Suspicious

Phillip returned with a dag knife and saw the two staring at each other.

He shook his head and bent before the dead animal, "are you two ever going to stop fighting?" Phillip asked as he cut off the animal ears.

"Tristan is the one acting weird... why should I lie to you..." she replied and walked away from him, "go help Phillip, I'll look around for more woods" she added.

"Be careful", Phillip warned.

"Yeah yeah", Adriana answered as she kept walking.

Tristan narrowed his eyes at her as he tried figuring out what exactly was happening.

"Hey come on... Help me out... We have some delicious jaguar to make" Phillip said.

Tristan turned and looked at the dead animal, "I don't know if I am going to eat that" he said with so much disgust.

Phillip laughed softly and looked up at him, "Why? You don't eat meat in your city?" he asked and cut some intestine out.

Tristan gave Phillip a yuck face as he threw it in his mouth and chewed it slowly.

"Not this type... We eat other meats, I have never eaten jaguar meat" he replied.

Phillip scoffed, "meat is meat Tristan.. Trust me you would love it... We will shave its hair and roast it... Remove all the bad intestines and keep the good one, then have a big feast..." he said excitedly and look up, "I make wines out of grapes, we could drink that" he added and kept removing the intestines.

"Interesting..." Tristan whispered to himself and watched Phillip remove the animal's intestines.

Tristan covered his nose as the intestines gave out some disturbing odor.

Phillip noticed and giggled, "why are you acting like a female... Most of out females don't even act this way... It's just an intestine smell, it is not so bad," he said and shook his head.

Tristan could not stop trying to figure out what was different about Adriana.

"Do you think Adriana has a secret she is not sharing with us?"

Phillip looked at him and kept separating the bad intestine from the good one, "what do you mean? She seems fine to me? Why? Do you think she got something?" he asked.

"I don't know... It is confusing" Tristan replied and huffed softly, "the truth is I kinda think she is... Maybe a mermaid," he said and saw Phillip's eyes on him, "I know it is crazy because a mermaid is a dangerous creature... Read about some goddess that killed her lover mistakenly... It is weird but I kinda feel like that because I don't know... She saved me in the middle of a deep-sea, she was naked and" the young man said and looked around.

He leaned towards Phillip, "she can hear whisper" he added.

Phillip stared at him for a while, he suddenly guffawed and shook his head, "that is not true... Adriana seems so human to me than a fish".

Tristan sighed, "I know.. That is why I am so confused... You know, before I end up on this island, I usually have this dream about drowning and a girl saving me..." he said and saw Phillip's widened eyes.

"I have this dream every night and sometimes I hear her whisper in my ear but it has strangely stopped... I kinda think it is Adriana... This is crazy", Tristan said and groaned out.

Phillip saw Adriana from afar, he looked at Tristan, "It might just be a coincidence...stop stressing your brain... Let us focus on the meat okay?"

Adriana dropped the wood and clapped her dirty hands, "yes yes... Let us feast" she excitedly said.

Tristan looked up at her and their eyes met, she smirked at him and walked inside the cottage.

Shortly, they inserted a big stick into the jaguar, making it firm and steady under the burning woods.

Tristan and Adriana watched Phillip make wine out of the grape, the roast smell of the meat changed the Geosmin smell.

"Hmmm that smells so good", Adriana sniffed.

Phillip smiled and nodded, "Yes I know... I am sure Tristan is having second thought right now" he added and laughed softly.

Adriana looked at Tristan who was folding his arms, "The only reason I would be eating that is that I am hungry and haven't eaten in hours" he said and looked away.

Adriana shook her head and focused on the wine.

After a long while, the meat got roasted

Phillip did the serving, he put meats in their plate and poured them some grape wine.

He sat down with his own share and smiled to the two human as they stared at their meats, "here is to Tristan and Adriana for making this possible" he said as he eat.

Adriana and Tristan looked at eachother and smirked before looking away.

The young man's eyes brightened as he put some piece in his mouth, he looked at Phillip and Adriana who were busy enjoying their meat.

"This is good," he said out loud and ignored his new friends "I told you so" look.

Tristan finished his meat in no time and hurried up, he saw Phillip and Adriana's eyes on him.

"What? I want more" he said and walked towards the meat.

"I know he would" Phillip whispered.

"Yeah right," Adriana added.

The creature looked confused, "I didn't say that out loud... How did you?".

"Shhhhhh!!!!" Adriana said as Tristan returned with the larger piece.

"Whoa young man... You are really hungry", Adriana said.

"Anyone that tastes this would be hungry... This is good... I should tell my family about this... Dad and Isabella would love it" he said and immediately thought about them, he lost appetite and chewed slowly.

Phillip and Adriana noticed.

"I am sure they are worried and looking everywhere for you right now..." Adriana calmly said.

He looked at her and smiled, for some reason, she comforted him.

Phillip looked at them and smiled as he kept eating.

After the amazing meal, Phillip was so satisfied and had fallen asleep on a rock next to the cottage.

Adriana covered him with a blanket, she sighed and felt Tristan standing behind her.

"He must have been so lonely... All these years" she said sadly and turned to Tristan whose eyes were on the sleeping creature.

"What if they come to rescue us and we had to leave..." he asked.

She looked at Phillip as her eyes got teary, "I can not leave him..."

"You would live here with him?" he eagerly asked.

Adriana walked to a bigger rock and sat on it, she folded her arms and sighed. "They already don't want me at home.. I would just come here every day" she said.

Tristan stared at her for a short while before walking towards her, he sat next to her and looked at her.

"Do you want to talk about it? I mean, not wanting you at home... What do you mean?".

Adriana picked up a stone and threw it farther from her.

"My mom and dad have 13 children... I am the thirteenth and I feel like I'm the less loved... They obviously like others. But no love for me, I am sure no one noticed I got missing from home... They are all probably busy with stuff and forgot about me as usual" she sadly said.

For the first time, Tristan felt sad from hearing her story. He has always not care about anyone's story up until that moment.

"I kind of understand you... I can not relate to it but I strangely understand what you went through... But" he said and also picked up a stone on the ground and threw it farther, "maybe it is because you are the last child and...." he said and saw her frowning face, he looked away and chuckled nervously "just saying".

She sighed and looked away, "I don't care... Even if that is the reason... They should not have made me feel unwanted... It is not fair," she said.

"I am sorry".

Adriana looked at him and gave him a warm smile.

Her eyes and lips smiled to Tristan, her smile revealed a set of glistening white teeth, he knew at that second that he could not resist her charm no more.

He looked away sharply, "what a nice weather," he said and chuckled nervously.

There was a short silence between them.

Adriana exhaled sharply, "I never knew this day would come... Away from home, But to be honest I love it... I know I should be missing home right now but I honestly don't... All I do is sit at home all day, bored... being unproductive" Adriana said.

Tristan looked at her and asked, "why didn't you do something?"

"Mom and dad said I am too young, blah blah" she replied.

"I can relate to that.." he said as Adriana looked at him, he looked away sharply and cleared his throat.

"You stay home all day also?" she asked.

He shook his head, "not really... I go out to see my friends... Nick and Nate... They must have been worried also..." he replied, "I am talking about being too young to work" he added.

"Why did you ask if I believed in Mermaid?