KEEPER OF THE DESERTED ISLAND

THE LOCK UNLOCKED

He thought hard and long about what Shirley told him but no matter how much he thought about it, he loved her too much to let her go. It was the first time in his entire life to want something for himself, everything was always based on commands for him, he had no say. She made him see reasons why he should stand up for himself and not live his life trying to get recognition from a father who doesn’t consider him a human not to talk of his son.

He doesn’t even know how his mother disappeared but he understood how she was always bent on separating him from the family, she would tell him that giving him ties to the family was the biggest mistake of her life and she is willing to pay with her life if it can be corrected. To him it seems like the universe gave him the chance to change his life once more by making him meet her and also live in this new environment where everyone around him treats him like a human and he even heard someone call him her precious friend

He woke up the next morning and got up to find Gaia but when he finally saw her, the look in her eyes was scary, he had never seen her that determined and stubborn ever since he started living there. Also he wanted to be careful in handling the matter because he cannot shamelessly tell her to just ignore her mother’s wishes and concerns just because of him.

“She seems to angry right now, she wouldn’t even want to see me” he said sighing in defeat before turning back to go inside

The tension continued for a few days but he would always try his best to be around her even though she doesn’t acknowledge his presence. He went to sit in the yard that evening where Aurelia was busy picking her herbs when the old woman motioned for him to come closer

“I have met many humans who refuse to believe in destiny so I am reluctant to say this, let me first ask if you believe in it before I proceed, do you believe in destiny?” she asked slowly looking up to him

“I do believe in destiny, you know I have spent almost all my life praying to be free from the clutches of my household and the day I was brought here, I finally understood and realized that my prayer was answered by a deity somewhere” he replied calmly

“then the biggest problem is solved. The very first day you came here, your necklace dropped and my eyes glitch as I wanted to pick it up. When my hand touched it, I saw the moon embracing its star, the moon appeared on your necklace and there has always been a star sign on the head of Gaia although it was not visible to everyone. I also saw everything about you and your family, I knew that the princess will be here soon which means if you both open your heart to each other, the princess will throw a fit which is already happening but who can stop destiny? The deities have made it that way, you are the key to her lock and without you, she can never be free from this island so it is now between the two of you to persuade her parents because the future is on her shoulders” Aurelia narrated to him making him speechless

“the deities are really wicked and complicated, aren’t they? They gave you all such difficult choices to make” she added with a sigh

“I have promised her not to leave her even when it comes to fighting my father and the promise haven’t changed, I am only waiting for her to calm down before I move closer to her. Though the deities might be complicated, they were kind enough to give me a fresh start so I will be betting on their kindness one more time. They will surely find a way and help us out” he replied positively and Aurelia smiled

“Gaia did found herself a gem, you are such a brilliant young man and I hope everything works out for you both” she said patting his shoulder before dismissing him

The next day, he made up his mind to talk to her about their relationship and his stance but before he woke up, she already left home for the training ground, he decided to wait for her and not disturb her but after waiting for several hours, he began to get impatient and left for the training ground where he saw all her hands bleeding but she was still practicing with it because she was angry and out of her mind.

He quickly intervened and stopped her training before helping her bandage the hand while telling her his mind that he was never uninterested in her and his promise didn’t change. She yelled at him for not coming sooner and he laughed at how she was a crybaby while assuring her that he won’t leave her, she accused him of lying because he didn’t come to her no matter how long she waited for him

“Because I have been waiting for you to make your decision” he replied before looking into her eyes

“You have been waiting for me?” she slowly asked

“yes, I have been waiting for you because I clearly told you that the moment I decided to go against my dad, I will hold unto you and will not leave you” he said with a shrug and she smiled faintly

“You! If you were not changing your mind then why did you not talk to me all these while?” she said almost crying

“It’s because you didn’t talk to me and your eyes were too scary for me to come closer” he said cleaning off the tears in her eyes

“you are just too weird, you should have held unto me” she cried the more

“that I why I have come here, to hold unto you. I never knew you were such a cry baby” he teased her and she slapped his shoulder before bursting into a smile

“You are not serious, I wasn’t crying, I was only trying to remove the dirt in my eyes” she muttered and he slowly wiped the tears again

“I missed you so much” she said and he smiled

“I missed you more that I think I will go crazy” he replied before diving in for a kiss

She titled her head and placed her hand on the back of his neck to hold him closer as she closed her eyes to enjoy the moment with him. They kissed away for sometimes before they finally disengaged and she smiled at him, he returned the smile immediately and he slowly took her hand and rubbed it gently while staring into her eyes

“It’s going to be a battle of trying to convince the parents now, I have more assurance to hold unto you now so you have to make up your mind and be strong through this fight” he said to her and she scoffed

“I never had the intention to leave you so don’t worry about that, even as we try to convince my parents, let’s not let go our hands” she replied and he nodded

“I think we should return home right now so we can also treat your wound since you are badly hurt, I can’t have you bleeding like this” he said and pulled her up

They were talking about many random things as they walked back home and were giggling loudly. They were about to reach the house when she suddenly yelped and held unto her chest

“what is happening? Is something wrong with you?” he asked stopping to look at her

 “I suddenly felt a tug in my chest but I think it’s due to the fact that I practiced too hard. I will rest up when we get home” she said trying to walk further only for her to let out a scream this time and clutch her hand harder on her chest in pain

“Are you sure you are alright? What exactly is wrong?” he asked with a worried tone as he held her shoulder to look at her properly

She tried talking but the pain was too much for her, before he could blink she was already on the floor in pain making him anxious and worried at the same time.

“This won’t do, let’s get you home as quick as possible” he said with panic in his voice and carried her on his back before running home

Aurelia was outside coming from the yard when she sighted him carrying her home, she already felt the sign and came out to check what was happening

“What’s happening?” she asked helping her down his back

“I don’t know why she’s suddenly in pain, she clutched her hand to her chest and screamed as we were coming back from the training ground, will she be okay?” he asked panting heavily due to the speed he raced down home with

Aurelia faced her and checked her out, she saw how she was behaving and clutched her hands to her chest. She then proceeded to read her palm before turning to face Hector again

“By chance, did the two of you share something intimate?” she asked and he gasped in shock

“Something intimate as in?” he replied trying to play dumb but a smack from her brought him to his senses and just then Convel and Shirley got out of the house to see their daughter on the mat in pain

“Why is she like this? Did something happen to her?” Shirley shouted and ran to her side to check her before rushing to hold Hector which surprised everyone

“what did you do to her? She was healthy before she left home so why is she back like this? What did you do to my precious daughter?” she yelled at him but Convel rushed to pull her back from him

“Why are you taking it out on the poor boy? You don’t even know what the cause of the sickness is so why are you attacking him?” he scolded her

“I believed I asked a question, did you both share something intimate?” Aurelia asked again looking at Hector who finally confessed

“We did share a kiss, that’s the only thing we shared but I doubt it can be the cause of this” he said and Shirley yelled again

“You both kissed? When did you kiss? Why? Who gave you the permission to do that?” she screamed at him but Convel who was tired of her rant yelled back at her

“Is that what is important right now? They are not kids so why do you keep yelling at only him when they both were involved? Do you hate him that much or you are just trying to push the sin of his family on him?” Convel said raising his voice at her for the first time making her shocked

“to be honest, the boy is just unfortunate to come from such a family and it’s not like that’s his fault, don’t block their ways just because of your own feelings” he added before going to Gaia’s side

“So what is happening now and what are we going to do?” he asked Aurelia gently

“They should have carried out the joining ritual before doing something of such since Gaia is not an ordinary one but I never imagined they will go as fast and far as this. The sign of their bond being right for each other is the reason why she’s like this. She will be fine after a few minutes so don’t worry about it and just wait for her to calm down” Aurelia explained

“The joining ritual you say?” he asked looking at her for more explanation

“Yes, don’t you know that Gaia is superior because of her nature? She is someone who bears much more power than everyone else which is locked for now and the key to the lock is Hector. They kissing without the ritual was the reason her lock was opened unexpectedly and her powers wanted to surface but since she’s trained and experienced, she was able to control it well” Aurelia explained

“So you mean we can’t do anything and just wait for her to calm down?” he asked again and Aurelia nodded in confirmation

They all waited around Gaia who finally fell asleep after a while and by the time she woke up, she was back to normal

“Are you fine now? We need to talk, I mean both of you” Shirley remarked as soon as Gaia woke up