Hillberry Isle — August 25

Gael landed on the island after a three-hour plane ride. His friend’s daughter was going to celebrate her birthday for the weekend and they invited him along with the Chos’ family and friends.

When he heard that they were going to have the celebration here, he couldn’t believe his luck because three years ago, this was where he met Angela.

Over the week, Gael had one of his men work on getting the identity of the book’s author through the publishing company but getting information from that—legally—wasn’t easy at all. But with his cash, ‘connections’, and other ‘means’, anything could happen but it was just going to take some time.

He was ninety percent sure that it was Angela. However, he only knew her by that name and nothing else—oh, and that she lived in Esmea. He had no pictures of her. He even tried to check the pictures that were sent to him by the Chos’ after their wedding but they only sent him a few pictures which he was in.

And by a few — he meant three pictures.

One of him with the couple, one of him with the bride, and one of him with the groom. And that was about it.

It had only been a week since Gael came to Mayne City but he had already settled in. He bought a house. He and hotels just didn’t work. He visited Giovanni in another state and stayed there for a few days before Daniel called him for that weekend’s trip.

And now that he was in Hillberry where it all started, he had the kick out of it. What were the odds of him actually seeing the woman he had been looking for there that weekend?

SDC Resort, Hillberry Isle

Basking under the sun on a sunbed by the beach, Gael wore a Calvin Klein light blue denim long-sleeved shirt that he rolled up to his elbows and left all buttons undone, exposing his slightly tanned abdominal muscles. He paired it with light beach shorts that fell above his knees. Next to him was Daniel and the two enjoyed the early afternoon drinking beer while talking about the new car models that came out that year.

“I gotta be honest,” Daniel mused. “You coming to Mayne was a surprise. Is something the matter? I mean, I don’t want to be part of whatever it is that you’re doing. But I just want to make sure that my family’s not going to be near any trouble.” When Gael did not respond right away, Daniel added, “I probably shouldn’t have invited you here…”

“Hey!”

“But the kids wanted you to come.” Daniel shrugged.

“It’s no big deal.” It was actually a big deal for him. “You have nothing to worry about—for your family, I mean. I’d never do that to you and Samantha.”

Daniel raised a brow as though he was waiting for the other to say something more.

“It’s personal.” Gael took a swig of his beer in a bottle and Daniel dropped the subject. He was looking forward to next week as he was going to hear an update about his investigation regarding Galatea K.S.

…

Earlier in Mayne City…

“Remind me why I should go with you?” Angela prodded at her brother Oliver who had just finished packing for a weekend trip.

“Because I said so.” Oliver winked at her before popping his sunglasses on.

“That’s not really convincing.” She crossed her arms and studied her brother’s expression but with the eyewear that he was wearing, she couldn’t see his eyes. “I had something planned with Nina this weekend and you ruined it.”

“Wasn’t your plan going to a remote island to drown yourself… in ‘work’?” He air-quoted the last word. “We’re still doing that. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“But I was going to go with her someplace else, not with you!” She grimaced. “I’d rather stay at home than be stuck with you the whole weekend on an island where there’s no signal!”

“Excuse you, princess. Don’t be so dramatic, there’s signal and wifi on the island. And for the record, I also don’t want to be stuck with you the whole weekend. So, don’t expect me to babysit you while we’re there.”

“Then why—” Angela gasped. “Oh my god. Did dad ask you to babysit me on the weekends?”

Oliver only looked at her and did not say anything. If he had to choose, he’d rather go to Hillberry Isle by himself. Except he wasn’t.

She groaned and ground her teeth. She couldn’t believe her father asked Oliver to watch over her. She was twenty-eight! She was fine!

Seeing the look on his sister’s face, he exhaled a long sigh, scratching his head in annoyance. “Look, I don’t like this as much as you do, okay? But you know very well that he’s not going to let this go. The longer it’s taking you to straighten your life in his eyes, the more that he’s going to be strict. I have nothing against you writing and I already stuck up for you before. But he’s doing this because he’s worried about you. Let’s just have fun for the weekend and you figure out what you want to do after.”

Angela slumped her shoulders. Taking a deep breath, she convinced herself to take one day at a time. Her brother was right. She had to play according to her father’s wishes for the time being.

She’ll just have to convince him later. For now, what’s one weekend on an island?

As they boarded the private plane that Oliver chartered for their trip, she took out her pen and notebook and started scribbling some words of a dialogue that came to her out of nowhere. She always had to take note of this sudden inspiration because she would end up forgetting about it and would have a hard time remembering later.

Halfway through the plane ride, she turned to her brother who was playing with his phone and probed, “You never told me where we’re going.”

“Hillberry,” Oliver mumbled nonchalantly.

Angela straightened up in her seat and blinked. “What?” She swallowed and her heart started to raise.

“You’ve been there before. I brought you to the Chos’ wedding that one time.” He waved his hand dismissively.

Slowly, her hand went over her chest where her heart was supposed to be and she felt its panicked state. The last time she went there with her brother, he met that one man whom she spent the night with.

He was a one-night stand whom she had immortalized through a book.