Chapter 234 An Uncertain Premonition.
It's called an observatory, but it's actually just a hundred square meters of cemented ground. They arrived early, but there were already people on the platform, all here to witness the total lunar eclipse. They brought along their complete set of equipment, with bags and packages piled up.
In contrast, Zachary and Winona, empty-handed, seemed particularly disrespectful of this rare astronomical spectacle. After an hour-long climb up the mountain, Winona had lost her initial excitement and was too tired to pay any attention to Zachary. She found a relatively clean spot and sat down to rest.
However, even though the place had been vacant for a while, it wasn't exactly clean. The sun in this month couldn't fully dry the ground, and sitting there would let the cold seep into their bodies, making them susceptible to illness. Zachary took off his jacket and handed it to Winona. "Use this as a cushion. It's cool in the mountains."
Winona had just climbed up and was sweating profusely. Her own jacket was still draped over her arm. She didn't take Zachary's jacket. "No need, I'm not cold."
The man remained silent and forcibly pulled Winona up. He spread out the neatly folded clothes on the ground before letting her sit down. "The temperature drops quickly in the mountains. If you catch a cold, I'll have to carry you down from here."
He looked at Winona's increasingly fierce gaze and silently swallowed the word trouble. "Put on your clothes too," he said.
Winona pointed to the farthest corner from herself. "Go over there and stay quiet."
Winona jumped up and covered his mouth. "Can you please shut your noble mouth? Being as aloof as before, answering ten questions with just one word, mostly 'yes'."
The woman's hand was soft and delicate, with a faint fragrance of hand cream. Her palm was slightly warm, probably from the mountain climb. Zachary was half a head taller than her. He lowered his gaze and could see the woman's eyes, shining with anger, vivid and bright, completely different from the lifeless look when she had only wanted a divorce from him.
His lips moved, brushing against her palm, causing a tingling sensation. The atmosphere around them became ambiguous with this action and their locked gaze.
Winona quickly withdrew her hand from his mouth, feeling a bit embarrassed. She turned around and was about to walk away, but Zachary held her hand, his rough fingertips touching the inside of her wrist. "I'm sorry, it was my fault before."
She didn't expect him to apologize. Winona was taken aback for a moment, then forcefully pulled her hand out of his grip. "It's all in the past. Actually, you didn't do anything wrong to me. Our marriage wasn't based on love in the first place."
Their marriage was like a gamble, and she had lost. That was all.
Afraid that Zachary would continue this awkward topic, Winona interrupted him, "Don't forget, it was you who said that anyone bringing up the topic of remarriage is a dog."
Zachary's chest heaved for a moment, a hint of grievance in his eyes. Though it was somewhat absurd, Winona couldn't help but feel that he resembled a stray dog on the roadside.
She slapped her forehead with a resounding a smack. She snapped back to her senses.
Zachary, a stray dog?
Perhaps her own mind had gone astray.
Zachary knew exactly what her gesture meant. He looked at her reddened forehead, his expression darkening, and then turned to the place Winona had pointed to earlier.
Indeed, the temperature dropped quickly in the mountains. After the sweat dried on their bodies, Winona started feeling cold. She put on her jacket and glanced at Zachary, who was only wearing a shirt not far away. After a moment's thought, she picked up the jacket he had placed on the ground and walked over to him.
Zachary took the jacket she handed him and unfolded it, but instead of putting it on himself, he draped it over Winona's shoulders.
Although Winona felt the chill of the mountain wind on her, she didn't think it was necessary to wear two jackets. She raised her hand to take it off, but Zachary stopped her. "Put it on. It's cold."
He had spent time training in the mountains with a coach before and knew a thing or two.
After the sun set, the temperature dropped even further. Winona noticed that the others had put on their down jackets, and some experienced ones even started a campfire and took out self-heating Mexican meals to eat.
Looking at them, Winona realized that, despite wearing two jackets, they weren't really keeping warm. Zachary, in his shirt, was so cold that his lips were tightly pressed together.
It was truly a pitiful sight.
However, the only advantage was that someone wasn't being annoying.
For the sake of appearance, Winona was wearing cropped pants, and the damp, cold wind from the forest was making her legs numb.
Zachary opened his arms and said, "I'll hold you."
Winona looked at him with disdain. "Do you think this is a romantic drama? How does hugging me make you warm? Right now, it's no different from being held by a block of ice. You might as well take out the money from your wallet and stick it on me. That would be more warming than you."
After speaking, she turned around to go and borrow some fire. The person tending the fire was a middle-aged man. He had started a small fire, just a few pieces of charcoal burning together. After all, they had to walk a long way up the mountain after parking, and it was too much trouble to bring professional heating equipment when they weren't staying overnight.
The man agreed to let them use the fire. Winona turned around and waved at Zachary, signaling him to come over.
However, he stood still for a while, not knowing if he was shy or frozen. Winona waved a few more times, but impatient, she ran over and dragged him.
In her urgency, she didn't have time to consider Mr. Bailey's wounded pride. She just pulled him along, not even offering an explanation.
It wasn't until they sat by the charcoal fire that Winona's numb hands gradually warmed up. The fire was small, but it was better than nothing.
It was six o'clock, still more than two hours before the total lunar eclipse, and the sky hadn't completely darkened yet. However, the rolling dark clouds on the horizon gave her an ominous feeling.
The temperature of the charcoal fire gradually decreased. Winona cursed Zachary, the troublemaker who always acted on impulse, and then she heard someone next to her say, "Looks like it's going to rain."
No need to doubt, the next second, she felt raindrops on her face, and the large drops of rain actually stung.
Winona got up from the ground and couldn't help but swear.
Others also began to pack up. The professional equipment was expensive and couldn't be left in the rain.
Zachary's face had turned as dark as the clouds in the sky. He grabbed Winona's hand and quickly walked downhill, while calling the culprit, Samuel. There was no shelter on the observatory, and if they got caught in a heavy rain later, they could easily get hypothermia.
Little did they know, the astronomy enthusiasts had the same idea. So, everyone hurried down the mountain.
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