Island of BL

Chapter 98: The Age Gap 2

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

Art's POV

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

"Whatever it is, no," I quickly said to AJ when he called my name in an inquiring tone. My gut was telling me that this kid was going to ask me something outrageous.

I focused on flipping the fish and shrimps. We had thrown them directly into the fire so if I did not flip them every few seconds we would be eating burnt fish and burnt shrimps.

I tried not to be aware of how AJ's face quickly fell at my response.

I stabbed at a shrimp with the sharp end of the twig I was holding.

"This one's ready," I said, holding it out to AJ.

"I'm not hungry," AJ said, standing up and walking towards the water.

I wanted to say, 'that's okay, yeah, go and cool yourself down in the river', but I did not want to make him upset more than he already was.

I blew on the shrimp until it was not too hot to burn my fingers. Then I pulled it off the stick and started to peel it.

Suddenly I heard voices some distance away.

I turned to see who had come to join us in the river. They were several yards away and they were walking in the opposite direction so their backs were to me and had not seen me and AJ.

They stopped for a few seconds to look at each other and to say a few words to each other before walking again.

One glance at the side view of their faces made me drop the shrimp that I was holding. One of them was P'Mew and the other guy was the cruise ship staff who had helped the other staff to distribute the blankets to the rest of us during the night.

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

It was more than a year ago when P'Mew and I first met at a mutual friend's birthday party. After we were introduced to each other, we hit it off immediately. The mutual attraction was strong. We started dating almost daily and after we professed our mutual feelings we agreed to enter into a committed relationship. I was so in love with him. I believed that he felt the same way.

Things had gone smoothly for several months until a serious misunderstanding occurred. He had seen me walking out of a cinema with someone and had accused me of cheating on him. He had not seen the other friends who were with me. He had only seen the friend who had been walking with me. He refused to believe that I wasn't cheating on him. He refused to believe that I had been with a group and not just one friend. He just decided on that very day that it was over between us.

Seeing him once more opened up all the old wounds. Seeing him again made me realize how much I still loved him. I wondered if he had hooked up with that handsome cruise ship staff.

"What's the matter? Why do you look like you have seen a ghost?" AJ's voice startled me out of my deep thoughts. I had not realized that he had gotten out of the water. I had not noticed him walking back towards me.

"I... I was... I was just..." I hated myself for stammering.

"What's wrong, Art?"

Shit, this kid was a keen observer. And he just didn't know how not to get into other people's business.

I shook my head.

He squatted beside me.

"Art," he said, moving his face very close to mine, "clearly there is something wrong going on with you. It always helps to share the load."

"Hey, kid," I said, making sure to put emphasis on the word kid, "First of all, I would greatly appreciate it if you respected our age gap by addressing me as P'Art, not just Art. Second of all, even if there was something wrong going on with me, I wouldn't tell you."

AJ's face grew dark red with suppressed anger.

"Why, why P'Art?" he was emphasizing the P' with a sarcastic tone, "is it because you think I won't be able to help you because in your eyes I am just a kid?"

I decided to humor the kid. It would not help if the two of us were bickering just before eating our lunch. I didn't want our lunch to go to waste. After all, we had worked hard to weave the baskets and to catch the shrimps and fish. And we had worked hard to get a fire going to be able to cook them.

Oh shit, the fire! I quickly grabbed the twigs and used them to roll the fish and shrimps out of the fire.

Then I turned my attention on him.

"Okay, AJ," I said, "I admit that there is something wrong going on with me right now, but it does not involve you, okay? Even if I told you, you won't be able to help me and it's not because I think that you are too young to help me out. You won't be able to help me out even if you were old enough to be my grandfather, okay?"

AJ didn't look satisfied with my answer.

"Suit yourself," he mumbled, shaking his head, his eyebrows creased in a frown.

He picked up a shrimp and started to peel it, and then handed it to me.

I knew that if I refused it, he would get offended even more, so I took it with a grateful smile.

"It tastes a little sweet," I said after chewing for a few seconds.

"A freshly caught fish or shrimp usually has a bit of a sweet taste," he said, starting to peel another shrimp.

While he was doing that, I picked up a fish and started to bite into the flesh. AJ was right. It also tasted a little sweet.

After AJ finished peeling the second shrimp, he noticed that I was already eating the fish so he popped the shrimp into his mouth.

We sat for some time, eating in silence, watching the river water flowing quietly and listening to some insects chirping somewhere in the foliage that surrounded us.

The environment was so peaceful. It was so peaceful compared to the turbulence that was going on in my heart and in my mind.

I almost choked on the last bit of fish that I swallowed.

I found myself breaking down in tears.

In a split second, AJ was beside me. He did not say a word. He just placed his hand against the back of my neck and gently pushed my face against his chest, his other arm enclosing my back.

Then he lowered his mouth and placed it close to my ear.

"It will be okay," he whispered, "soon, it will be okay."

His gentle and soothing words made me cry all the more.