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When the man left, Aarav tied the backpack to the back of the motorcycle. He then put on a helmet and handed her the spare one before sitting on the bike.
“Get on,” he ordered.
The bike looked intimidating. It was much bigger than the bike he used take her on rides seven years ago. But feeling the familiar thrill, she put on the helmet and gingerly sat behind him and wrapped her arms around his middle. She could feel his hard muscles. Her cheeks heated, feeling oddly shy, despite what had happened earlier in the cabin suite.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“You’ll see soon,” he replied. “Hold on tightly.”
With a powerful kick, the bike engine roared into life and they took off.
Her arms around him tightened and they sped by the crowd and the air-conditioned cruise buses. Her heart automatically raced with excitement. She used to love bike rides, and all of her bike rides had been with Aarav when he snuck them away from her neighborhood to places they could have privacy.
She was wearing an open helmet. The wind blew on her face, making her smile.
She saw the beaches where adventurous activities took place. The beaches were quite crowded.
Aarav didn’t stop at any of them and continued to race past them. Soon, the beaches gave away to lesser and lesser crowd. The bike finally began to slow down when he took a detour and drove to a place where she couldn’t see any people.
The bike stopped near the tall, dense trees by the beach.
She got down gingerly from the bike and looked around. There was no one. The beach was much smaller with only a few feet of sand leading up to the dense thick trees on the other side.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“On the other side of the island,” he said.
He untied the backpack from the bike and wore it behind him.
“We are going for a trek.”
He took out a paper map from the backpack and held it. She followed him as he led them into the dense trees.
“Why a map?” she asked. “Can’t you check the directions on the phone?”
“There’s no cell phone signal here and the GPS won’t work either.”
“What if there’s an emergency?” she asked, especially since he had been unnecessarily too paranoid about her safety.
“I have a satellite phone for emergencies.”
“Oh.”
She was tempted to ask him why he still needed a satellite phone when he was no longer in the Air Force. As a part owner of an airline company, he should be leading a regular life that doesn’t require satellite phones.
But she didn’t say anything. She didn’t want to talk about their lives because it would bring up the topic of their breakup, which she wasn’t prepared to discuss.
Dragging her mind to the present, she looked around her. She loved nature and enjoyed treks. But in the past seven years, apart from leisurely vacations, she didn’t get to enjoy the raw beauty of nature. The forest was beautiful.
A narrow stream ran along the path they trekked. It was slightly dark due to the thick trees, but she spotted a few monkeys and birds. The monkeys looked on curiously, making her smile.
“Here.” He handed her a water bottle.
She was quite thirsty and slightly out of breath because she wasn’t used to trekking anymore. And they had walked for well over an hour. She nearly finished the bottle and he put it back into the backpack which held a few more bottles.
After nearly two hours, she heard the faint sound of water. It had a very distinct sound.
“Are we going to a waterfall?” she asked, feeling excited.
