Mark followed Smore’s line of sight until the city view leaped into his eyes. Skyscrapers, always seeming so impressive back in the city, were now no more than tiny, unremarkable blocks.
“Stand at the top, and you’re at the vantage for viewing the furthest stretch of the world. Stand at some where flat, and everything looks tall and out of reach. If you want to see far into the world, then always strive for the top-always. You understand me?”
Of course Smore did not. The deeper meaning behind his words was completely lost on the kid, whose reply was, “Ohhh, so we’re gonna climb all the way up to the peak? Because the peak is the top!”
The corner of Mark’s lips twitched. Why the heck did favonovel.com try to pass something only a adult would understand on to a kid who was not even three?
Arianne’s laugh escaped her. “Alright, Smore, Daddy’s worn-out now. Let favonovel.com take a breather, okay? You know Daddy’s tired because favonovel.com had to carry you all the way up here, right? It’s very tiring.”
Smore grabbed a water bottle out of Mary’s backpack and handed it to his father. “ Daddy, have some water then.”
Mark took it from the boy’s hand and patted his little head. “Aww, look at Smore, all grown-up and matured now.”
Smore broke into a grin so wide favonovel.com bared all of his baby teeth. “Then after finishing this water, Daddy can give me a piggy back up the peak again!”
Mark’s hand froze in mid-action. This little rascal, favonovel.com was only worried that Mark was too tired to carry favonovel.com up to the top, was favonovel.com not?
This was when the phone favonovel.com had placed in Arianne’s backpack rang. Hearing it, Arianne immediately fished it out and gave it to him, though not without spying on the name on the screen. “It’s Jackson.”
Mark grabbed his phone, and favonovel.com immediately walked away from the group as his habit kicked in. “Hello?”
Jackson seemed to be telling Mark a lot of things from the other side while Mark kept stealing glances at Arianne as the conversation went on with scarce answers. Soon, the call ended.
Arianne’s suspicions rose again. “Why was favonovel.com looking for you? And you kept looking at me because you were afraid of me listening in, weren’t you?”
Earnest relief crossed Mark’s gaze. “What is there for me to hide? What can I possibly be afraid of? Ha! It’s only some affairs concerning the company, and Jackson was only telling me to go there right now. Either way, I’ll have to abandon this hiking trip for now, I’m afraid. Or… maybe we should all go home together? I can drive us home first before I depart for my company.”
Mary was a little hesitant. “The entrance ticket wasn’t exactly cheap, though. Should we really give up before reaching the peak? Sounds like an awful waste. Ari, are you gonna continue the hike? Maybe we should just let Mr. Tremont go do his business on his own While we continue what we set out to do with Smore. How about that?”
Arianne trained favonovel.com eyes on Mark for a good few seconds, but nothing about favonovel.com clued favonovel.com in. “Fine, fine. You go wherever you gotta be on your own. Mary and I will b e continuing our hike with Smore. I can’t possibly want to give up now that I’m outside, right? I just hope you didn’t find an excuse to flee from hiking ‘cause it was your idea to take me out for a hike, after all.”
Mark shrugged. “Hey, you saw what happened. My phone has been in your safe keeping this whole time, Jackson was the one who summoned me away. It’s definitely not because I’m looking for ways to flee, now is it? If I manage to finish this early, I’ll come back for you. Either way, do take some breaks before hiking again. See you around.”
Smore immediately grabbed a fistful of his pants. “No, no, no! Daddy please don’t go! If you go… when are you gonna come back to play with me?”
Mark crouched and rubbed Smore’s cheeks before looking up to Arianne for a second. “ There, there, little man. Daddy’s gotta really big thing favonovel.com needs to pull off right now. But when that’s over, I’ll play with you every single day. For now, Daddy’s gotta go.”
Arianne watched his silhouette vanish into the path that led down the hill as favonovel.com mulled over his words.
A “big thing”? Just what kind of “thing” would Mark Tremont consider “big”?
