Chapter 55 - Back To The Camp, Worried Irish

*Splash!*

"Phuaw!"

Nathan appeared on the surface of the water.

"The cold water feels nice!" he said,

Getting out of the pond, Nathan took out his clothes from his storage.

Yep, that's right. Nathan swam on the pond butt naked.

Since he has no other clothes to wear, this is the only thing he can think of. No one is here to see his naked body anyway so he is not really worried.

Hurriedly wearing his clothes, Nathan picked up his backpack and left.

He already mentally noted the path he took to get to this wonderful place, so Nathan was not worried about not finding this place again.

…

A few minutes later, Nathan came out of the woods and he heard the voices from the hiker's club.

"It's been too long since he left, are you guys sure that he did not get lost in the woods?"

"Well, if he did get lost, then we have to find a way to look for him."

"Yeah, he looks like a nice guy, we should hurry up and start searching for him."

…

The 'camp' slowly came into Nathan's view.

He immediately saw the worried look on the faces of these people.

Scratching his head, he felt a little flustered.

But after a while he went back to being calm.

Exiting the woods, Nathan's figure slowly came into everyone's view.

Then they were stunned, before loud laughter suddenly echoed in the camp.

""Hahahaha!""

""Hahahaha!""

Nathan was taken aback by their reaction that he froze on the spot.

Then as if remembering something, Nathan turned on the front camera of his phone and took a look at himself.

What appeared on his phone screen is a man who's hair is still dripping wet, wearing clothes that seem to not have fully dried, and looks that seem oblivious to everything.

Only then did he understand why the previously worried looking hikers suddenly erupted in loud laughter.

Because of that, Nathan can't help but laugh when he sees his own appearance.

Irish standing not far away, was worried for Nathan as well just like everyone else.

'I hope nothing bad happened to him.'

When she saw that Nathan had come back, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Unlike everyone else who was laughing, she just stood there looking at him with infatuated eyes.

She shook her head and fixed her face and approached him.

"Hey, where have you been?"

She pushed him playfully, but the worry in her voice can obviously be heard by everyone.

James and Ken also walked towards Nathan at this time and waited for him to answer.

"Well, how should I say this," Scratching his head awkwardly, Nathan said, "Actually, I fell down on a pond and got wet. With my clothes dripping with water like that, I decided to try and dry it for a while longer.

"But since I was worried you guys might get mad for me suddenly disappearing for a long time, I hurried over even when my clothes still haven't fully dried yet. And here I am."

After hearing Nathan's story, the three don't know how to react.

James was the first to talk. He patted Nathan's shoulder, saying,

"It's an accident, don't worry about it. Glad that you're safe."

"Yeah, man. Don't sweat it!" Ken also joined in the conversation.

Hearing their words, Nathan suddenly felt guilty, but he did not show it in his face.

In the end, he thanked them for their care.

They talked for a little more before the two went back to their places.

Now, only Irish and Nathan remain.

"Wha-!"

Just as he was about to say something, Irish suddenly pulled him away.

"Where are you taking me?" he asked with a confused face.

"Just follow me." replied Irish.

Soon they stopped under a tree a few distance away.

This is where they were resting before Nathan left.

Irish opened her backpack and took a white towel.

She pushed the towel into Nathan's hands, "Here, use this and wipe yourself."

Nathan did not move, he just stood there dazely looking at the towel on his hands.

Seeing Nathan suddenly just froze, Irish tilted her head with a confused expression.

Waving her hands in front of his face, she called for him.

"Hey~ What are you still standing there for? Wipe yourself already or you might get sick." She said with a nagging tone.

Nathan immediately snapped out of his daze.

"Uh? Ah! Yeah, yeah, wait a second."

Then he proceeds to wipe himself.

As he was wiping himself, he suddenly thought of something.

'I also brought a towel, right?' looking at the towel from Irish, he dismissed giving it back and just continued wiping himself.

While he was doing that, Irish took out an oversized white shirt from her bag and handed it to him.

"Wear this for now, don't worry it's new."

Nathan subconsciously reached out and accepted it,

"Ah, thanks!"

Since he's been feeling cold wearing these slightly wet clothes, Nathan did not shy away anymore and just put on the shirt.

A little while later, Nathan felt much better after drying his body and changing his clothes.

Just right after he finished changing, James at the center of the camp clapped his hands and called for everyone.

"Since everyone is now here and all of us have recovered, we can now proceed with the hike!"

Everyone nodded, agreeing with him.

And so, the hiking club continued their hike.

2 hours later, they finally reached their goal,

The top of Mt. Tralala!

Everyone was tired, but all of them had smiles on their faces. Nathan is also smiling at this time.

"Hah… that was tiring~" he said as he laid down on the ground.

Irish, who never left his side, leaned on the tree beside Nathan, drinking water.

"Phuaw~ Yeah, it was really tiring. I did not think that hiking was this exhausting before."

Everyone else was also talking about the hike and the likes as they looked at the view from here.

But they did not stay long there because of the blazing sun burning high up in the sky.

After taking a few pictures, they decided to come down.

Climbing down was much easier than climbing up, because of that, it only took one hour for them to get back to the foot of the mountain.