The next morning, I woke up to see that Crystal had added Cole and I as well as her husband, Beth and Zayn to a WhatsApp group chat named "The Vacationers."I quickly put through a video call to her, but Beth had already beaten me to it so I just joined in."Hi Liza! A very beautiful morning to you. I assume you've seen our group on Whatsapp." She sang out, a wide grin on her face and I burst into a laugh."Yes, I have seen it. A good morning to you as well. Beth, good morning," I waved directly at my shared screen showing Beth's face. "What is it all about?""That's the same question I've been asking her, Liza, but she's just been laughing loudly. I think she is drunk," Beth offered, and I looked at Crystal. Her eyes were wide open and her pupils dilated, she certainly did not appear to have drank too much alcohol, just ecstatic and in high spirits."I'm not drunk Beth. I just like hanging out with you girls, and so do our husbands. Besides when this vacation ends, we may never see e
It was nice to see Cole finally get over his discomfort with crowds and finally start enjoying himself just like the other guys were.Zayn and Zach had just finished a car racing game and were pumping up to beat two teenage boys–who were still shocked to see adults playing with them–again, when my husband stepped forward."I want to play in this round," he announced and the guys grinned in response. He went over to an empty spot beside Zayn and strapped up in the seat.The game attendant who was assisting with starting and ending the game, as well as laying down rules, walked over to him. "Sir, do you need help with the buttons?" He asked, but Cole shook his head confidently."No. I know what to do," he replied and the guy gave a nod, quickly proceeding to set the rules. Afterwards, he pointed at the timer placed above the seats and told them to get ready.Instinctively and surprisingly, even to me, I placed a hand on Cole's shoulder for support and he placed his' on it and gave me a
As Cole drove back to the hotel, I was the one silently staring outside the window as tiny strands of my hair escaped from the hair scrunchie and blew fiercely.My head was filled with a lot of thoughts, from the near kiss at the arcade to seeing those two together but only one stood out and constantly rang in my brain: Everything had been planned. My first instinct when we finally separated from the others was to tell Cole about what I had seen, but when he started to drive off, my mouth suddenly clamped shut.I was torn between bursting into a loud scream and feeling relieved, but when my eyes became misty and threatened to leak out tears, I hastily rubbed at them and batted my eyelashes furiously.Dave was not worthy of my tears.I began to reminisce on how it all happened, meeting him at the library by 'chance' and to think Kiera had arrived two days later with her baby. The both of them took advantage of the fact that Cole once had a sexual relationship with her, and used it to a
The first thing I saw when my eyes blinked open were small ripples forming in the blue water outside the window. I blinked my eyes again and instantly sat up to look around me. I remembered falling asleep on the couch as I waited for Cole to finish talking with his security team but here I was, in the room alone by morning.There was no sign that Cole slept in the room or that he was even in the suite, but the bedroom door was open so I wore the fuzzy slippers that the hotel had given us on our first day here and padded int the sitting room.I saw Cole sitting down on the couch, his head bent over it as he snored softly so I quietly walked over to him. His hands were splayed across the head of the couch and his eyes were slightly open, and I felt tempted to take a picture of him. Luckily, my phone was in my pyjamas so I quickly took a photo of him, smiling quietly as his mouth opened slightly.After that, I walked back into the room to freshen up and by the time I was done, Cole was a
While Cole filled in his security team on the next step, I got dressed for an outing with him. He was quite ecstatic about getting rid of Kiera so he offered for us to go out and celebrate. Where we were going, I did not know, but as long as there was food and a bit of fun, count me in.I quickly messaged Kath about the latest update and she responded immediately to congratulate us on the near victory, but a small part of me could not but feel skeptical. What if they realized what we were onto, and they outsmarted us? I shared this fear with her and she used a voice note to try to assure me that everything would turn out okay.I accepted her advice and looked at myself one more time in the mirror. My dark hair was free today and the natural waves cascaded down my back, complimenting the blue summer dress I was putting on. Large sunglasses were on the top of my head, just behind my centre bangs and I smiled at my reflection and instantly took a picture.As I started to do a video, Cole
Cole brought us to a small dock where a single medium-sized boat stood waiting for us as well as a captain who slightly doffed his hat when he saw us approaching.Before I could ask what was happening, Cole stepped into the boat and held out a hand to me. I grabbed his hand and he pulled me into it, as the captain started the engine and soon, we sped away from the land and into the blue water seemingly leading nowhere in particular.I briefly watched as a guy dressed in uniform came to whisper quietly to Cole before disappearing down into what I presumed was the kitchen area or something. I gave Cole a curious glance but he just put a hand for me to wait so I looked arounf us as the boat moved slowly across the water.Tiny strips of land surrounded us, with most of them having water bungalows on top of them which were occupied by people, while the other smaller parts of land were covered with thick trees and shrubs. Subconsciously I twirled around with my eyes wide open, as I stared a
I looked up at him in shock and dropped my plate. "What do you mean by that?"He turned over to look at me. "Liza, I didn't just pick you randomly, or because I had no other option. It was a calculated decision," he explained shortly but I folded my arms and sat forward on the chair, prompting him to continue.He took another gulp out of the bottle and continued, "I wanted someone who could make me look good, and be ready for a no strings attached relationship and that wasn't you but..I also needed a person who wouldn't talk, and to make sure, I put a price you couldn't refuse. You want the money too much." He chuckled and sat down on the couch again, grinning to himself.I angrily grabbed the bottle from his hands and this time, he did not stop me. I was tempted to take a swig of the wine, which I now knew was alcoholic, but a part of me also felt like pouring it on his head. But I needed to hear something first, so I leaned towards him and asked."Why could I not make you look good
The ride back to the hotel was quiet and Cole and I just stared out of our individual windows. One time, I saw the driver looking at us with a curious expession before he caught my eyes in the mirror and quickly looked away. I did not blame the man though, we had seemed so chatty on the way to the the docks and he had even been smiling at our jokes. But oh well…Immediately we got to the hotel, both of us silently separated into our individual rooms and instantly, I fell on the bed as my eyes became misty with tears. This time, I sniffed loudly and allowed them to fall down my cheek even as I tried to figure out why I was crying.I should not have been surprised with what Cole said, neither should I have expected more. A guy like him did not fall for a girl like me, maybe in movies but in real life, no matter the circumstances surrounding them–men like Cole only went for educated, sexy women who would look good beside him.I walked over to the full length mirror and stared at my image