When good meets really, really, really bad.
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Daniel Harper is down on his luck as he struggles to pay for his sophomore year at NYU. Desperate times lead him to sell drugs for some time. When that proves to not be enough, his only option is to...
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DANIEL HARPER
So far, Malaysia has been amazing. Never before have I seen such a surreal place. Honestly, sometimes I can't even render that this place is real. It feels like something out of a fantasy book, where only the most beautiful flora grows and the best weather exists.
"Lucien!" I called out to him. He walked out of the bathroom, a towel around his waist, putting on moisturizer. Finally after months of convincing him, he finally has a somewhat normal skincare routine.
"Yes, my love?" Lucien asked. Ever since everything that happened, Lucien has been more caring. He's attended a few therapy sessions and I can definitely see the changes.
For example, there was a mix-up when we first arrived because the hotel had given us white wine instead of red. Pre-therapy Lucien would've yelled at someone and threatened their life. Instead, Lucien just called the front desk and let them know of their mistake and it was resolved quickly.
"There's a group going on a hike! Can we go?!" I asked.
"Of course, Danny. Anything you want to do, we'll do it." He replied.
Thankfully, I packed clothes for everything that I could think of that we might do. So it was a matter of putting on my clothes. I also threw Lucien's clothes at him and he put them on too. We almost didn't make it out of the room because I couldn't stop rubbing Lucien's body since the tight shirt fitted on his torso ever so perfectly.
The hike, which led us up a mountain side and gave us a panorama view of the jungle canopy and Andaman Sea, took a few hours. We were joined by a tour guide who was charming, but Lucien made sure that I didn't stare at him. Along were three other couples. One of them was from Los Angeles and were on their three year anniversary. The other was an older couple, the husband being diagnosed with cancer and them wanting to spend their last moments having fun. And the third couple was on trip, with the guy confiding with Lucien that he was planning on proposing to his girlfriend soon.
There was also another guy on the trip who mainly kept to himself. He held something in his hands that, until later, I recognized as an urn. During a part of the trip where we sat on the cliffside and took a break, I sat next to the older guy. After talking to him, I learned that his lover, a young gentleman a few years junior of him, had died a few months earlier. This guy had lived his whole life desolate and found the one that he wanted to settle with but ultimately, he passed. And he was here to spread his ashes in the place where they confessed their love.
My heart broke when I heard that story. I sobbed in the arms of Lucien that night, retelling the story. Lucien later would invite that guy to spend our vacation with us, with us getting to know him more.
That's when I truly cherished what I had with Lucien. I was lucky that we were both still here and that we haven't lost each other. Even if Lucien was broke and was a worm, I would still love him. There have been times when we both would have lost each other, either with our own actions or someone else's.
