NOT PRETENDING

Belle didn't know whether to return the hug or not. She was really surprised that Eli would do something intimate like hugging in public when there was no one there who knew them. In short, Eli didn't have to hug her since there was no need for them to pretend. 

"I arrived here about an hour ago, thinking that you might arrive early," Eli said while pulling away from her. He looked at her from head to toe, checking her face from side to side to see if she got hurt. "I was not expecting to see a video of your fight on the bus instead." 

"A video of my fight?" Belle gawked at him in shock. "When was that?" 

"Earlier while you were traveling. Someone took a video of you and showed it live. You are not hurt anywhere, are you?" 

"I'm fine," Belle answered and sighed. She didn't know that someone was taking a video of her earlier since she was so focused on defeating those robbers. She only had one thing in mind and that was to save the passengers.