At the luxury resort, Kiara, Tessa and the baby were sharing one side of the huge house. In the middle there was a kitchen, a lounge, TV room, a gym and other spacious rooms. And then there were other bedrooms, where Vine and Gareth were sleeping. Prior to leaving the mansion, Gareth had secretly whispered to Tessa, asking her to give Vine and Kiara as much time alone as possible. Tessa completely understood her task.
The trip was tense at first. They were all in the Pinkerton private jet, and although Gareth did his best to throw in some jokes, Kiara and Tessa were tense. Vine was not tense but rather chose to ignore everything that was happening around him. However after travelling for a while, everyone began to loosen up, laughing and also making small talk.
The first day was spent indoors, for they arrived late and it was cold. Using the child as an excuse, Kiara chose to stay indoors, and Tessa with her. Vine, who was also struggling with the urge to smoke, stayed indoors to watch a horror movie. Gareth joined him.
On the morning of the next day, however, they went out to have a walk with the lions. The patron at the park had already advised that walking with the lions was best done in the mornings. It was still a bit windy, causing Tessa to remain with the little one while the three went out.
Kiara, who was brave at first, began to shiver in fear once the lions approached them.
"I don't think I can do this," she said in a thin frail voice.
"You can do it, ma'am Kiara," Gareth assured her.
The tour guide gave them instructions before handing over the leashes to them. A lion on a leash? Kiara was seriously scared, but she did her best to continue walking. After taking only two steps, the lion yawned, and Kiara, thinking it was planning to attack her, let go of the leash, screamed her lungs out as she ran as fast as she could, in the opposite direction. Her reaction was so fast that all the men were startled, and Vine, being the one closest to Kiara, followed and grabbed her from the back.
"Leave me! Leave me!" Kiara screamed, still having the idea that the lion was after her. She calmed down upon seeing that Vine was the one holding her.
"What happened?" he asked.
"I…I thought it was a lion." She stammered shyly.
Vine laughed. "You get scared this easily? Now you've scared even the lion itself."
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
"Do you think you can continue with the lion walk?"
"I…umm, no thank you. I will let his one pass," she said.
Vine called out to Garth, asking him if they could possibly cancel the lion walk, but Gareth said he was willing to go since he had been looking forward to it for a long while. He advised the two to wait for him while he went alone, and they agreed.
They were sitting on some rocks, and it seemed like none of them was willing to start conversation. Vine had that fear that, what if I say something and I say the wrong thing again. He could not trust himself to say words that would not hurt Kiara. Kiara, on the other hand, was thinking it was best to keep her ideas to herself, lest she upset the young master and ended up receiving insults.
It was Vine who finally said something, "We don't have to wait here. We can go and see the zebras and other animals."
"Yes we can, or we can play a game as we wait for Gareth. It would be nicer to go to the zebras with him," Kiara said.
"A game? What kind of game?" asked Vine.
"I don't know, maybe we can play something childish. Like, for example close your eyes."
"Ok, closed."
"Ok, just wait a bit. Yah, now open. I am holding a stone. Take a guess, in which hand is it?"
"What happens if I get it right?" he asked.
"Umm, it will be your turn to play."
"Ok, I think the stone is in your right hand," he pointed at her right fist.
"Wrong!" she called out. "And now I will have to slap you."
"Slap me? You did not say that at the beginning, Kiara."
"You didn't ask!" Kiara tried to joke around, but she felt that she was too tense. It all felt too forced, and therefore not interesting.
Vine laughed and said, "Ok go ahead and slap me."
"I was just joking," she said, suddenly feeling extremely embarrassed. She felt she needed to redeem herself, and that she needed to do as soon as could be.
"How about A to Z?" her voice was trembling.
"A to Z? What is that? A game?" he asked.
"Yes. One of us starts by picking any letter of the alphabet, and you must say something about yourself, something that starts with that letter."
"What exactly must I say?" Vine asked. "Should I talk about my personal life, my character or…?"
"Yes, anything about yourself."
"Ok, you start."
"I will start with K. My name starts with K, so that's why I chose it. K. Tell me something about yourself which starts with the letter K."
Vine closed his eyes, seemingly thinking about it. Then he spoke;
"Kindness, maybe. But I would like to say kindness is not a virtue in me. I try to be kind, but I believe I am the opposite of kind."
Kiara laughed out loud. "It's true! OK, you are next. Pick any letter of the alphabet, from A to Z."
"V. Say something about yourself which starts with the letter V."
"Umm, that's tough. V is not a letter that is commonly used."
"No complaining. Say something."
"Ok. I will go with value. I think most of the times I forget to give myself value. If I am not treated well, I cannot stand up for myself and value myself."
Vine felt sorry for her, but he decided not to comment.
"A. I choose the letter A for you," she smiled.
He looked up and then said, "Ambitious, I guess. I don't know if I can really be defined as ambitious, but I do always get what I want."
Kiara was very quick to respond: "That's not ambitious, in your case, Vine. You just have a lot of money. You don't work for anything. I think ambitious is when you work hard for what you want, until you get it."
"But I do work sometimes."
"Not true!" she playfully stamped her foot down. "Try again, letter A."
"Ok, for A I will go with…ummm, I can't think of anything that starts with the letter A." Vine narrowed his eyes and was about to give up when Kiara said,
"Arrogance!" she shouted.
"Come on Kiara. I thought I was trying to change." He hung his head, seemingly irritated.
"But that best describes who you are! Arrogant."
"If you say so. We should play this game again two months from now, and you'll see that arrogance will definitely not be on my list. Ok, I choose for you the letter L."
"Loving. I am one of those people who can truly love. If I say I love someone, then I would be meaning it. I don't mean to praise myself, but I sure can give my all, and be in it with my entire being."
"Is that so?" Vine said after a moment of being silent.
"Yes, that's who I am. That's what I am; loving."
Vine stared at her for a long time, and he thought she was a sweet girl. From what she was saying, he was sure she was missing him, her previous boyfriend. Why all of a sudden was she emphasizing her loving nature.
"Tell me about him," he said.
"I….he…is…was my everything. I loved him with my entire heart, and although he could not provide for me much, he still was my everything."
"So in your heart, you always hoped and prayed for the child to be his, didn't you?" he asked, his voice void of any emotion.
"I….I…to be honest, I did." Kiara swallowed hard and faced the ground.
Vine remained silent. He stood up and started walking about, and that made Kiara uneasy. She did not know whether it was a good or a bad sign. Was Vine angry? Should she have lied about her feelings for Jeremy?
"My grandmother believes that love can grow, but I don't." he said.
"What does she mean by that?"
"She always says you and I shall grow to love each other. I honestly don't think so. You're too obsessed with that Jeremy of yours, and I am just not interested in you; not in that way." Vine said, and in his heart he went on to say, "I have too much pride to fight for a position in anyone's heart, if I am being honest."
"I also don't believe in that," she said.