CHAPTER 3.1

CHAPTER 3.1

The feeling of being on this motorbike for the very first time reminded me of how important it was to never let our problems stress us out or get the best of us because one way or another we will all get through it. Maybe not today or tomorrow but eventually the pain we are feeling will heal one way or another. This kind of bliss and freedom makes me feel that I am actually alive and I have so much to be thankful and be happy for than hurting over one man who cheated on me. I loved how the cold wind brushes over my cheeks as if it was giving me subtle kisses on my face reminding me that I am loved.

When Harry parked his motorcycle, I handed him his helmet and noticed that we have entered a very island-like chill kind of type restobar with a Spanish vibe on it. Harry takes my hand as we entered and I didn’t really mind how he held my hand as we walk to the table where his friends were waiting. The restobar has an outdoor establishment extended from the indoor part where live music was found. There was a man playing the guitar as a woman in a floral dress was singing some wonderful songs.

“The man of the hour finally arrived.” The blond guy says as he glances at how Harry was holding my hand. He smiles at me, “Well hello lovely lady.” He greeted and sounded very much happy.

I smiled, “Hi.” Harry gestures the chair for me to sit, “Thanks.” I tell him as I watch him grab another chair from the other table as he placed it next to me.

“So Harry, who’s this new lady bug?” The woman with a sexy red top smiles at me before she takes a long drink from her beer.

“I want you all to meet Merry. My new found friend.” Harry formally introduces me to his friends with a huge smile on his face. “Merry this is Zion Watts.” He gestured to the black haired guy with a really handsome face who has tattoos on him as he greeted me a low hello and I responded courteously. “He might look a bit aloof but he’s actually fun.” I smiled at Harry.

“This is Neal Bartley.” Harry gestures to the guy with blond who was kind enough to extend his hand to me for a handshake to which I accepted. “He’s just freaking laughing all the time.”

“Nice to meet you too.” I responded to Neal.

“These are the lasses.” Harry gestured to the three women I have seen earlier in the coffee shop. “This is Diana.” Gesturing to the woman with the red top and brown tousled hair. “That’s Olivia.” Moving his hand to the black and curly haired woman who had gray eyes. “And this is Georgina-Rose but we all call her Georgie.” lastly the woman with a very light blond shoulder-length hair, with light blue eyes and had the most angelic face I have ever seen in my life. She looked like a doll.

“You were the one Harry talked to in the coffee shop earlier right?” Olivia asks as she hands me a beer.

I nod at her as I accepted the bottle, “Thanks.”

“Harry’s totally smitten by you.” Diana jokes.

I glance at Harry who is just smiling on his seat, “Who won’t be smitten to see such a beautiful lady like Merry?” He says while looking at me.

“You and your mouth could get you into trouble.” I peeled my head away from him.

Harry suddenly pulled my chin and made me turn back my attention to him, “I don’t mind getting into trouble if it’s with you.” He winks at me.

His friends teases him and his smile widens more while staring intently into my eyes. It felt like they were supporting him with what he is doing and I don’t think this has not happened before.

“I told you your mojo does not work on me.” I reminded and looked away from him.

“Tough gal.” Zion raised his bottle of beer to me to which I clinked my bottle too. “Cheers.”

I smiled as I took a sip from the beer too. The night continued as we talked more about the island where I found out that Diana has been here all her life and does not want to leave yet while Olivia has only a week left before she goes back to her hometown and Georgina-Rose has decided to live here and shares a huge house composed of 5 bedrooms with Harry also living in it where they both pay half the rent every month. For the entire night, I could feel that Georgina-Rose secretly likes Harry because she’s so attentive to him the whole time to which I ignored since she kept glancing at me every time Harry tries to show me sweet gestures.

Zion mentioned that he planned to stay here only for a month but he’s already staying here for more than what he planned for together in the house where Harry and Georgina -Rose lives in. As for Neal, he just arrived here two weeks ago and has moved in the same house as Harry and he does not know when he is planning to leave the island. All of them sounded so charmed by the island since it seems like they don’t want to go back home. I think they really found their happiness and their selves here.

When we got a hang of the restobar, we decided to go to their beach house where Harry, Zion, Neal and Georgina -Rose were living together. The house was massive and it was found just a few walks away from Diana’s house. They had a grand piano in their living room and two acoustic guitars in the corner. They had their own beach on the backyard and the view at a night like this was truly breath-taking. The wind feels nice as we stepped out of their backyard while Neal, Olivia and Georgina-Rose were in the kitchen grabbing more beers from their kitchen.

Harry and Zion were trying to make fire while I sit in the corner watching them. The others finally came bringing an ice cooler with loads of beer inside. The ladies tried making fun of Harry and Zion who was still struggling in making a fire. I stood and decided to help them.

Harry looks at me hesitantly as soon as I grabbed the tools from him, “You know how to make a fire?”

“My dad and I used to camp out when I was a little girl.” I answer him as I squat next to Zion. “You’re only going to prevent the flame if you do that.” I tell Zion as I stare at his eyes and realized that he had the loveliest curled eyelashes.

“It does?” He asks.

I nod. “You do it like this instead. Look at my hands.” I showed him as he was attentive until his eyes widened the moment I made fire.

“Whoa! You made fire that quick. You saw that Harry?” Zion calls out to Harry and it sounded cute when he called him “Harreh”. “Impressive camper.” He shows me his fist and I bumped it with mine. He smiles at me as he sits down on the sand.

I secured the fire to make it grow a little bigger before I sat down as I watch how Harry was handing everyone beers. Lastly, he handed me one before sitting down next to me as I thanked him for it.

“I didn’t know you were a girl scout.” Harry teases me.

“Don’t be too impressed.”

He smirks at me, “Too late. I was already impressed when I first saw you.”

I feel myself getting a little flattered but I try to stop myself from being swooned by such compliment.

“So, Merry.” I turned my attention to Olivia. “How did you know about the island?”

“An email was sent to me.” I answered.

Zion nods, “Me too. I got an email as well.”

“Likewise. I accepted right away as soon as I saw the pictures.” Neal chimes.

“I mean who would decline such island. It’s mostly like heaven on earth.” I tell them to which they all agreed. “Is it always so relaxing in here?” I can’t help but ask.

“It is relaxing here. I guess that’s the reason why most of us are staying here longer than we have planned.” Harry answers me where everyone else was nodding. “It’s always sunny in here and the weather is always so nice. They have a perfect spot for surfing.”

“Do all of you surf too?” I asked the others.

“I surf.” Diana answers. “The rest of them are just on-lookers. I have lived on this island all my life so practically I have grown into surfing too.”

I nod.

“You should try it.” Diana smiles at me.

I shake my head sideways, “I don’t… I don’t think that’s a sport for me.”

“Do you remember when Neal tried it for the first time when Harry was teaching him?” Olivia laughs and got everyone laughing too. “He got so scared his knees were shaking when he was trying to stand!”

Zion chuckles under his throat, “Poor Neal.”

Harry takes my hand so I look at him, “I can teach you how to surf.”

I shake my head, “No, I don’t think I can do surfing.”

“Of course you can. I’m a really good teacher.”

“Harry is an excellent surfing instructor.” Georgina-Rose adds. “I learned how to surf because of him.”

Neal gave Georgina-Rose an eye, “You just liked surfing because you like Harry.”

Diana and Olivia nods with smiles on their faces but I can tell that Georgina-Rose was not liking being the topic of this discussion. I knew she liked Harry and I can tell easily with the way she looks at him.

“Okay, that’s enough jokes.” Harry warns Neal in a friendly way.

Zion just stares at Georgina-Rose. “Don’t be so insensitive Neal.” He scolded.

Neal chuckles, “What? We all know she likes Harry.”

“Neal that’s enough shoving.” Olivia hisses.

“Well sorry if I’m stating facts.” Neal tells everyone before he drinks his beer.

The entire topic was then pulled away from Georgina-Rose who’s staring at Harry intently while he was listening to Diana, sharing a funny story. The entire night was filled with laughter and funny stories before they arrived in LUAHU. Everyone shared their own stories about themselves and their lives before they came here except for Harry. He was just listening to their stories, just like me.

Neal shared that he was involved in a jetski accident before he came here on the island and decided to visit the island because he has been wasting lots of his money in Casinos. He said that the accident made him realize that he needed to get away from the city because he wanted to find himself again. As for Olivia, she wanted to move on from witnessing her father’s death when he was assassinated inside their home because of drugs. Zion also opened up about his addiction to drugs before he came to the island. He said he almost died of drug overdose many times but the last one which he thought he was dead was the one before he decided to fly here. He wanted to change himself for the better and thinks that the island was a wonderful place for rehabilitation and he has been sober now.

Compared to their life-changing stories, I felt the most pathetic for coming all the way here to the island of LUAHU. I came here because my boyfriend cheated on me and I felt all hope gone in a blink of an eye when it happened. It felt like my reason for escaping here was not as half as meaningful as theirs but all of us here in this circle are most definitely escaping from something in our real life.

“How about your life Georgie?” Diana asks. “We never really knew the reason why you came here.”

“I… I grew up with an abusive father.” Georgina-Rose confesses. “Um, the night before I came here, my mom and dad fought. The fight led to physical abuse where my dad accidentally killed my mom by stabbing her and he wanted to kill me but I was able to escape from our house.”

The entire circle was silent.

“You’re a very strong woman.” Harry commented which made me turn my focus on him. He was staring back at Georgina-Rose who is looking at him with dearly eyes. “You survived through all that.”

A part of me feels that Harry treats Georgina-Rose far more different with the way he treats the other ladies in this circle. He was more of a friend to the other two but to Georgina-Rose, he was not only being a friend but also being… brotherly? I don’t know if that word would fit.

“Don’t get drunk.” Harry tells Georgina-Rose.