Chapter 184 Play Hard to Get
Lily wasn't strong.
But Harper's skin was subtle, and a red mark appeared on her face immediately, which didn't look good.
After the slap, Lily felt something was wrong and woke up.
Looking at Harper's face and then at her hand, she roughly understood what had happened.
Noah looked over at the sound and shouted like an angry little lion, "Lily, what did you do? How could you hit her!"
He didn't like Harper, but he had a strong sense of territory.
He brought Harper on their hike so only he could mess with her, no one else.
Lily originally wanted to apologize. Although she had a straightforward temper and didn't speak nicely, she wouldn't intentionally hit her.
But when she heard Noah, who was younger than her, scolding her, her temper flared up too, and she retorted, "Why are you yelling? I didn't do it on purpose."
Noah snapped, "Then apologize."
Noah got even angrier and went to grab Lily's collar to make her apologize to Harper.
Lily was so scared that she hid behind Francis, clutching his clothes like a little chick.
Francis frowned, grabbed Noah's hand, and said coldly, "What's the fuss for? She didn't mean it."
Noah, in pain, was very dissatisfied and said, "Francis, you're being biased."
Francis replied, "So what if I am?"
Francis's eyes turned cold as he said, "Are we still going up the mountain?"
Harper didn't mind initially, as Lily indeed didn't do it on purpose.
But seeing Francis so obviously biased, her face turned pale.
After all, no one hated to be biased.
Lily beamed with joy, ran after Francis, and even made a face at Noah.
Noah was furious. He had thought that with Rhodes out of the country, he could have some fun, but he didn't expect Rhodes to have Francis watch over him.
He never thought that the busy CEO Francis would personally keep an eye on him.
Nor did he expect Francis to follow and come to climb the mountain.
What bad luck!
Harper was quite surprised that Noah stood up for her.
It gave her more confidence in guiding him back on the right track.
"What do you want to play? Can you reveal it now?" Harper asked.
Noah, with one hand on his hip, pointed to the mountain behind him and said, "This. If you can reach the top and stay for two days and one night, you can impress me."
"Okay." Harper agreed quickly.
Noah smirked. "Don't say I didn't warn you. I'll only provide you with a tent. You'll have to figure out food and drink yourself. I won't be providing anything."
He glanced at Harper's small backpack and said seriously, "If you want to give up now and resign to Rhodes, there's still time."
Harper didn't hesitate to reply, "I can do it."
Noah chuckled, "Ms. Sackler, once you're up the mountain, no one will bring you down, even if you cry."
Harper ignored him and walked ahead.
Noah was speechless, thinking she really needed a lesson.
The mountain path was rugged and challenging.
Harper's stamina was actually quite good. She was great at long-distance running in school, but because her feet were still recovering from a sprain a few days ago, she wasn't walking fast.
Noah was climbing the mountain purely for fun. He hired someone to push a cart with the necessary supplies behind him.
He walked empty-handed, very leisurely.
It was Lily's first time climbing a mountain, and she was very excited, chattering behind Francis.
She talked the most along the way.
But after a while, she started to wilt and went silent.
Harper didn't walk as fast as them initially but soon caught up.
Lily didn't want to walk anymore and called for a break. "Let's rest for a bit; I'm dying of thirst."
Noah, also sweating, took a break.
Harper watched them gulping water from their bottles, swallowed, and said, "I'll go ahead."
Noah was genuinely impressed by her stamina, waved her off, and sat with Lily midway.
Harper continued up, but after a while, she was also unbearably thirsty.
She stopped, took out a treasured bottle of water from her backpack, and was about to drink.
But before she could open the cap, she heard rustling behind her.
In the vast, empty forest, it was enough to make anyone's scalp tingle.
She turned around sharply, and Francis's tall figure suddenly appeared, startling her into a backward lean.
Seeing she was about to fall, he grabbed her with his big hands, the movement too forceful.
Harper fell into Francis's arms, and the water bottle rolled away.
The ground was full of rocks and pits; falling would have been terrible.
Instinctively, Harper wrapped her arms around Francis's waist, her face pressed against his strong chest.
Her ears were filled with the sound of his steady, powerful heartbeat.
After a moment, Harper realized their close posture was full of love.
She held her breath as if scalded and immediately pushed away from Francis.
Her action made Francis's handsome face darken.
He snapped, "Stop playing hard to get. There are plenty of women climbing the mountain; I'm not interested in you."
Harper's thank you got stuck in her throat.
Her expression turned extremely ugly.
Just then, a few men climbing the mountain passed by.
Hearing Francis's words, they all gave Harper a knowing look, thinking she was climbing the mountain to seduce men.
Those looks made Harper uncomfortable. She stared at Francis for a moment, said nothing, and turned to walk up.
After a while, she noticed the men who had passed by had stopped ahead, seemingly resting.
But their looks made her uncomfortable.
She didn't want to go up anymore and decided to wait for Noah.
Seeing Harper stop, the men came down towards her.
Harper got nervous immediately. One of them approached and teased, "Hey beautiful, that handsome guy didn't want you. How about me? I guarantee you'll be happy."
Another man added, "Such a pretty lady; Don't keep her to yourself."
This was no longer a flirt; it was downright harassment.
Harper's face was full of vigilance. The signal was bad on the mountain, so she took out the walkie-talkie Noah gave her and asked, "Noah, where are you?"
There was no response. Harper realized the walkie-talkie was out of battery.
The men noticed that, too.
The first man said, "Don't be afraid, beautiful. We're gentlemen. You can name your price."
Harper's face turned pale with anger.
She hated Francis even more.
If it weren't for his words, these men wouldn't dare treat her like a prostitute.
Harper gripped the pepper spray in her backpack and said calmly, "Please move. I need to find my teammates."
The man blocked her, sneering, "Who are you fooling? Your teammate ditched you."
Harper's face turned cold as she said, "What, are you planning to commit a crime?"
The men were just out for a hike and found Harper attractive, so they wanted to flirt but not commit a serious crime.
One of them backed off, saying, "Don't misunderstand us, beautiful. We didn't mean that."
He pulled the blocking man aside and said to Harper, "You can go."
The man who was pulled aside still stared at Harper.
Harper walked several steps away, but he kept staring at her.
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