Cold water drips from strands of Adrian's hair as he stares at his reflection on the mirror. He grits his teeth and suddenly slaps himself on the cheeks.
"Be realistic, Adrian. You're not here so you can be distracted and attracted to someone, you're just gonna die and leave soon. No need for attachments of any kind." He thought out loud. It's been weeks now, since he arrived at the island and had been wandering here and there on some days with Isla and with the other days of staying inside his house, sorting out his previous work commitments. He can only access the internet for a few hours at certain days because of the limited resources to operate the signal tower of the island. As Isla said, it costs more fuels to run the signal tower compared to lighting the whole island's resident's houses for a week or two.
With one last harsh rubbing of towel to his face, he distracts himself from thinking about anything aside from what he needed to do while the signal tower still working. He contacted Max, his friend and the producer assigned to him from the company, the other day about the pending projects on their contract. They reached the conclusion that he'll be sending the finished manuscripts by the end of next month as he had much more time and inspiration now that he had a change of environment.
"Are you still not going to tell me where on earth are you? Do you not trust me that much? I'm kinda hurt, you know." Max grumbles on the other side of the video call as he flips through some papers.
"Still no. The last thing I want to happen is you travelling here to drag me back to that hellish city. I'm doing good here, got a great environment, no distractions, and the greatest of all, no producer knocking on my door just to press me for my script." He propped his chin on his palm, looking more relaxed than ever.
"Whoever that producer is, he's terrible." Max jests about the joke meant for him.
"Yeah, that guy's terrible." Adrian smiles as he agrees to Max's words. He looked at the time and saw that he only got another hour before the connection was cut off. "Hey, let's wrap it up, I only got less than an hour before I lost my connection."
"I swear, wherever boonies you are, that place was so ancient. What kind of area has to have their internet or phone signal not work on specific days? Was it even worth it? I mean, compared to living in comfort here and having access to everything 24/7?"
"This boondock. It's the greatest thing that I am experiencing here. The feeling of kinda being off-the-grid, except there are considerable access to utilities here. It's not bad once you get used to it." Max shakes his head, not fully understanding how a man who grew on the city was able to survive living in that kind of place. From what he describes, it might be as well an abandoned island, in the center of the forest, or amazon, or at the top of an uninhabited ranges or mountains, for all he knew. Even after all the worry and confusion, Max gave all the feedback, instructions, and deadlines to Adrian before their connection cuts off as they are about to end their call.
Adriane chuckles at the scene of Max's face being freeze with his mouth wide open. He looks at the documents Max sent him and at his notes. Unbeknownst to Max, the projects they just talked about were about to be completed. He just needs to make few adjustments and revisions on the ending, but all was well ahead on schedule. He looks over the sunset that's visible from his window. As the night was about to come, even though it might look like hot outside based on how it is still bright, but at the island, as Isla said, it becomes a lot colder from dusk to dawn especially on months like this. The winds that blow feels a bit colder compared to the days he had spent here since coming to the Isla Verano.
He got himself up, grab a cup of coffee and walked out to the porch overviewing the sunset. He picked up the book he had been putting off because of the lack of leisure time to read it and sat in a relaxed manner. For all he knows, he already had few books on hand that he still hadn't opened and read. This might be the right place to catch up to all of those books and spend time slowly – enjoying the things he had long forgotten to do and enjoy.
"Spend the rest of my days, without regret, just enjoying and appreciating everything one day at a time." He mutters to himself as he sips his coffee while holding the book with his other hand. As he was about to go back inside because it became dark now, Isla called out to him.
"Sir! Are you available tomorrow?" Isla was waving her other hand while the other holds a large flashlight illuminating the pathway.
"Yeah, I'm free. Why?" Adrian put the book and cup on the table before walking over the porch's fence and leaning on it to talk to Isla.
"Great! Tatang Jose asked if you want to join us to go fishing tomorrow. If you don't mind, why not come with us?" Even with the dim lighting, Isla still look beautiful. The soft glow made her face more charming as her doe eyes glitters in excitement.
"Alright. What time? What do I need to prepare?" Isla jumped in excitement as she walks towards me with a wide smile on her face.
"Oh, you don't need to bring anything. I will prepare everything. I doubt you'll have any fishing rod or bait with you. Tatang Jose and I will fetch you by 5am. We'll be riding the fishing boat so expect to get wet on this tour." She grins at him.
"I do hope you'll never scream and run away from me when the time comes. I don't think I have the heart to watch a woman run on top of the sea while screaming just to get far from me." He teased her and as her expression changed from being excited to that of blushing, he chuckles.
"Oh my gosh! Why bring that up?" her eyes grew wider and her hands covers her agape lips in shock. Adrian laughed at the sight of her while her complexion turned even more red by the second.
"You're so mean. I-I'll go now. We'll get you tomorrow." Isla ran away again, while shouting the last sentence. She almost trip on the protruding rock on the rock even with the large flashlight on her hand.
Adrian can't help but watch her until her figure was nowhere to be seen. Just then did he grab his book and cup then goes inside the house to prepare his dinner and look for what he can wear for tomorrow's tour. After adjusting to the change in time zone, Adrian now sleeps early and wakes up at the time when the residents usually wake up – before the sun rise. It improved his lifestyle bit by bit and had even made his complexion healthier than ever before.
"For what it's worth, I might've made the best decision on choosing this place." He thought before closing his eyes.