Chapter 1: Unknown Man

—LIA —

RELAXING in a sandy shore under the gentle light of the sun made my body filled with contentment and joy. After months of drowning myself in her profiling job, I finally have a time to spend time with myself and temporarily cut the reality that I still have a lot of work to do after a month of vacation.

I let out a relieved sigh and proceeded on drinking her fresh caña. Wondering my eyes around the place, I can see a lot of people of different ages playing under the sun and splashing water from the beach.

"This is life. Running and playing in a beach, not investigating and talking to criminals inside an office," I thought to myself.

Although I might seem to hate my job, it's my passion. It's just there are a lot of times that my job can be draining and toxic that I ended up throwing hate words to it. However, in the end, I will still go back to her profiling job that I love the most.

After some time of watching the other beachgoers, I suddenly felt like there is a pair of eyes looking at my. I can feel that someone is staring at me from afar. Being a person with a strong gut feeling and curiosity, I looked around to see where those eyes are coming from.

From a distance, a set of eyes covered with sunglasses caught my attention.

It was a man. From the built of it, he seems to be in his late 20s or early 30s. He's tall, maybe a 6-footer. He has a tan skin and blond hair – maybe also a tourist. His blue cargo shorts blended well to his body.

And his biceps? Oh boy, I want to be headlocked with those.

My eyes lingered on his half-naked body. He has the body of a model. Although I can't see his because of the sunglasses he is wearing, the half part of his face that is uncovered is enough for me to say that he is a well good-looking man.

I unconsciously licked my drying lips while staring at him.

He's kind of far from where I am sitting. I smiled at him without being sure if he is really staring at me or I'm just being delusional. My smile stayed for a few seconds. I thought he's going to smile back. However, he turned his back to me and started walking away.

Before my eye left him, I saw him pulled his phone from his pocket and called someone.

Disappointed, I stood up and get my things. Maybe it will be better for me to go home now.

I put on my oversized maroon shirt and my leather shorts. While finishing my drink, I started walking away from the shore, with the unknown hot man still occupying my mind.

"13.75's the total, miss," the cashier told me after scanning all of the items that I bought. While getting my purse, I felt like someone stood behind me. I didn't mind it at first. However, after giving my payment to the cashier, I felt like the person behind me was staring at me.

I looked at my back, and to my shock, it was the hot man at the beach a while ago!

Now that he's much closer, I can see a lot of details in this body. His clean face, maybe a newly shaved one, is perfect. He has a sharp jaw and a pointed nose. Like earlier, he is still wearing sunglasses and I can't take a good look of his eye. I wonder what color they are.

My eyes dropped down to his body. I was disappointed when I saw that he was not half-naked like before. If ever, I was thinking of taking a closer look of his well-defined abs, and maybe touch them, if he permits. His biceps are bulging from the sleeves of his shirt. They look hot and delicious, like they're asking me to taste them and–

"Ma'am, here's your change."

The voice of the female cashier turned me back to reality. I was almost fantasizing this man over here that I forgot about what I was doing. Oh, God. Am I whipped?

I extended my arm to the cashier to get my change and receipt. After that, I carried the eco-bag with my things in it.

For the last time, I looked at the man and smiled at him. I think this will be the last time I will saw him. Spain is a somehow a huge country. Finding him alone here will be difficult. What more if he is also a tourist?

I want him to at least smile back at me. I'm sure it will make my day, and the next days that will come.

But, like earlier, his face didn't even move an inch.

My heart dropped at the fact that I won't be able to see him again, and here we are, not having a decent interaction.

Pouting, I stopped for a taxi to reach the hotel where I'm currently staying. My bad mood was evident on my face. I'm sure that the taxi driver was looking at me with furrowed eyebrows.

"Where are we going, Señora?" the driver asked me with a hint of irritation in his voice.

I answered the driver without looking at him. My eyes are looking outside of the taxi. My mind is still thinking about the man I like that doesn't even smile back at me.

How hard is it for him to smile back? If smiling is expensive, I will not wonder why he didn't smile back, but smiling is free!

At the back of my mind, I'm wishing that destiny will give me another chance to meet him. I will make sure that I will make the most out of that interaction.