Chapter One: Bali

Holding the handle of my suitcase, I looked back at my small housewhich I was so gonna miss.

Turkey was my home away from home or maybe because I was so keento leave home. I had always been a wanderer and a nature person.

The apartment building in which we lived in L.A suffocated me. Iwanted to be close to mother nature. And also you could say I didn'thave the best time at my high school,

So when I got a scholarship in one of the most famous colleges ofAntalya, I didnt waste a second.

Here in Antalya, me and my friend shared a small home outlooking themountains which we had purchased after a lot of hard work.

My dad always wanted me to be a doctor for the military as he himselfwas in the army, but this girl had other plans.

Through out the years my dad had given us major panic attacks due tohis job. I can still picture the panic striken face of my mother in themiddle of the nights as she tried calling my dads friends when we gotthe news that there had been an attack.

But his love for his job was just so pure that my mom encouraged himBut now he had finally retired last week and was quiet sad about that.So along with his best pal Uncle John, who had just also retired mymom had planned a trip to Bali.

Uncle John was my dads best friend. We were just like family. He had adaughter Amelia, who was currently dating my brother Greyson and ason, Mike who was studying tourism.

Amelia was studying acting in Los Angeles while my brother waspursuing his law career in England. So they both had a long distancerelationship, but they were literally made for each other.

My mom had arranged a cottage for us which situated in the one of theforests in Bali

Perks of having your husband in the army!

So this trip was to reconnect two lovers as well as two friends. And forme, the biggest advantage was nature. This trip could contributeperfectly to my final year project.

Some hours and a very tiring flight later, I had finally reached Bali. I wasto meet my parents at the airport as their flight was to land an hourafter mine.

So here I was having some Starbucks as I munched on my cake pop.

To be honest, it had been two years since I had met my parents. I hadspent all of my savings on buying myself a camera and eventhough mydad had insisted on sending me a ticket,I had refused.

I wanted to be independent.

Bored out of my mind, I now took out my phone as I scrolled throughmy facebook, when suddenly a tap on my shoulder made me turn back."Watsupp leena Peena!" She exclaimed, teasing me with my oldnickname.

"Oh my god, you look gorgeous!" I told her as I embraced her into ahug.

"And you surely have become even more prettier!"

Trust me I had gained two kgs.

"Where were you, everyone was looking for you!" She asked.

"Wait what, wasn't your flight to land after half an hour?" I asked."Yeah, but we landed early.” She said as we both made our way towardsour parents.

After greeting them all and listening to a thousand complaints of menot wanting to spend some time with family and with Greyson finallyarriving, we made our way to the car which was to take us to ourcottage.

When my mom had described the cottage, I had thought it would besomething extremely adventurous.

Like we would have to walk through the forest with a map and replace ourcottage and on the way we would replace some snakes and insects but Iforgot that I was not going into the Amazon forest.

The forest had a muddy road through which the car drove us directly tothe cottage.

Eventhough, the start of the trip had disappointed me a little but thecottage had amazed me.

The small cottage was perched on the plain near the woods, so old andpoor that it was surprising how it was still standing. And yet it seemedalive and welcoming, a warm ribbon of smoke rising from the oldchimney. The walls were made of the same wood and the roof wasclearly stone, so old that it was a wonder how it did not yet cave in. Thecottage was the only thing there. There were no other houses around it,and this one would have looked abandoned if not for the smoke.

The most beneficial thing for me was the small lake out looking theforest. The cottage also had a small porch type area where I planned toread in the night.

Just my type of place.

We were given four rooms. Me and Amelia were to share one, Mike andGreyson were to share another and our parents were to share the othertwo.

It was not a shock to see that Greyson and Amelia wanted to share aroom but there was no way I was to share a room with Mike, clearlyknowing his flirty nature.

We had picked McDonalds on our way here, so after eating everyonewas currently getting settled in.

Except me.

I stood on the porch as I gazed at the forest infront of the lake. Itlooked more realistic to the description of a forest. I could see nothingexcept the dark green trees and bushes which had clearly out grown.That forest lifted a curiosity in my mind. It was as it was calling me togo there. I was sure it had some animals and beautiful plants which Icould capture in my camera.

I was so lost in looking at the forest, that I didnt realise when Mikeapproached me.

"Can I tell you something Leena?" He asked.

"Hmm." I replied.

"Eventhough, I'm not a photographer but I can picture you and metogether.”

"This is your seventy eighth attempt today Mike and my answer hasn'tchanged.” I sighed.

A day will come when you will beg me to say these pick up lines toyou." He said.

"In your dreams." I replied.

"Dreams are seen to become true." He sang.

Well I couldn't deny that.

Night had arrived and everyone had fallen asleep except me. I hadplaced a chair and a blanket on the porch as I continued reading mybook.

I was currently reading “The Notebook’ by Nicholas Sparks which mybest friend Sarah had gifted me because according to her I neededsome romance in my boring life.

The thing is that after one failed relationship five years back, I had failedto trust anyone. Being in relationships led to expectations and whenthose expectations break, it hurts like hell.

And I clearly wasn't ready for it.

After one hour I realised that I couldn't focus on reading so I decided togive up.

Just as I was closing my book, I started to hear a distant howl from theforest infront of me.

Ignoring it, I stood up to make my way inside when suddenly I heardanother howl but this one was much louder and closer.

Immediately my eyes glanced at the forest and what I saw shaked meto my core.

In between the trees, two blue eyes stared at me.

But there was something in those eyes. Even from the distance theirdeepness attracted me so much that I was forced to stop and stare atthem.

Never had I seen a blue so real. They seemed to be holding somethingdeep, something surreal and only I know how hard it was for me tostop myself from grabbing my camera and capturing them.

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