Chapter 1523 Make Mr. Crawford Happy

"How about this? There's four of us, and we can split into two teams. One team will take one path, and the other team will take the other path. We'll race to see who can reach the summit first. The two paths are about equally long,” Tina suggested.

Luca glanced at Luke, then at Jason. Neither of them said anything.

She said, "Sounds fun. Letteam up with you, Tina."

If she could team up with Tina, Jason and Luke would be on the other team. She would feel better if she did not have to walk along with Luke.

Tina looked at the men, who said nothing about her suggestion. She said, "No, Dr. Craw, it's better if we team up one man and one woman."

Luca looked at her, at a loss of a reply.

"Alright, I'll team up with Mr. Doyle. We've been colleagues for many years, and I can get along with him. You and Mr. Crawford can take the other path.” Tina arranged the teams by herself.

She did not really have a basis for teaming up a man and a woman, neither did she want to team up with Luke. She did not want Luke to misunderstand if she suggested teaming up with him.

Before Luca could voice her objection, Jason said, "That settles it, Mr. Crawford. Tina and I shall take the left path, and you and Dr. Craw can take the right path. See you at the summit.”

He quickly agreed to the decision so that Luca had no chance to object.

Tina nodded. She and Jason began walking down the left path.

Luca remained standing on the spot. She looked at Luke, who was also standing there. Their eyes met, and they did not say anything.

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A while later, Luke said, "Let's go."

"Mr. Crawford, are you sure you want to race with them?" Luca asked.

"You didn't say anything earlier. The race has already begun,” Luke said while walking forward. After taking a few steps, he turned around and saw that she was still standing there.

"I don't like losing. Let's go," he urged

By then, Jason and Tina had already turned a corner and were nowhere to be seen.

With no other choice, Luca began walking to catch up with Luke.

Meanwhile, on the other path, Jason praised Tina, "I didn't know that you're so good at this.”

"What do you mean?" Tina pretended to be oblivious.

"You're giving Mr. Crawford the chance to be alone with Dr. Craw," Jason said without beating around the bush.

"I didn't do it deliberately, but the opportunity presented itself, so I went along with it. Did you think that I didn't notice that? Along the way up, Mr. Crawford was either looking at his feet when he walked up the stone steps, or at Dr. Craw. I hope Mr. Crawford will appreciate what I'm doing for him and givea pay raise!" Tina said with a cheeky grin on her face.

Jason knew Tina was thinking about that. He said, "Have you ever wondered why Mr. Crawford can't keep his eyes away from Dr. Craw?"

"I've thought about it before, but I don't know if my reason is correct, but if I think about it further, Mr. Crawford doesn’t seem like that kind of man..." Tina said. She glanced at Jason and grinned mischievously, "We're not in the office now, so do you think you can tellwhat's in Mr. Crawford's mind? Can you?"

Jason shook his head. "You'd better not have any sneaky ideas. If Mr. Crawford doesn't like your arrangements, who knows if he'll dock your pay?"

"Huh? That can't be, right?" Tina was surprised by what Jason said. "I don't have any malicious intentions.”

"Pray that Mr. Crawford is happy with your arrangement then," Jason teased her.

"I hope so," Tina said worriedly, believing what Jason said was true. She had been so confident earlier, but now, she was worried that Luke might be angry with her arrangement.

Meanwhile, Luke and Luca walked along the other path. Other than the occasional water break, the two people did not have any interaction with each other.

She thought that the silence was quite awkward, but she had no intention of breaking it.

After all, Luke was not a talker.

Halfway through their hike, they stopped walking.

There was a pile of rocks blocking the path. "That's..." Luca frowned when she saw the obstacle in their way.

Luke was also frowning. There should not be any obstacles along the manmade path.

"Mr. Crawford, should we turn around?" Luca asked, leaving the decision to him.

Luke looked beyond the obstacle and noticed that the path continued beyond the rocks. "I guess they must be in the middle of doing smaintenance work, and they haven't cleared the rocks yet. We can continue the hike if we go around these rocks.”

He did not expect anything to be blocking the path. Someone should have at least told them about it before they started the hike.

They were already more than halfway up the path, and going down would require more effort than continuing toward the summit. That was how Luke arrived at his decision.

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Luca nodded and said, "Alright."

With the help of the trekking pole, Luke walked up the unpaved path and reached out to Luca. "Careful."

Luca was surprised, though she did not take Luke's hand. Instead, she stepped onto the unpaved ground and said, "I can handle myself, Mr. Crawford. You should be careful too."

Seeing that Luca did not want to take his hand, Luke did not insist. He continued walking forward. They walked next to the stone path. Soon, they encountered smore rocks. They walked around them again, but they were getting farther and farther away from the stone path.

Luca did not say anything. She followed behind him without saying a word.

The sky began to darken. Luke lifted his head and looked at the sky through the dense canopy. If it started raining now, the uphill journey would be quite difficult.

"Let's walk back to the stone path. We need to be quicker," he said while leading the way.

"Alright." Luca caught up to him, though she did not want his help. She held the trekking pole in one hand and supported herself with the tree trunk with the other.

The two people continued to walk uphill.

Suddenly, Luca lost her footing. She yelped and fell to the ground.

When Luke turned his head around, Luca was already rolling downhill.

He tried to catch up with her, but she was rolling faster than he was running. Eventually, her body hit a tree, and she cried in pain.

Luke quickly arrived in front of her. Luca looked at him with tearful eyes. She noticed that he nearly stumbled while rushing toward her.

"Are you okay?" Luke crouched down in front of her and looked at her.