"Do you think I would need a mosquito repellent?" May asked Riley. They stopped over in a rest area along the highway and were inside a grocery store. May had looked Riley's hometown up prior to their trip, and she was shocked to find out that Riley was not lying when he said it was located in a remote area. It would take them around ten hours of driving to reach his place, so they left home at the crack of dawn...
Riley scratched his head and chided himself inwardly. He brought several mosquito nets for May, but he had not thought of bringing some insect repellents in case the mosquito nets were not enough. He nodded timidly, to which May responded by winking at him before she put one bottle of repellent in their cart.
May was so excited about their trip that she splurged on things that she thought might not be available in Riley's hometown. Inside the car, May asked Riley, "Do you want to switch? I can drive while you rest," Riley smiled and shook his head. "No, Boss. You can just relax in your seat. I can manage," he said, grinning, as he focused his eyes on the road.
"Are there a lot of beautiful women and gorgeous men in your hometown, Riley?" May suddenly asked. "Of course, Boss. All of our women have a natural beauty. Unlike those in the city, where they would apply a lot of chemical things on their face, our people only use natural herbs and pure water..."
May humphed and scoffed, "If there were many beautiful women in your hometown, how come you're still single?" She was not happy with Riley's answer because she was one of those women from the city who loved to put make-up on her face.
"So, I'm not a natural beauty..." She mumbled, almost like a whisper, because she could not accept that Riley thought of her beauty as an unnatural one. Of course, it was natural, but she had to put on make-up to enhance it more, especially when she needed to be on television.
Riley heard her and realized that his boss had misinterpreted what he said, so he explained, "Boss, I wasn't referring to you. You have a natural beauty, and honestly, I think you look even better without make-up on. What I meant was, I noticed a lot of women in the city love to use make-up excessively. Not only that, I heard a lot of them also had cosmetic surgery to become prettier."
May did not respond at all and remained quiet for some time. Riley was cursing himself inwardly for not thinking twice before saying those words.
"Boss..." Riley called her. Still no response. He quickly looked at May, who was looking outside through her window. Riley raked his fingers through his hair and repeated, "Boss..." He was not used to May being quiet.
"Boss... Are you mad? Don't be mad... To be honest, those natural beauty in my hometown can't be compared with you. You're more beautiful. Their beauty is not even a quarter of your beauty. Really..." He coaxed her, hoping his Boss would finally react.
"We'll see..." May said in a low tone. She was irritated, but she was not actually mad. She also loved the feeling of seeing Riley getting all worked up because he thought she was angry. He was trying to make her feel better, and it made her feel special.
"Boss, why are you so quiet?" Riley asked.
"I'm not in the mood to talk..." May answered simply.
"Boss, how many men have cried over you...?" Riley asked, out of the blue. May straightened her back as she proudly said, "A lot, I guess... Why?"
"Just curious. You're really beautiful, so I assumed you've made a lot of men cry..." Riley said.
