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CHAPTER 6

THAT NIGHT, Chloe was busy packing her stuff for her weekend getaway when her phone rang. She bit her lower lip when she saw who the caller was. Her dad.

"Hi, dad."

"Chloe, I called to remind you that you need to be home tomorrow evening. The Larsens will be here at Tennessee tomorrow so I invited them over for dinner and—"

"—Dad, I'm sorry but I can't come home. I'm going somewhere tomorrow. I will be staying there for the entire weekend and if I enjoyed my time there, I would probably extend my stay since I'm on vacation for two weeks."

"What?! How come you didn't tell us? You knew that I've been planning on inviting them over for dinner when they come here to Tennessee. Don't tell me, you forgot?" She closed eyes, trying to calm herself down.

"Dad, I'm sorry. It slipped off my mind. Maybe, next time." She heard him huff.

"They will be going back there to Florida on Monday and who knows when will they have time to come here again. Where are you going anyway? Is this more important than having dinner with the Larsens?" She massaged her temple, suddenly feeling stressed out.

Honestly, she was fully aware that her parents would be inviting the Larsens for dinner this weekend but she intentionally booked a weekend getaway instead of going home because she didn't want to attend.

"Dad, please. I just wanted to have a couple of days for myself to relax and rest. I only have two weeks of vacation leave and I want to use it to free my mind from any stress. I already planned everything that I wanted to do these coming two weeks and I can't change that now."

"And dinner with the Larsens is a stress for you? You know how important this is to us and yet you want to go somewhere else. When you told me that you didn't want to work in our company and work at Larsen Corporation instead, I agreed because the Larsens are almost family to us.

"But ever since you started working there, you began to slip away from us. You don't even come home anymore except when your mother calls you." Yes, she chose to work at Larsens Corp. instead at their own company because she wanted to get away from her controlling father.

Larsen Corp. was situated in Tallahassee, Florida. Tallahassee wasn't that far from Nashville but at least, she could have her own freedom, at least a little bit. Her father allowed her to stay in Florida because of the Larsens.

Yes, she felt like she couldn't breathe anymore that was why she insisted on working at Larsen Corp. Vito personally asked her father to allow her and thankfully, he did. Ever since she started living in Tallahassee, she experienced having the kind of freedom that she never had before.

She was her parents' only child and she understood why they were very overprotective over her but she couldn't take it anymore that she wanted to breathe free and coming to Florida was her only option back then.

"Dad, can we please discuss about this when I get back? I'm sorry but I can't come home this weekend." Her voice held finality.

"Chloe—"

"—Dad, please." He went silent for a couple of seconds before he sighed.

"Okay. I will let this pass for now but there's no next time, Chloe." His tone was firm and her grip around her phone tightened.

"Goodnight, dad. See you when I come back. Love you." She threw her phone on the bed and slowly sat on the edge as if all the life within her got drained out.

Even though her father didn't mention it, she knew very well why the Larsens were coming over for dinner and she loathed the idea.

That night, she tried to forget about it and focus on her planned trip. It was 4:30 am when she was on the road, going to Isla Amante also known as Cupid's Island. At least, she finally had the time to attend the annual festival there.

Every year, they celebrate what they called 'Fiesta del amor" on the island and this festival attracts many tourists. But the number of people who could attend the festival was limited to those who had secured invitations in order to control the crowd and to protect the island.

This year, she managed to get an invitation courtesy of her cousin Grey Markis who happened to be one of the owners of the Island.

The festival consisted of a whole week of celebration and it was full of events like fireworks competition, band competition and many more. But the lanterns night was the highlight of the event, which would be held on the last night of the festival, where couples could join by releasing their own lantern up the sky. It was believed that the couples who would do this would be together forever.

Well, it was just an urban legend and she didn't believe it. She only wanted to go this year to enjoy and see if the festival were indeed worth the time.

WHEN Chloe arrived at the port, she parked her car in the private parking lot there and then got on a boat going to Isla Amante. It was still 5:30 in the morning and the boat she got onto was the first trip to the Island of the day.

There were three scheduled trips everyday and that comprises of 5:30 am, 1:30 pm and 7:30 pm. She intentionally chose to get on the first trip so that she would be on the island early.

She didn't want anyone showing at her door to take her home.

Upon arriving at the island, she looked around in awe. Beautiful was an understatement. It was a paradise. She couldn't believe that even though the island was a tourist destination especially during the festival, they still managed to maintain its cleanliness and beauty.

The sand was pale pink and it was breathtaking. The rumors were right. This was the most stunning beach she had ever seen.

Then, the mountain standing proudly at the northern part of the island caught her attention. She gasped in admiration upon seeing that magnificent waterfall cascading freely from the peak of the mountain. If she wasn't mistaken, the picturesque work of nature could be seen from any part of the island, standing proudly and displaying its beauty for everyone to admire to.

"My God. It's so beautiful."

While she was admiring the view, a man wearing Hawaiian floral shirt and white mesh shorts came up to her. She thought, he was handsome and manly but she almost choked with her own spit when he spoke and heard his gay voice. She didn't expect that.

"Good morning, Miss Rosenberg. Welcome to Isla Amante where you can find true love. I'm Alex and I'm the manager of this island. I'll be the one to take you to your cottage. Mr. Markis instructed me to personally come and show you around." Her eyebrows shot up.

"Where you can find true love? It sounds like a dating app." Alex laughed and tucked the imaginary stray hair behind his ear in a girly manner.

"Well, it's the slogan of Isla Amante. Many people seemed to have found their happy ever after here that's why it is dubbed as 'Cupid's Island' by many."

"That's interesting."

"You don't believe it?" Chloe shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, I just don't think that love could be easily found. I mean, how can you even tell that you're in love when you're on a paradise-like island like this? It's easy to assume things until you finally realize that everything is just an illusion; a spur of the moment."

"What do you mean?"

"There's this saying and I quote 'Never make permanent decisions on temporary feelings.' When you're on an island like this; of course, you're happy while enjoying the moment. I don't think it's wise to think that you're in love with someone right away, especially when you just met that person here."

Alex giggled. "Oh, you never know. Who knows? You might find the love of your life here?" Chloe smiled and shook her head.

"I'm not here for that, Alex. Besides, that's impossible to happen." Alex just smiled and didn't comment further about it.

"Okay, I'll take you to your cabin first and if it's to your liking, I'll show you around after."

"Oh, that's nice of you to do that. Thank you." They were about to get onto the golf cart when she saw a familiar figure from her peripheral vision but when she turned her head to confirm if it was really him, he already disappeared.

"Was that Cross?" She muttered to herself but then shook her head. No. That's impossible. You're just imagining things, Chloe.

"Is there something wrong, Ms. Rosenberg?"

She smiled. "No. I thought, I saw someone I know but I was mistaken."

"Oh, shall we go then?" Chloe nodded her head and shortly after that, they got onto the golf cart and headed to their destination.

While they were on their way, she kept on looking around, getting more impressed with the scenery. The place was huge and fully developed that was why she was surprised to see that the sand on the beach was pink.

"I assume, there are many water activities during the festival?" Chloe then inquired Alex.

"Of course. Every year, water activities are one of the things that people look forward to. But aside from the water activities, visitors can do mountain adventures too like caving, rock climbing, etc. See that lone mountain over there?" He used his lips to point at the mountain at their left.

"There are few caves there but the main attraction is the Cupid's waterfalls which resembles the Angel falls. The water cascades from the top of the mountain and directly falling into the river until it reaches the sea water.

"You see, just about 50 meters from the bottom of the waterfalls is where the fresh water from the river and salt water from the sea meets. You should make sure to visit it during your stay here. You will definitely love it." She could hint the pride in Alex's voice as if he was talking about his achievement or something.

"I'll definitely go see it." She looked around again. "I can't believe how beautiful this island is. It's surreal. How do they maintain the cleanliness and beauty of this paradise when there are many people who come to visit here?"

"Well, Isla Amante is basically not for everyone. Contrary to the hearsay going around, even if it's not festival, entering this island is not easy. It requires an invitation not to mention a lot of money. A person must send a formal request for invitation if they're interested to visit. Not everyone is lucky to be granted an invitation though. No matter how rich you are if you don't deserve to be here, you wouldn't be granted any invitation." Alex answered with a smile, only threw her a glance because he was driving.

"Isn't that impractical? I mean, if they accept as many tourists as possible, they would earn more. I'm sure, a lot of people would flock to this island the moment they open it to the public."

"And destroy it." He answered while shaking his head. "You see, the owners of this island don't care about money or fame. They only care about maintaining the beauty of this place and let some lucky people to enjoy it while at it. This used to be an island exclusive for the owners and their families only but they decided to share its beauty. Yes, coming here is very expensive but I can say that it's worth it."

"Interesting." Chloe uttered as she continued on admiring the surroundings. Shortly after that, they arrived.

"This is your own beach cottage, Ms. Rosenberg. Mr. Markis specifically reserved this cottage for you because it's situated perfectly near the Amante Square where the majority of the events will be held during the night." They entered inside and she immediately noticed how luxurious it was.

They went to the balcony and she saw some people on the beach. Some were even nude while sun-tanning.

"If you want to swim, you have your own private access to the water." Alex went to the right side of the balcony and then pulled the railing. She was surprised realizing that it actually opened.

She looked down. There were five-step stairs leading to the water. That made her smile. She didn't think that Grey would actually go his way to reserve the best cottage for her.

After checking in, Alex drove her around the island to show her around and she was more than impressed. She made the right decision of coming here.

"Thank you for touring me around, Alex. I appreciate it."

"You're welcome, Ms. Rosenberg. If you need anything, feel free to contact me. Mr. Markis instructed me to cater all your needs." He handed her a business card and then they parted ways.

After eating lunch, she spent her afternoon hanging out on the balcony of her cottage, reading a book while lounging on the lounge chair in her two-piece bikini. It was so relaxing that she even fell asleep.

When dinner time came, she decided to eat at the Italian restaurant she saw earlier. While walking down the Amante Square, on her way to the restaurant, she heard a beautiful melody as someone was playing 'Nothing's gonna change my love for you' on a violin.

She saw couples dancing in the middle of the Amante Square to the tune of that sweet music. Curious, she looked for the person who was playing the violin and imagine her surprise upon seeing who it was. Her heart pounded crazily.

"What the heck is he doing here?" She muttered, stunned. She didn't know that he actually knew how to play violin and he was so good at it.

Then, their gazes met and her breath literally got trapped in her throat. He was evidently surprised upon recognizing her but smiled anyway as he continued on playing that sweet music.

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Who do you think is Cross?

What is your impression of Isla Amante a.k.a. Cupid's Island?

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