Trouvaille (#featured)

· t h i r t e e n ·

The rains had stopped in the morning and by high noon, the sun's rays could already be seen in shafts through the trees. Faye chewed on her lip as she watched some of the children play on the dirt road. They were covered in mud as they ran to and fro tackling one another without a care in the world. She could remember a time when she only cared about getting high grades and doing well in her extra-curricular activities. It never really occurred to her that an adult's life was more complicated until she grew up herself.

One more day of sun and she would be getting back home. That meant back to the real world where she would catch up on the business scene and see how she could fit her plans to the way the world went. So she was on paid leave, but that didn't mean she can't plan to take her company in a new direction. It was definitely a much better option than thinking about Nathan bloody Prescott.

He had been nothing but trouble no matter what he was up to. His mere presence was trouble. She was sure she would have never gotten into the situation she was in if it weren't for him. Not that she accepted the mystical beliefs of the islanders as truth, but for every strange thing that happened, she couldn't help but think that the world did somehow conspire to cage her with him in some exotic locality. It sounded romantic, and there would probably others who would find it romantic, but it was her and Nathan! Factoring them into the equation made the romantic setting into one of torture.

And Faye's greatest concern was his sudden switches in personality.

One moment, he was the childish prick she had known, the next, he was this silent evasive enigma who wouldn't touch her with a ten foot pole. And his most recent development? He was actually trying to act every bit the gentleman that he wasn't. It would have been a relief for most people, but this was Nathan and he was being a gentleman to her! She could only imagine that all this was going to lead up to a grand revenge for the times she slapped him.

The children splashed into a puddle near her and sent muddied water all over her legs. It effectively snapped her out of her thoughts and she eyed the children who looked at her apologetically. They nudged at each other sheepishly and Faye understood that they wanted to apologize, but there was a language barrier between them. She resorted to smile at them and ruffled their heads, to which the children smiled back and continued their play.

Without the children to distract her, her mind wandered off into nothing. In recent times, she felt her brain just shut down. Every time she thought of work she felt so tired. It wasn't like her at all, but it was what her brain was doing. She forced herself to think, but there was really nothing to think about. Everything around her didn't require strategies and maneuvering. It was all so...simple.

And she actually liked it.

Not that she would tell anyone that she was getting cozy to the idea of living this way.

She suddenly found herself staring at a handkerchief before her. She didn't have to look up to figure out to whom it belonged to. There were only two people in the entire village who had such a thing with them, and this one had fair skin. She chose to ignore him.