His hands shielded his eyes from the strong golden rays that were shining directly onto the bed. He blinked a couple of times, adjusting to the unfamiliar place.

He must have forgotten to pull the curtains closed last night.

Accumulated fatigue from the earlier days have lead him to sleep in that morning.

“Hey Love, time for breakkie! (He touched her cheeks gently) I’ve showered. It’s your turn now.” She rubbed her eyes, getting used to waking up by him … her mind groggy, still soaked in the magic fabricated by his hummings last night… my man can really sing..

“Room service! Hola! Here is your laundry and towels, Sir. Enjoy your stay!”

“Here, this is your set of clothing.”

She held the clothing and walked dazedly into the bathroom, bathed and changed.

“Would you like coffee or tea, Sir?”, the waiter asked as they took an empty table at the corner of the breakfast cafe which was located in basement 1.

“2 coffees, please. Gracia”, he replied with ease.

“Would you like to rest more today? We can just have breakfast and return to the room. We will go sight-seeing from tomorrow.” He asked with concern as he noticed the apparent dark circles and general lack of excitement in her loveliness,  “Don’t worry, we have almost 3 weeks here. We would be able to cover most of places that we planned to visit.” He assured her.

Before she could react, they felt sudden vibrations on the ground that came stronger by the second, causing the tableware to knock lightly against the cutlery, making tinkering sounds. They scanned around, wondering about the source of the tremor and also the fellow patrons’ calmness and obvious lack of reaction towards to the phenomenon. What is happening? A while later, the vibrations subsided. The waiter came by their table to serve them coffee. From the puzzled look that was all over their faces, the waiter thought and tried to explain in English, “Subway station is very near to us. We feel vibrations when trains pass by. It is all right. Enjoy your breakfast!  Tell me if you would like more coffee.”

Is it even possible to be sooooo… near to a subway tunnel? They glanced at each other and burst out laughing.

That laughter, the amusement lightens the mood. They couldn’t contain their laughter when the next round of tremors arrive.

Breakfast was a simple spread of toast, bread, tapas, cheese, eggs, baked beans, fruits and juice… Halfway through breakfast, she said, “Oh yes! This set of sports wear fits me well. It is very comfortable too. Where did you get it? Shall we get one more set today?”

“Sure!”

Hand in hand, they went shopping, got some clothings and necessities. As the day goes on, she managed to relax (with a lot of teasing from him), her mood uplifted considerably, they proceeded to browse through the longest and busiest street in the large city. 

The broad, cobblestone street was packed with locals and tourists. They sauntered past the famous local marketplace where local farmers and merchants sell their ware. From the well-maintained structure and general cleaniness, they could hardly believe that the bazaar is close to eight centuries old!

In the market, they were greeted by rows and rows of neatly displayed fresh produce, olives, cheese, fruits, snacks.. , Buckets and buckets of tapas and ice cream amazed and induced their appetites! The glazed walnuts they sampled were lovely, but luxurious, and came with a whopping price tag! The mouth-watering serrano ham are equally costly!

“It’s pricely because of the breed of the livestock, feed used to rear them, and the part of the livestock utilised to make the ham. (he pointed to the other stall) Let’s try the cheese and ham cone there. It's iconic!”

They bought the cute little inverted cone-like pocket (like those which we use to put popcorn) of manchego cheese with jamon ibserico ham at a much cheaper price. He witnessed her eyes widened after she tried the first piece. “The taste,… it is just phenomenal!” she exclaimed.

They munched as they moved down the street. “Hey, that last piece of cheese is mine!” he demanded playfully just as she placed it into .  She ran and he gave chase. He caught up with her, moved close to bite the corner of the cheese that was hanging outside her lips, kissing her as a result. Her eyes were huge, rolled, and she hitted him lightly, “We are in the middle of the streets!”

“The cheese is heavenly”, he smirked in triumph, coupled with a hue of imp in his eyes. He placed a piece of ham in her waiting mouth, “That's just too tasty. Can I have another round?” ... and off she ran...

Two big kids played catching, right in the middle of a crowded street, where numerous street performers displayed their skills and countless souvenir vendors sold a mixture of quality mementos and kitschy keepsakes.  

As her luggage was still nowhere in sight, they bought a couple of things for her every day. She was somewhat disappointed with the low efficiency of the airline, although she understood the grave situation of the strikes that affected numerous passengers and their families.

They proceeded to the nearby islets, enjoyed canoeing, snorkelling, fishing etc for 3 days. They stayed close, immersing in the sun, water, and each other.

With his love growing and glowing in her, she is no longer so conscious of the bubbly but skimpy bikini that they bought for her at the resort, so that she could enjoy the sun and waves.

They lay on the billions of fine, sandy grains, relaxing in the shade, resting after a round of snorkelling. She turned to glance at him…

"Don’t worry about the missing luggage. It will be back, when it will be. For now, we can get the things we need a bit at a time. Do you know? You look incredibly great in my tees, or we can dress you up as a Catalan (he joked, bringing a smile to her lips, easing her tension). We needn’t let that glitch affect our time together, ... “ he kissed her hand, “I am here with you", she recalled him breathing that into her ears, while he held her hand in his warm one affectionally.

A tear rolled down on her cheek, unknowing to her till she felt the dampness.

He was quick to wipe it away, “What is it, my love? Are you tired? Or is the sun too glaring?”

She just shook her head lightly. Worrying him was the last thing she wished. Yes, this is enough, more than enough. Tangibles are something we can buy and get by with. We do not need a lot anyway. We have the basics ... and you here. You are very much more important and I am elated to be here, with you. Being deeply loved by you gave me newly gained strength, felt a fresh, cozy coat of comfort and … attained much inner peace with myself, which are the intangibles that .. that I needed so... but have never experienced before.

“You have sand on your cheeks”, he said softly into her ears.

As his hand touched her face to wipe off the grains, his lips tried to greet hers but unfortunately, he moved a little too fast, too right, causing his nose to knock into hers. Sensing his minor hiccup, she blinked innocently and chuckled. He made an annoyed expression at himself over his earlier mis-judgement, re-positioned his elbow, anchored it more firmly on the sand, maneuvered his face over hers, hand caressed her cheek, thumb grazed over her lips, and placed into position. He took a deep breath, tilted his head, closed his eyes and zeroed in, so that their lips could meet comfortably.

Their lips brushed against each other gently, nibbling, tasting, like the soft wings of a butterfly, lingered just enough for him to breathe her in completely and be intoxicated by her proximity, for her to feel the warmth from his toned body..

Later, he pulled back sheepishly, she kissed his nose, as they opened their eyes to gaze deeply into each other. That sustained eye contact, the alternate form of intimacy, hazed and dazed them.

"Let's check out what's available in the bazaar today!"

"Do you want to try the fried potato spirals that we had yesterday?"

"Maybe?" she laughed.

They dusted off the sand, pulled on their huge tees over their swim-wear, don their slippers and proceeded to browse through the stalls along the streets, exploring, looking for something interesting to try.

“Hey! That’s churros!”

“Yes, churros with hot chocolate! Caramel, chocolate and vanilla flavoured churros!” They were spolit for choice and got two to try. It was divine.

Just as they finished their churros, they couldn’t resist to drop by the a tapas shop to have a taste.  Well, when in Rome, do what the Romans do.  The locals recommended them to try the fried dried fishes (actually preserved anchovies) to go with the cold mini-sized beer. That combination perked up their day and is not enough to make one tipsy. It just energised them to keep them going! A little , and a drink, just took 5 minutes, and off they went.

They browsed through the market and immersed in the lively energy of the place.  

“They have a very relaxed and laid-back culture here”, she commented.

“Yes, people enjoy life, stop in the middle of the streets, get a tapas, perked up, have a siesta in the late afternoon, before getting back to whatever they are working on. How many countries can do this?” he added. 

His phone vibrated and he checked his sms.

“Oh yes, dear, there was something I had been wanting to ask you”, she asked while sipping her juice.

“Yes?”

“The avatar in my phone is DBS. Why did you use Killua as your avatar?”

“You know?” he looked positively amazed.

“Yes, I do watch some animations. Why Killua? Why not Gon? The relatively darker Killua vs the positive Gon?”

He placed his hand naturally over her shoulder while she held the cup of juice for him to sip. “Killua is a born genius in combat, highly intelligent, receptive, streetwise and strong. Yes, this prodigy is tinted by the dark assassin force that runs in his blood. No matter how cruel his grandparent and parents had raised and trained him, deprive him of friends, he has a strong principle of what he does not want to do, and that is not to proceed with the assassin business. At a tender age, he is well versed and have the means to be cruel and inhumane. Nevertheless, he did not do that, unless necessary. His cold, conceited and carefree façade adequately masked his deeply ingrained solitude and lack of direction. Later, he broke out of home, roamed the world on his skateboard, met Gon, the highly positive, motivated, competitive and gifted hunter-to-be. Gradually, he got to know Gon much better, touched by Gon's sincerity and thus, helping Gon attain his goal (find Gon's Dad) become his goal too. These 2 like-minded people trained hard, solved riddles, braved hurdles, evolved and eventually became the best of friends. Killua is exceptionally endowed and empowered with both intelligence and strength, fiercely protective, faithful and will go all the way for his beliefs and best friend.”

“Yes, agree. A lot of Japanese anime has sinister elements in their heros, be it Killua in Hunter, or Ichigo in Bleach. All these heros have a common share in darkness. The dark elements didn’t weaken them. On the contrary, those dark forces made them stronger. Very often, they have an unusual will to gather their strength that enabled them to rise above the dark.  This is not a binary issue. Just like in real life, there is no complete black or white. There is always that hue of grey. ”

“Killua is absurdly smart and fiercely protective, just like AMH.”

Those similarities suddenly dawned on her! “Yes..” she agreed..

He added, “If you gone to the wrong side of him, you’ll be in serious trouble!”

She replied, "That's scary!"

He protested, “What’s wrong? We protect what we love and treasure, within our abilites.”

Just like AMH, just like DBS, who fiercely protect whom they love and what they believe in.