A gentle breeze blew from the vast open space, rustling the endless line of lush greens. The tall palm trees swayed in accordance to the wind, retracting back to its original state while their long, bright fronds continued to rustle. The sun was high in the sky though it was only around the hours before noon. The air was humid, but balmy at the same time. Altogether, it was pleasant.

Everything was just so blue from the cloudless cerulean sky to the glittering water of the extensive ocean, getting darker, its color getting close to that of a sapphire as it became one with the horizon. It was a stark comparison to the white sand that surrounded the coastline. White waves lined the shore, foaming as they crashed against the sand and the face of a rock wall, engulfing the whole surroundings with the endless call of the sea.

Aya shielded her eyes from the sunlight, running towards a low palm tree and basking in its shade as she stared at the water. A smile etched itself across her face as she looked up and saw a couple of coconuts above her, just a couple of feet overhead. She stretched her hand towards it, trying to gauge the distance she had to make up for to pluck it off of the tree.

She took the makeshift knife she had created with a piece of the broken mirror that came from her makeup kit which had been long forgotten somewhere around the beach. She gripped the part that was wrapped in cloth and bit on it as she climbed up the tree, her bare feet ing against the rough rings of the trunk.

Aya was successful on her first three steps to climb up. Holding on tight with one hand, she grabbed the knife with the other and reached over towards the fruit. Sweat trickled off her forehead. Inches away from it, she adjusted her footing, a big mistake since the next thing she knew, she was falling off the tree, her knife hurled into the sand. She fell with a thud or so she thought.

“Oof!”

The sound was followed by pressure across her torso just below her chest and something warm pressing against her . She turned around and saw the only person that she had been with for weeks then – Kris, her husband.

She winced and met his gaze sheepishly. He had a slight grimace on his face which immediately changed to that of relief as Aya reached over, offering her hand for him to grab and stand up. He did, but applied to pressure and got on his feet.

“Wu Aya,” he began, eyeing her closely with those sharp eyes. He momentarily glanced down at the piece of glass she was holding, the very thing that attracted his attention with when a ray of sun refracted against the reflective surface. He bent down, his blond mane falling across his eyes whilst picking it up.

Aya stared at him, from the waste up. His shoulders were slightly sunburned, but he showed no hint of complaining. Perspiration trickled down his temple which he wiped off with the back of his hand. He returned his gaze to her and stepped closer. She was waiting for him to say that she was being stupid, not that he ever dared to do so before, but then, he reached over her arm and started brushing sand off of her, going lower to her back.

“There.” His hand brushed just above the band of her denim shorts and she flinched at the sudden contact, stepping away from him a good three steps.