The elephant slowly nuzzled her cheek with its trunk. It felt hard and itchy.
Sheffield was about to say no on her behalf, but Evelyn took one step forward and said to the man, "Okay."
Hell, she had never kissed any animal before. And she wanted to give it a try.
The man instructed her to stand in front of the elephant. The long trunk moved towards her mouth.
Sheffield was visibly upset. 'Even I haven't kissed her yet. Can't believe that the elephant beat me to it.'
The trunk was about to touch Evelyn's lips. Suddenly, Sheffield pulled her back, grabbed the trunk and put it on his mouth instead.
The elephant sucked his lips in. It was so hilarious that the people around them roared with laughter.
Even Evelyn chuckled.
The cameraman seized the opportunity and took the picture of Sheffield kissing the elephant and Evelyn smiling like an angel next to him.
Once it was all done, Sheffield dashed to a faucet and started rinsing his mouth repeatedly.
His breath smelled like tree barks and bananas. "I wish I had a sterilizing solution," he said in dismay.
"If you did, were you going to take your mouth off your face and have it immersed in the solution?"
Sheffield dried his mouth with a tissue. "Didn't know you could crack a joke."
She ignored him.
Sheffield went to the cameraman to get the picture. His face fell when he saw the photo of him kissing the elephant. But when he saw Evelyn's smile, he thought that his sacrifice was worth it.
She extended one hand to him and said, "Let me see it."
She had said that she didn't like taking pictures. He was worried that she would throw it away, so he tucked the picture into his pocket and said, "The cameraman sucks. He made me look hideous. I'll throw it away later."
Without waiting for her reply, he grabbed her hand and said, "Let's go feed the elephants."
Several elephants were penned in a yard. Sheffield bought two food baskets for the elephants. One was full of twigs and leaves, and the other had berries. He handed the basket of berries to Evelyn. "Here."
She took it from him and went to a smaller elephant.
Sheffield followed her. "I saw your sidekick around. He must have come to pick you up. Are you going with him?"
Evelyn glanced around and saw Tayson in the crowd.
She turned back and returned to feeding the elephant.
"If you're busy, you can leave. It's okay," she remarked.
"Of course, I'm not busy. I'm on vacation." After a moment's consideration, he added, "Let me take you out to have the special lunch of this place later. We go to the Elephant Valley this afternoon. I promise to drop you back at the guesthouse by sunset."
That startled her.
When she used to go out with Calvert Ji, her ex-boyfriend, he was like this, making decisions for her all the time. She had hated it and never hesitated to show it.
Sheffield had just done the same thing. But to her surprise, she sort of felt good about it.
He waited for her response. When she neither nodded nor spoke, he assumed that she got upset about his suggestion.
"You don't like it? What's on your mind? We can make some other plan."
Evelyn quickly came back to the present. "No, it's fine," she affirmed.
Knowing that she had been preoccupied, Sheffield didn't dwell on her brief daze. He switched baskets with her. "Don't stand too close to it," he cautioned.
The twigs and leaves were longer, and she could stand farther away from the elephant to feed it. But to feed it the berries, she had to stand close enough so that the elephant could suck the food from her hand.
"Huh?" Evelyn didn't know why he was so worried now. They had even taken a ride on it.
"I'm worried that he might kiss you," he explained earnestly.
"Aren't you worried that he might kiss you again?" she asked with a small smile.
Sheffield grinned. "Rather me than you."
Evelyn nodded, "True."
From outside the pen, a group of women were watching the two.
Just then, Horace Zhu walked over and asked the crowd, "Where the hell is Sheffield? He isn't answering my calls and is ignoring my messages. Is he missing? I'm calling the police."
One of the women cast him a sidelong glance. "Sheffield has ditched us and is feeding the elephants with that pretty woman. He doesn't have time for you." Her voice was filled with jealousy.
These women worked with Sheffield at the hospital. He kept a strict, professional relationship with them, and had never gone out with any of them after work. But now, he had ditched all of them to follow this woman from the guesthouse.
"What woman?" Horace Zhu adjusted his glasses and looked inside the pen. Sure enough, Sheffield and a woman were inside, feeding the elephants. "Isn't that the rich, spoiled girl from the guesthouse? Damn! When did he hook up with her?"
He was green with envy. He had idolized Evelyn like a goddess ever since he had seen her at the guesthouse.
"Horace, does Dr. Tang have a girlfriend or not? He told us he didn't have one, and he hangs around with different women every day," a nurse said. She was obsessed with Sheffield and wanted him so bad.
"He doesn't have a girlfriend, but from the looks of it, he is about to." Horace Zhu had met the women around Sheffield, but he had never seen him treat any of them so patiently.
Another nurse spoke up in a snarky tone. "I don't think so. Judging from the woman's fancy clothes and accessories, she must be some rich old man's mistress. Sheffield wouldn't want to be with that kind of woman."
Horace Zhu snorted and looked at the woman contemptuously. He wouldn't allow her to insult his goddess. "She is obviously a high-flier. Or maybe she is from a rich family. There is no way that she is a mistress."
"How shallow men are! One smile from a beautiful woman and they lose their wits."
"And what's wrong with that? It's not anybody else's fault that you're not pretty," he retorted sarcastically. He didn't want to make insulting remarks about her appearance, but he couldn't stand her anymore.
Before things got worse, another woman mediated. She turned to the nurse, "What you said was too harsh. Horace is right. The woman does look like she is from a rich family. And not all rich-looking women are mistresses."
"Right. If she is someone's mistress, then why is she with Dr. Tang? She is probably single," someone else echoed.
The nurse shut up after being criticized by so many of her coworkers.
Sheffield and Evelyn knew nothing about this. They were busy feeding the elephants.
Evelyn looked at the berries in Sheffield's hands. The elephant sucked the berries from his hand, ate them, and came back for more. It seemed interesting and she wanted to try.