Chapter1: Island of Love (Part3)
Morning comes around. There was some wind and only the sounds of waves on the island. Ploy felt warm and safe, like she was home. She opened her eyes and realized she was still on the island. She started to get up, but noticed she didn’t have much room to budge; it was like someone was holding her. Her hands felt around and she noticed two arms wrapped around her. Kawee started to move. She realized it was him, so she turned to face him. They were so close that when she turned their lips touched. She stared at him and he quickly opened his eyes and noticed they were kissing. They both tried to jump up, but realized they were stuck in the same sleeping bag. They turned over and he landed on top of her. Again, their lips touched. They unzipped the sleeping bag and ran in opposite directions.
“Ahh! Omg! What just happened? Eww Eww Ewww!” Ploy was so disgusted.
“WTH! What was that!? This must be some stupid nightmare. Blah!” He looked over at her.
They both gave each other disgusting stares and ran for the ocean and started to rinse their mouths. After a bit they realized that the water was salty and they were getting sick even more. They got up and walked towards each other.
“Why were you hugging me?! Wa…wait. DID you DO something to me last night?!” She checked her clothes to see if they were in tack.
“What?! In your dreams. I will never stoop that low and mess around with a poor girl. Besides you KISSED me! I knew you probably took advantage of me while I was sleeping.” Kawee yelled at her.
“You zipped the sleeping bag! I couldn’t move. I realized you had your arms around me so I had to take a look. You know what! You kissed me too. Right there, just now when we fell!” She pointed towards the ground.
He quickly defended himself. “I zipped that sleeping bag to keep you warm. I forcefully used my body to keep you warm because you were yelling, 'ITS COLD IT’S COLD!' What else was I supposed to do? Let you die? Oh wait I could’ve done that the first time, after I drowned you!”
He was mad so he walked off. She was a little shocked; shocked by the fact that he cared for her when she was sick. She tried to avoid getting into arguments with him. She realized that if she took the time to listen to him she could learn a little more about him. They went to find shade near the forest close enough to see if any boats or planes would pass by.
His stomach starts to growl and she hears it. She laughs at him, but her stomach cried out as well. They both looked at each other with a sly smile.
“Since our tummies are crying shouldn’t we feed them?” He looks at her while scratching his head.
They check to see what they had: noodles, grains of rice, canned food (fish), etc. She suggested for them to make rice and warm up the canned food. She told him to cook the rice while she warms up the food. He looks at her with a confused look.
“I don’t know how to make rice.”
She looks at him and gives him the canned food to warm up.
“I should’ve known. You haven’t done anything for yourself, let alone cook, so making rice is something you’ve probably never done.”
He changed his mind wanting to prove to her that he could do it, “How do you do it then!?”
She gave him the instructions and he did it.
They both ate their first meal that they cooked together. It tasted better than anything he’s ever had.
“I never knew canned food could tasted this good! This is my first meal where I actually cooked the rice (which was slightly burnt). This is my first time eating like you.” He looks at her with a smile.
She was a little mad from his comment but after she saw how excited and proud of himself he was, she let it go.
“How long do you think we’ll be waiting here for?”
“A week. My dad told me I would be out here for only a week. They wouldn’t leave me out here for long.”
She stares at him with a frown.
“I hope so.”
They were sitting around and waiting for a boat or plane to pass by. It was going to get dark soon, so they set up their bed. He laid the sleeping bag down. She looked at it and looked at him with her arms crossed.
“Don’t worry. I won’t zip it again.” He said trying to assure her nothing like this morning would happen again.
She turns her back on him.
“I don’t care. Tonight I’ll just sleep on the sand. I’m fine with it.”
He tells her that he doesn’t mind. He didn’t want to share the sleeping bag with her either.
“Just be careful and don’t let the bugs crawl onto you or get into your ears.”
She jumps onto the sleeping bag.
“WHAT! Where? Where? Arghh. I hate hate bugs. Eww.”
He quietly laughs. “They hide under the sand. You don’t notice they’re there until they BITE you.”
“Eeeh!” She shivers and lies down on the sleeping bag.
He looks down at her.
“What? I thought you didn’t want to sleep on here? You said the sand was way better.”
She looks up at him and sits up.
“I changed my mind. I’ll sleep here. But know one thing.” She points her finger at him. “If you dare touch me, your little friend will be in trouble!” She shows him her weapon, which was their cooking knife.
He puts on a scared face and covers his little friend.
“What would make you think I’d want to touch you? Ugh.”
They both lay down with their backs towards each other. They both couldn’t sleep, rethinking and replaying the kiss from that morning. In their heads they shook off their thoughts.
“Why the hell am I thinking about that?!”
They both fell asleep.
A week has passed and no trace of a boat or plane. They were both worried and scared. Kawee was really disappointed in his parents. He started to hate them more. He hated being there. He hated being there with her. All he wanted was to go back home. Kawee missed Aff, she just came back and now they had to part ways again. He wondered if they were doing this on purpose and if Aff was worried for him. Ploy was scared because she didn't want to be there forever. She too missed home and her parents. She hated being there, especially with him. They both look out far into the ocean and wonder, they wonder whether or not they’ll once again go back home to their loved ones. Out of their food supply they had nothing left, but rice.
As Ploy walked back and forth, Kawee began to get irritated watching her move from right to left.
“Could you stop?! It’s making me dizzy and it’s not helping the situation! Just sit and wait.”
Ploy stops in front of him.
“I can’t stop! I’m so worried and anxious! What if… what if they don’t come for us?! What if we’re stuck here forever! We have to live here together…”
He gets up and cuts her off.
“Don’t ever say that! Don’t even think they’ll leave us here. I can’t be stuck here with you. Not with you…”
He walks away. She tries to calm herself down and realizes that food supply is low. She was going to ask him about it until she started to notice that he wasn’t around. She got worried and ran around.
“Kawee! Kawee! Where are you?” She looked everywhere. It’s been over 2 hours and still he was nowhere to be found. She ran and ran until she fell. She started to cry.
“Why! Why did you leave me alone? I don’t want to be alone. How can you do this…”
She was crying for a while.
“What’s wrong?” She turns to see that it was him. She gets up and hugs him.
“Why’d you do that?! You scared me. I thought you left me alone. I was worr…” she realized what she was saying so she stopped herself.
He was laughing. “What? You were crying because you missed me?”
She hit him on the arm. “No! I was… I was just scared. That’s all! Well anyways, where did you go?”
He lifted up the bananas that he brought back with him.
“I knew we were running out of food so I went to go see what there was in the forest.”
They ate the bananas and started to get ready to sleep until they noticed a bit of sprinkles falling on them. Then it poured down on them really hard. Kawee grabbed the sleeping bag and ran for the forest. Ploy ran right behind him. They stayed under the tree. Kawee had the sleeping bag over his head and Ploy stood right next to him in the rain.
“Come sit next to me” he said. She looked at him and went under the sleeping bag. It rained for a while and they were getting cold. He saw that she was shivering and remembered when she got sick. He put his arm around her.
“What are you doing!” she yelled as she tried to make him her let go.
“Stop moving. I just wanted to keep you warm so you don’t get sick again.” She was touched that he actually cared for her.
They waited for a while. Things were quiet and the only sounds were of the raindrops. He looked at her. They smiled at each other and he gave her a kiss on the forehead.
They sat there and eventually fell asleep.
The sun was up and birds were singing. They were still sleeping. His arms were around her and hers around his. He woke up and saw that she was sleeping on his chest. He smiled and stared at her. She started to move, so he pretends to sleep. She realized she was sleeping on his chest so she quickly got up. She took the moment to look at him sleep and then she remembered how caring he was last night. She stoked his hair and smiled. She noticed that she was thinking about him, so she stopped herself from thinking too far.
“What are you thinking? Stop, Stop, STOP!” She whispered to herself. She got up to look around.
After she left he got up and smiled. But the smile slowly went away as Aff's face came into mind.
“I wonder how you’re doing right now. I wish I was there with you.” He sadly says to himself. He just sits there thinking to himself.
A while has passed and he realizes that Ploy has yet to return. He was starting to get worried and hungry.
“Ploy! Ploy! Where are you?” He calls her name out and walks around, but not too far in case she comes back and doesn’t find him. He gets really worried and runs everywhere. For about an hour he decides to go back to their spot. He sits there and covers his head.
“What’s wrong? Where have you been?” She says to him.
He looks up and grabs her to give her a hug.
“Don’t ever do that! I was so worried. I thought something happened to you!” He looks at her.
“So you worry about me to? Haha. Well now you know how much I was scared yesterday.” She pats him on the shoulder.
“Guess what!! I found a little house around over there!” She pointed straight behind him.
“You found what?!” He was surprised.
“Yeah. There’s an unoccupied house. I checked around to see if anyone was around but there’s no one.”
They were excited to get some shelter. They went back to the beach to get the rest of their supplies. They cleaned and gathered food together. Kawee looked around their area for anything else. He found a river nearby. They now have shelter and water. Kawee learned how to cook and clean. He may not be good at it but he enjoyed learning new things. Every morning Kawee goes and tries to catch some fish. In the end he’d always come back empty handed. For a while they had only banana and rice.
“I hate this! We’ve been eating nothing , but rice and bananas for two weeks! I need meat. I need meat!!!” Kawee was furious.
“It’s not my fault. Maybe if you’d actually catch something we’d have some type of meat!” said ploy.
“Well if you think it does so easy why don’t you go out and try to catch something!” said Kawee.
“Fine! I will. I’ll show you how it’s done!” She walks out and Kawee follows her.
It was their first day fishing together. They were both so competitive and always arguing that the fishes wouldn’t dare to come near them.
“SHHH! Do you think you’d catch anything with all of this yelling!” says a man.
They both looked around and saw a man across the river. They were both excited to see someone else besides them.
“Mr.! Mr.! Could you please help us?”
They met up with the man and he asked them what they were doing there. They told them their situation and he decided to help them. He invited them to meet his family. Kawee noticed how poor they were. He felt a bit awkward to be eating with them, but Ploy made him.
“How do you guys survive like this? Is this all you have?” says Kawee.
Ploy almost chocked on her food. “Oh um haha. Sorry. My friend here can be a bit rude. He didn’t mean it like that.”
She looked at him with a serious face.
Kawee looked at her with a confused expression.
“It's ok, we understand. You guys aren’t from here and from the way you’re dressed it seems you guys are well off”, says the woman.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that…” Kawee watched this family. They always loving and caring towards each other. They may have a little to offer but that didn’t stop them from helping these two.
A month has passed and they were still there. They’ve improved so much. Ploy learned how to plant vegetables and Kawee learned how to actually catch some fishes. They didn’t realize how much time had passed by. Their relationship has grown so much. They didn't argue anymore. Kawee has become a better person. He learned that having all the money in the world didn’t matter as long as you’re happy with what you’ve got. Judging a person by their status or feature is wrong. He learned that while he spent his time there with Ploy. She is a good person and she helps him without asking for anything in return.
“I’m sorry mom…dad. I really understand that there is more to life than just money. I hope… I will return home and you’ll give me the chance to make it up to you guys.” He was sitting by the river thinking about the things he’s done and all the troubles he’s caused.
“Nice weather today huh?” Ploy goes to sit right next to him. “What are you thinking about?”
He looks at her and smiles. “I’ve been thinking about how much I’ve done to make my parents disappointed. I’m such a trouble maker. But I’ve changed and I want to let them know I didn’t mean to do all those things. It’s just…”
“It’s ok. I know. You’ve really changed. Your parents don’t hate you. They just wanted you to realize all your mistakes” says Ploy.
“I do. I know now.” He goes quiet for a while.
“Well I’ll go get dinner ready. Don’t stay here too long ok.” She was about to get up.
“I’m sorry…” Kawee stops her from going.
She turns around to look at him.
“I know I’m the worst person to you. I just wanted to apologize and hope you’d forgive me.”
She stares at him and looks away. “Don’t be late for dinner, ok.” She quickly gets up and leaves.
He sits there for a while and thinks about their time together on the island.
They were silent during dinner. When he went to sleep she went outside to think.
She thought about what he said earlier. She thought about how much he took care of her. Tears were starting to come down.
“I don’t know. Why do I feel like this? Is this right?” she says to herself while staring at the night sky. Her arms were crossed and it was getting cold.
Suddenly she felt two arms come around her. She was surprised.
“I don’t know why either.” Kawee was holding her from behind. He held her tightly. “All I know is that I feel like this is the right thing. I feel happy when I’m with you.”
She turns to face him. He had a serious expression. They both stared at each other for a while.
“I’m sorry too…” she says to him. He leaned over and they kissed.
Next day they woke up and realized what how close they’ve become. They were both so shy around each other and tried to avoid each other.
Things went as usual, but they did everything together. They decided to go for a walk on the beach. They talked about their first day their together. The sight of the ocean was beautiful. They sat there together watching the waves. They fell asleep for a while.
“Kawee. Kawee!”
He opened his eyes and he saw his dad. They both got up and they were so happy.
“Is this a dream? Is… is this a dream!?” He said.
Ploy assured him by giving him a small pinch.
He looked at his day and gave him a big hug.
“How have you been son?” His dad gave him a smile. Kawee was in tears.
“I thought you’d never come! I thought I’d be stuck here forever.”
“I’m sorry. You’re probably mad…” Kawee cuts off his dad.
“No! I’m not mad. But I’m glad.” He smiled and hugged his dad once again.
Ploy gave them time to talk together while she went to prepare some lunch.
His dad was really surprised at how much Kawee has changed. He couldn’t believe that it was his son.
It was time to leave. They thanked the couple that helped them and offered a reward for them but they didn’t want to accept anything. Kawee looked up to them as great role models. They were truly great people.
His dad was waiting for them on the boat. They walked towards the beach holding hands. They took one last looked at the island and hugged each other.
They got back home and they stopped to talk before parting ways.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to drop you off at home?” Kawee says.
“Yes I’m sure. It’s fine.” She reassures him.
“Don’t forget! You must pick up when I call you! If you don’t I’ll go and find you!” He gave her one last hug.
“Ok Ok! I won’t forget. But you don’t forget to call me then!” She laughs.
He gets into his car and leaves. She waves goodbye to him and watches the car go until she can no longer see it.
