Riding Through the Country

In his original life, Jon worked six days a week, 9 hours a day, moving boxes in a warehouse that were 30-40 pounds; he also found that merging with the fragment also gave him more strength than before.

The martial arts not only became a part of his muscle memory which he could use instinctively, but it also forged his muscle and tendons to be more durable.

Seeing Samuel winced from the pain created, Jon acted compassionate with concern, "Are you okay?"

He puts his hand on his shoulder, pretending to care about the pain he is experiencing, but in actuality, he pinches the man's shoulder and forces his strength on him till he kneels on the ground.

"You!" Samuel said with a tone of anger through his gritted teeth and staring into Jon's eyes.

When he looks directly into Jon's eyes, he finds himself feeling a sense of fear that he knew before when facing an opponent overwhelmingly powerful than himself.

Instantly he broke out into a sweat as he found it impossible to stand up from the force like a bunch of heavy weights from squatting.

With a gentle smile on his face, Jon moved closer to Samuel and quietly said, "Don't let me hear a word about you. Or else it wouldn't just be crushed bones."

Samuel had already lost his will to fight when he looked into the eyes of a demon staring into his being.

He doesn't even dare to look into Jon's eyes anymore as he stays frozen in the same position kneeling on the ground.

Seeing how frightened Samuel had become, Samantha curiously asked, "What did you say to him?"

Still having that unconcerned smile on his face, Jon said to her in a joking manner, "Darling, it is nothing for you to worry about."

Immediately, Samantha rolled her eyes at him and shook her head, still noticing that Jon was holding onto her hands in the corner of her eyes.

He just laughed seeing her rolling her eyes at him; neither did she say anything and only tried to suppress the glowing feeling in her heart, feeling the warmth of his hand holding onto hers.

While in the car, as Jon is driving through the streets, she finally asks him, "Sir, can you at least tell me where we are going?"

Looking her way for a second before resuming his focus on the cars in front of him, he told her, "Nothing fancy, a place for lunch; I don't want my girlfriend to be hungry on our first date together."

She giggled, rebutting at him shyly, slightly embarrassed, "Who's your girlfriend? I never agreed to go out with you."

Hearing her say that, Jon looked at her funny, "Oh, is that so? Then how come a certain someone is still holding onto my hand so tightly?"

Along the way in the car, besides when he was maneuvering the vehicle to drive, she held his hand tightly and did not let go.

Mentioning that only made her cheeks a little more flushed than before; for some reason, Jon likes to tease her this way.

He likes to see that innocent shyness on her face as he teases her on something so random; he likes that she doesn't hide her emotions away from him.

In his original life, he had known many people who only revealed themselves in a superficial way out of politeness, but at the same time, always maintaining a different self inside.

He likes being around her, laughing with her, and smiling with her in such a relaxed manner.

"You listen to classical music?" Samantha asks him about the instrumental music playing in the background of the car.

When she was at his home and sitting in his car last time, she didn't hear any classical music, nor did she see anything particular that indicated his taste in music.

"Well, I try to," Jon says, "I know that you love these sort of things. And I want to find out how it's like."

Hearing the reason for his sudden change Samantha smiled a little to herself.

Jon listened to a lot of classical music in his past life, but that was only when he was a young kid; eventually, he turned to more modern music.

Arriving at the place, Jon parked his car on the countryside gravel road.

She was a bit surprised when she looked out through the window and saw the grass field and beautiful nature beyond the simple restaurant.

There's the fresh breath of the wilderness as she watches the flowers blooming the short distance away.

The open sky reflects the warm sunlight's warm touch down upon the land and the clouds traversing the background lazily.

Walking out of the car, she says with awe, "It's gorgeous."

There's no need for a statement to match the beauty of the scenery she sees in front of her.

"I think that is one reason I choose to buy this land," Jon said to her simply as he also looked at the same area with the lake and the green trees.

"Wait a minute," Samantha suddenly turns around like she knows she is being played by one of his bad jokes, "I thought we were going to a restaurant."

Jon gives her a playful smile like he shares something interesting with her, "I am. In this restaurant, I'm the chef."

She giggles to herself, knowing that he tricked her into believing he would take her to one of those fancy restaurants that rich people would do in the tv shows that Jeanette watches.

Whenever Jeanette breaks up with one of her ever-changing list of boyfriends, she would constantly force her into watching the latest romance movies.

At first, she was firmly against it even though she tried her best to give Jeanette moral support.

Later on, she finds that she enjoys watching movies with Jeanette; more specifically, she likes having the company of a friend instead of the solitude in her room.