Her heart beating erratically as her eyes beamed with joy and expectation, she ran towards the small wooden boat that was abandoned at the shores of the ocean.
Her sparkling eyes slightly dimmed when she saw its state.
It seemed as if it had been swept away by the storms as it had taken a good beating against the huge rocks at the shore.
Closing the distance between them, Aria's pretty face instantly paled, terror written all over.
Frozen on the spot, she felt like a stone was stuffed into her chest, as if she had to gasp for air.
" AHHH... !! "
Xander's cold heart missed a beat when he heard her scream.
Without any regard for anything including his own pain, he dropped everything on his hands and dashed towards where he had heard her voice.
***
One hour later, Xander pulled Aria in for a hug while gently rubbing her hair.
With a ghostly face and her body still trembling she asked him.
" Nothing's gonna happen to us right? "
Almost immediately, Xander nodded his lips slightly grazing her soft forehead.
" We're going to be fine. "
When Aria had seen the small boat, she was very excited but soon her joy turned into terror when she discovered a dead body of a man beside the overturned boat.
The 60 plus years old man had a gunshot wound at the back of his head. It seemed as if he died before his boat was swept away.
Aria had seen terrifying things for the past days even bullets flying past her face but that one was way on the other level. It quickly reminded her about how her dad was ran over and left alone to bleed to his death on the road.
Her heart was beating like crazy. Hell she was scared to the core!
Why were all these things happening to them?
She sat on the sand with a blank expression her gaze lost on the vast waters of the sea as the two men took care of the fisherman. Her hope was slowly fading...
The boat was wrecked, it couldn't help them to leave the island.
Fortunately, it was stocked with items including some dry & canned food but no one could bring himself to touch it. They still hadn't recovered from the shock. Moreover the owner had lost his life...
" Who on earth shot him? " Aria asked her brows furrowed.
A glint flashed in Xander's eyes and he looked away without answering. In his mind was the Friday night's cruise attack. It couldn't be a coincidence.
" Why is life this unfair? "
Aria asked sipping a cup of hot water. This was the the first time they were having a hot drink since they got stranded, thanks to the items they found on the boat. They only took two blankets, a fishing net, cups & pots. They had also found a knife and a machete and a number of match sticks. And a handgun.
" You're not alone in thinking like that. "
Qin Cheng replied leaning against the stone wall in the cave, using his hands as a pillow.
They had lit a fire that provided both warmth and light in the pitch darkness.
" I mean back in China everything was okay in my life until I decided to take this f*cked up trip. "
He added with a pissed off expression on his clean face.
Qin Cheng worked as a waiter in a restaurant back in Hong Kong. He had won a lottery given out annually by the restaurant owners, which was how he got onto that cruise.
It turned out that his previously celebrated luck was nothing but a nightmare.
Since they had gotten lost they hadn't taken time to know each other well like they did on that night. They had lost sleep probably due to being shaken by the earlier incident involving the fisherman.
" What kind of business do you do? "
Qin Cheng eyed Xander with boredom frowning at his one word answers.
During his turn, Xander just casually said that he was a businessman.
They were trying to kill the boredom for heaven's sake! What's the need to be so mysterious...
" I run a company. A real estate company in London. "