When I read the file, I assumed that his secretary has a boyish name, but it turned out, he’s a man!

“Are you expecting a beautiful secretary with a voluptuous figure and will sit seductively behind this desk?” The secretary asked, but it appeared like an insult to me.

“I’m sorry if I offended you, Mr. Guardiana.” I apologized.

“I’m just kidding. So, you’re Miss Nikka Rabino from Cebu Journal? I’m your fan, Miss.” He extended his hand for a handshake, and I accepted it.

I knew he lied about being a fan or he would know how Nikka looked in person. I smiled at him and corrected his knowledge. “My name is Anna Ybanez sir and Nikka asked me to interview your boss because she’s sick today.”

He looked disappointed but after a few minutes, he smiled at me and retrieved something from his desk. “Anna Ybanez? Hold on, are you the one who exposed the corrupt deeds of Congressman Tomaquin?”

I nodded and smiled. “Is he in the office already?”

“Here,” he gave me a visitor’s pass as if the guard on duty didn’t give me one already. “He went to Isla Blanca last night, and he instructed me that the interview will be on the island.”

“Isla Blanca? I never heard of it before,” I replied.

“It’s not public, Miss Anna.” He said.

At the back of the visitor’s pass that Mr. Guardiana gave me, there was an instruction on how to get to the island. So, he has a yacht at the Marina Yacht Club? What did I expect from a major stockholder of AZ Group? “So, this man, Alejandro will take me to Mr. Alvarez?”

“Yes. You should hurry because he doesn’t like to wait,” he said.

“I’m leaving now, thank you.” I hurried up to the elevator and checked my wristwatch. Hopefully, there’s no traffic jam on the way to Lapu-Lapu City where Marina Yacht Club was located.

After I parked my car, I immediately called Alejandro, and it seemed that he expected my call, and told me where to find him.

When we sailed to Isla Blanca, I was grateful that the weather agreed with our trip. To be honest, I feared the sea and his secretary’s announcement that I have to interview the chairman on the island scared me.

Everything inside the yacht spoke of money, tons of it actually, and I wondered if it’s an asset of AZ Group or personal property of the new CEO. “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but whose yacht is this?” I asked the man in his Hawaiian shirt, which was fully unbuttoned that showed a lot of his tanned skin, particularly in the chest and down to his flat abdomen. He arched his thick brows when he noticed that I studied his toned physique.

“Mine,” he replied.

I thought it belonged to Omar Alvarez, but I got it wrong! “Ah, so this yacht is for rent?” I assumed that it was for rent or he wouldn’t claim it as his own while transporting me to Isla Blanca where my subject waited.

“No, but my brother ordered me to bring you there. So, how are you related to him?” He inquired, while his eyes roamed on every inch of my body and I felt violated.

“I’m not a walker!” I crossed my hands around my chest and glared at the man who probably assumed the worst in me.

“Did I say you are? You’re being defensive, Miss.” He replied when I declared that I was not a walker.

At first, the term ‘walker’ confused me, but a male colleague explained it to me in the nicest way possible that a walker was someone who sold her body for a price. “How long till we get to Isla Blanca?” I inquired because he made me uncomfortable.

“Relax, I won’t do anything to you or Omar will kill me.” He assured me about my safety while being with him, nevertheless, I couldn’t let my guard down. “Once you’re already in Isla Blanca and you don’t feel safe around him, just call me, and I’ll come to get you.”

“Why would I feel unsafe with him?” His latest remark about Omar Alvarez terrified me, but I manage to hide my true emotion with a smile.

Alejandro, his name that I almost forgot, pouted his lips and looked up the sky before he opened his mouth to speak. “Sometimes, he has an uncontrollable urge to hurt people.” He stated.

“You’re kidding me!” I refused to believe him that the new Chairman of AZ has a violent nature.

“See it for yourself, Miss. Oh, that’s the island!” He pointed our destination with his finger, and I turned around to check but all I could see from a distance was a long boardwalk leading to the house with a red roof.

“Amazing! But how are you going to park this boat?” I inquired as soon as I noticed that he slowed down.

“You’re going to jump from here and swim to the boardwalk or to the villa, whatever is more convenient to you.” He replied.

“What?” I bit my lips to mask its paleness after Alejandro delivered the worst kind of information after an hour of sailing in the blue waters of Mactan.

“I’m just kidding, what’s wrong with your face? You look pale,” he noticed.

“You shouldn’t have joked about jumping to the water!” I scolded him, and he laughed.

“Scared of the ocean, aren’t you?” He taunted me with my weakness, and as he moved closer to me, I feared that he would push me to the water. “Stop there!”

“You’re funny, Miss. Common, I’ll help you down.” He said, but I hesitated to follow him. “Hey, I’m not going to hurt you!”

The last phrase caught me off-guard because it was the same words that Omar whispered into my ears when we made love for the first time, and yet he did. I checked the distance from the deck where I stood, down to the water, then I noticed someone placed something to walk on from the yacht to the boardwalk. “Hmmm okay,” I said and walked behind Alejandro. “I thought that it was just you and me on the yacht earlier,” I told him.

“Silly. I don’t sail without my crews,” he said, and I nodded.

Oh well, what did I expect from someone who owned a huge yacht? After all, he was Omar’s brother! He walked with me until the boardwalk then he said goodbye. “Why don’t you come with me to the house?”

“He doesn’t like a crowd, Miss. Enjoy!” He said and returned to his yacht. At the upper deck, he waved his hand at me and made a hand gesture that he’s a phone call away.

I smiled at Alejandro before I started to tackle the boardwalk towards the villa. Who are you, Omar Alvarez? From the tidbits of information I gathered from Alejandro, Omar only became more mysterious as ever.

If only I knew that he wasn’t in the office, but on a private island, I shouldn’t have worn high heeled shoes! The blisters from the long walk cause a slight discomfort and I wanted to sit down badly.

I crossed my fingers before I pressed the doorbell button, and waited for someone to open the door.

My eyes focused on the doorknob when someone from inside the villa turned it, and I prepared myself to see him for the first time. Slowly, the door opened, and a smile was ready on my lips. The first thing I saw was his masculine hand that held the door handle and as my eyes traveled to his face, I stopped breathing and stared at him. “Omar…,” I called his name. He looked confused to see me at his doorstep, but his confusion couldn’t match the shock I felt when I recognized the man I met five years ago.

“Anna? Why are you here?”

He asked why I came, and it wasn’t what I expected to hear from him at our first meeting after several years. All at once, the pain he caused me surged through my heart and I wanted to scratch his eyeballs. As usual, he was still the same cruel man who abandoned me on a night and let me walk a kilometer to the jeepney stop. I shook my head in disbelief and backed out. “I’m sorry, I can’t do this,” I said and retrieved the phone in my pocket to call the man who brought me to the island. When Alejandro didn’t pick-up, I walked away from his doorstep, towards the boardwalk and I imagined the number of blisters my feet have to suffer…again.

“Anna, wait!” He called out my name, and I stopped walking away from him.