37. Gwen: "I can always find you, whenever I wish."

The reversed waterfall hung between heaven and earth, resembling a torrential galaxy forcibly frozen in mid-air by divine power.

Countless shattered water droplets hovered and swirled around Hawk, who stood beneath the inverted falls, as if paying him homage.

Fear. It was pure fear. Perhaps the waterfall felt it had roared too loudly moments before, and now, it dared not make a sound.

A profound silence reigned.

Only the voice calling out "Hawk" from behind caused him to shudder, his shirtless, muscular chest rising and falling rhythmically. Hawk turned his head instinctively.

Into view came Gwen. She had emerged from the nearby woods wearing a windbreaker; though her blonde hair was disheveled and she was drenched in sweat, her blue eyes were filled with sheer astonishment as they locked onto his.

"Gwen?"

Hawk froze on the spot, stunned. He found it hard to believe. Good grief. He never imagined that the first person to find him here would be Gwen, not the Quantico military. But... how was this even possible? Hawk felt a sense of bewilderment.

At that moment, time seemed to restart.

Rumble!

The waterfall, previously reversed, resumed its natural flow, though the sound of the crashing water was significantly softer than before. It seemed the waterfall feared that being too loud might invite an unprovoked disaster. After all, Hawk was truly capable of making it flow upstream.

Meanwhile, seeing Hawk standing beneath the falls, Gwen had already broken into a run. She didn't understand why she felt the need to run when she had already found him, but she simply had to. In the blink of an eye, she reached the pool beneath the waterfall and waded over to him.

The next second, she threw her arms around him. Hawk instinctively pulled her into his embrace, using his back to shield her from the spray of the falls. Realizing the situation, he vanished from the water with a whoosh, reappearing a moment later on the bank beside the pool, still cradling her.

Billowing white mist, like smoke from a signal fire, rose from Hawk and the now-damp Gwen. In the span of a single breath, the sheer intensity of Hawk’s vitality evaporated the moisture, leaving them both perfectly dry.

Hawk looked down at Gwen, who was clinging tightly to him. He opened his mouth, curious about how she had managed to find him when even the Quantico military had failed. But seeing her eyes closed and hearing her faint, rhythmic breathing, he hesitated. He stayed silent, sat down on the ground, and settled her into his lap.

He didn't speak. He simply watched her sleep, gazing at the messy blonde strands framing her face. He reached out, his hand pausing in mid-air for a moment before he gently brushed the hair aside.

About half an hour later, Gwen slowly opened her eyes. Still groggy from sleep, she assumed she had woken up in her own bed and stretched lazily.

The next second, she saw Hawk looking down at her.

Their eyes met. Gwen blinked instinctively. Hawk smiled faintly.

"Hello."

"Holy shit!"

With a startled cry, Gwen scrambled out of his arms, her fair cheeks flushing a visible shade of pink. Hawk stood up as well. As he rose, his limbs let out a satisfying series of cracks and stretches, having remained motionless for so long to avoid waking her.

Gwen stopped scanning her surroundings and refocused her gaze on Hawk, who was clad only in a pair of shorts. His physique resembled a statue from ancient Greece, and his arched eyebrows above those piercing blue eyes exuded a sense of unbridled confidence.

The eyebrows were the same as before, yet different. If the old Hawk’s brows had been like a blade hidden in its scabbard, the current Hawk’s were like a sharpened sword drawn and ready to strike.

Gwen stared, entranced. A moment later, she came to her senses, recalled something, and a beautiful smile played on her lips.

"Library, reading books, huh?"

"..."

Hawk raised an eyebrow, catching the trace of resentment hidden beneath her teasing. He thought for a moment and said, "I'm sorry."

Gwen smiled. If Hawk had caught the resentment in her teasing, she had caught something else in his apology. In the past, Hawk had apologized to her too, but she could always feel that those apologies were merely perfunctory.

But this one?

Gwen’s lips curled upward as she held out her hand. Hawk looked puzzled.

"Give me your phone," she said. "Why didn't you answer my calls?"

Hawk realized what she meant and walked over to the folded t-shirt where his phone lay. He handed it to her. "I've been here for over twenty days. It’s been dead for a long time."

Gwen took the phone and tried to turn it on, but it was indeed unresponsive. However, she blinked, seemingly recalling something. With one hand holding his phone, she pulled out her own and clicked a link in a previous text message.

The link had expired. Gwen stared at the screen, bewildered by the now-useless link.

Hawk finally asked the question that had been on his mind. "By the way, Gwen, how did you know I was here?"

Gwen snapped out of her daze, calmly tucked her phone back into her pocket, and handed his back to him with a smile. "My father is the sheriff, Hawk. As long as I want to, I can find you wherever you are."

Hawk blinked. He would have to be insane to believe that. But seeing the slight blush returning to her fair cheeks after she spoke, Hawk thought for a moment, wore an expression of sudden realization, and nodded.

Never mind. If he had been curious about how she found him when he first saw her, he wasn't anymore.

Yes, he stopped being curious the moment she fell asleep in his arms. Perhaps, just as she said, she was the sheriff's daughter, and she could find him whenever she chose.

That was what Gwen said, and Hawk chose to believe it.