IT'S WORTH MY LIFE

Daerin turned toward Rexana the moment Bruno disappeared. He could feel that she was staring at him but looked away the moment he turn his head to look at her.

"Are you okay?" Daerin asked.

Rexana nodded timidly as she mumbled, "thank you, sir."

"I'm Daerin-"

"De la Croix, You are the son of the owner of De la Croix hotel and resort. Of course sir I know you. I could still guess, even though, this is the first time I saw you." Rexana finally got a bit of courage to look at him. However, she also immediately looked away as soon as she finished talking.

"The first time for you to see me but you already know me. That's interesting, what if I'm not the one you thought who is?" Dearin leaned over on one of the mangrove trees as if imploring that he would be ready for some long conversation.

"Uhm, because, no one looked exactly like the way they described. Besides, I already saw Mr. De la Croix, your father, and you look exactly like him, just the younger version though." Rexana kept on looking away every time she finished talking with Daerin and he noticed that.

He smiled amused at how she acted and he couldn't help but stare at her.

The orange light from the sunset gave him ample light to make out Rexana's appearance. Even behind Rexana's dirty clothes and burnt skin, she had those healthy thighs and cute lips and a face with round eyes and thick lashes that could only be noticed if people would stare at her.

She was actually beautiful in her rugged clothes.

It gave Daerin more interest in her. She didn't look like most girls on the island, she had vibrant red hair and it was rare. However, Daerin don't have to focus on that as he knew how it would be easy for people to change their hair color. Even though he couldn't grasp the idea of her as the kind of girl to go to the salon with her look, he pushed away those thoughts and instead asked her something more relevant. What he wondered, he seemed to get that feeling of curiosity towards that girl.

"Are you from here?" he asked.

"No sir, my house is somewhere there," she pointed with her pout lips, that's how natives on this island usually do, and pointing with their lips could mean, it's far more than pointing with their finger.

"But why are you here? This place is kind of secluded and not safe for some pretty girl like you." Daerin smiled and no, he hadn't slipped his mouth. However, he felt weird about himself, it sounds like he was in the club flirting with someone. It was weird for him because apparently, the girl in front of her didn't look like someone worth flirting for.

Her hair was, even more, frizzier than the hornworts, her skin was discolored with sunburn and her dress looked like a rug. She even smelled as salty as the sea. It was weird how he became so interested and love talking with her and even gave her his full attention.

Maybe, he was intrigued by her ethnicity. She looked different and totally out of his league, He thought. She felt like Aunt Pina's dishes, exotic seafood that he coudn't help but have an urge to try.

"P-pretty?" Rexana flustered face became visible even with the pint of light left on the sunset and that amused Daerin more and he couldn't help but let out a chuckle. Most girls in the bar wouldn't fall for that single word anymore, probably they had heard it a lot.

However, obviously, it seemed like, that single word hit this girl hard. She almost couldn't stand straight. She kept rubbing her barefoot and her arms straightened feeling endeared as she looked away, trying so hard to hide her smile and her batting lashes.

"Yes, you are pretty. Is it the first time for you to hear that?"

"Uhm, Y-yes it is." Rexana could feel herself having her irises changed to heart. She couldn't understand what she was feeling at the moment. It seemed that she will be having a hard time sleeping later.

Daerin shook his head and smiled. Rexana was so amusing to him that he couldn't even get enough of her innocence. She felt so interesting in Daerin.

'No wonder, why that fisherman trying to abuse this girl,' he thought.

"By the way, what's your name I will ask you again. Why are you here in this secluded part of the bay?"

Rexana stood up straight before she opened her mouth as if trying to compose herself.

"Uhmm, I-I am Rexana Watson and I am here, be-because I was hoping to sell this." She opened her palm and a plastic container with pearls in various colors, shapes,s, and sizes inside.

"Oh, you are selling pearls?"

"Yes! And I took it myself. I dive to harvest Pearls. I am a Pearl diver." Rexana suddenly became lively with her sudden burst of confidence. She was always proud of herself as she was known to be the only pearl diver on their island. Many did try to do the same but they couldn't be as good as Rexana with it.

She was even wondering why, as she seemed to be gifted that way.

"That's amazing," Daerin said as he moved closer to Rexana to check her pearls.

"Do you like it, Sir? I can give it to you." She smiled as she stretched her hands to give Daerin the pearls.

"Okay, I will buy it." Daerin attempted to pull his wallet from his back pocket.

"No, no please sir don't buy it. I will give it to you."

"No, I couldn't take it, it's not easy to dive and get pearls from the bottom of the sea and you'll just give it to me?" Daerin shook his head and took out paper bills from his wallet. "How much is it?"

"It's worth my life and safety tonight sir and you just paid it even more than it cost."

Daerin halted with what he just heard from this simple, in fact, she even looked like a real uneducated island girl. She looked like she knew nothing, yet there were that depths in her words. And, she was right and that amazed Daerin.

Rexana handed him the pearls and he was still speechless.

"Thank you, and will you stop calling me sir? Call me Daerin. We are friends now."

Rexana smiled wider, thankfully it was dark enough to expose her now red-stained face.