It'll Come Naturally

"Mr. Luo, good morning. Your breakfast is ready if you want to eat now." Passing by with a basket of laundry, Maria greeted Luke the moment she saw him.

"Morning! Where's Michelle? I haven't seen her," Luke asked with a frown. His voice was as cold as ice. Obviously, he didn't remember what Michelle had told him a couple of days ago.

"Oh, Mrs. Luo has a class activity today. She's going on a 2-day sketching activity with the entire class somewhere, like a field trip. I think, she told you before. Don't you remember?" Maria looked at Luke in confusion. 'Did Mrs. Luo lie to me? Why did Mr. Luo not know about it?' she thought.

"Ah, now I remember. Sorry, I just forgot it." Michelle did mention it before, but he had been thinking about something else then and hadn't paid attention to what she had said. He actually didn't listen to her much, on purpose.

Luke ate breakfast alone in silence. He had grown accustomed to having a woman around and nagging him. He shook the weird feeling off and decided to focus on his work. He didn't need love, and he would not allow any woman to affect him. Michelle's classmates were in high spirits and chatted all the way. Michelle, however, stared dejectedly out the window while listening to Hilda's light snore and thinking about Luke.

'Has he gotten up now? Did he miss me when he found out that I'm not home?' Then she shook her head and smiled bitterly. 'Nah. He would by no means miss me. What a humble and delusional woman I am! Last night, I told myself that I should just love me and not love him anymore. But I've begun to miss him again. Ohh well, I have got no pride!'

Their destination was a remote mountain area and although it was cold in winter, this place did not seem to be affected by the changes in the weather and even the seasons. There were green trees and beautiful flowers on the mountainside while there was still ice and snow everywhere else.

Amazed by the beautiful landscape, Michelle got off the bus and took a deep breath to enjoy the fresh air. Then she walked around to enjoy the scenery. This was indeed a good place to draw inspiration from.

"Country bumpkin!" Erin snorted from behind and when she passed by Michelle, she bumped into her deliberately. However, she underestimated Michelle's reaction. Michelle dodged her at once, and as a result, Erin tripped and fell to the ground. "Ouch!" Erin cried and stared at Michelle angrily. Michelle sneered and walked away. She was in a good mood to see the beautiful scenery and didn't want anyone to ruin it.

They had already booked a local bed and breakfast, which was small but cozy and clean. The bed and breakfast was specially built for travelers like them.

As there weren't enough rooms for everyone, each had to share a room with another student. Michelle, of course, shared her room with Hilda. Erin, however, refused to share hers with anybody else. It took the teacher a lot of time to convince Erin. Finally, she agreed with the premise that her roommate had to sleep on the floor.

Michelle gave Erin a cold sneer. She knew that Erin was selfish but didn't expect her to let the other girl sleep on the floor on a cold winter night. On the other hand, she thought the girl deserved it. She was one of those who used to fawn on Erin because the latter was rich. They had picked on classmates together many times, which was ridiculous as they were already adults and not 8th graders.

Michelle used to love the noise and excitement, but now she had become a quiet woman. Because of this, she now appreciated the serene beauty of the mountains. The marriage between her and Luke had changed her a lot. She still remembered that Luke didn't like her because she was vapid and had no substance. So she tried her best to become a better person. That was one of the reasons why she joined this class. Although it might not work, she was willing to give it a try.

"Michelle, I heard there is a hot spring around here in the mountains. Why don't we check it out and have a try?" Hilda asked in excitement as she also liked this place.

"Who told you that?" Michelle asked indifferently as she was not that interested. She was sorting through her clothes.

"Erin and her companions. They are now preparing their swimsuits." Hilda mentioned Erin's name without so much a hint of a grudge. Hilda was a simple-minded girl and easy to please. That was why Michelle was willing to make friends with her.

"We don't need to go with them. We can go there later, just the two of us. By the way, did you bring your swimsuit?" Michelle asked casually. Although she had no interest in enjoying the hot spring, she didn't want to put a dampener on Hilda's day. She took out her phone and checked if there was any message from Luke. To her disappointment but not unexpected, there was none.

"Don't worry. They sell swimsuits here, but the prices are kind of high." Hilda shrugged her shoulders. She really wanted to give the hot spring a try, but the expensive swimsuit was killing her.

"Oh, don't worry. I'll buy you one as a gift," Michelle said casually. She didn't mind buying it for her friend.

"Really? But you're not very rich as well." Hilda was a little embarrassed to accept Michelle's kind offer. She knew Michelle went to school by bus every day, and thought she was as modest as herself.

"Oh, don't think about that. I can afford to buy you a swimsuit." Michelle patted Hilda's shoulder to comfort her. All of a sudden, her phone rang. She was so ecstatic that she immediately checked who it was. However, her joy disappeared quickly. It was not Luke.

"Hi Mom! Yes, We've already checked in," Michelle said. It was Cynthia, who also knew about Michelle's class activity and was calling to make sure she was alright. Cynthia was good to her two daughters-in-law, always showing her concern for them.

"All right. And how was your trip?" Cynthia asked. Daisy was sitting next to her, and got close to the phone to hear Michelle's voice. Daisy also cared about Michelle a lot and was very supportive of her.000000