the tourist | l.h.

xii

24 hours.

That's all Luke and Malaya had left.

The thought of those 24 hours made him think that it wasn't enough time. 

But, he couldn't buy his way out of this one.

"Alright! Thank you all for getting up really early in the morning," Flavio said to the group as they drove to the airport. It was about 4 in the morning. Meaning, Luke had a total of 20 hours left. "We should be at the airport in about 10 minutes."

Luke walked over to Malaya, who still decided to sit at the back of the small tour bus. "Hey." he smiled at her.

"Hi. Sorry, I probably look gross, but getting up at 3 am is not easy." she chuckled, trying to hide her bare face with her long hair. 

"You're beautiful."

Luke's words made Malaya's cheeks turn bright red. Even more visible now without her makeup. "Whatever, Hemmings."

The two shared a laugh. "You know, for someone who doesn't like being in front of the camera, you seem to be conscious of your appearance." Luke pointed out. 

"Hm, yeah. My dad raised me to always dress pretty." she said, her smile kind of sad from the memories of the phone call last night. 

Luke seemed to notice that sad smile, "Hey, are you okay?"

Malaya looked into his deep blue eyes. She saw them filled with so much concern. She didn't know if it was right of her to put him on the spot and reveal a dark side of her father. 

But, she did have only 20 hours left with him. 

"My dad would not stop bugging me for money." 

Luke felt his stomach drop. He didn't know what to say or do, so he kept silent. 

"Since my mom died, his way of coping is through gambling. I've been trying to get him to stop, but no hope. So, just to keep him out of my hair, I worked my whole life from high school to college, got a job, and continued to just give him the money."

She wasn't at the brink of crying. She felt numb. The feeling that all her father's bad memories gave her didn't have much effect on her as it used to. 

"Malaya, I- uh, I really don't know- um, what to say." Luke said, being careful around the words he said to her. He looked at her brown eyes that looked like they were empty. 

"You don't have to say anything." she smiled at him. Malaya didn't know how Luke was doing this to her. Getting her to tell her life story, managing to break down her walls, and getting her to feel again sometimes. 

"What are you doing to me, boy?"

"We are here! Off to Rome we go!" an ecstatic Flavio announced as the tour bus came to a stop.

-

Luke and Malaya did not waste any time getting to know each other better. The two talked nonstop on the 1 hour and a half flight they had to Rome. 

They all had arrived in Rome and straight to their hotel they went. "Alright, folks," Flavio said as they stopped in front of the small hotel they had. "We won't be touring here in Rome, but you all are free to do whatever you please! It's only 11 am, so make them most out of it!" 

Everybody went into their rooms and settled. As Malaya was freshening up, she got a knock on her door.

"Hey." she greeted a familiar Luke Hemmings who stood at her door. 

"Hey." he smiled back. Malaya motioned him to enter and he did. 

"So, what are we going to do for the next few hours?" Malaya asked him, rummaging through her luggage to find her little hygiene bag.