The kiss between the two lasted longer than the day before, and it was only when both of them were slightly breathless that they reluctantly pulled apart.
Nicole's fingers lingered on Justin's cheek as they brushed past. Justin lowered his head to kiss her forehead again and whispered something, which made Nicole laugh.
Afterward, Nicole sat back in the driver's seat. Justin stood by the side of the road, watching the car turn around and slowly drive away, even waving at the rear of the vehicle.
Not until the car completely disappeared at the end of his line of sight did Justin adjust his collar and baseball cap. He looked left and right again, then, with his hands in his pockets and whistling, he walked briskly in the direction of Britney's villa.
Landon did not follow again.
He slowly lowered his camera, leaned his back against the rough tree trunk, and let out a long sigh of relief.
He looked down and quickly browsed the preview images on the camera screen.
The images were clear, and the actions were ambiguous. These photos were enough.
He carefully tucked the camera into the inside pocket of his jacket and zipped it up.
The morning light was getting brighter and brighter, and the chirping of birds rose and fell one after another.
Landon took one last look in the direction where Justin had disappeared, then glanced at the general location of Britney's villa. He shook his head, turned around, and continued his unfinished morning run in the opposite direction from both of them.
Rachel saw Landon return from his run, looking very happy, his expression completely different from when he returned from his morning run yesterday. However, she just smiled gently, handed him a glass of warm water, and asked nothing.
After breakfast, she left with Tracy.
The villa returned to tranquility. Landon went straight upstairs back to the study and locked the door.
He connected the digital camera to the computer and exported the photos taken early that morning. High-definition images spread out on the screen one by one—the clear faces of Justin Timberlake and Nicole Appleton in the morning light, their embraces, kisses, and the action of hands resting on waists were all frozen in time.
Landon carefully checked each one, and after confirming that the key details were correct, he encrypted them and saved them into a hidden folder.
He did not want to use them at this time; at the very least, he had to wait until he went to the film crew and cleared himself of suspicion first.
After finishing this matter, he checked the time; it was time to go to his third day of class.
With the success of his morning run and anticipation for the upcoming music creation, he drove to Burbank again.
Zoe opened the door, her smile as bright as ever.
Walking into the living room, Landon's gaze fell on Katie, and he couldn't help but smile—she had actually worn something similar to yesterday's teacher outfit again!
Only today, it was changed to a navy blue shirt and a knee-length skirt; her hair was still attempted to be put up, and those decorative glasses were perched on the bridge of her nose.
It seemed she was completely immersed in the persona of "Teacher Catherine."
However, she wasn't holding that little pointer today, which made Landon feel inexplicably disappointed; that pointer paired with her forced serious face had such an interesting contrast.
"If her figure were a bit fuller, this outfit might..." Landon quickly cut off this inappropriate thought, reminding himself that the other party was just a young girl.
The morning's lesson proceeded according to Katie's lesson plan, mainly focusing on consolidating music theory and conducting more complex sight-singing and ear training.
She tried hard to maintain the dignity of a teacher, but from time to time, she would be broken by Zoe making faces in the corner; that forced serious face would collapse instantly, revealing the lively nature belonging to her age, making the teaching atmosphere very relaxed.
By the afternoon, Landon already completely trusted Katie's musical acuity and teaching ability.
The success of their collaboration in transcribing "Like I Love You" yesterday had also established a certain tacit understanding between them.
Under the gaze of Katie's big, expectant eyes, Landon spread out a new music manuscript book and fluently wrote down the lyrics for "Yeah!".
Katie looked at the lyrics, and although she was still surprised by Landon's "productivity," she was no longer as shocked as she had been yesterday.
However, when Landon began trying to hum the main melody after the cold electronic prelude from his memory, and stumbled as he converted the notes into musical notation symbols, Katie's eyes widened once again, and Zoe next to her also covered her mouth, her face full of surprise.
"Oh, God! This rhythm... this sense of melody... I love it so much. Landon, you are simply a genius!" Catherine jumped onto Landon once again, showering his face with kisses.
Then, she ran over and sang and danced with Zoe.
Landon was speechless again; the young girl's saliva was still on his face, and he suspected that Catherine was taking advantage of him on purpose.
In fact, Catherine already loved the song "Yeah!" to death. Just from the fragment, she could already feel the hidden, explosive energy of this song, which was completely different from yesterday's "Like I Love You."
Throughout the afternoon, time flew by amidst the pen tip and humming.
The two entered that head-to-head, fully focused collaborative state again.
Katie had long since thrown the "teacher image" to the back of her mind; her glasses were crooked to one side, her shirt sleeves were rolled up, and she was fully focused on discerning the pitch and modifying the musical score.
The process of transcribing "Yeah!" was even more difficult than yesterday; its complex syncopated rhythms and memory details were a greater test of Landon's music theory foundation.
But when the skeleton of the entire song finally took shape on the manuscript book, a huge sense of satisfaction overwhelmed them.
Katie let out a long breath, leaned back on the sofa, stared at Landon with shining eyes, and said half-jokingly, half-seriously:
"Landon, seriously, don't be an actor anymore; be a full-time singer! With these two songs, you will definitely be a huge hit!"
In her gaze, there was appreciation, admiration, and perhaps a hint of budding romance that the young girl herself hadn't fully understood yet.
Landon saw Catherine's gaze, his heart skipped a beat, and then he mocked himself: What are you thinking? She's just a child.
In the evening, Landon returned to the villa with the freshly baked "Yeah!" lyrics and music score.
The living room was quiet, but the glass door leading to the backyard was open, and bursts of splashing water and the crisp laughter of girls could be heard.
Tracy walked out from inside, and upon seeing Landon, her eyes instantly lit up amazingly, and she stepped forward to pull him onto the sofa.
"Dear! That song 'Like I Love You' you gave me yesterday!" She lowered her voice but couldn't suppress her excitement.
"I asked a top music producer to look at it, and he rated it very highly! He said the street feel of the melody and lyrics is very authentic, and the production potential is huge! Is this really... really written by you?"
After receiving Landon's affirmative nod, she happily hugged his neck and gave him a solid kiss. "This is simply a surprise!"
"Not just that one," Landon smiled and took out the sheet music for "Yeah!" from the folder, "There's also this."
Tracy took it and quickly scanned the lyrics and the framework of the musical score, the look of surprise on her face growing even stronger.
"This... is this also something you came up with these past few days?" She looked up, her eyes full of disbelief.