Karina Arslan is bound by countless failures and regretfully wrong choices.
But buying a one-way ticket to a mysterious island resort definitely takes the cake.
[ featured in wattpad's short story, fantasy, romance, asian fantasy, coffee community...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"TERABITHIA?"
"No."
"Why not? There's a bridge for that too."
"Clark, do you see any fairies around here? Or giant trolls?"
"How do you know there aren't any? You've only been through the forest."
—no response.
"Well this definitely isn't Narnia," Clark continues, grabbing another potato chip from the almost-empty bag before lying back down onto the marigold grass. "There's no wardrobe."
Baffled, I look up from the scattered papers in front of me. "What are you talking about? You don't always need — did you read any of the books?"
There's a goofy grin plastered on his face when he says, "Nope!"
A comfortable silence follows as the purple sun in the sky starts to hide behind the mountains. Wafts of warm cinnamon and sweet petrichor fill my nose, the paper in my hand crinkling from the breeze as I try to focus on the black ink drawings.
Then, "Hogwarts?"
"Oh my God."
"What?"
"Clark, stop. Please stop." It's obvious he's joking from the expression on his face, and I can't help but join in at the sound of his contagious laugh.
He sits up, taking a peek at the list of chemical reactions in my hand. "What are you doing, anyway? What kind of nerd studies in a place like this?"
"The kind that buys a ticket to a getaway island on a whim without considering the fact that her finals are in a few days. What else am I supposed to do while I'm here? Sit on my ass and stare at the sky for five hours?" A thought suddenly occurs to me, and I release a gasp. "Wait, you're in vet school! You probably know this stuff, right?"
"Just like every other person that has taken that godforsaken class, I forgot everything about organic chemistry the moment I stepped out of my final exam."
Despite his poor memory, this is how Clark Lee ended up helping me study.
For the next half-hour, he quizzes me on the product of a reaction, and I draw the figure in the soft, yellow grass only for him to correct me after every other question.
When he asks me about the last chemical reaction that involves adding MCPBA to an alkene, I simply blink at him.
He tries a different approach. "Okay, here's a hint: it's an epoxidation reaction."
"You're acting like I know what that means," I deadpan and flop down onto the ground next to him, watching as he holds the paper up against the violet sky.
"It's the one that forms an oxygen ring, Karina."
The way he says my name brings a reflexive smile to my face. It sounds sweet, like puffs of cotton candy moments before they dissolve on the lips. Or maybe I'm just overthinking it. Maybe this place is making everything seem more poetic than it actually is.
