Norvina woke up early to the sound of a bird screeching. She hadn't heard that type of bird before but something about it made her smile despite its screech being so loud. She had actually slept surprisingly well. This cottage in the jungle with a strange man who didn't speak at all somehow seemed more safe and relaxing than where she had come from.
She pushed the skin aside and got up on her feet. She tested her ankle and it seemed way better than yesterday. It still hurt but at least she could put some weight on it now. As long as she didn't go for a long walk, she should be fine.
She made her way outside and found the man sleeping next to the fire that had died down. His hunting knife was on the ground next to him. She studied him for a few seconds. He was a beautiful man and she couldn't help but wonder what he was doing out here on his own.
She moved her eyes from his face and stopped when she spotted the chain around his neck. She quietly moved over to him, sat down on her knees and reached for the chain. Gently she pulled it up from the worn tank top he was wearing, and smiled at the sight of a dogtag. She turned it in her hand and read the name on it.
ROMAN REIGNS
It all went so fast from there. She found herself on her back. He was holding both her wrists in one hand while having his knife raised in the other.
"Stop!" She yelled. "It's me. Norvina. It's me, Roman."
He furrowed his brows by the sound of his name.
"I saw your dogtag," she quickly said. "I didn't mean to scare you. I'm sorry. I should have woken you up first. I can only imagine what you're used to fight against out here. I'm not trying to hurt you, Roman. I swear. I just wanted to know your name."
He let go of her, stood up and walked away. She watched him disappear into the thick jungle. For a moment she felt scared that he was actually going to leave her there. She got up on her feet too but knew it would be impossible for her to follow him.
"Are you going to come back?" She yelled.
She looked around at the settings. Clearly he had been here for a very long time.
"He'll come back," she said to herself. "He lives here. Where else is he gonna go?"
She went back into the cottage and took a good look around to see what he had stored in there. There were different types of fruit. She also found a smaller knife. She figured she could make him some sort of fruit salad as an apology. She carried bananas, papayas, mangos and a pineapple outside. She started carving away and fixing everything on a big leaf that had to work as a plate.
Roman came walking back a while later. He was embarrassed with his actions. He hadn't known it was her that close to him when he woke up. He thought he was being attacked and acted upon it. He never would have threatened her like that if he had known it was her.
He had done the only thing he could think of as an apology. He had gone back to the plane and picked up her bags. The bag of women's clothes and the dress bag. He came walking back to the cottage and stopped for a second to watch her work. He couldn't help but smile at her carving away. She turned her head and smiled at him.
"Fruit salad. A peace offering," she pointed at her work.
He walked over to her and dropped the bags down next to her. He sat down next to the leaf and started eating the fruit she had made for him. He noticed she had become silent as she picked up the dress bag. She unzipped it and looked at the wedding dress.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" She asked. "It was the one thing I got to choose. Everything else was chosen for me. The date, the place, the food."
She looked at him and sighed.
"Even the man," she said.
He stopped eating and just stared at her. Everything changed that second. Yesterday he thought she was a happy bride to be. Today she was the opposite.
"I can see you understand me. Otherwise you would have kept eating. It's okay. You don't have to talk if you don't want to. Or maybe you can't. It's not really my business, is it? I'm trespassing on your land, and I'm very grateful that you saved me yesterday," she said.
She turned her attention back to the dress and zipped the bag back up. She didn't want to look at that dress no matter how beautiful it was.
"As you properly guessed, I was on my way to my wedding. The three dead guys at the plane crash were the pilot and my two bodyguards. I was forced into that plane. I was so desperate to get out of this whole thing that I tried figuring out how to jump out of a flying plane. I figured death would be better than what was to come. Of course they tried to stop me. It was a crazy fight, and we crashed because of it. They got me back in my seat and I kicked one of them so hard that he stumbled into the pilot, and his head hit the cockpit and knocked him out. It's my fault that the plane crashed. I just wanted to kill myself, and ironically I'm the one left alive," she said.
She sighed and stood up. She still had that small knife in her hand.
"I hope it's okay I keep this as protection," she held up the knife. "I know you don't want me here. That's okay. I'm not mad. I'll leave. It's properly for the best anyway. Cesaro will most likely search for the missing plane. It's better that he finds four dead people than three. Or that he doesn't find me at all. Thank you though. You've been most generous with giving me food and a place to rest."
She started walking away. He watched her as she limped her way forward. Clearly her ankle wasn't broken but she should rest for at least another day. She was so brave wanting to meet an unknown fate in the jungle. He wanted to let her go but he couldn't. Despite trying his hardest to ignore her, she was getting under his skin. He got up, walked over to her and placed his arms around her to support her.
"It's best if you let me go," she said. "You clearly don't want me here and it's okay. Like I said, I'm not mad. I understand wanting to be left alone. I've been wanting that for a long time myself."
He forced her back towards the cottage. He took the knife from her and placed it down next to the fruit. Then he placed his arms around her again and started walking her away from the cottage.
"Where are we going?" She asked.
It didn't take long before that answer was given to her. There was a lake with a waterfall. She couldn't help but smile widely at the sight.
"Wow," she said. "It's beautiful."
He let go of her and stripped out of his clothes. She swallowed hard at the naked man in front of her despite him having his back turned against her. There were scars there to prove his years in the jungle. He walked down to the lake and got in. Once he was covered with water to his chest, he turned around and smiled at her. The first smile she had seen on the face of this man. He stood there, smiling and waiting, silently inviting her to bathe with him in the beautiful lake.
"At some point I have to," she muttered. "I guess if he wanted to rape and kill me, he would have done it last night."
She pulled the banana yellow dress over her head. She looked down herself and sighed. Her underwear needed to be changed too if not thrown away after the crash. She had fresh clothes up at the cottage she could get in. He had made sure to get it for her.
"Don't go shy now," she whispered. "It's just a man. I'm sure he's seen naked women before he decided to play Tarzan."
She got out of her underwear and walked down to the lake. He just stood there, watching her as she got into the water. She was quickly covered up to her shoulders. He nodded his approval and started swimming towards the waterfall.
"He might be gay," she mumbled. "Or I'm just not his type."
She swam after him. The waterfall roared louder as she got closer. It wasn't a big waterfall but it was still powerful. She swam over to Roman who seemed to enjoy the untamed water. She stopped next to him but had to keep treading water. He was tall enough to stand on the bottom so his head was above water but she wasn't.
He turned his head and saw her struggle. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her up against his side. She wrapped her arms and legs around his body. It seemed absurd being naked and hanging on the side of a naked man but it also for some strange reason seemed natural. They stood there watching the waterfall roar in all its might.
"Seeing something this beautiful kinda makes me understand why you never wanna leave this place," she said. "Maybe one day you can somehow figure out how to tell me your story. Show it to me somehow. You have some things left, and I know you were in the military. Some of your stuff gives that away about you. Like your dogtag, your knife and those boots of yours. Also the way you're alert. It seems like training to me."
He tightened his hand on her hip just enough for her to know he understood every word she was saying. That was all she needed to know in that moment. She laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.
"You smell good," she said.
She felt him move them through the water. She kept hanging on to him with her eyes closed. She didn't care where he would take her in that moment. She felt peaceful inside. Even if he chose to drown her, she would die peacefully. She felt herself being lifted up from the water and then placed down on the ground. The sun was warming her body for a few seconds before a shadow fell over it. She opened her eyes and looked at him hovering above her with his hands planted on either side of her. She couldn't help but smile at the sight of him with the sunlight surrounding him. She reached a hand up and placed it on his cheek.
"You're beautiful," she said. "I hope you know that. I don't care what you might have done. To me, you're beautiful. Inside and out. You have a beautiful soul, Roman."
He moved away from her and walked over to his clothes. She rolled around on her stomach and watched as he got dressed. Once he was back in his clothes, he picked up her clothes and carried it over to her.
"Time to leave so soon?" She asked. "What if I wanna stay here?"
He yanked her up to sit and pressed her clothes into her arms.
"Fine, I get it. I can't stay," she said.
She stood up and put the dress back on. Her underwear needed a good scrubbing which she assumed would be in this lake too so she left it there. He placed his arms around her again and walked her away from the lake. It didn't take long before they reached some other water. A small fresh water stream. He let go of her, walked over to the stream, folded his hands to get some water into them and started drinking.
"So it's like that," she smirked. "Primitive but I'll get a hang of it."
She walked over to him and did the same. The water was cold and delicious.
"So you didn't want me to dehydrate. That's why I couldn't stay in the sun by the waterfall. I get it now," she said. "And you know, once we've emptied those bottles back at your cottage, we can fill them up here. That way we don't have to walk here constantly."
He smirked at her and she shook her head at her own stupidity.
"Of course you already have water back there, right?" She asked. "You just wanted to show me. Okay, I'm a city girl. I don't know stuff like this. You've had years of practice ahead of me. I'll figure it out with time."
They got back up and he supported her back to the cottage. She sat down and ate some of the fruit she had cut up earlier. He walked over to the side of the cottage and picked up a homemade bow and arrows.
"So that's how you hunt birds," she said. "Maybe you can teach me how to use that thing at some point."