*Chapter 2 - The Beach Begins**

Lia had barely slept the night before. Her thoughts drifted between flight routes and currency exchange, between her mother’s eyes and Ariel’s tiny hand clutching her fingers. She wasn’t sure what she expected from a “celebration.” But when the van pulled up that morning and Sade jumped out wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat and lipstick the color of blood oranges, Lia already knew resistance was pointless.

She let them pull her out of the house like a leaf in the wind.

---

Sade had gone all out. She wore a red halter dress that clung to her like it had been stitched in Paris. Her long red hair was tied in a high ponytail that swung with every confident step. Her face flawless, high-cheekboned, and mischievous—turned heads even when she wasn’t trying.

“Lia,” she said, sliding her sunglasses down her nose. “If you show up to a beach day looking like a librarian, I swear I’ll throw your sandals into the ocean.”

“I brought jeans,” Lia admitted carefully.

Sade gasped as though she’d confessed a crime. “You’re leaving this continent in three weeks. You’re not allowed to wear sadness. You wear *power.*” She held up a hanger. “Sky-blue crop top. White beach skirt. Trust me.”

Lia eyed the outfit. She hadn’t worn that top since graduation had covered it with a blazer the whole night.

But maybe... today was different.

She dressed quietly in the van, cheeks flushed, the girls whistling around her. Eva reached over and pinned a seashell clip into Lia’s dark brown curls.

“Now you sparkle,” she said with a proud smile.

---

The beach resort was alive with color, sand like powdered gold, sky like polished glass. Vendors shouted about grilled fish and fried plantains. Reggae played from unseen speakers. Tourists laughed around bonfires that had already started crackling in shallow pits.

Lia stepped out of the van and blinked against the light. Her skirt danced in the breeze. Her golden-brown eyes caught the sun just so. For a moment, she felt like a version of herself she had almost forgotten.

---

Alessio noticed her instantly.

He was lounging at the beach bar with Marco and two local girls, his long legs stretched out like a prince on holiday. His black hair was still damp from a swim. But when she walked by barefoot, smiling, wind catching her hair everything else dimmed.

Her beauty wasn’t loud. It didn’t ask for attention. It simply existed, like the moon doesn’t ask the tide to rise.

Marco caught him staring.

“Let me guess,” he said, grinning. “You’re interested.”

“She’s interesting.”

“She's *gorgeous*. And out of your league.”

Alessio raised a brow. “Nothing’s out of my league.”

He leaned in and murmured something to the bartender, who returned minutes later with a folded pink napkin and a small decorative shell on top.

“This still works here?” Marco asked, half-laughing.

“If she picks it up,” Alessio said coolly, “it’s a yes.”

Lia was sipping her favorite mango yogurt when the waitress approached.

“This is from the beach,” she said, smiling as she placed the napkin and shell on the table.

Lia blinked. It looked... intentional. Artful.

She assumed it was a welcome token—something the resort gave to first-timers. Without hesitation, she picked it up and smiled in thanks.

From across the beach, Alessio’s smirk deepened.

“She took it,” he said.

Marco tilted his head. “And so it begins.”

---

The day unfolded in color and laughter.

Lara had already started a volleyball game with three shirtless boys who looked ready to worship her. Her short blonde hair stuck up in windswept spikes, and her toned legs kicked up sand like she was built for the beach.

Celine found a shaded bench, sipping pineapple juice and sketching the scene on a napkin with her long black hair tucked behind one ear. Her classic glasses made her look like a poet from Marseille.

Eva twirled through the shallow waves, her space buns decorated with tiny bows. She looked like a doll brought to life half-European, half-Asian, all charm.

And Sade? Sade strutted like she owned the coastline. She danced to whatever music played, dragged strangers into photos, and made sure no moment passed without flair.

Lia laughed with them, genuinely but beneath her smile, part of her still stood back in the hallway at home. Watching Ariel sleep. Watching her mother pretend not to cry.

She let the sound of waves fill that silence.

Maybe this was the goodbye she needed.

---

Night came like a lullaby. Bonfires flickered, and fairy lights strung between palm trees began to glow. The girls sat on woven mats, hair tangled with salt and sand, skin warm from sun and fire.

“We’re not driving back tonight,” Sade declared. “We’ll get rooms. One night only.”

She and Celine wandered off toward the resort lobby to inquire.

Lia lingered at the edge of the bar, her yogurt now half-melted in the heat. She opened her bag to tuck in her phone and paused, staring at the folded pink napkin.

It hadn’t been a welcome gift, had it?

A man approached. This time, a waiter in a pale uniform.

“Silver Room 3 is ready,” he said.

Lia blinked. “Room 3? Oh... that must be the one Sade booked for me.”

He nodded politely. “Follow me.”

She rose slowly, a strange flutter twisting in her stomach. Sunset had just dipped below the horizon. The garden path shimmered with amber lights.

---

The door to Room 3 clicked open softly.

Lia stepped inside and immediately froze.

It wasn’t the lighting, or the luxury of the room. It was *him.*

Alessio.

Shirtless. Towel around his neck. Drops of water glistening on his sculpted chest like diamonds. Deep blue eyes widened slightly only for a second.