A Sulawesi Romance

Chapter 1

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Third Person POV

Gun Napat stood shivering under the midday rain pour.

It was only half past noon and yet it looked like late afternoon.

Gun clutched the handle of his suitcase which was starting to get wet as the large raindrops were splattering against it as the raindrops hit the paved curbside. Jeez, talk about raining cats and dogs.

Gun was standing outside the small office of a travel agency where he had just bought a ticket to Jakarta. The office had a narrow awning just outside its door and Gun had tried to squeeze himself under it to keep himself from the rain.

Gun had made up his mind from the moment that his mother had introduced her new husband to Gun that he was not going to live under the same roof as his stepfather.

His stepfather was very friendly and doting on him as if he was his real son whenever Gun's mother was around, but the moment that his mother left Gun with his stepfather, his stepfather would turn nasty and downright rude towards Gun. And the problem was his mother believed more in his stepfather's words than Gun's.

Gun knew that he could not stay a day longer with his stepfather so he packed his clothes and personal belongings into one medium size suitcase, withdrew all his savings from the local bank branch and went to buy the first ticket out of Thailand.

There happened to be a promo sales on tickets to Jakarta by Garuda Airlines and so Gun bought a ticket from the nearest travel agency. The earliest flight was eight o'clock in the evening so even if it was only twelve noon Gun was anxious to check in at Suvarnabhumi International airport since he was going on an international flight. He had to check in four hours before his flight and in this rain taxis were hard to come by. It might take him hours before he could reach Suvarnabhumi airport. He just might barely make it to check in time.

After what seemed an eternity, a taxicab finally stopped in front of Gun and he got inside. The driver did not bother to get out of his taxi to help Gun to load his suitcase inside the cab. The driver most probably did not want to get wet in the pouring rain.

Gun instructed the driver to get him to Suvarnabhumi airport.

"Please step on it," Gun requested of the driver. "I need to catch a flight."

"I will do the best I can," the driver promised.

Thankfully, even if it took hours to get to the airport, Gun managed to check in his luggage on time.

The flight attendants of Garuda Air were very friendly and courteous and helpful to Gun. The three hour flight didn't seem too long. One of the flight attendants, a very good looking Indonesian guy who introduced himself as Intan kept offering drinks and snacks to Gun.

When the plane landed at Soekarno-Hatta International it was past eleven. Gun knew that his chances of being able to book a room at a hotel at this time of the night was close to zero. He voiced his concern to Intan who seemed to be always at his side, making friendly conversation with him.

"You're right," Intan said to Gun. "You will have a really tough time looking for a hotel to check into at this time of the night. If you wish I can set you up at my apartment unit which is not far from here. But you will have to leave when I leave at seven in the morning. By that time you might be able to book a room at a hotel."

"Thank you so much for your kindness," Gun said sincerely. "To be honest, I might not be able to afford a hotel room. Maybe a room at an inn would be more affordable."

"I know one with cheap rates that's just a block away from my apartment," Intan volunteered. "I can drop you off there on my way back to the airport tomorrow."

"That would be great," said Gun. "I really appreciate your kind assistance."

The following morning, Intan gently shook Gun awake.

"I have made some coffee and French toast for both of us," said Intan. "Come have breakfast before it gets cold. After that I have to get going. I will drop you off at the inn that we talked about last night."

The inn was small and cozy and friendly. The staff checked him in. Intan was right. The rates were not bad so Gun booked himself for two nights with the intention of looking for work during the day. Gun hoped that before the two nights were over, he would be able to find himself some work that paid good enough for him to afford a small studio close to his place of work.

The friendly desk clerk informed Gun that he could avail himself of the free continental breakfast at the lobby that the inn offered to its clients. The continental breakfast was available until nine in the morning.

Gun declined politely saying that he already had breakfast before coming to check in.

"We also have free copies of our daily newspaper at our newspaper stand over at the lobby," the desk clerk added. "Feel free to take one."

'Thank you, I will," Gun replied with a smile.

The desk clerk handed Gun his room key and Gun went in search of his room. On his way to his room, he had to pass by the lobby. He saw the newspaper stand that the desk clerk informed him about. He took one and brought it with him to his room. Gun hoped that he would be able to find a suitable job offer in the employment ads section.

Gun did not bother to unpack his clothes from his suitcase. He plopped himself on the luxurious bed and opened the newspaper to the employment ads section right away.

He went through several pages before something caught his eye.

"Wanted: General helper at a newly opened seaside tourist villa. No experience needed. We are willing to train."

That got Gun all excited. He surely could manage to be a general helper at a seaside tourist villa. Looking through the rest of the ad, the prospective employer offered an attractive salary. It was equivalent to 53,905 baht a month with free accommodations at the villa so long as the employee could be depended on to work during the night after regular work hours if necessary. The qualified employee would be given two days off in a week but those days would have to be weekdays of his choice because weekends were the busiest days at the villa.

The whole employment package was very much to Gun's liking but the seaside villa was located in a place that Gun had never heard of before. Where the hell was Sulawesi Island???