"Caitlin."
A sensation she never felt before surged through her entire being. She was very much aware of having her name called by so many people, a thousand times in different ways but never did it made her feel like this. It was like her name has found its place in his tongue, waiting to just be uttered in perfection.
Amazingly, she feels so warm all over, suddenly aware of the man standing behind her. His energy radiating from his features, burning in stark contrast to her own cold interior. She shivers as the thought of him being so alive and breathing, hot and soaking and very, very much naked behind her had her whole body in trance.
The warning bells in her head started wailing, reminding her that this is it – this is where she runs.
But she couldn't.
Not when she felt like she just found home – that she had just been completed.
Nonetheless, she felt her whole body becoming rigid, the walls she built have strengthened enough with time and before he could recognize what was happening, she's running away from him.
She didn't dare look back, not even once when she had heard him calling after her, pleading for her to stay. She knew there's no escaping him or fate for that matter because how on earth would they end up in the same place at the same time with each of their names embedded on the other's skin if not for destiny?
She almost scolded herself for the choice of word. She never believed in destiny – maybe just once but look where it had got her now. Undeniably, she's a product of a soulmate bond, of love that should last forever but it took seven agonizing years for her to realize that it wasn't what it always seemed to be.
Her parents had been soulmates and as the tale goes, they lived a blissful life, was blessed with a beautiful child whom they called as their little snow angel but unfortunately for them and more especially for her, they never reached their part of the happy ending.
Her father died when she was young, too young to even fathom that the man she looked up to, loved with all of her being is slowly dying before her eyes, succumbing to the relentless power of a diseases that her mother tried so hard to combat with her own set of skills and brilliance. It had been an agonizing two-year battle but they ended up losing, taking everything away from her and mother while all she could do was watch and deal with the aftermath of losing someone.
After losing her father, her mother was never the same. It seemed like when he left, he took her mother's soul with him and once again, she found herself unable to do anything but watch. She witnessed how her mother turned cold, distant and unfeeling – forgetting that she's still there, that she never left like her father did.
She had forgotten to be her mother and eventually, she had forgotten how to be herself.
And that, that's what scared her the most.
Being the wiser, she decided she won't fall in the same pit her mother had, won't go through the pain of having then losing. She won't ever gamble with destiny and love if her soul and being would be the one at stake. So when destiny had caught up to her, she knew it's up to her to save herself from the upcoming pain and agony – from him.
But what she didn't know was, he'd be her saving grace from all the things she expected him to bring.
He'd be her everything, utterly and undeniably hers.
After an hour or so of contemplating about how her stay in this island would never be the same as she initially expected it to be, she found herself strolling down the shoreline back to the hotel. She was a bit surprised at how far her feet carried her and it wasn't until she felt rocks on her toes that she realized she must've reached the far side of the resort.
