Kyles P.O.V.
"I'm not like you," I replied coldly, turning my gaze back to the horizon.
"I don't just date anyone I happen to meet."
"Yeah, right," Xyrus muttered, rolling his eyes.
"You should leave now. I was clearly worried over nothing."
"Aww, you were worried about me?" Xyrus cooed.
He instantly lunged forward, clinging to my arm while looking up at me with ridiculous puppy-dog eyes.
I felt a slight pang of sympathy deep down, though I would never admit it aloud to him.
Of course I was worried about him. I was the exact one who had stayed by his side when that girl abruptly dumped him back then.
I knew exactly how shattered he felt that day; he had been completely miserable for months.
"Jeez, get off me." I shook my arm roughly, shoving him away.
"You're getting weirder by the day. Go now."
"Wow. You're really kicking me out right after dragging me all the way over here?" Xyrus sighed heavily, throwing his arms up in the air.
"Ugh, what else did I expect? I knew you'd be like this, and yet I still came. Haaaaaaa!"
"Just don't drink yourself into a stupor again tonight," I warned, ignoring his dramatic sigh.
He finally stood up from the wooden bench and began to walk away, his playful demeanor dropping into something much quieter as his slippers padded against the deck.
"Yeah, yeah. You're still the overprotective big brother I never had," he muttered under his breath.
I knew he genuinely meant it. He had a biological brother. They spoke on the phone occasionally, but it was always distant and cold. They seemed close on the surface, but not really.
"I don't even like you, Xy," I called after him dryly.
He didn't look back, simply waving a dismissive hand over his shoulder as he walked down the gazebo deck steps. Within a few minutes, his figure completely vanished from sight past the palm trees.
Silenced settled over the railing again, leaving me completely alone with a heavy sound of crashing waves.
Pollen's P.O.V.
I finished eating my lunch, but sadly, there were so many dishes left over. Cleo told me that the remaining food could not be given to the staff due to a strict food safety policy. I agreed with her, understanding the rules, though it still felt a bit wasteful
Afterward, I headed out to the beach. I was walking along the side of the ocean, wearing a light summer dress with thin straps and a strapless bra underneath. My hair was quickly getting messy due to the persistent sea winds, blowing across my face.
I walked with my hands resting behind my back, humming a quiet tune to myself. The sky was bright even without the direct glare of the sun rays, casting a soft, even light over the water.
I looked up at the sky, watching the unique cloud shapes forming above the horizon.
"Wow," I breathed out, tracking the slow movement of the white mist.
"That's a bunny."
I raised a finger and pointed toward the next formation drifting over the sea.
"And that's an apple."
I took out my cellphone from inside my dress pocket and snapped a quick picture of the sky.
"Zachy will probably like it," I said to myself, looking down at the image on my screen as I hit send. I immediately shared the photo with Zachy, and of course, I sent it to Dahlia too.
Dahlia kept nagging me to text her about absolutely everything happening inside the island. I decided I would just talk about all the details later when I was completely done with my two-week vacation. This was only the first day, so I needed to just clear my head and enjoy the view.
I turned my camera back toward the horizon and took another picture. This cloud looked remarkably like a blooming rose.
"So pretty," I murmured.
"Right. It is pretty."
I jumped slightly as a man wearing dark sunglasses and a woven sun hat suddenly showed up right beside me. He was staring directly at me, his tall frame blocking out a portion of the midday light.
"Oh, hi!" I blurted out, my excitement instantly overriding my usual social anxiety.
"Are you also invited by the CEO? I'm Pollen Anderson."
I quickly raised my hand to offer a handshake. I was just so excited to see another person that I completely forgot my usual cautious manners. Realizing how forward I was being, my cheeks heated up.
"Oh, sorry if I startled you! I was just happy seeing someone here on the island besides me and the staff."
He looked incredibly familiar.
"Yeah, I was actually invited here too," he said calmly, looking down at me. His height was strikingly similar to someone I knew in my fuzzy memory, though I couldn't quite place it.
He took my hand, his grip firm and steady. His hand felt surprisingly warm against mine. Feeling a sudden prickle of awkwardness, I gently pulled my hand away from his grasp.
"That's nice to hear," I said, offering a small smile.
Without a word, he reached up, removed his sunglasses, and looked directly into my eyes.
"Ohhh, you're that guy!" I pointed a finger at him in pure shock, my eyes widening as I immediately took a large step backward to put some distance between us.
It was that exact guy from the Central park and the Morris & Montenegro Art Museum. How could I ever forget how coldly he had treated me that day?
Why was he here?
Why the hell was he invited to this exclusive resort on the exact same day as me?
I was totally confused, and an overwhelming urge to run away from him surged through my chest.
He didn't take a step forward to close the gap. Instead, he just looked at me in mild amusement, a soft, quiet laugh suddenly escaping his lips.
"Why are you laughing?" I asked, my eyebrows furrowing tightly as I held my phone defensively against my chest.
"You're funny, Miss Anderson," he replied smoothly.
He turned his gaze back up toward the sky, standing there with a naturally cold, commanding aura while shoving his hands casually into his shorts pockets.
Am I funny? In what way?!
I grumbled internally.
He slowly removed his woven sun hat and stepped closer, halting right in front of me. I instinctively closed my eyes for a brief second, my throat tightening. When I slowly opened my eyes, he met my gaze head-on.
I gulped, frozen in place as he took one deliberate step forward.
"You don't have to worry. I'm not going to bite you," he said softly.
Before I could process his words, he reached out and gently shoved his sun hat onto my head, letting the wide brim settle over my messy hair.
I could feel my face burning intensely. Standing this close, a familiar scent washed over me—he smelled so incredibly nice, exactly like the day we had first collided. Our eyes locked for a brief, heavy moment under the shade of the brim.
"It's nice to meet you too," he said, the corners of his lips twitching as he tried his best not to laugh at my flustered state.
Without waiting for a response, he turned around and walked away, heading back down the shoreline.
I stood entirely still on the sand, gripping my phone even tighter against my chest as I watched his retreating figure. My heart was racing wildly, probably from the sheer, unexpected tension of the encounter.
I completely shook my head, my fingers lightly touching the woven brim of the hat resting on my head. Just then, a sharp vibration rattled in my palm. I looked down at my screen and saw that I had received a rapid response from Dahlia.
I tapped the notification to open the message thread.
[Pol, you should tell the CEO that I want to go there too! That scenery is so pretty.]
I quickly typed out a reply, rolling my eyes at her predictable excitement.
[If I meet him here, I will tell him to invite you. He is probably fifty or sixty years old, right?]
A second later, bubbles popped up, and her text flashed onto the screen.
[I heard he's young, maybe just a little older than us. But girl! Don't forget to update me.]
[I will tell you the full story once my vacation is done :P ] I teased her, deliberately withholding the details to drive her crazy.
[Hmmmmmmmmp! Fine, but give me at least a souvenir. Maybe get some sand, water, and air for me.] She replied fast, her text popping up almost instantly.
Reading her dramatic demand, I couldn't help but wonder if Mr. Henderson wasn't patrolling around her desk to keep her on task at the office today.
[Okay, I will get you some sand, water, and air. Hahaha.]
I smiled warmly down at my phone screen.
This environment was truly satisfying. For the first time in a very long time, my head felt completely safe from the agonizing mental static of the city. I looked up at the vast blue sky again, a peaceful sigh escaping my lips as the calm breeze swept past.
"I wonder why he gave me his hat," I murmured to the empty shore.
"What a total, weird stranger."
I paused for a second, staring at the empty expanse where his tall figure had just vanished.
"I don't even know his name."
I sighed softly, shoved my phone back into my dress pocket, and continued my peaceful walk along the shoreline, the woven hat shielding my face from the bright midday sun.