Two High Mountains

*Jenny*

"Hello…?". I tried not to make my voice sound irritated.

"Jenny! Where are you? I've been looking for you everywhere."

"Hi Ebony, I've told you that I'm with Noel, right?"

"Are you…? You just told me that he called you and…" She suddenly paused. I let out a disappointed sigh and guessed that she had realized her, well, mistake.

"OHMYGOD! I AM SO SORRY!" Ebony practically shouted over the phone. I then heard a brief chuckle from Noel. "Oh! Noel, are you there…? I'm so sorry!". I then put Ebony on speaker, "I'm so embarrassed, this is the second time I interrupted, forgive me!" We giggled at her panicked voice, "I won't call anymore, I'll just wait for Jenny in our room – no, wait, you can just come back tomorrow morning okay…? I'm sorry! Goodbye!" She then hung-up.

"It fascinates how you're able to manage Ebony, she's a worrywart.". He commented as I put away my phone.

"Well, it comes with time. But she's a good person.".

"I can see that… anyway, let's eat…?".

"Yeah, sure… we don't want to waste this candle-light dinner, do we…?" He then assisted me in seating, ever such a gentleman. And we had a wonderful time eating dinner.

In the morning, Ebony kept on apologizing to me which was completely unnecessary. "Are you really sure?" Ebony asked for the fifth time.

"Yes, I'm sure. Everything went fine. We still had a wonderful time.".

"Okay, that's good to hear." I sighed, finally making her accept my words, "Sorry about worrying too much, I just can't help it.".

"It's alright, worrying is normal, just do it moderately.".

"Okay, from now on, I'll moderately worry.". Pfft, I almost laughed because she always says that after worrying too much.

Today we will do the second part of this holiday; camping. We headed out to a secluded forest outside the city, it was said that the forest belongs to the Locke Family. Noel did tell me that their ancestors had owned a part of the land near the city and surprisingly up until now they still own the land, including the forest that flourished there with time.

"Haven't you thought of deforesting it?" I asked him out of curiosity.

"No, we were brought up to conserve this forest, to commemorate the blessings that our family received over the years.". Oh, that's nice, he then added, "Every now and then, our whole family holds a feast over here to celebrate our ancestors. We wouldn't be right here anyway without them." I see… Noel's family is somewhat traditional. I wasn't expecting that since his brother Kyle doesn't exactly seem like a traditional person to me. "We're here.".

We arrived at a wide parkway with a no trespassing sign. There was a small shed house near it and then a middle-aged man came out. Noel went out of the car and greeted the man, Kyle also did the same. After a few minutes, Noel came back and said to me, "Come, we're going to walk from here.".

Well, camping isn't camping without a little hike. We were walking for like 15 minutes now. "Argh! How far is this camping site?" Ebony whined as I giggled at her, she may look fit but Ebony hates exercising. I look back at the others behind us and most of them are taking pictures already. I saw my IT girls having the time of their life while taking different angled selfies. I smiled at that but then I happened to see Miss Vicky with her staff. Though her staff was having fun on the walk she was staring at me with contempt.

I grew uncomfortable looking at her, she seemed to think negatively of me ever since Noel rejected her in favor of me. It must've hurt her so much but Noel is mine, I don't want her crawling near him.

After a few minutes of more walking, we finally reached the camping site. The area was so wide that families could practically live here.

"Alright everyone…", Johnny clapped loudly to gain their staff's attention, "You may now build your tents in this wide area. And a word of caution, there are wolves habituating on the west side of the forest, do not go there. We are all covered in this trip but please, we don't want any accidents. Does everybody understand...?".

"Yessir!" Most of the staff exclaimed. Johnny let out a contented sigh, "Okay, let's have a fun camping, guys." The staff cheered and started building their tents. Then an RV came into the site, Kyle and Olive stepped out of it and some of the staff were instructed to bring something out of the RV. Turned out that those were cool boxes for the food and drinks, and a few grill stoves were also brought out. Every group of staff had been given these. Noel went ahead to help with the distribution.

Of course, Kyle and Olive will be staying in the RV while the four of us, Noel and me, along with Ebony and Johnny will be staying in this big-ass tent! Isn't this a bit, well, too big?

"Mr. Noel wanted you ladies to feel comfortable.", Johnny said behind me. I must've said that out loud. "Instead of a 4-6-person capacity tent, he told me to get the 6-8 one.". Geez, that man, always going to lengths, I should let him know that he shouldn't do it all the time. I might get spoiled.

"Well, I'm not complaining." Ebony then picked her side on the tent. There were four sleeping mats in a row on the ground and at least a meter apart, Ebony took the very last mat at the corner. A bag was on the other side corner mat that was closer to the tent's opening and I think it belongs to Johnny so the two mats in the middle were the only ones left. So of course, I chose the one that is nearer to Ebony.

"Hey Ebony, do you want to look around…?" I asked Ebony after settling in my things. But to my dismay, Ebony just laid flat on the mat and mumbled. She must be tired from the long walk. "Okay, I'll just go by myself then, see you in a bit." She waved me an arm in acknowledgment.

Everyone seemed to be having fun building their tents, others being mesmerized when someone made fire. I spotted my IT girls by their department's chosen area and I was about to go to them when I heard someone mention my name.

"Um, Miss Jenny…?" I looked and recognized them as some of Miss Vicky's staff. "Are you free…? Would you mind coming with us…? Miss Vicky wants to see you." Oh…? Does she now…? Is it okay to see her…? "She said it's important." Important…? Well, if it's important then I don't see any reason to say no.

"Alright.".

Then they lead me out of view of the camping site. I saw her by a cliff, overlooking the view before her. When I reached adjacent to her, she said, "It's beautiful, isn't it…? Two high mountains standing side by side, looking down at the creatures below them, there's no perfect pair other than those who look high. Don't you think so, Miss Jenny…?" Um… I don't really get what she's sprouting about.

"I guess so… Most of the time… Um, what is it that you wanted to talk about? You said it's important…?".

She huffs then turned to me, "Two high mountains… Those mountains are Mr. Noel and I…".

"What?" I became confused, what does Noel have to do with mountains? "What are you saying?".

She lets out an amused 'huh' then slowly walked behind me, of course, I had to follow her for a face-to-face conversation, "Let me simplify it for you." She then took a step in every word she said as she got closer to me, "You, should stay away from Mr. Noel. You don't deserve him.". What the heck? Who does she think she is?

"No, I won't. I am his girlfriend." I defended myself, "If anyone needs to stay away, it is you!".

"You WERE his girlfriend…" Her eyes then darken as she said those words and nonchalantly pushed me by the cliff…