SMELLS LIKE THE SALTY SEA

"What's happening here? What did you do to her?"

Rexana was speechless she knew she had so much to say but the sight of Daerin in his swimming suit took her words away.

"Sir, this girl just simply intruded in the resort," the guard explained.

That was the only moment Rexana got back to her senses. Now, it would be the time for her to stand up for herself. For sure Daerin didn't forget what he said last night. Well, she hoped he didn't.

"I am not intruding! Didn't you say that I am free to come here Daerin?"

"Call her sir, sir Daerin. He is the owner of this resort. You, uneducated people, just don't know how to respect." Smokes seemed to come out from the guard's ear and nose with his exasperation.

"It's okay," Daerin gave the guard a tap on the should. "She is right, she's my friend and I did tell her that she's free to come here anytime and I also permitted him to call me by my first name. The next time she will come here, please welcome her nicely okay?"

Rexana smirked and gave a teasing tongue reaction to the guard. Inside her mind, she wanna say proudly, 'Huh! I win, you lose."

However instantly she changed her reaction the moment she was facing Daerin again. Although, she was still uncomfortable looking at him with just his trunk.

He led her to one of the benches under a palm tree.

"I'll just have to go get changed and just wait for me here, okay?" Daerin said before he walked towards the shower room.

Rexana could still notice the unhappy look from the guard. It seemed that he hated losing, she thought, and just wanted to laugh at it. But, at that moment she felt that feeling again.

She felt like she was so lucky and special. She coudn't believe it, it seemed too impossible but the way Daerin had treated her, she was starting to believe that he liked her too.

However, behind those thoughts, she also wanted to believe the contrary which was actually much more realistic to think. Maybe Daerin was just good to everyone and not just her.

She pouted every time she thought about it. For, she was always been a dreamer, she had been dreaming of prince charming and this was the first time for her to feel like what she felt in her dreams.

She sometimes even dreamed that she was a mermaid. Nevertheless, she knew that those dreams were simply a product of her imagination, her fantasy and just because she loved the water so much, she would like to imagine herself being a mermaid.

She was too engrossed with her thoughts that she didn't realize that Daerin was already standing in front of her.

"Hey! Are you okay?" He said smiling this time he was already wearing a printed buttoned summer shirt that he forgot to button the three buttons on the top. It was exposing the curly body hair on his chest and a khaki-colored short pants.

He was already holding food packs in a paper bag in one of his hands and the other one was in his front pocket.

After scrutinizing Daerin from head to toe, there was only one thing that Rexana noticed and she couldn't just ignore it.

"Do you want me to finish buttoning your shirt? I assumed you are having a hard time," she said with her purely innocent voice and Daerin couldn't help but laugh.

"I actually can easily button my shirt to the top. I just kept it that way, since, it makes me feel fresher," he explained with a smile as he was also amused with Rexana, being as innocent as she was.

"Oh, I thought… actually I just want to help." She knew she was blushing so hard with embarrassment, that she just pressed her eyes and smiled again as if there was nothing to embarrass herself about.

"By the way, here I got some food packs for you and your family." He handed her the bag he smiled again when he noticed her wearing shoes. "I'm glad that it fits you well. Is it okay? Didn't it hurt your feet?"

"Uhm. Uhm…" Rexana was hesitating to answer because the truth it did hurt her feet. However, she didn't want to let Daerin feel that she didn't like his gift. She want her to know that it was very special to her.

"Oh, before I'll forget, I also have somehing for you." She immediately took out the pearls she had just recently harvested.

Daerin was surprised by the pearls, those were far bigger than the last time she gave and even more pieces than the last time. If Rexana would keep on giving her pearls. He knew that he would surely earn a lot from it. It was even worth more than the food he gave. However, he wasn't planning to take advantage of her innocence and goodness.

"This is very beautiful and I know that you know that it cost more than the food I gave you. Rexana, I am giving you these foods, not asking for anything in return. Think of it as my gift for you, I am not asking you to trade it with pearls." He slightly pushed Rexana's hands away, to let her know that he didn't want to accept it.

"No, this isn't a pay for your food. This is also a gift for you. A thank you gift for being good to me and for helping me." She tried to explain she understand Daerin and that she probably had expected her to say no to her gift because he didn't want to take advantage of her.

However, it made her happy and that was also the way to let him know that he had become important to her, since, he was the first person to let her feel that kind of happiness. The happiness that she had never felt before.

"Those pearls you gave last night were even more than enough for showing your gratefulness. I know it's not easy to get those pearls. I think it will help you a lot if you're just going to sell it. I can even buy it but, I'm afraid that you won't also accept my money."

"I took this one for you and I still have another set to sell. So, don't worry about it. It wasn't hard for me, it didn't even take me an hour to get these."

Those explanations simply informed Daerin that this girl was not willing to accept a 'no'.

They haven't noticed that they had talked for almost an hour or so, but they still kept going on.

"Please don't take this comment as something to degrade you. I just want to ask, are you always taking a bath at the sea? Had you tried bathing with fresh water?" Daerin asked.

Rexana got flustered in embarrassment. At that moment she realized that she was right about what she had been thinking before, that she smelled as salty as the sea. But she didn't want to lie, she knew she didn't smell good like other girls and of course, Daerin had noticed it.

"Uhm.. actually yes," she nodded and just simply shut up. She knew that Daerin wouldn't like her because of that. If she wanted Daerin to notice her, she knew that from that day on she had to change herself and keep herself tidy.