In the mountain forest.
Thwack!
Under Adam's hands-on instruction, Paige drew her bow, nocked an arrow, and shot at a distant tree.
"Remember that feeling. You can try it yourself now."
Adam showed Paige a few more times, then let go and allowed her to try on her own.
Paige focused slightly, then drew her bow and nocked an arrow.
Thwack!
The arrow flew like a gust of wind.
"No way!"
Cristina, who had been forcibly fed their lovey-dovey display from the sidelines, had been waiting to laugh at them.
Paige's skin was as fair as jade, and she looked so delicate and girlish.
It was hard to associate her with archery.
Someone like Cristina would never touch a bow, not even if her life depended on it.
Drawing a bow could injure her hands.
And her hands were far more important than her face. They were her livelihood.
So she had instinctively assumed Adam and Paige were merely showing off and would surely embarrass themselves in the end.
Ideally, Paige would hurt her hand or twist her waist, then come to Cristina for treatment.
Yet reality proved otherwise. Delicate-looking Paige easily pulled back the bowstring, her arrow flying like the wind and striking the tree very close to the arrows Adam had shot earlier.
This was definitely not a beginner.
"How boring!"
Cristina's eyes darted around as she smugly decided she had figured it out. She could not help complaining, "You two are really something. You obviously both know how to shoot, so why are you practicing here? Just go shoot some animals already."
"Paige has never practiced before."
Adam smiled. "She's simply talented."
"I don't believe it."
Cristina curled her lip. "Archery isn't that easy. Meredith, what do you think?"
Meredith merely smiled without saying anything.
Which meant