Meeting new friends

After resting for an hour, Aryana booked a ticket for Green Heights. She took the first available flight the following morning.

She decided to stroll around the beach and take more videos and photos. She was wearing a spaghetti strap printed dress. The hemline was just a little above her knees. It was a simple summer outfit with a beach vibe, with vibrant blue patterns reminiscent of the blue of the sea and the sky. She paired it with a blue flip-flop, a neutral-colored waterproof tote bag and a white straw hat. Underneath, she wore a black tube top and black shorts.

The weather was perfect. Tourists of various nationalities and ages, sizes and shapes were frolicking on the shallow waters and ebbing tide. Some were burying themselves in the sand while a few children were building sand castles with their parents.

She was walking behind a rowdy group of foreigners, three girls and two boys, when she saw one of them drop his wallet.

A young boy which looked like a local appeared all of sudden and picked up the wallet and was about to run but Aryana blocked his way and held his wrist tightly and twist it a little bit. She learned that move from Marlon when they were on The Peak.

"Let go!" She commanded the boy in a cold voice.

The boy grimacing in pain dropped the wallet without a bit of hesitation. He pulled his hand and ran away from her.

Aryana picked up the wallet and ran after the foreigners.

"Hey! One of you dropped your wallet!" She shouted while panting.

The one who dropped the wallet was a scrawny teenager. The others called him Young Master Mu Chen.

"Thank you." He thanked her in broken English.

"You are welcome!" Aryana said in Chinese which surprised the group. She heard them conversing in Chinese earlier.

The group looked friendly and Aryana felt comfortable with them. Aryana was equally amiable and they soon chatted freely.

Aryana was gifted in languages. Driven by the need to earn more, she self-learned Korean, Chinese, and Japanese so she has more options when doing tutorials.

Since she was alone, she volunteered to act as the photographer of the group. They just graduated from high school and they treated themselves to a getaway on Paradise Island.

The group spent the afternoon exploring two caves and cliff jumping. Aryana joined in the fun.

The caves were home to bats. If they came at twilight, they should be able to witness the thousands of bats waking up and flying out of the caves and disappearing into the night. But they came in the early afternoon so they can only watch the bats hanging upside down from the walls and ceiling of a cave.

After taking photos and enjoying the richness of the flora and fauna surrounding the caves, they proceeded to the cliff-jumping site.

When it was her turn to jump, she asked their guide who was a local to take a video of her. Standing on the edge of the cliff, she hesitated. Fear was clearly painted on her face. She was still traumatized by her drowning experience the other day and she has fear of heights.

She inhaled deeply. She decided to face her fears.

'l can do this.'

Amidst the shouts of encouragement of her newfound friends, she took a leap of faith and anticipated her plunge into the clear turquoise water fifteen meters below. She felt a rush of adrenaline when she was suspended on nothing for a few seconds before her feet made contact with the cool water and created a huge splash.

Splash!

She was all smiles when she emerged from the water. She has overcome her fears.

Aryana hung out with her Chinese friends until late evening. They had dinner together in one of the famous restaurants and spent the rest of the evening drinking cocktails while watching the bonfire by the beach.

Aryana taught them a few words in English and the local dialect. They in turn taught her deeper and more difficult words.

Finally, Aryana bid them goodbye. They have already added each other to their social media accounts. Aryana promised to keep in touch and teach them English online.

Aryana never thought that the five strangers she met that day, will be the ones that will help her during one of the darkest days of her life.

Aryana was very tired but still, she forced herself to take a shower. While drying her hair, she checked her cell phone and frowned when there were a lot of missed calls and messages on her phone.

'Aryana where are you.' This is Marlon.

'Hey, where are you? Why are you not answering my call?'

'Aryana pick up.'

There were messages.

Aryana texted back.

'Sorry, my phone was in silent mode. We explored some caves and did cliff jumping.'

'Tired now. Will go to sleep. Good night.'

—————

Erik and Marlon were in the private room of a club when Marlon's phone lit up. He showed it to Erik who seemed unhappy when he read the message from Aryana.

Prism is a famous club on the island which Erik owned. He had no choice but to accompany his uninvited guests tonight. Megan was pestering him all afternoon until he had a headache and agreed. On the surface, he was cold and distant to Megan, but in reality, he cared and doted on her. In fact, she was the only one that he cared about in his father's family.

Michelle was sitting beside him and has been seducing him the moment they entered the VIP room. He ignored her as he continued to drink. She kept rubbing her body on him and this irritated him.

He cannot stand the pungent smell of Michelle's perfume. He excused himself to get some fresh air and to smoke.

He took his cell phone and browsed the gallery on his cloud drive. New photos and videos were added. He frowned when he saw her with a group of foreigners in the cave. He can't tell if they were Koreans or Chinese.

He paused on a selfie where she was looking straight at the camera with cute dimples showing at both corners of her mouth. Her hazel eyes were very clear and sparkled like a star. Her nose was small and dainty. He was mesmerized by her pretty face.

'It's just because I missed Robert.' Erik loved Robert more than he loved his own biological father. Seeing his daughter will naturally cause him to react as he did now.

He watched the video of her jump. There were several clips, taken by different people at different angles. He thought for a while and sent a message. He put out his half-finished cigarette before going back to their VIP room.