The next morning, I woke up on my stomach on the bed, and my body sprawled awkwardly. I raised my hand and noticed Stephan is not here anymore so he must be downstairs already. He's up early. I usually wake up first then I will make breakfast.

I sat up, yawning and stretched my arms in the air. I wonder, what time is it already? Its getting hot.

I put on my slippers and head downstairs, searching the rooms where Stephan is or where he went. At the dining area, I noticed that there are some sliced papaya on the dining table, loaf of breads with some peanut butter. But where is he? I slept earlier than him last night so I am not actually sure of he slept next me last night.

Yeah, we had trouble sleeping last night again. We were fighting about the blanket like the other night because he is being selfish so I got him mad, he left our bedroom then I took my chance to sleep peacefully.

"I heard that you helped me friend yesterday, huh?"

That was Stephan.

I slowly walked towards the small part in front of the house and saw him sitting there with a capuchin on his lap.

Oh, it's Papaya.

"But she is not her, Papaya. I know that you've mistaken my friend as her but...she was long gone." He softly told him, patting his head.

What is he talking about?

Not her?

I'm not who?

Then Papaya made those monkey sounds again, and he was referring to me making Stephan turn head "How long have you been standing there?" He asked looking at little surprised to see me.

"Um...not longer than five seconds." I lied, chuckling weakly then I started walking towards them.

Papaya jumped off from Stephan's lap then suddenly climbed on my shoulder making me laugh "Hey, little buddy." I pet him before looking at Stephan. "Hi, good morning." I greeted, nicely and this is the first time I did that.

So awkward.

Stephan raised an eyebrow before he could answer me then it just turned into a smile, showing me those pearly dashing white teeth...ohh, boy.

Why does he needs to be so charming when he's smiling like that? Damn, and his naked top really flushes me with those tattoos he had on his chest. Again, I am staring at his body and how many times did I refused the thought that he had a striking hot body?

"Good morning, doll. I hope you had a peaceful good night sleep." He said, standing up from the chair and stood in front of me.

Crap, is he trying to seduce me? Maybe he is because it is really working.

"Um...yeah I did." I mumbled, nervously looking at Papaya instead then him. "How about you?"

"Yes, sleeping in the couch is really comforting" oh Lord, he slept on the couch? On that small hard couch?

"W-why did you sleep there? You could have just wake me up? Afraid that I might kick your ass when I found out that you slept next to me again?" A fake wicked laugh escaped my lips. But darn, I really feel guilty. The freaking couch is just half of his size and his body is probably aching at this moment.

"Because you are sprawled on the bed and snoring so loudly. Then I realized I don't have the heart to wake you up if you look so peaceful." He murmured softly, causing me shiver at the tone and closeness of his voice to mine.

"Um...sorry about that." I apologized, turning away from him and walked towards the small port and faced the ocean with Papaya still on my shoulder.

I am not really comfortable when someone is trying to seduce me or talking to me that close unless he's my boyfriend or a guy that I'm dating. But Stephan is different. He had this aura that makes me so nervous even if when he is just looking at me. Maybe because he had this strong eyes that can make you melt and it feels like he was staring at you through your souls.

Then when I noticed him became quiet, I looked at him and he was staring at me. Is something wrong?

"Why?" I asked.

But he just shook his head. "You're being nice to me this morning. Did the warm bed really gave you a warm heart?"

I raised an eyebrow and rolled my eyes. "No, I'm not being nice because I am already nice."

Stephan chuckled huskily "First, you told me I should have waked you up last night and that is what you actually hate the most...is your sleep to be disturb. And now, you said sorry for the first time. Why change, Doll?" He walked closer once again, and my heart starts pounding.

Oh God, don't come any close, Stephan.

"Nothing...is it bad? I'm really a nice person but only when it comes to you...I'm..." Okay, what are you saying next, Ariana?

"What, doll? When it comes to me, you're?" Okay, he is teasing me and now he is next to me and I can feel his hot breath hitting my neck. "You're being..." Then he whispered something that made me shiver and I just all of a sudden...

Pushed him off the port causing him to fall on the water.

"Ohhh God, I am so sorry!" I gasped, and Papaya left my shoulder as he jumped to the ground. Darn, what have I done!

Darn, it's his fault in the first place! He couldn't have whispered the word horny in my ear! Gosh, that really startled me.

Stephan raised his head off the water and coughed "You stupid doll!"

"I am really sorry, Stephan! You really shocked me when you said the word horny." I reasoned out and offering my hand for him. "Here, I'll help you."

"Really, doll? You threw me a wine on my face, slapped me, then threw me to water. What else do you have in line?" He asked, chuckling swimming near me.

"Well, if you just not try to be an jerk then I shouldn't have done that." I retorted back and he reached my hand.

"A jerk? Then let me show you how jerk I can be." he smirked evilly then this time, its him who pulled me to the water with him with a squeak.

I swim up and breathe in once I inhaled the oxygen "You stupid asshole! Why did you pulled me?!" I shouted at him and he was laughing!

Freaking laughing at me!

And this is all his fault!

I groaned really loudly and splashed him some water on his face. "Urg, I hate you so much." I hissed then swam away until I reached the sand. Crap, now I'm so wet.

I heard him got off the ocean as well but I am so angry at him right now.

"Hey, don't be so angry." He continued to laugh, and he was arching his back at how happy he is in throwing me to that water. "I just pulled you in the water. It's not gonna kill you, doll."

I faced him with an angry face "Not gonna kill me? I could have drown there!"

Stephan chuckled and stopped laughing "I'm there with you, Ariana. I'm not gonna let you drown and I really trust you enough that you won't drown."

I trust you

He is giving me such a deep word.

Those are the words that I've been wanting to hear from my own parents. I wouldn't expect to hear that from Stephan that I just met for a few days.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Did I hit a spot?" Stephan raised an eyebrow at me when I noticed that my face suddenly went soft. He is making this hard for me. "Am I turning you soft, doll?"

I sigh then glared at him. "Just shut up and don't you dare pull that stunt on me again." When I said that I turned to leave and back inside the house stomping.

Stupid Stephan.

What a freak he is and even pulled me to the water with him. Darn, now I have to change and dry myself up. I ran up to our room and quickly went to the bathroom to dry myself, take off my dress because if I changed outside, all the windows are open and Stephan can clearly see me from down there.

So I dried myself using my towel then when I am dried enough, I wrapped my naked body then went outside and get my suitcase. I sat down on the floor and grabbed a new dress. God, why didn't Mom gave me a shirt or a short? They are all this tropical Hawaiian dress.

"Whoa." I heard Stephan's voice as he quickly turned his head away seems like he just arrived in our room.

"What?" I asked.

Stephan didn't respond, he just looked at me and crossed his arms. "Oh, so it's fine with you if I am here and you're only wearing a towel"

I gasped and even faster than a lightning. I ran to the bathroom with the dress in my hand and took the chance to take a bath to get off those ocean smell on my skin.

After my shower, I am already dressed and saw Stephan at the balcony, looking serious at the huge ocean. As if he was thinking of something.

"It's your turn if you're gonna use the bathroom." I told him and he turned around but still not removing his eyes from the ocean. "Is something wrong?"

He finally removed his eyes then looked at me. "Nothing." He breathe out then smirked as his eyes roamed my whole body, "I like your dress. It looks good on you."

"Oh, thanks." I mumbled. "This one is different from the others. Kinda sophisticated?"

"Yeah, you look even prettier." He smiled causing me to froze and stare at him. Did he just compliment me? That is so not him.

It is very hard to accept right now but I will take that. I am kinda tired fighting and arguing with him. This fighting thing will only make everything worse for the both of us especially for being alone in this island. And besides, that is what we have to do in the first place. Know each other more and we'll get out of this stupid island. That is the only choice we have.

I removed my eyes from him and turn away "I'm gonna cook...downstairs while you have your bath." I told him.

He shrugged his shoulders "Okay then. You're a chef from Paris. Make some magic out of canned foods, Doll." He said, chuckling. "...Or you want to stay and join me in my shower."

I blushed immediately and shouted "In your dreams, lover boy!" Then I head down to the kitchen in a swift not wanting to feel the tension anymore inside that room.

Stupid man. Why the heck would I join him in his shower?

Such a lunatic.

As I cursed his in my mind while I was walking, I didn't noticed that I am already in the kitchen. Okay then, time to do some magic. I put all the can out of the shelf and studied the canned foods that I just laid in front of me on the counter. Thinking what can I do to make them look magical and exciting to eat. Maybe I can use the meat loaf...

Oh we have Spam! Oh, Mom does love me.

This is my favorite since I was a kid.

Now I have to turn this one out and make something cool about it.

Okay then, I have an idea but I don't know if this is gonna work. I ready my frying pan and I know there are some uncooked rice here so this one is perfect for what I was thinking. When I finally cooked the rice, I grab some carrots, those canned pineapples, canned green peas, and scrambled the eggs and of course don't forget the seasonings and spices.

Then in result, I made a spam fried rice with pineapples, green peas, eggs and carrots. I don't usually cook rice but since I am studying different kinds of cuisines, I also have to know how to.

When I finished cooking, I took an empty bowl so I can transfer the food so I can finally serve it.

"Smells heavenly amazing in here!" I heard Stephan exclaimed.

I just chuckled and was about to transfer the fried rice when suddenly I jerked when I felt Stephan's warmth behind me, his hot breathe hitting on my nape making me shiver and darn, why did I tie my hair high.

"Your hands are shaking, Doll. You're wasting food" he said, more breath hits my nape. Darn it. "Give me that. Hold the bowl for me,"

He circles his arm around me, with one hand holding the pan and the other one scraping down the rice as I hold the bowl. So our position is me, trapped inside his arms as we helped each other with a food. Wow, this is a first one.

"This is the first thing that we actually helped each other," I murmured quietly but enough for him to hear.

Stephan release a husky chuckle "I guess you're right." he said then stepped away from me, and I quickly felt cold when I didn't felt his body behind me as he took the bowl and now serving it on the table "Let's eat?"

I slowly nod my head and head to the dining table and ate with him. "This taste amazing, Doll. I underestimated you," he murmured while chewing his food and darn he looks so cute.

I chuckled "Well, let me remind you Mr. Draco that you are looking at the number one student of Le Cordon Bleu Paris - Institut d'arts culinaires et de management hôtelier. Meaning, I am better than you" I gave him the confident look.

Stephan raised an eyebrow at me and smiled making my heart fall from the chest "Is that true, Ms. Cruz? As you know too, I am also a number one student of Royal Academy of Culinary Arts in Brazil. I also have thousands of restaurants in many different countries and I've been a judge to many cooking contest also in Brazil. So, what else do you want to say?" he smirked, "Give up?"

I narrowed my eyes at him "If you think that being a good chef is because you have many different restaurants in the whole world then you're wrong with that. I'm only 25 years old when I graduated but you're already 29 when you finished college and now you're 31. That means I am truly a gifted one" I chuckled.

But Stephan didn't go down without a fight "Maybe because you are always listening to your parents and wasn't able to feel what it feels like to take a course that you really love."

My eyebrows touched "Are we back to this kind of topic again, Stephan?"

"No," he quickly replied. "I just want to tell you that I did rebel a little in my early age but I didn't regret all of my decisions. I only took culinary because my parents wants me to since my brother doesn't want to have the restaurant that our parents gave us. Then he died, I have no choice but to take it so then I promise myself that it will be the last one that I will obey my parents wishes in controlling my life. That's why this time, when they want me to marry you...I can't agree. They are just gonna control my over and over again." he explained leaving me speechless.

"So...it is not me who you don't want to marry but because it is a decision your parents are doing?"

Stephan suddenly looked at me seriously, his eyes locked with mine as I forgot to swallow the food in my mouth "Yes, that's why you're so unlucky that you're the woman they want for me, making me hate you." he said deeply as he continue to eat his meal then stopped once again. "But if you're just a random girl that I met and you're not that one they want for me..I'll definitely marry you, Ariana Cruz. I will really marry you without hesitation."

My eyes widen hearing him say that...

What does he mean by that?

That he likes me despite our parents choices.

Darn, it is like he is telling me that he likes me but since I was the one chosen by his parents, he doesn't want to me.

This man is really complicated.