Love Contract

Chapter 71 Having A Good Time In Hainan

With a sandwich in her hand, Mary gazed up at William who had just walked out of the bathroom. Her eyebrows furrowed. "Where are we going today? Is it going to be just the two of us?"

"Yes, and we're going to Ultima Thule." He casually brushed back his hair and sat opposite to her. As he leaned back on his seat, his fingers grazed across the glass table. "The party's still tomorrow. Plus, it isn't like we have plans today, so why don't we have some time to ourselves?"

"You're pulling the 'boss' card again," Mary accused, narrowing her eyes. "You're only using this business trip as an excuse to go out and have fun."

"Right again." He cocked up an eyebrow. Amusement danced in his eyes as his head tilted forward. "So, am I taking that as a 'no'?"

"It's not that," she quickly denied, shaking her head rapidly. "It's just...you just... You pulled it off very well."

"Okay." William simply took a sip from his juice with a nod of his head.

After a long period of silence and hesitation, Mary finally spoke up, "Were you the one who put me to bed last night?"

He shrugged. "Yes." © 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

"Ah..." Her cheeks flushed. Twisting her fingers, she said shyly, "Did you carry me on your back or in your arms?"

"Who said I carried you?" He scoffed incredulously. "I dragged you to the bed."

She coughed and sputtered at his words. The smile on his lips went unnoticed, as he slowly stood up from his seat and said, "Come on then. Let's head to the beach."

What better way to wash out the burning sun rays than to lie on the cool sand and bathe in the vast glistening sea? As Mary sat on the front seat of his convertible, her bright eyes reflected the skies overhead. She could already feel her toes being swept by the strong waves and see how her dark hair glimmer under the sunlight. At the thought, her heart raced in her chest. There was just something about going to the beach that filled her with excitement.

"Open up the roof!" She stood up. As she poked her head out the roof of the car, she could feel the wind brushing the sides of her cheeks. Raising her arms, she cheered loudly, "Ultima Thule, here I come!"

At the sight of her carefree behavior, William couldn't help but laugh. It was rare to meet someone so excited over the simplest of things. With a shake of his head, he turned his attention back to the driveway.

"I can't believe we're actually going there!" As soon as Mary had returned to her seat, a thought suddenly hit her. She clapped her hands together in panic. "Wait! Stop the car!"

"What's wrong?" Immediately, William slowed the car to the roadside. He turned to her with his eyebrows furrowed.

"We need new clothes. I mean, we can't wear this to the beach." To prove her point, she waved her hand exasperatedly over her denim shorts and high heels. If she planned on running to the sea, there was no way she could do it with these damned heels.

"Fine, hurry up."

"Come with me!" Mary urged, grabbing ahold of his arm. She looked him over and bit back a laugh. "Are you really planning to go to the beach in a suit? You'll burn to death! And I swear, if you get sand in your leather shoes, I won't be helping you in cleaning them off."

Hearing her warnings, William felt that he had no other choice but to heed to her order. "I'll listen to you this time," he stated.

With a triumphant smile, she turned her gaze to the small shop at the roadside. As there weren't any people crowding the area, it was the perfect place to start. She raced down the road and opened the small glass door, taking in the variety of fabrics hanging on the walls.

It was indeed a very small shop. In fact, William's head almost hit the roof when he entered through the door. He had to bend his back to get through the place without swinging his head against any of the fabrics being displayed at the top.

"Sir," Mary said to the middle-aged man by the Counter, pointing at the clothes. "Do you mind handing me the green and yellow camisole?"

"You got it, madam!" The owner turned around to find a tool to fetch the clothes that she was asking for.

"Is it this one?" William stretched out his arm and pointed at the camisole.

"That's the one." Mary nodded.

Without needing any assistance, he easily took it off from the rack. The owner flushed in embarrassment upon seeing how the couple had managed themselves without his help.

"Thank you!" She walked around the tiny shop with her hands clasped behind her back. If she had straightened her back any more, she would've looked like a high school administrator as she observed each and every fabric presented on the rack. "Hmm, these colorful shorts, a pair of denim, and the classic camisole-we obviously need that... Oh! And slippers!" She turned to William. "What size do you wear?" "Forty-five."

"Why are your feet so big?" she grumbled to herself as she perused over the shoes. Upon finding the slippers that could fit him, she handed everything over to him. "Here you are."

Upon taking a look of the fabrics in her arms, his eyes widened. The shorts Mary had picked out for him was the exact same color of her camisole. 'There's no way in hell I'm heading out of this place in colorful clothes.' "I-Do I have to wear them?"

"And what's wrong with them?" She pouted. "Everyone wears them. Besides, you've already said that I'd pick everything out for you today. Are you really going to break your promise?"

Seeing her wide eyes, William sighed. He ran a hand through his hair, fighting the urge to just walk away from this small shop. With a sigh, he finally relented. "Fine. I'll give it a try."

"Yay! Here." She shoved the clothes into his arms. "I'll be changing too."

He nodded and walked into the fitting room.

Despite wanting to spend more time with her, he had a hard time breaking out of his normal routine. Usually, his way of relaxing would be lounging in his house with a glass of wine in his hand, not running around in the beach. But if it was for Mary, maybe it was high time he indulged himself for once? Quickly changing into their clothes, the two of them walked out at the same time.

Mary wore a simple pair of hot pants and a camisole, fit for the cool breeze in the beach.

"You look great!" she exclaimed. Her eyes lit up in excitement.

"Really?" William looked at her suspiciously before glancing at the mirror himself.

His toes stretched out awkwardly. It had been a long time since he had worn flip flops. And it had definitely been a longer time since he was caught sight of not wearing the usual pair of suit pants.

His nose wrinkled. Although the flashy clothes weren't in line to his taste, it was indeed more suitable for the beach.

"Well? What do you think?" She leaned over and stood beside him.

"Not bad," he admitted.

"Is that so?" Mary smiled victoriously. Glancing at the mirror, she couldn't help but peep at William's upper body. Being wrapped under the tight camisole, she could see the small lines from his six-pack abs. At the sight, her eyes glimmered.

"You look ten years younger!" The shop owner came over with a bright smile on his face. "You look like a bunch of college students dressed like that!" "We'll take them, sir. How much are they?"

"Let me calculate." Upon punching a few numbers onto his calculator, he looked up. "It will be 200."

"200? Sir, why don't you just give us a discount?"

Standing aside, William let her bargain with the shop owner. He wanted to place his hands in his pockets like he usually did, but the pockets were too low that he had to give up. He pursed his lips, feeling unfamiliar with his entire look.

When he raised his head again, Mary was already walking over with a huge woven hat in her hand. At the sight of her glistening eyes, it seemed that the bargaining had been successful. "Let's go!"

The two of them got back to his car and drove all the way to Ultima Thule. Soon enough, the small buildings were replaced with pine trees, and the skies seemed even brighter. As they finally parked by the side of the beach, she could already see so many people surrounding the stone that said 'Ultima Thule!'.

"There are so many people there!" She pouted, crossing her arms. "It will be ages before we could take a picture."

"It's just a rock. Are we really going to picture ourselves with a rock?"

"You lack a sense of romance." She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "If you don't want to, then you can just take photos of me instead. Okay?"

"Okay." William nodded. Soon enough, Mary squeezed into large crowd, clutching the hat in her hand.

"William! William!" Hearing her call out for his name, he squeezed through the crowd and saw that she was already in place. "Hurry up!"

Seeing this, he quickly turned to the girl in blue beside him. "Hello, do you mind taking photos of me and that woman?"

He pointed at Mary who was waving her arms up in the air in front of the stone signage.

"Sure!" The young girl's cheeks immediately flushed red at the sight of the handsome man hovering over her. Her hands trembled, but she managed to nod in response.

He nodded to show his appreciation and walked towards Mary.

"Is he an actor or something? He looks hot!" Another girl eyed his tight torso, resisting the urge to drool at the sight.

"Right? You think he'd go for me?" The girl in blue bit her bottom lip. A full blown smile had entered her face.

"I thought you didn't want to take a picture beside a rock?" Mary raised her eyebrow at his approaching figure. "I still don't," he responded. He made an OK signal to the young girl. "But you've already lined up. It would be a waste of time if I didn't take a photo with you,"

She gritted her teeth, annoyed by his attitude. She grabbed his arm and pulled him closer to her, trying her best to take many photos with William. In fact, she didn't leave the signage until she heard disgruntled whispers around them.

"Here's your phone, cutie." As the two left, the little girl ran up to them and handed the phone back to William.

"Cutie?" Mary cocked up an eyebrow, and he shrugged innocently, indicating that he had no idea why she would call him with such term of endearment.

"Thank you." He took the phone from her and was about to leave when she spoke up again, "So, cutie, where are you from?"

"A City."

"Really?" she squealed. "My house is actually around the city too. When will you go back? Maybe we can go back together?"

Mary blinked, speechless at the girl's confidence. Was he really that handsome that every girl would find herself falling to their feet at the sight of him? Her lips twitched in annoyance, and she turned away. "Well..." Glancing at Mary, he immediately wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her to his arms. "My wife might not like that. I'm sorry."

She froze under his touch. When she felt his fingertips grazing across her waist line, her cheeks immediately turned bright red as her eyes flashed.

"Oh...okay." With a pout, the young girl returned to her companion.

Once they were gone, William turned around and pulled her closer into his arms. She glanced at him coldly. "Your wife?" She snorted. "And you said it so smoothly."

"Of course. Aren't you my wife?"

"Let me go." Mary tried to pry his hand off her. "Get your hand off me."

William let go of his hold and took out his phone. "Well, it seems that you put me in a dilemma," he stated, scanning through the photos that they had taken.

"What dilemma?" She turned.

"Hmm, in a dilemma on whether I should delete this photo of you with your eyes closed and a silly grin on your face." He snorted in laughter as he motioned to the very unflattering photo he had of her on his phone, and her eyes immediately widened at the sight. "I swear I'm going to kill you!" With a loud scream, she threw herself at him only to miss by a few feet. She dug her fingernails into her palms, and she gritted her teeth.

"Could you even catch me?" Without another word, he sprinted away, racing down the golden sand and to the shoreline.

"Oh, just watch me!" she snarled, racing up to him.

The two raced across the coastline as their laughter filled the peaceful atmosphere, looking like a beautiful couple. As their footprints trailed across the sand, their arms swung around the air as they tried to catch up to one another.

Once they'd calmed down, they decided to take a sightseeing cruise ship to look at the many islands peppered across the sea.

After that, they went to watch the sea lion show. The two were at the front row. As Mary marveled at the show, William couldn't help but gaze at her in amusement.

Once the show had come to an end, he took her to the museum where they viewed many of the place's cultural artifacts.

For Mary, today was undoubtedly a great day. Not only did she have a great time, but she also took many pictures to ingrain them into their memories.

However, for William, today was probably the most exhausting day he had in his life-including all the days he spent in working at his office. At every turn he took, she'd be taking photos right beside him all the time. Maybe the amount of photos he had taken with her could be as many or even greater than all the photos he had accumulated of himself in the last ten years. When they were about to call it as the end of their trip, his shoulders sagged in relief.

On their way back to the hotel, Mary took this time to scroll down her phone and check all the photos one by one.

"What were you even doing when we took this photo?" she murmured to herself, swiping to the right. "You weren't even looking at the camera.

Oh, this one isn't so good either. Our faces are too big.

Hmm...not this one-too many people in the background.

Ugh, even the selfies aren't that great."

William eyed her by the side as she deleted the photos one by one. "You've deleted at least two- thirds of them," he pointed out, disgruntled at the amount of time they had wasted just for her to delete the lot of them.

"Doesn't matter." Mary shrugged, not bothering to raise her head. "It's quality over quantity. The most important thing is that the photos we do have make us look good. I mean, it's useless, if we keep them all and we all look horrible in them. Speaking of, we have to delete this one too."

William sighed exasperatedly as they walked into the hotel lobby.

"Mr. Lan and Mrs. Lan!"

"Hmm?" Mary raised her head at the sound of her name.

Sporting a black suit, Alisa walked towards them and quickly greeted them with a smile.

At the sight of William in his colorful shorts, she hid a smile, finally understanding what he meant last night. She clasped her hands together.

"Miss Zhang." William nodded.

"Mr. Lan, did you have a good time?" she asked.

"It was very good," he replied. Despite using most of their time to take all the photos, he truly did have a great time with her. It was definitely a breath of fresh air.

"Great, great." Alisa sighed in relief. "I wish you both have all the happiness in the world. I better get to work now. See you later!"

"Okay." With a nod of acknowledgment, William led Mary to the elevator.

"She's weird," she muttered.

Although he said nothing in reply, the corners of his lips twitched up into a small smile.

Candy Q

Translator: Doris