Kiss the girl

They had sailed a little further away from the island. Lara hugged herself as the cold salty wind hit her exposed shoulders and arms. She can still see the island with its path of lights, lanterns and candles. Above her the stars are shining brightly, and the crescent moon positioned like a smile.

A crew of the yacht had taken her into the viewing deck shortly when she arrived, as he informed her to wait for Alex. He must have had something urgent with work. So she busied herself with the view.

She was startled when a coat was draped on her cold shoulders and looking back she found Alex' face a breath away from her.

"Silly. If you were cold you could have asked for a coat." He then hugged her from behind.

She found it warm, and she would have relaxed in his arms if only her heart wasn't beating profusely.

'This is practice.' She told herself.

"Not really, though cold it's quite comforting." That's true. It's been so long since she was able to enjoy a night like this. Probably the last time was when she and her parents sailed a small boat by the lake, near her Aunt Carol's house.

It is a memory she would cherish for the rest of her life. They were singing a song from her favorite Disney movie, The Little Mermaid, as they paddled across the lake.

She can clearly remember her father as he sing "Kiss the girl" to her and her mother. Charles had been a music lover, as music could be heard wherever he was from day to night. He was the one who inspired her to study Music.

"What were you thinking?" He felt her daydreaming in his arms, and he doesn't like it.

"My mom and dad. The last time I was in a boat on a night like this was with them." Her smile was bittersweet.

"Tell me something about them then." His sour mood lessened when he heard it was her parents on her mind.

"They're the sweetest, most romantic married couple I have ever seen in my existence." She beemed.

"Why so?"

"My dad, he never had an ex-girlfriend. He had only loved one woman his whole life and that was my mom. He never stopped wooing her until their last breath, and we had celebrated every 3rd of the month for 18 years to commemorate the day they became a couple." Her cheeks warmed when she thought of it. Of course those two had been celebrating even before she was born.

And they had met two years before her birth.

"How about your mom?" Though he has a vague guess to what happened to Alana Yu back then, he still want to know what she know.

"Mom doesn't like to talk about it as she had cut ties with her family when she eloped with my dad. She was set on an arranged marriage by her father then." She didn't even know a single relative from her mother's side. Also her mother dropped her family's surname leaving her no clue who could they be.

"They eloped?" So his guess was true. When pictures of Lara's parents was sent to him, it is evident that Alana Yu didn't die giving birth, rather it was six years ago on a fatal car accident with Charles Lee.

However, he can't figure out what might have happened why Crystal grew up with the Yu's and Lara with her parents.

"Haha yeah, but my mom hadn't told me so much. Only that they went out of the country then but was forced to come back. I think it has something to do with my grandmother and my Aunt Carol but like I said I don't know the rest." Her mother always get upset when she asked, and her father became depressed when she tried to ask, so as she grew up she questioned their love story less.

Alex knew when to stop asking as well. He didn't want to ruin the mood of the night he had carefully prepared.

Then he lead her to the dining table which was prepared by the chef as they were talking. All of the food at the table seemed delectable as the aroma filled Lara's nostrils.

But goodness gracious! She doesn't know what these food are called!