Eventually, Kristal raised both hands in surrender.
“Truce! Truce! I can’t fight you anymore!”
Richard stood before her, barely out of breath.
“Giving up already?”
“Of course! You’re practically a machine!”
He chuckled.
“Excuses.”
Kristal glared at him, though the smile tugging at her lips ruined any attempt at looking offended.
For a while, Richard forgot about the inexplicable uneasiness that had followed him since their arrival.
As they wandered along the sandbar, Kristal suddenly stopped and bent down to pick up a small seashell.
“Look at this!” she exclaimed, holding it up to the sunlight. “Isn’t it beautiful?”
Richard glanced at the shell resting in her palm.
“It’s just a shell.”
“It’s a pretty shell.”
“I can buy you a whole box of them and gift it to you?”
He remembered seeing boxes of seashells at the souvenir shop near the pier that morning. If she wanted them, he could easily have someone buy every box in the store.
Kristal stared at him in disbelief.
“You really don’t understand the point, do you?”
“What point?”
“It’s not about how many shells I can have. It’s about finding something beautiful by chance.”
Richard fell silent.
Something about her words struck a familiar chord.
A childhood memory surfaced—Isobel crouching beside a roadside ditch, collecting tiny stones and pebbles. She would rush over to show him each discovery, her eyes sparkling with excitement as though she had found a priceless treasure.
He had never understood her fascination with such insignificant things. Yet he always let her keep them.
Sometimes, he even helped her look for more.
I wonder if she still collects things like that.
The thought came so naturally that Richard didn’t realize he had fallen silent until Kristal waved a hand in front of his face.
“Where did you go?”
He blinked.
“What?”
“Your mind.” She tilted her head, studying him curiously. “You were right here a moment ago, but suddenly you looked as though you were a thousand miles away.”
Richard turned toward the distant horizon.
“Nowhere.”
Kristal followed his gaze, but she wasn’t convinced.
She had noticed it several times that day. Every so often, Richard would lapse into silence, his expression growing distant as though he were remembering something—or someone.
Someone important.
She wanted to ask who that person was.
Instead, she smiled and held up the shell.
“I’m keeping this.”
“Then keep it.”
“And you won’t throw it away when I’m not looking?”
Richard glanced at her.
“Why would I throw it away?”
“Because you have no appreciation for beautiful things.”
A faint smile returned to his lips. He looked at her intently.
“You’re wrong. I have very high standards when it comes to beautiful things.”
Kristal’s cheeks warmed.
For a moment, she couldn’t tell whether he was teasing her or paying her a compliment.
And judging by the amused glint in his eyes, he wasn’t about to clarify.
Before she could press him, Sharon called them over.
“Come on! I’m starving!”
A small beachside stall had opened near the edge of the sandbar that connected to the main beach, selling fresh coconuts and grilled seafood. The three of them made their way toward the stall.
A few bamboo tables and benches were placed around the stall beneath swaying coconut palms.
Richard ordered fresh coconut water for the three of them before they settled down.
Kristal carefully placed the little shell beside her drink. Richard noticed the gesture.
And just like that, his thoughts returned to Isobel.
He wondered what she was doing at that moment.
Was she busy with work? Had she eaten? Was she having a good day?
And, most troubling of all, did she ever think about him the way he thought about her?
He had spent years believing that childhood promises were nothing more than innocent words exchanged between children—sweet sentiments that inevitably faded as people grew older and their lives changed.
Yet here he was, on an island thousands of memories away from his younger years, still remembering the promise he made to Isobel.
He brought someone else to Lavista.
Someone beautiful and captivating, who sat across from him with a seashell beside her drink and a smile that could brighten the entire beach.
Yet the person he had once promised to bring here was nowhere in sight.
Richard took a sip of coconut water, his expression turning thoughtful.
Perhaps he should call Isobel.
The thought came unexpectedly, followed by an equally unexpected hesitation.
What would he say?
I’m at Lavista. Remember the promise I made you when we were little?
It sounded ridiculous.
Worse, he wasn’t even sure whether she would care.
So much had changed between them. Isobel was no longer the little girl who had hooked her pinky around his and looked up at him with hopeful, trusting eyes.
They had grown up. Their lives had taken different paths, and the easy closeness they once shared had become something he could no longer take for granted.
Still, Richard reached for his phone.
He opened Isobel’s contact and stared at her name for several seconds.
His thumb hovered over the call button.
Then, after a moment of hesitation, he locked the screen and slipped the phone back into his pocket.
He would call her when he returned.
That was what he told himself, anyway.
“Richard?”
Kristal’s voice interrupted his thoughts once more.
He looked up.
“Hmm?”
She studied him for a moment, her earlier playfulness giving way to quiet curiosity.
“Are you thinking about someone?”
His fingers stilled around the coconut.
For the first time that day, Richard didn’t have an immediate answer.
Kristal’s smile faltered slightly.
She lowered her eyes to the little shell beside her drink, turning it between her fingers.
“Someone you miss?”
The question lingered between them.
Richard looked at her, then shifted his gaze toward the endless stretch of turquoise sea.
A memory surfaced once more: two fingers hooked together, one big one, belonging to a teenager and the other to a girl, as they sealed a solemn promise beneath the afternoon sun.
I’ll always be your family. I promise.
He had meant those words when he said them.
Now, standing on the very island he had once vowed to bring her to, he finally understood something.
He hadn’t forgotten his promise.
He had simply didn’t have the chance to fulfill it.
And perhaps it was time to stop making excuses.
Richard lowered his coconut and looked out at the sea, a quiet resolve settling in his eyes.
The coming holidays were only a few weeks away.
He would invite Isobel to Lavista.
This time, he would keep his word.