I
“You take at least a week's vacation leave, Daff. Have a break and relax. I command you not as your father but as President and CEO of this Company.” Mr. Marby stated with such authority that Daffodil could not refuse.
Just two weeks from now and she is turning twenty-one and, as usual, her parents told her to travel and relax for at least a week away from her office.
Their business revolves around the fashion industry, from elite clothing lines, jewelry manufacturing, and shops to fashionable home furniture.
She is currently the Executive Vice-President, next in rank to her father, who is the President/CEO of their Group of Companies. She is just twenty-one but her eagle eye for business is already very evident. She is a workaholic and never thought of anything else but their businesses; their companies. Although she dates men from time to time, she has never had any serious relationships yet. She did not feel the need yet, and neither did she feel being in love already.
The good daughter that she is, she followed what her parents wanted.
And so here she is at the airport about to board her flight going to Sydney Australia. Her parents booked her flight to Australia but she will not stay there as she bought another ticket. From Sydney, Australia, she will have a connecting flight going to the Cook Islands. This place has been on her bucket list for a long time already, together with Fiji, but her parents never allowed her to visit it, saying that the Cook Islands is not a safe place for her. She could not fathom after finding through research what was the basis of her parents for considering the Cook Islands as a risky place. The Cook Islands, based on what she had read, is a beautiful and peaceful place. Some even considered it a paradise.
She booked garden studio accommodation at the Little Polynesian Resort, a boutique resort in Rarotonga. It is just around nine kilometers away from the Rarotonga International Airport.
As she walked out of the Rarotonga International Airport, she saw nearby the airport shuttle of the Little Polynesian Resort. Besides the shuttle is a native man wearing the uniform of the resort, holding a placard where her name is written.
Daffodil smiled as she saw her name on the placard. “Hello, I am Daffodil Marby,” she said, introducing herself to the man holding the signboard.
“Kia Orana wahine ataahua,” the man from the hotel greeted her smilingly.
Daffodil knew a few words of the language being used in the Cook Islands, which is the Maori language. She understood that the man said, “Hello pretty or beautiful lady”; she smiled back at him.
“Whakamihi,” she said, thank you, as a reply to the man.
The man’s smile widened as he heard her speak their dialect. He nodded, got her luggage, and put them inside the shuttle. He then opened the door on the passenger side and motioned for her to get inside the vehicle.
Once again, she thanked him as she got inside the shuttle. She sat comfortably and looked inside as they traveled, going to her booked resort for more or less twenty minutes.
As she looked around, she felt something inside her; familiarity, longing, and other sorts of feelings that she could not comprehend.
II
As they reached the Little Polynesian Resort, she gasped for breath in awe; the place was wonderful and so relaxing. The things she read on the internet were not lies or exaggerated descriptions.
Daffodil went to the reception area to check in and she was greeted with a smile and kindness by the female receptionist. Suddenly, the receptionist’s eyes widened while looking at her.
Daffodil saw the astonishment in the receptionist’s eyes while looking at her.
“Yes?” she muttered, staring back at her inquisitively.
“Am I not mistaken about what I saw? You really have golden eyes Madam?” her voice was low; it was like a murmur actually.
Astounded by her question, Daffodil nodded. “Yes, I have.”
The receptionist suddenly became uneasy. Immediately, she handed her the key to her booked garden studio unit. “Here is your key Madam. Please take care,” she said in a low voice again.
Perplexed, Daffodil got the key from the receptionist and nodded to her while murmuring thank you, “Whakamihi.”
Tired of her long air travel and most probably having some jet lag, Daffodil fell asleep after just a few minutes of lying on her back on the soft king-sized bed inside the room.
She dozed off like a log until her spirit wandered into that realm of dreaming.
Then she saw a woman, running, very afraid while holding a child tight in her arms, and then she noticed some sort of wolves running too, chasing the woman with a child. The woman cried out and shouted, her thin voice spread all over the mountains, disturbing the peace of every species around.
A moment later, she saw a blooded golden wolf almost crawling, trying to save his life, but three black wolves attacked it again and again until it lay lifeless, almost swimming in its own blood. The three black wolves growled so loudly as if rejoicing about their victory.
Daffodil has been suddenly awakened by the ringing of the telephone inside her garden studio unit.
“Hello,” still feeling hazy, she answered the phone in an almost murmuring manner.
A baritone voice replied on the other line. “Hello Ms. Marby, this is from the reception area and we just would like to check if everything in there is okay?”
“Oh, yes, yes. The unit is wonderful; I am comfortable. Thank you,” she mumbled.
“Thank you, Madam, just give us a ring please if you need something.” The male receptionist said before putting the phone down.
Suddenly Daffodil smelled something; something so refreshing, it was like a cool breeze with a peppermint menthol scent lingering from her nostrils down to her heart up to the deepest part of her soul. Daffodil felt flabbergasted, unable to understand everything that she was experiencing in this place from the start that she set foot therein.
Then the peppermint menthol scent became stronger; it seemed to be just so near. Daffodil shook her head and thought that maybe someone was just having a relaxing massage moment and had been using an aromatic oil of peppermint scent. She tried to relax and inhaled the scent one more time.
Outside, near the beach, a man docked his speed boat and alighted there with such swiftness. He looked at the little paradise in front of him and smiled. His smile, however suddenly faded and his forehead furrowed when the wind blew into him, letting him smell that sweet lilac fragrance that brought him such a wonderful and heavenly feeling, making his heart flutter.
His lips all of a sudden twitched when he surmised what that smell meant to him; slowly, a ray of a smile crossed his eyes as he walked with more speed going in the direction where that sweet lilac fragrance came from.