Words I was Afraid to Hear 54 You have to Believe Me

Dan was still sleeping with her under the aluminized blanket inside the raft. The liferaft was miraculously in one piece and bound by the nylon rope to a nearby tree.

She had done all she can to survive through the storm that night.

Ah, indeed! That night when the ship sank...

Midori hurriedly fled when she saw a man was shot before her. She even dropped her purse containing her phone.

When Dan saw Midori running away from the shooter, he immediately grabbed her and locked the door. He instinctively covered her mouth while she was struggling from being held by an unknown person. He moved to bring them into an area of the room with better lighting, then he turned her abruptly and revealed himself.

"Don't shout. It's me." he whispered.

Midori paused, blinked, then her eyes welled with tears before she threw herself at him for a tight embrace.

After she calmed down, they saw a motorboat fleeing away through the window. A yacht not far from it also started to move stealthily.

Though Midori was still trembling due to fright, he was certain that the perpetrators have already abandoned ship.

When they came out, they heard people arguing about not having enough lifeboats and that the liferafts do not function.

Dan took Midori, to her dismay, into his suite.

"Why did we go back here?! The ship will sink. We have to go to the muster station as in the drill!"

"You heard them. They don't have enough lifeboats." He calmly continued to open a huge chest in his closet.

"So you just decided to just die?!" She was furious. If he wanted to die beside her, he should just die alone! Her current feelings do not go that far...yet. She still wants to live!

He put a life vest on her then he wore his own, then replied, "Of course not." Then to her surprise, he easily carried a capsule-like object that looks heavy. She was trying to recall where she had seen it, but she decided to trust him on this. Then he went to the veranda. "Follow me."

She jogged to catch up without even having the chance to state her question.

He nonchalantly threw the object into the ocean. Soon, a liferaft inflated. He helped her along the railings of the veranda and they jumped into the ocean.

They managed to get on the liferaft which could accommodate six persons. Finding the pocket knife along the supplies, he cut the rope that he tied to initially keep the raft near the ship.

Their raft started to move along with the waves. Since they were at the other side of the ship, they could not see the rest of the liferafts or lifeboats. No matter how they tried to put up the distress signal, no one noticed them.

Then, the storm sent heavy rain and violent waves. Dan secured themselves inside the raft, sealing it off from the outside.

It was still raining heavily when they felt like they had drifted to a land area.

Dan quickly checked, and after confirming, he used his strength to pull the raft away from the waves. He took a rope to secure it on a large tree, then he went back in.

Midori saw how drenched he was and felt pity. She rummaged through the supply and found a blanket. "Remove your suit." she said, her voice full of concern.

"I don't think it's a good time for that." He tried to tease her while flashing his smile.

She smacked his left shoulder then pouted.

He winced as if he was in pain. When she looked at her hand, she saw bright red blood. She forcefully tugged to take off his tuxedo and saw a large red stain on his slightly torn white shirt. She was mortified!

She took off his shirt and saw a laceration on his left deltoid area. It looked like a bullet had grazed on his arm. "When did you..." She gasped when she realized that he must have gotten it when he grabbed her from the hallway.

"Hey, don't worry. It's a small wound. Uhm...I think there's a bandage among the supplies. Could you help me patch this up?" He tried to console her and make her less guilty.

She nodded and looked for the first aid kit. After his wound was dressed, it stopped bleeding, but Midori still felt guilty.

He embraced her using his other arm and rubbed her back to calm her. After some time, she stopped frowning and looked up at him.

To her surprise, he was sweating. She placed her hand on his forehead and felt that he was having a fever. The wound might have been infected. She wiped his face and made him drink aspirin and some water.

"Sleep now." Since they were technically stuck in the storm for the night, it was best to rest.

As he was sick, Dan did not argue and lied on the blanket obediently after stripping his wet clothes off.

She lied on another blanket beside him. She closed her eyes but sleep evaded her.

In the middle of the night, she heard his voice. She thought he woke up, but as his eyes remained shut, she realized he must be having a dream.

"Dori...no! Don't leave! I swear, I didn't sleep with her! I was drugged! I was sleeping through the whole time! You have to believe me! No! Don't! I'll do anything! Don't leave me!"

After hearing these words, her tears kept pouring down. She moved towards him and patted his shoulder.

At this time, he had calmed down, as if the dream was over. He was still groggy when she tried to wake him up. He then let a barely audible "Hmmm..."

Midori gasped, her eyes widened. So he was really just asleep! It was how he responds when people try to wake him up. How could she forget!

She lied down with him while crying. He felt her body beside him and opened his eyes.

"Dori..." He had a smile of relief. "You're still...you stayed. I'm...Am I dreaming?"

She cried even more. Then she caressed his face and looked into his eyes as she firmly replied, "No. This is real."

He wiped her tears with his fingers, then he pulled her closer to him. "Don't cry."

She embraced him back as she forcefully fought back her tears.

.

So, this morning...

Midori carefully stepped out of the raft so as not to wake Dan up.

She walked around looking for anything useful. She found a river that flows into the ocean. After surveying the surroundings, she tore off a side of her skirt, clumsily forming a mesh bag. After an hour of trying, she somehow managed to catch some freshwater shrimp from the small river within the woods. She also found wild lemongrass and lime. She took the knife from the survival kit and filled the water bags available.

Since she could not see any nearby land, these will prevent them from consuming all their supplies before help arrives. After all, it might take days for people to find them.

She also set up the distress signal for the day, then using bamboo and pieces of wood, she set up a fire to cook with.

She decided to cook a simplified tom yum goong* because soup would be good for his recovery. She patiently peeled the shrimp, preserving the end of its tail. Since she did not have much spices, she decided to leave the heads on the shrimp during the cooking process.

It might have been due to the smell of cooked food or a mere coincidence, but Dan woke up when she was just transferring the soup to a cup she cut out of bamboo. He tried to speak, but his throat was dry. He then sat up and stared at her side profile.

Chapter end