CHAPTER 52: Because of My Decision

Atilla's POV.

I feel like it was the longest flight I ever experienced in my life, while Ram, the jerk, was sound asleep.

I hit his foot as the plane came to a stop, and the pilot announced that we could disembark.

"OK," he said as I moved away from him, lugging my baggage and hurrying out of the airport to get a taxi, when a man approached me.

"Are you Ms. Atilla?" he asked, which surprised me because I hadn't expected to be greeted when I arrived in Cebu.

"Who are you?" I inquired, wary that he might be a terrible person with horrible intentions toward me.

"I am your driver for today," he said, but I was still unsure.

I was still contemplating whether to believe him or not, but Ram suddenly grabbed my suitcase, and I felt my fury boil as I saw his emotionless face loading our bags into the car.

"Excuse me, what do you think you're doing?" I asked, and my left eyebrow rose.

"Look, Atilla, I hired his service to make our trip to Cebu easier, so you have nothing to worry about," he said as he climbed into the car.

I admit I was impressed because, despite the fact that I typically plan ahead, this person came up with this notion, and he was producing some confusion in my thoughts, which I didn't like.

I had no choice but to get in the car and sit in the opposite corner from him, and the journey was rather uneventful.

I tried to concentrate on the beauty outside, but I couldn't help but notice Ram's presence in the car. I could hear every breath he took, and I despised myself for it because I felt like the old Atilla from two years ago.

I expected us to be silent the entire time, so I was puzzled when he abruptly spoke. "Let's stop at Zubuchon for a bite to eat," he remarked without even asking my opinion.

"We don't have time to eat," I protested, but my face flushed when my stomach grumbled because I hadn't eaten since the night before, and to make matters worse, my stomach began to feel queasy.

"I think your stomach is complaining as well, Atilla," he remarked, and I had no choice but to agree.

I didn't say anything as we were driving to the restaurant, but when we got there, I saw that many others had already started eating. We were greeted by a member of staff who took our order. I allowed him to place the order for us.

Ram seemed serious as he studied the menu, allowing me to get a good look at his features. Over the years, Ram's appearance has not changed.

In reality, he appeared more handsome, and the addition of maturity to his appearance increased his attractiveness.

"Do you have anything else you want to add to our orders?" He asked.

"N-nothing else," I stuttered, feeling the heat rising in my cheeks.

I tried to act as if being in front of Ram had no effect on me, but the truth was that my heart was pounding abnormally, and I knew it wasn't right.

I had already decided a long time ago not to let him affect me, but after just a few days of seeing him again, the promise I made to myself was already starting to crumble.

"What time will our investors arrive on the island?" I was surprised when he suddenly spoke after several minutes of silence between us.

"We will meet them around five in the afternoon, and the reason why I need to be there early is to prepare everything that needs to be fixed on the island," I explained.

I felt extremely nervous with the way he was looking at me, but luckily our orders arrived just in time, so his attention was diverted. However, I could still feel his occasional glances at me.

"I really need to get away from him," I thought to myself while we continued our meal. Finally, we finished and decided to continue.

When we arrived at the dock, a boat was waiting for us that would take us to the island. I bet the money in my pocket that it was Ram who arranged it. He really thought of everything, no wonder Ellaine trusted him to help me run Henry's businesses.

No words were exchanged between us as we rode the boat. I didn't know what was going through the young man's mind.

"Snap out of it, Atilla. Who cares what Ram is thinking? What's important now is getting the investors' signatures," I scolded myself. I needed to remind myself of my priorities.

I tried to remain focused as much as possible, which wasn't easy because of his presence.

"Oh my..." was my reaction when we finally arrived at Henry's island. I couldn't believe how beautiful it was. No wonder Henry insisted on buying it.

The island was a real paradise. There was white sand and plenty of coconut trees around. At the end, you could see a forest that looked unexplored. I saw a lot of potential in the place, so I wondered how it hadn't become a tourist attraction in Cebu.

"Welcome to our little island. You must be Ms. Atilla," the hotel manager said, not far from us.

This island used to belong to a former friend of Henry's, and when his family decided to live in another country, he sold the island to Henry.

"Just call me Atilla..." I said so and waited for him to introduce himself. His name was Julius.

I didn't waste any time and immediately asked him to take me on a tour of the island. I really liked what I was seeing. Yes, there were a lot of things to take care of, but they were all minor.

The first thing that came to mind was to tear down the old buildings because they didn't fit the scenery of the place. I was thinking of something like the resorts in Bali, Indonesia, that I had visited before. I wanted any structures built to blend in with the surroundings.

Around five p.m., the investors we were waiting for finally arrived. They were two Japanese businessmen who had already become Henry's business partners. Like me, I could see their appreciation for the place, and we gave them a moment to rest before touring the entire area.

This time, I explained the changes that would be made once the development started.

"As you can see, we want to maintain everything on this island, and we don't really want to touch the rainforest since it will be a big factor for us to attract tourists to this part of the Philippines," I explained after touring around. We were in the hotel's office that I wanted to demolish, and I saw approval in the faces of the investors, which told me that we could get the signature we needed to start fixing what we needed to. As expected, they had already signed the contract.

"Nice doing business with you, Ms. Cervantes. Your brother must be really proud of you," Mr. Matsunaga said with a smile.

"Thank you, Mr. Matsunaga. Are you sure you don't want to stay for a few more hours?" I asked, but he immediately declined, saying they also needed to go back to Japan for his own businesses. However, he entrusted everything to me to beautify the place.

"Good job, Atilla," I was surprised to hear that from behind me, and when I turned around, I saw Ram smiling.

He remained silent and allowed me to lead, which I really appreciated because he had trusted me in the decisions I made for this project, and again, I could feel my traitorous heart beating really fast.

"Thank you," I said briefly. To be honest, I really wanted to chase after the boat that would take the Japanese investors so that I could go with them.

I was afraid that if I stayed longer, I would eventually forget the right things and just follow my heart, which was not possible because there were still things that I needed to ensure in this place. But I promised myself that I would leave that night.

I made sure everything was in order, and it was already around eight o'clock when I finished. When I left the hotel, I felt the strong wind, and I suddenly fell down when I saw the big waves in the ocean.

"Ma'am, it's dangerous to sail when the waves are like this," the banker I hired explained to me.

"Atilla, we don't have any choice but to stay here overnight," Ram said, but I really couldn't bear to be with him anymore. I was really scared.

"No, Ram, you can stay if you want, but I need to go back to Manila," I said firmly.

"But, Ma'am..." the banker still objected.

"I'll pay you triple if you take me to the port in Cebu," I quickly said, and I saw his hesitation, so I decided to do it five times more than what we had agreed on earlier. I would do everything just to stay away from Ram.

"This is crazy, Atilla. You're risking your safety just to get away from me," I could hear the frustration in Ram's voice, but I couldn't believe what I was hearing from him.

"Don't think that you're the reason why I want to go back to Manila. There are many jobs left that need immediate attention," I denied, and I wouldn't let him know how I felt during those hours.

"Don't give me that crap, Atilla. You and I know the real reason why you're so eager to leave—you're afraid to stay together, you're afraid that your feelings for me will come out, that even after all these years, you still love me like I still love you," he said emotionally.

"You know what, Ram, I don't care what you think; I'm going home no matter what," I said, and I even fought with him while our eyes met, as if neither of us wanted to give up, but in reality, my heart was pounding hard.

"I thought I was going to lose, but Ram suddenly looked away and took a deep breath. "You win," he said sadly, making my heart ache.

I didn't answer, so he continued speaking. "You won, Atilla. When we get back to Manila, I'll do what you want. I'll distance myself from you and try to kill the love in my heart," he said and then got on the boat.

I was left speechless by Ram's words. I suddenly felt a warm liquid on my cheeks and was surprised to realize that tears were freely flowing from my eyes.

It was fortunate that it was already dark, and that Ram wasn't looking at me, so I immediately wiped the tears from my face.

I followed him to the boat in silence, trying to convince myself that this was what I wanted, but I couldn't help feeling hurt by what had happened.

"This is what you wanted, Atilla, isn't it?" I heard my inner voice say It was true, but why didn't I feel any happiness?

No words were spoken as the boat started to move, it was only the howling of the wind, and the sound of waves that could be heard.

The surroundings were cold because of the strong winds, and it was also very dark except for the light in front of the boat that guided us on our journey. As time passed, the waves became stronger and stronger, and I was overwhelmed with fear.

"It seems like the boat can't handle the waves anymore!" The boatman shouted to Ram.

"What can we do?" Ram asked calmly, not showing any signs of fear. Perhaps he was also nervous, but he didn't show it.

"The only thing we can do is return to the island!" He replied, and I immediately agreed because there was nothing else we could do. I blamed myself for insisting on going and putting our lives in danger.

We decided to return, but because of the strong winds, the only light that guided us was swallowed up by the water, and darkness enveloped us completely.

"What now?" I asked, scared by what was happening.

"There's nothing we can do, Ma'am, except to continue. Don't worry..." he said, but I didn't finish hearing what he was saying because a strong wave hit the boat unexpectedly, and I lost my grip and fell into the water.

The ocean felt like it was freezing as the cold seeped into every muscle in my body.

"Help!" I shouted and heard Ram's voice calling back with a splash, which meant that something or someone had fallen or jumped.

I tried to find my way back to the boat, but no matter what I did, I couldn't find it. I was startled when strong hands grabbed me, and I started struggling out of fear.

"Shh... Atilla, it's just me," I heard Ram whisper, breathing heavily, and I calmed down a bit.

"Where's the boat?" I asked, but fear returned when I heard his answer.

"The boat's gone, Atilla. It sank," he said, his voice trembling from the cold water.

"Oh God!" I said, overwhelmed with guilt as I thought of the terrible fate that may have befallen the boatman, and it was all because of my stubbornness.

"What are we going to do, Ram?" I'm getting really scared about our situation.

"We need to remain calm, Atilla, and keep swimming. Here, wear this," he said, handing me his life vest.

"But what about you?" I asked as he helped me put on the life vest.

"Don't worry, I have my own," he replied, and when I felt his chest, I noticed he was wearing his own life vest.

"I'm scared, Ram," I admitted.

"Don't worry, Atilla. I won't let anything bad happen to you, I promise," he said, and for some reason, I believed him. His words helped calm my nerves.

I believed he could find a way to get us out of the uncertain situation we were in. I didn't know how, but I trusted him to make every decision.