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.
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TRUE TO HIS WORD, CLARK OFFERS TO BUY ME EVERY FLAVOR OF ICE CREAM ON EVENTYDE ISLAND.
"I was joking," I tell him, and the pointed look I receive in return makes us reconsider the awful taste of the heartfruit. Was it really that bad to the point that I need all of this ice cream? Yes. Yes, it was.
So, much to Clark's dismay, we settle on two large scoops of mango and coconut ice cream.
From the moment we parted ways to the rise of golden twilight, the time in between was spent with me replaying last night over and over again like a crazy vivid dream — the heat of his hold, my heart pounding against my chest, and the oddly sweet aftertaste of heartfruit lingering on his soft lips. I couldn't forget how embarrassing it was afterward either because once it dawned on me what I, a South Asian girl who grew up in a strict "No Premarital Hand-Holding" household, had just done, I immediately pulled away in shock.
"What's—" Clark's eyes widened as a thought suddenly occurred to him."Oh my God. You're already in a relationship, aren't you? I'm so sorry, I guess I read into things wrong and — shit, of course a girl as pretty as you is already taken."
I couldn't comprehend what was happening. Juggling between the fact that I had just done something that would disappoint my parents and the fact that Clark was the first boy to call me pretty, my brain had turned into complete mush."No, that's not — I'm not in a relationship. I just, uh, realized that was my first kiss."
"Oh. You're twenty-two and haven't had your first kiss?" I would have been more embarrassed if he was being serious, but he wasn't — not when his teasing grin made me laugh along with him.
"That's not the point!"
It was a sequence of unforgettable memories that I couldn't get out of my head; my heart simply wouldn't let me. But the back of my mind held the inevitable — it knows that at the end of the day, I've set myself up for a bleeding heartache because Eventyde Island is temporary, and he's temporary.
And now, as we walk side by side throughout the resort lobby trying to find any sort of information regarding the mysterious bridge and the Other World, I still don't know how to act around him. Do I pretend that last night didn't happen because we both know how it's going to end, or do I let the guilt of breaking my cultural norm gnaw at my heart and go along with what could be, despite knowing how it's going to end? Clark hasn't said anything about last night, though the longing in his eyes tells me everything I need to know: he's waiting for me to say something first. Or maybe, there's nothing to say because we'll be parting ways.
