Estella’s persistence made Roxanne flash Lucian an awkward smile. She then stretched out her arm, wanting to hand him the conch. To her surprise, Lucian grabbed her wrist and brought the conch to his ear.
Roxanne’s hand was so close to his face that her palm could touch his face if she moved it a little. Realizing that, Roxanne’s face stiffened, and she clenched her teeth as she did everything she could to fix her wrist at a certain angle.
A long moment passed before he let go of her hand. “How was it? Did you hear anything?” Estella stared at him expectantly.
Lucian cast Roxanne an unfathomable gaze and raised a brow, answering, “Yep. heard it.”
Estella squealed with excitement when her father confirmed it. Roxanne noticed him glancing at her earlier, and she felt as if an electric current ran through her veins.
After taking a few seconds to recollect herself, she smiled at the children as if nothing had happened. “All right. Let’s go find some more, or else they’ll be taken by the boys.”
Taking the conch from Roxanne, Estella nodded, held the former’s hand, and walked forward. Meanwhile, after having heard the sound in the conch, Archie and Benny dashed off eagerly to find their own conch.
Roxanne took Estella’s hand while walking behind the boys, occasionally glancing at them to make sure that they were safe.
Suddenly, the boys halted in their tracks and squatted, their eyes seemed to be fixed on something.
Feeling curious, Roxanne hurried over with Estella.
“Mommy, look!” The boys pointed at the tiny crab on the beach. A crab as big as a thumb came into her view, and it was timidly crawling into a milky white conch..
As if shocked by the presence of humans, the crab covered its eyes with its pincers and continued crawling into the conch. “How can we make it come out?” Benny eyed the conch with frustration.
It had not been easy for them to find one. And now, there was a crab in it, which prevented them from taking the conch. Roxanne shook her head at the boys. “This is a hermit crab. The conch is its home. Let’s not disturb it and look for another one.”
When they heard her say that, the boys stared at the conch curiously for another long period of time. They even tapped it gently, saying with a sweet voice, “Hey, little hermit crab. Let’s play together!”
Their actions shocked the hermit crab, causing its little body to quickly come out of the conch and flee from them.
Seeing the creature leave, the children looked at Roxanne guiltily. They just wanted to play with it, but they never expected the hermit crab to be so frightened.
Roxanne smiled and consoled, “Let’s go. Maybe it’ll come back when we’re gone.”
Hearing that, the children nodded and walked forward. At the same time, they kept turning around to see if the hermit crab would return.
Alas, there was no sign of the hermit crab, even when they had lost sight of the conch. The children were upset for a while, but they were quickly distracted by something else.
As Roxanne walked with the children, she occasionally squatted to pick up a few seashells. She wanted to use them to make a necklace for Estella.
Meanwhile, Lucian followed behind them at a moderate distance. A rare, warm gaze poured out from his eyes as he watched them from behind.
