The Boyfriend

Neither of them could sleep that night. They laid on their own mattresses in silence, in the dark, pretended to be asleep. She got out of bed just in time to see the sunrise. She thought Nathan was sleeping, just when she inhaled the first morning breeze, he was already standing behind her.

“It’s the best sunrise I’ve ever experienced anywhere,” he said, startling her. She smiled. “That’s another reason why I brought you here … an island getaway,” he added.

“It wasn’t supposed to be for me, I wish the circumstances were different.”

Silence.

He walked over to her, stood right behind her, he put his hands on the railing. She felt his breath on her hair, on her neck. He didn’t touch her, but it felt like he was undressing her.

He was having a moment. In his mind, she was the lover that he always wanted to bring to that island. But she was still afraid of him, how she felt about him.

“I’m dying to kiss you right now,” he whispered.

She closed her eyes, she wanted him to kiss her, but thinking about it made her feel like a fraud. He was leaning his face close to her, she panicked and turned around. It was a bad move. He aimed for her lips, she turned away.

“Please don’t do this … we can’t do this,” she said.

He buried his face in the curve of her neck. He never wanted anything he couldn’t have that bad before. She touched his face, slowly removed herself away from him.

“I think we should do the videos, wrap up and go home.” she was ending the matter altogether.

The videos were the last thing on his mind, but he forced himself to nod.

She wasn’t letting him in. She wasn’t going to give him the chance to talk about it again. It was said, it was a done deal. Never. She thought. It’s never going to happen. It was sad, but she can handle it. She’ll do her job as best she can, she will have to move out of his house.

They tried to make the videos, Nathan wasn’t feeling it. Most of the footage was of his frowning face, sulking, tired and rejected. She will probably have to delete them. They weren’t talking much other than trying to get through the morning. They loaded their stuff in the motorboat, they were silent the entire boat trip to Bhorma and slept all the way back to the villa.

The truck driver had to wake them up when they arrived. They took a minute to sober up and unload their stuff from the truck. It felt like a hangover, they weren’t even drinking the night before. They walked up to the villa in silence, he couldn’t take it anymore. He pulled her hand. She turned, they stood looking at each other.

“Is this how it’s going to be? Pretending like we don’t feel anything for each other?”

She didn’t know how to answer that.

“Because I can’t do it,” he said.

“You have to try.”

“Why? I don’t want to. I don’t need to.”

“You know why … you have to stop doing this, Nathan, ’cause I don’t think we can work together if we keep doing this.”

He was stunned, she was determined to shut him out. “This is ridiculous,” he rested his hands on his waist.

Julie was not interested in prolonging the conversation. She shook her head, and turned to walk away. She had only walked a few steps when he decided to grab her arm and kissed her.

She slapped him so hard, it shocked her, she covered her mouth in horror. “I’m so sorry … I didn’t mean to …”

He touched his face. He grimaced in pain.

“Are you okay?” she felt bad.

Before he could answer, a woman’s voice startled them. “I thought I heard someone talking … there you are!” Nathan’s mother walked out from the villa and saw the whole ordeal. “Is everything alright?” she asked. There was no answer to that question. It was evident where he got his Asian blood from. Lana Sommers was a sophisticated and elegant woman who had witnessed a quarrel, she was wise enough not to intrude.

“Mom … what a surprise? When did you come?”

She went over to them in confusion. She hugged Nathan and touched his slapped cheek without asking a question.

“Mom … this is Julie … the one I’ve been telling you about.”

Her eyes widened with an awkward smile, “Julie … how nice to have finally met you.”

Julie shook her hand, forced a smile even though she felt horrible after slapping her son in front of her. “Mrs. Sommers, I’m sorry … we were just …”

“Lana … please, call me Lana …” she was welcoming despite the incident. She looped her arm around Nathan’s. “Please … no need to explain, I’m sure everybody has their own problem.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”

“It was a last minute decision, your father had a business trip, and your sister had Valentine’s plan with her boyfriend, so I thought I flew out here to see how you’re doing,” she explained. She paused. She knew she had walked into an unfinished business. They walked up to the villa, neither Julie or Nathan was saying anything to each other. “Sweetheart …” she was going to say something when they heard running footsteps coming from the villa.

“Surprise!!” Kelsey shouted from afar.

Julie and Nathan looked at each other briefly, and looked at Kelsey to welcome her.

“I was just going to tell you … your girlfriend is here.”

Kelsey descended the stairs and ran towards them.

“She came with a nice young man too,” Lana added.

A figure emerged following Kelsey. With his unbuttoned tropical shirt and short pants. He took off his sunglasses, a smile bloomed on his face. Just the face she needed to see.