As he grabs hold of my bum in his big, strong hands I glance over his shoulder and see Daniel standing behind him. His face is red and blotchy, his eyes dark. He looks as if he’s been crying. Seeing him standing there is like something fresh from a horror movie, both because of how he looks and because he has just turned my favourite dream into my worst nightmare.

‘Daniel,’ I shriek, as if I’ve just seen a ghost.

‘Okay, that’s awkward,’ Freddie says, putting me down. ‘You know I’m not Daniel, right?’

‘No, he’s behind you,’ I tell him.

‘What?’ Freddie turns around and sees Daniel standing behind him. ‘What the hell are you doing here?’

‘I just…’

‘Did you follow us?’ I ask him. There’s no way he could’ve just found us.

‘Yeah,’ he replies. ‘Lila, I need to talk to you.’

‘Now?’ I ask.

‘Yeah,’ he says again, his voice breaking a little. ‘It’s important.’

‘No,’ I reply firmly. ‘We’re in the middle of the competition.’

Daniel drops to his knees in front of us and bursts into tears. It is the scariest thing I have ever seen in my life because the most emotion you can expect from Daniel usually comes from his football team winning or losing. He doesn’t usually cry. I didn’t even think he was capable.

‘What do I do with him?’ I ask Freddie quietly.

‘Take him back,’ Freddie insists, before quickly backtracking. ‘I mean, take him back to his room. Maybe Eva can help him.’

‘I told Eva to get lost,’ Daniel sobs. ‘I should have never brought her here in the first place.’

It’s nice to see a little remorse – even if it doesn’t come with a sorry, and it’s not exactly his biggest crime he’s seen the error of his ways over, is it?

I don’t even know what to say to that. I look at Freddie.

‘Take him back anyway,’ he tells me. ‘We can’t just leave him crying in the woods.’

‘What about the competition?’ I say.

‘I’ll keep going,’ he tells me. ‘Just hurry back, okay? Call me when you’re done.’

I kiss him on the cheek.

‘You’re a good man,’ I tell him.

‘Hurry back,’ he says again with a smile.

I walk over to Daniel and, while the urge to help him is still there – I’m not a monster, after all – I’m so angry at him for turning up like this and ruining my day.

‘Come on, let’s go,’ I tell him. ‘I’m pretty sure if we just head back down the hill, we’ll come out near the villa.’

‘Okay,’ he says, hurrying to his feet. ‘Thank you.’

For the first ten minutes, we walk in silence. I don’t think either of us knows what to say but at least he’s stopped crying. I am all for men crying, showing their emotions and sharing their feelings, but this just isn’t how Daniel operates. He didn’t even cry when his granddad died – not that I saw, anyway.