"Alright. Here we are." Papa Teo said. "Everyone out."

Vivi had just finished putting sunscreen all over me and arguing with me about how I needed to be protected from the sun at all costs. I personally thought he was being over the top and too protective. He thought he wasn't being protective enough.

I hopped out of the car, grabbing one of the baskets and taking Papa Dev's hand. He lead me to a good spot on the beach where we laid out a blanket. I took my sundress off and heard Vivi growl.

"I don't like this one bit, just so everyone is aware." He said bitterly, sitting down on the blanket and putting his sunglasses on.

"We're all aware, thank you for the input. Now you can go ahead and be boring. But we're going to go have some fun." Papa Teo said to Vivi.

I kissed Vivi on the cheek before Papa Teo scooped me up and carried me down to the water. I wasn't expecting to be flung into the water, but it was actually quite enjoyable.

I emerged from the water, completely soaked.

"Hey!" I objected, unable to stop the smile from spreading across my face.

I ran at him and tried wrestling him into the water, but he was a very strong old man.

"Papa Dev! Help me!" I said, and he came over and he helped me push Papa Teo into the water.

We messed around in the water for quite a while and I would glance over at Vivi every once in a while to see what he was up to. He was just kind of laying there. But eventually, I noticed a girl approaching him.

I was wearing a bikini but this girl was wearing a series of strings that didn't dover much at all. I saw her say something when she reached him and Vivi sat up, removing his sunglasses and looking up at her.

"That doesn't look good." Papa Dev said.

"Shut up, Devan. You're only making it worse." Papa Teo said from beside me.

"What does she want?" I asked as if they would know. It was more of a rhetorical question actually. I just genuinely wanted to know what she thought she was doing with my man.

I watched carefully as she popped a hip out and smiled down at him. He didn't really seem to have any kind of reaction to her. But I just didn't understand why the conversation was taking so long.

Does he know her?

Who is she?

Is she trying to make him fall for her?

I don't like this one bit!

Why isn't he making her go away?

Vivi is so stupid sometimes.

"So he's just going to let her keep talking to him?" I asked angrily.

"He doesn't care about her. He's probably asking her to go away." Papa Dev said to me.

"Then why is she still there?" I asked.

"Because she thinks he's attractive." Papa Dev told me, making me glare harder at the girl and making Papa Teo smack Papa Dev in the arm.

"Ow! What was that for?" Papa Dev asked.

"Shut your big mouth, Idiot. Don't make her more angry." Papa Teo said.

I couldn't care less what my grandfathers were saying, my eyes were glued to the scene before me. Vivi was still talking to her and she was laughing now.

"What is he doing?! And why is she laughing?" I asked.

"Listen, Sweetheart. Boys are stupid sometimes. I don't think he wants to be talking to her. He's probably just struggling to get rid of her." Papa Teo tried to assure me.

I saw Vivi sit up more and continue talking to her, and then she laughed again.

"Is he doing this to make me angry? Is it because I made him come here?" I asked.

"Sweetheart, Vidal isn't like that. he wouldn't do something like this to get back at you for bringing him here." Papa Dev told me.

"Look at him." I said angrily.

"Why don't you go tell her to back off?" Papa Teo asked me.

"Vidal already should've done that." I growled.

I stood there, arms crossed in front of my chest and I watched as they just continued talking. In all honesty, I wasn't even mad until the conversation stretched for so long.

Now, I'm not even just angry at the girl. For all I know, she might not even know that I exist and that Vidal and I have something going on.

Why isn't Vidal telling her to get away?

I'm mad at him. Not her.

He's the one who should be pushing her away.

"Hey, Sugarpie." I heard a man say.

I turned my head, glaring right at him.

"I have a name, it isn't Sugarpie." I said, not even looking at the idiot.

"Is that your man? He doesn't seem to be very loyal." The guy said, following my line of sight to Vidal.

"What do you want?" I asked a complete stranger. Where this bravery was coming from was beyond me.

"You. I'll treat you better than that." He said.

"Get lost." I said to him angrily.

"Wow... ok." He said, raising his hands in the air and walking away.

So, it isn't hard to get rid of people. Why is this girl still talking to Vidal?

"I'm going in." I said, walking towards Vidal and the girl.

"Hey, Kiara." Papa Teo said.

I looked back.

"Breathe." He said to me.

I let out a shaky breath. I was hurt. How could Vidal do this?

I walked over to them, and I looked down at Vidal and then at the girl beside me. I scanned them both, both of them going silent.

"Hi." I said to the girl.

"Hey." She said, moving her sunglasses and looking me up and down.

"What's going on?" I asked Vidal.

"I was just over here seeing if he'd give me his number." She said as if she wanted me to back off.

"Oh... well, I don't think he's interested." I said. "Or are you?"

I looked at Vidal, waiting for his input on this.

"I'm not." He said, getting up and pulling me in towards his chest.

"Oh, are you two together?" She asked me.

"Yes." Vidal said to me.

"I see. Well, sorry about that. I never would've hit on him if I knew he had a girl." She told me.

I smiled at her bitterly. She was gorgeous. Maybe Vidal thought she was prettier than me, maybe that's why he didn't say he had another girl he was into. Or maybe he just wasn't interested in me. He probably only said we were together to spare my feelings.

I was ready to go home.

As soon as she was gone, I picked up a towel and dried off, I grabbed the small bag that Vidal brought with us and I fished through it, finding a pair of short shorts and deciding not to get my dress wet. I threw the shorts on on top of the bathing suit and i grabbed the sun hat. I put it on my head and took Papa Dev's hand.

"Kiwi." Vidal said.

"Don't talk to me right now." I said to him.

"Where are we going, Sweetheart?" Papa Devan said.

"To get ice cream." I said.

"What about me?" Vidal asked.

"You can stay here and enjoy the beach. Papa Teo, will you babysit?" I asked.

"Sure thing." Papa Teo chuckled.

"What?" Vidal breathed out.

"You messed up. That's what." Papa Teo told him as we walked away.

Papa Devan and I went to get some ice cream from the little shop on the beach.

"You ok, Sweetie?" Papa Dev asked me.

"I am." I nodded.

"You're angry at him?" He asked.

"I am." I nodded again.

"He probably did tell her. Some girls are persistent." He explained.

"I got rid of the guy that came to talk to me in two seconds, Papa. Two seconds only. And she was talking to him for so long! Then when I talked to them she said she wouldn't have hit on him if she knew he had a girl." I said.

"Well, are you guys in a relationship?" Papa asked me.

"No." I said. "But what we have should be enough for him to get rid of a girl in three seconds."

"But he's not actually in a relationship. He probably told her to go away but she was probably too persistent. I don't think it's his fault." Papa told me.

"He had no trouble telling her we were together when I was there, but when I wasn't, he didn't say anything. Doesn't that make it seem like he only said that because I was there?" I asked.

"It... maybe a little...." Papa Dev said.

"We all know he could've gotten rid of her in seconds. And yes, I'm jealous, I'm angry, I'm not going to hide that. I thought that.... you know what, nevermind. I don't want to talk about him." I said.

"What's your favourite flavour?" Papa Devan asked me, pointing to the ice cream shop and smiling. He was good at changing the subject.

"Uhm... I like the cheesecake flavour I tried the other time." I said, just imagining Vivi with his mango flavoured ice cream, trying to steal a spoonful of my ice cream.

I thought it was kind of stupid how I was thinking about him right now. I had just decided not to a few minutes ago.

"So what are we getting?" Papa Dev asked me.

"Mango, Cheesecake and then whatever you and Papa Teo like." I said.

"You're getting some ice cream for Vidal?" Papa chuckled.

"Yeah. I know it might be stupid to be mad at him, so I don't want to be too mean." I explained myself.

"You're so precious." He smiled. "You have every right to be angry."

"I do?" I asked.

"Yes. He should've said you were together. He should've pointed to you and said 'that's my girl over there and I don't want anyone but her, leave me alone'." Papa told me.

"You think so?" I asked as we entered the tiny ice cream shop.

"Yup. He knows how he feels about you. He likes you, so there wasn't anything hard about it. He just could've said he was into you and she seems like she would've walked away. But maybe let him explain. You should never trust what a random person says, especially about these things." Papa Dev told me.

"I wish Ari was here." I sighed.

"You two seem to get along a lot." Papa chuckled.

"We made a pact." I giggled.

"You did?" He asked me.

"Yeah. We're sisters, so whenever anything happens, the first person we go to about it is our sister." I said.

"I see." Papa chuckled, hugging me to his side and kissing my forehead.

"I tried texting her, but there's no connection." I sighed.

You could call her.

"I could..." I said, hesitantly eying my phone.

"Call her." Papa told me. "I'll order our ice cream."

"Really?" I asked.

"Go ahead." He said to me.

I took my phone out of my pocket and I called Ari.

"Hello?" She asked, picking up immediately.

"Hey, Ari." I said.

"Kiara. What happened?" She asked me.

"A girl was hitting on Vidal for like five minutes at the beach." I said.

"What? Five minutes? She wouldn't leave him alone?" Ari asked.

"I was watching from down by the water. She just kept laughing and they were both talking and then when I went over, she asked if we were together and he hugged me and said yes, then she said she was sorry, and that if she knew we were together, she wouldn't have hit on him." I said, the hurt festering in me more now that I was saying it all again.

"And why didn't she know after talking to him for five whole minutes? What was he waiting for?" Arabella asked angrily.

"Exactly. I mean, it's not like we're actually together, but he had no problem claiming it when she asked, so why didn't he just tell her to get lost? He could've gotten rid of her much quicker, right? Or am I just being overdramatic?" I asked.

"No. You aren't. I would've slaughtered Micah for something like that." Arabella said.

"Well, you two are married though." I said.

"And Vidal can't keep his hands to himself. So if he wants to be touching you constantly, he can learn to get rid of a girl much faster than that." She told me.

"That's true." I said.

"Your anger is definitely justified. But still talk to him, of course. I'm sure he has an explanation. He has struggled with girls like this before though and I wouldn't necessarily trust that he actually didn't already tell her about you. She may have just said that to start something between you two." Ari told me.

"Why would she do that?" I asked.

"Because she was probably annoyed and embarrassed. Some girls are just stupid like that." Ari told me.

"So you think maybe she was just that persistent?" I asked.

"Yeah. I think that's a possibility." Ari said to me.

"Alright, thanks for listening Ari." I said.

"Oh, don't even mention it. Call me after you two talk." She said to me.

"I will." I smiled.

"Alright. Love you, Kiara!" She giggled.

"I love you too, Ari. Bye!" I said, hanging up.

Papa Dev already had our ice cream by the time the call ended. We both walked back to the are on the beach where Vidal and Papa Teo were.

When we got there, I handed Vidal his ice cream and gestured for him to follow me.

"What's wrong?" He asked me.

"What's wrong is that I watched you talk to that girl for far longer than necessary." I said.

"What?" He asked me.

"Does it take several minutes to be say you aren't interested and you have someone else in your life that wouldn't appreciate you giving your number out to strangers?" I asked him.

"No. It doesn't. But it takes several minutes to repeat it a million times and try to prove to them that you're dead set on that precious person and aren't interested in anything else." He told me.

"But she said that she never would've-" I started.

"Yes. I heard what she said. She was only trying to get to you and make you angry at me. These girls just want me for my money, and when I shut them down, sometimes they get upset and if they see that I have a girl, they'll try to spark trouble between us." Vivi told me.

"Ari said that, that might be a possibility." I said softly.

"Yeah. Because she was with me one time and someone thought we were in a relationship, so they told her something about me cheating or something, they wanted to make us get into a fight, thinking that she was my girlfriend." He told me.

I shook my head in annoyance.

"Next time get rid of them faster." I frowned.

"I'll try." Vidal told me.

"It doesn't feel good to watch that." I said.

"I know." Vidal told me, kissing my forehead.

"No you don't know." I said, shaking my head.

"What are you saying?" He asked me.

"I'm saying you've never experienced that. You've never been in a relationship." I said to him.

"I... Kiara, I don't like seeing guys hit on you, you're mine." He said.

"One guy hit on me and you were too busy talking to that girl to notice. I also got rid of him in three seconds." I said, my hand shaking angrily.

If he cares, why won't he tell me how he feels?

I don't want to hear that he cares about me or that I'm his. I want to hear how he feels. I want to hear him tell me that he likes me at least.

This is so stupid.

"Kiara... you're still mad at me." He said.

"No. I know you told her about us. I believe that. I'm just mad in general." I said.

"You already know that I'm yours." He said to me.

I nodded, even though I hated that he kept saying that. He wasn't mine if he didn't feel the same way.

Is he that clueless?

Does he not realize that I've been trying to get him to tell me how he feels for forever?

Does he need me to ask him how he feels? That's not happening. I'm not that bold. I can't push him that much. I want it to come from him.

"Kiara. Listen." Vivi said.

"What?" I asked, looking up at him.

"I'm never going anywhere, you hear me? And one day, we're going to be married. We just have to take a slightly slower pace." Vivi told me.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because right now. I'm your caregiver, your guardian. I can't be your boyfriend too. Once you get better... like completely better. We can work on the relationship progression together." He said to me.

I nodded.

"Alright?" He asked me.

"Yes." I nodded, wanting things to go back to normal.

"Now. Finish that ice cream and I promise not to be boring after that." He told me.

I smiled, showing him my already empty cup of ice cream. He grabbed it and smiled, putting it in his own empty cup.

He took the cups to the nearest garbage and threw them in there. Then he came running to me and he picked me up, spinning me around and running into the water with me. He threw his body into the water which just meant I went flying into it too.

"Look." He said, pointing to a cliff everyone was jumping off of.

I smiled, it looked like a lot of fun.

"Do you know how to swim?" Vivi asked me.

Just that simple question sent my head spiraling out of control.

My head spun. My heart raced. I wasn't in the ocean with Vivi anymore. I was standing in front of a pool, my body cold, frozen, and a strange man standing beside me with an evil glint in his eyes.