After driving for a little while, eventually I started seeing what looked like a large beach villa come into view. It looked expensive, like, very expensive. 

“New home for now.” Nocte pointed out.

“What? That place?”

“Yep.”

“You’re kidding….”

“Nope.”

“Just what are you?” I stared at his side profile.

“Honestly, it’s rather small compared to what I grew up with.”

“Now you have to be kidding with me, right?” 

“Ah, wish I was. But nope.”

As I blinked at him in disbelief, I now wonder if this guy is some foreign prince who lives in massive castles.

As we came to a stop, I got out of the car and admired the building. It was pretty much all white and, if I had to guess? The building, at first glance, reminds me of the ancient Greek buildings, but with a modern twist to it. I mean the front entrance? It looked like there was a pool, but it seemed to be way too shallow to actually do anything in it and, as I approached it, I could see glittering pebbles in it. In the middle of these was a cobblestone path that led to the main entrance. 

“Private beach, private pool, pretty much private everything.” Nocte pointed out as he came up to my side with my case.

“Of course.” 

“Honestly, the beach is so private that one of the dolphins that we are here to see actually lives in it.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. So the water is a little cut off and she just lives here.”

“Then is she not allowed to go out to sea?”

Nocte looked a bit sad for a moment, but he spoke. “She won’t actually survive out there in the wild, but she does have a massive area all to herself, and she seems happy. So who am I to judge?”

“As long as she is happy…. Um, do I have my own room like she does?”

“Unless you want to stay with me.”

“What? No. My own space.”

“Shame.” He laughed a little.

I couldn’t help groaning as he walked on ahead carrying my suitcase and, after a few moments, I followed along behind him. As I walked into the building? I noticed that everything seemed to be just over the top. It looked like everything was polished marble and there were plants everywhere. There was even what looked like a swimming pool that ran through the house. My little place looked so small compared to this beauty.

“Oh, I should show you this.”

He opened up a sliding door and, as I peaked my head out, I could see a perfectly glittering sandy beach.

“I assume that is the private beach?”

“You are correct.”

I just blinked. I could only see a little bit of it, but it looked absolutely stunning. 

“The kitchen is that way….” He pointed in another direction. “But the rooms are this way.” 

He proceeded to walk off up some stairs, still carrying my case, and I followed along behind him. As he opened up a door and walked in, he led me to a room that, on first sight, my jaw nearly dropped. It was immaculately designed, with a dresser with a mirror sitting on one side of the room, with a door on the other. The carpet? It felt like I was walking on fluffy marshmallows. The main part of this room was, in fact, the bed. It was massive, white and it was facing an open door that led to something interesting, so I curiously walked over to it. It led to a pool that sat perfectly normal on a balcony. As I walked over to the other side, since there was a little bridge in the middle of the pool, I leaned over the side and I could, once again, see the beach. The sea water was glittering under the sun, which was becoming a little mesmerising.

“I wouldn't recommend falling….” Nocte had joined me leaning over the side.

“I shall try not to.”

“So, since that is my room, where is your room?”

“It just so happens to be over there.” He turned around and, as he leaned on the railings, he pointed to the end of the pool, where a sofa was sitting. “Basically right there, however, I am going to move that sofa a little. It doesn’t exactly have a good view of the night sky where it’s sitting right now. But I’m going to let you get settled in.” He slapped me on the shoulder, and walked off in the direction where he previously pointed.

Sighing to myself, I pushed off the railings and headed back inside my room for the next two weeks. As I picked up my suitcase and stuck it on the bed, I started to wonder where I actually got all this luck? But, since I got reminded of Grandpa, I remembered that he always made use of his lucky days and, honestly? I’m going to as well. As I started to unpack, I felt like I should freshen up, which made me wonder where the bathroom was, since I didn’t actually ask where it was. When I realised that there was a door in this room that I didn’t open up earlier, I headed over to it, and I opened it. 

“Well, I found the bathroom….” I said out loud.

The bathroom was all marble themed too, and it came with all the usual stuff, but this one had a separate shower and bath. My, how the rich live. I only wanted a little freshen up, so I chose the shower. Instead of using my own stuff, I used the little bottles that I found in a basket. But the shower itself? Was something from the future! The water sprays were coming out from all directions, which gave me a bit of a surprise when I got one shot right up my arse. As I fiddled with some controls, I finally managed to turn off some of the sprays, so I could have an actual normal shower. When I towelled myself down, I got into one of Charlotte’s recommendations, which was a little sun dress.

As I stepped back outside, I instantly realised that he did what he said he would be doing, and moved the sofa. It was now halfway between the room that I was in and his room, so I headed over to it and sat on it. It definitely did have a clear view of the sky.

“Not bad….” I said out loud to myself as I approved of the new sofa placement, even though I didn’t know what the old placement was like.

“Well, I’m glad that you approve.”

“Oh!” The sudden voice made me whip round, and I saw that Nocte was standing there looking down at me. I instantly realised that he looked different. He was no longer sporting the black and red combo. Instead, he was sporting a white and black combo. His hair was also rather messy, and was tied into a little ponytail. “New look?”

“Well, I stand out a little in red here….”

“You stand out naturally.”

“Hmm?”

“Oh, nothing….” I waved my hand at him nonchalantly. 

“Hmmm…. But are you enjoying yourself?”

“Well, not really done much apart from play with the shower from the future….”

“Ah, yes. I was supposed to alert you about that. My bad….”

“Oh, it’s quite alright. It’s just not often that I get a blast full of water up my arse.” I laughed to myself and he smiled at me.

“Y’know, since it’s still early? Do you want to come on a walk with me?”

“You don’t have work?”

“Nah, not today.”

“Well, I could do with seeing the sights.”

With a smile, he held out his hand. “I have just the place….”

As I took his hand in mine, he helped me up from the sofa and I followed him. However, he didn’t lead me out the front of the house. Instead, he led me round the back, which led to the beach.

“Here?” I asked him.

“I’m sure you might want to get a lay of the land first, so you know more about it if you want to take walks on your own.”

“You have a point. Lead on.”

With a smile, he led me around the privately owned beach. The private beach was much bigger than I thought. But after we seemed to have walked for a bit, Nocte seemed to notice something and he stopped and pointed towards the water.

“There she is.”

“Hmm?” I tried to see what he was pointing at, but I saw nothing. “Who exactly?”

“Here….” 

He moved my head a little, and he positioned me so that I could see what he saw and there, as clear as day, was a dolphin bobbing up and down in the water. I never saw a dolphin out in the wild, so this was new for me.

“Oh… How.”

“I wonder if she will…..”

“Hmm?”

Then Nocte walked past me, towards the water, and started to walk into it. He walked so far that it came up to his waist.

“Come….” He turned around a little and held his hand out.

“What? In there?”

“No. To land. Of course I mean here!”

“If you say so….” 

I gingerly started to walk to the water's edge and looked down. Water should be fine, of course it would be. There’s nothing bad about this water, nothing at all. I kind of had a fear of ocean water. The ocean was vast, mysterious and, of course, dangerous. But this was a private beach with a private part of water and he did say that it was cut off, so that a dolphin can’t escape so there would be nothing dangerous out there. So, putting on my big girl pants, I started to wade through the water towards him. However, he was taller than me, so the water came up further than my waist.

“So why are we out here?”

“Watch….”

I watched him turn his attention to the water and watched as he flicked the water slightly. As he did so, I heard a dolphin sound, and movement in the water. I flinched a little, but I relaxed when I realised that it's just the dolphin coming towards us. Wait! Coming towards us?! True enough, the dolphin appeared right in front of Nocte, and he stretched his hand out to give her a stroke. 

“Why don’t you give her a stroke?” He asked me as he sidestepped a little.

“Me? Oh no, I couldn’t possibly….”

“Don’t be daft.”

Grabbing my hand, he gently placed my hand on the dolphin. 

“Oh….”

He removed his hand as I started to stroke the dolphin on my own. I never would have dreamed of doing this, and she was so soft. 

“If you get bored while here, there is a ball in the house that she likes to play with, so you can play with her.”

“Really?” 

“Yep.”

I giggled with glee, and the dolphin seemed to giggle with me. As I removed my hand, the dolphin nudged me.

“It seems like she likes you.”

“Ah… Well, I like you too.” 

With a little blow from her, the dolphin bopped into the water and out again, and swam off.

“Well, are you glad that you came in now?” Nocte asked me as I watched her swim away.

“Yeah.”

“Come, it’s time to get you out of those wet clothes.”

“Eh?” The way he phrased that surprised the hell out of me and, as I whipped round, I slipped on something that was under the water. But, before I could actually fall over, he caught me, and wrapped a hand round my back. It was like that famous kiss that was done back in America in Times Square, only this time, I was the nurse and he was my sailor. 

“You ok?” He asked me, his face was pretty close to mine.

“Yeah.. I’m fine. I must’ve slipped on something down below….”

“It is a little wet down there….”

“Wha?”

I could feel my face getting red from him saying it like that, and I had to wonder to myself if  he can hear himself when he says this stuff or what? It sure doesn't help that he was close to me too. But the look on his face showed that he seemed to be unbothered about this all. Was it different for men? Which now begged the question, what did he actually think of me? I knew what I thought of him, but what about the other side? It does take two to tango. 

“Come.” He gave me a wink and, in a swift movement, I felt myself being lifted.

“Wait, hang on! What are you doing?”

“This way you won’t slip anymore.”

Nocte had picked me up in a bridal carry, and I couldn’t help pouting.

“I can walk, y’know.”

“The slip says otherwise.”

“Oh, come on, that was one slip!”

“It’s better to be safe than sorry.” He smiles at me as he begins to walk back to the shore.

“Meh….”

It didn’t take long for us to reach the shore, and he placed me back on the sand.

“Well, hopefully you can walk better here.”

“Oh, I slip once and you hold it against me….” I playfully pouted at him, and he laughed at me. With a huff, I started to head back to the house but, with my huff, I didn’t notice the little dip in the sand and, before I knew it, I was face down in sand.

“You ok down there?” 

I heard his voice from above me as I spat out some sand and stood back up, I was now totally covered in sand.

“Don’t you even say anything….” I waggled my finger at him. “Not. One. Word. You hear me?”

“Need a lift?” He mischievously grinned at me.

“Urgh….” I threw my hands in the air and continued making my way back to the house, making sure that I knew where I was putting my feet. I could still hear him laughing to himself.

I finally made it back to my room and, once again, I had to have another shower to get all the sand off of me, since it literally went everywhere when I fell face down in it. I would feel embarrassed but, for some reason, I did find the funny side of it and he did too, so it wasn’t that bad. When I seemed to finally wash away all the sand granules, I changed into another outfit. As I landed backwards onto the bed, I realised that my heart had been pounding all through those little interactions with him. I most definitely knew that I was going against the promise that I made myself the other month of NOT falling in love with him. But now I really questioned what he thought of me. With my knowledge of relationships, I know that you can have a relationship with someone with only one person having feelings, and then the other person can gain the same feelings whilst dating. I think my aunt had that with her husband and, well, he is now her husband, so it can work. But did I want that? Hmm…. I continued to lay there, thinking about all sorts and, after a while, I finally exited my room again. I ended up finding the man that was just plaguing my thoughts sitting on the sofa, also sporting different clothes.

“Are you feeling hungry?” He asked me. “Unless you got your daily intake from the sand menu.”

“Yeah, yeah… Laugh it up. Just for that, you are paying for food, and I can order what I want and as much as I want.”

“That’s fine by me… Sandy.”

I glared at him as he gave me a stupid smile. 

“Just take me to the food….”

Nocte then bowed, and I followed him as he walked to the car and I got in. I’m sure he knows where a good place is to eat. But, instead of looking at the scenery, like I should’ve been doing, I was mainly just watching him.

Yep.

Yep.

I’m a goner indeed.