood there, still marveling at Antonio’s level of shamelessness when she heard approaching footsteps, which she confirmed to be Tristan’s, she quickly headed for the door to meet him,

“Tristan do you know that they…”

She had just begun complaining even before he came in when she suddenly almost collided with him at the entrance, in her haste to step back and avoid bumping into him her steps faltered,

“Ah!” Celine realized a step too late that she had misplaced her foot making her ankle twist, a searing pain shot up her ankle and not wanting to stand on the painful leg she swayed only to be steadied by Tristan who quickly hold her by the shoulders.

“Are you alright, could you not walk properly?” He sounded both worried and annoyed at the same time, as he slowly led her to sit on the couch.

He knelt on one knee and took her leg in his hand which she quickly tried to retract, “It’s okay, you don’t have to…”

“Stay still.” Not listening to her complaints, Tristan held her feet in his hand, the other one gently brushed by her ankle with a small force.

Celine’s breath suddenly hitched at the light touch of his hands on her skin, she felt a shiver run through her.

His gaze came up to meet her own as he asked, “Does it hurt?” His voice low and husky, however, she caught a glimpse of concern in his hazel eyes which almost made her smile, but she slowly shook her head at his question.

He pressed down, putting more pressure on her ankle which made her suck in a breath in pain, he gazed up at her, then said, “This is going to hurt a bit.”

“Huh… Ah!” Celine who had been distracted staring at him suddenly let out a painful sound as he twisted her ankle back in place, sweat gathered on her forehead.

“Does it still hurt?” He asked again, her attention was once again drawn to him as his hands remained on her ankle with his thumb lightly brushing against her skin, probably an unconscious act he wasn’t aware of either.

Along with the tingle that spread in her skin she quickly shook her head, and he finally released her leg.

He remained kneeling for a while silently gazing at her face before he dipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief, he reached over lightly dabbing it against her forehead that had accumulated sweat. She stared at him in a daze as he slightly pushed the strands of her hair sticking to her forehead then dabbed at the sweat with his handkerchief.

With his face being this close, she studied his features, his straight nose, thin lips and handsomely stern expression. He seemed to notice her gaze on him as his actions suddenly halted and his eyes locked to hers, but something seemed to awaken in his mind as he quickly drew back then got on his feet.

Celine panicked for a moment, not wanting him to leave, without realizing it she quickly grabbed his hand to stop him.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep