Cover your body

I gulped. Oopsie. Right, my cousin doesn’t have to know…

“Everything was sudden.” I reasoned out.

He didn’t seem to buy my excuse and just nodded, “I see, I hope your actions won’t bite you back in the future, Sereia.”

I sighed, sipping on the coconut juice in front of me, “Yeah yeah. Stop giving me a lecture, I’m here to enjoy.”

“What are you two talking about?” Phoenix asked, now paying attention to my conversation with my cousin.

“We were just catching up. This guy really kept a lot of secrets from me.” I replied and Eion just shrugged.

“Phoenix, I’m warning you. If you ever do something bad to my cousin…” Eion said, threatening Phoenix. I smiled a bit, feeling a bit safer with my cousin her. He may be annoying sometimes, but he treats me like a little sister.

Phoenix wasn’t even affected by my cousin’s death glare and nodded, “Oh I won’t. She’s precious to me. She’s my princess.”

Eion scrunched his nose in disgust at that, “Princess? That’s disgusting but just don’t hurt her, okay?”

He nodded. My cousin decided to drop the topic and now started to eat.

I notice that they are all really close with each other, with me feeling like an outsider. I also learned that they have been friends for a long time now so their bond is strong. Snow even officially announced that I was now part of the squad and they even added me on their group chat.

Until now, they fought about what the squad’s official name was. Leroy said it was “Leroy’s gang.” And his wife Hannah called it ugly, not agreeing to it.

As all of them had a conversation, I and Phoenix were just laughing at their funny stories. How they always look for My cousin, Eion as he always had bad mood swings. They also told about Eion and Snow’s very adventurous love story before they got together. What a rough path. I feel sorry for Snow about my cousin’s attitude.

Even me, his own blood relative, I'm always annoyed with him. But good thing that he changed for the better now.

And along the way, I saw my cousin spoon-feeding his fiance, Snow.

I rolled my eyes at my cousin, cringing in disgust and seeing him very whipped to his fiance.

Well, it's a good thing he found the right one for him. I was surprised since he was once a serious and expressionless type. Mom even was afraid that he wouldn’t get married.

Who knew he would finally find the one? It’s a good thing Snow tamed his heart.  And I’m happy for them.

Across us, I saw Emma and Dax tickling each other, Ember and Luke smiling at each other, and Leroy caressing Hannah’s baby bump.

I learned that they are already married since last year. I have to keep in mind to give them a gift for their child soon.

I can't help but to glance at Phoenix. He was busy eating his food to notice the lovers' actions in front of him. I tapped his shoulder and he faced me.

"What?" He asked, some rice was in his chin. I laughed at him, and pointed at it. He raised his eyebrows, not understanding what I was meaning so instinctively, my hands reached out to remove the food from his chin.

He paused at that, watching me as I move. He gulped, not expecting that I’ll do it.

Instantly, he was quick enough to captured my hand and hold it. I stayed silent. I can't help but blush at my actions. What was I doing?

He smiled at me, “You’re blushing.”

I hid my face. "I’m not. It’s just a sunburn."

"Sunburn? We hadn’t even swum in the sea…okay, keep reasoning Sereia, my princess…”

I stayed silent. Gosh, if he were to tease me again, I’m afraid my heart couldn’t handle it anymore.

Just then, Hannah vomited due to pregnancy and Leroy came to the rescue. They apologized and told us that they need to go to their room now to rest.

We also rested for a while in our room reserved by cousin Eion. Except for the married couple Leroy and Hannah, the rest of us share a room. One room for us girls and one room for the boys.

Our schedule right now is to Island hop since it’s still afternoon. Hannah and Leroy were still in their rooms as Hannah was still not feeling bad. I found out that Leroy is a doctor, so if he can take care of his wife.

Preparing to island hopping, I looked for something to wear and saw my swimsuit. It was my favorite black lace two-piece so I wore it.

The girls were already outside and I was still preparing inside the room.

I heard some knocking on the door. "Are you still there, Serereia?” I heard Phoenix’s voice from the door.

Throwing one last look at myself in the mirror, I opened the door and said "Let's go."

I saw Phoenix blinking at me, and gulped as he looked at my body. His eyes turned serious and he looked mad at me. "Are you tempting me?" He asked.

I look at him in fake disgust. "Uhm no?” Why is he asking me this?

"Oh, then why are you wearing that? Cover your body, Sereia." He said, not looking at me. “Please, it’s for the sake of our future.”

I chucked at that, finding it cute with the way he’s reacting.

"Wow, as if you haven't seen enough of ladies' bodies."

He sighed, "That's the problem. Yes, it's normal for me to see if someone is wearing that but when it comes to you..." he trailed off.

I sighed, following what he wants now. Besides, my cousin Eion is strict and he’ll probably ask me to change if he were to see me anyway. Grabbing a shawl from near me to cover my body, I asked Phoenix. "There. Happy now?"

He took a glance to make sure I was covered now and finally calmed himself. "That’s better. Let’s go. They’re waiting for us.”