Chapter 4

Shawn sent me a text message at noon.

"Jasmine, Yvette says that she feels like having a mango smoothie. Is there any shop nearby that sells it?"

I'd been sitting on the couch in the hotel lobby all morning, so my phone was running out of battery. I didn't send Shawn a reply.

Ten minutes later, he sent me another text.

"Where are you? Don't just run off on your own."

Five minutes after that, Chester called me and asked, "Where have you gone, Jasmine? The hotel receptionist told me that you haven't returned to your room since morning."

"I'm in the lobby," I replied simply.

"Come on upstairs. Yvette's not looking too well and has been asking to see you."

I went upstairs.

When I opened the door to the honeymoon suite, I saw Yvette half-lying on a large bed strewn with rose petals. The petals, which hadn't been cleared away, dotted the white bedding with spots of red.

Yvette was leaning against a pillow with a pregnancy guidebook open in front of her. I had no idea how she'd even gotten her hands on it.

Shawn was sitting in the armchair next to the bed, looking something up on his iPad.

Chester, on the other hand, was leaning against the balcony doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest.

Yvette's eyes lit up as soon as she saw me. She exclaimed, "Jasmine! Where have you been? I've been asking after you for ages."

She braced herself against the bed and sat up. Shawn immediately reached out to steady her.

"Don't move," he chided. "She can come over instead."

I walked over to stand by the bed but didn't move to take a seat.

Yvette took my arm in her cold hands.

"Are you planning to leave, Jasmine?" she asked.

"What?" I asked in return.

Her eyes teared up, and her jaw trembled. "Are you planning to leave by yourself? I noticed that you weren't replying to your messages today, and you didn't return to your room either. I'm scared…"

Shawn piped up, "Nobody's leaving."

He looked at me, the gentleness in his voice unlaid with a clear warning. He continued, "Jasmine, you can tell me if something's bothering you, but you can't run off on your own. I'll worry about you being outdoors alone."

"Why would you be worried?" I asked calmly.

"This is an island, and you're a stranger in a strange land," he reasoned.

"I could've gotten Mr. Kendrick to pick me up if I ever got lost—if you hadn't told him not to come, that is."

Shawn was momentarily rendered speechless.

Chester interjected, "Jasmine, calm down. Shawn just doesn't want this situation to blow out of proportion, and this matter would become even more troublesome to handle if your parents were to find out."

"So? How do you all plan to handle this? Are you just going to pretend that nothing happened and carry on with this four-person honeymoon trip?"

Nobody said a word.

Yvette's tears started falling, landing on wilted rose petals covering the blanket.

"Jasmine, perhaps I should leave. I shouldn't have come in the first place. I was the one who insisted on coming along, foolishly assuming that I could pretend nothing happened, but I failed to do so…"

As she spoke, she lifted the blanket and attempted to get out of bed.

Shawn held her down by her shoulders.

"You're pregnant. Where do you think you're going?"

Chester chimed in quickly, "Yvette, don't be rash."

Yvette sobbed and pushed their hands away. "Just forget about me, you two. It's all because of me that Jasmine's like this now…"

Both Shawn and Chester looked toward me in unison, the exact same emotion reflected in their eyes—not remorse but appeal.

They were appealing for me to be more magnanimous, to drop the subject, and to compromise on account of Yvette's pregnancy.

Shawn said softly, "Jasmine, please just calm down first. Once we're home, I'll take responsibility no matter whose child it turns out to be. You're my wife, and that won't change."

Chester added from the side, "Same here. If the child's mine, I'll marry Yvette and give her a family. Don't worry, Jasmine. It won't affect you."

Such consideration.

My husband and childhood friend both slept with my best friend, and it's unknown whose child she's now carrying, yet here they were telling me that it wouldn't affect me.

My voice sounded cold even to my own ears when I said, "The child in her belly may not necessarily be either of yours."

All three of them were caught off guard.

Yvette's crying halted for an instant before growing in volume.

"Jasmine, what do you mean by that? Do you think I'm that kind of person?" she wailed.

Shawn stood up. "Jasmine, watch your words."

Chester's expression had darkened as well. "Jasmine, Yvette isn't the kind of person you think she is."

I looked between all three of them.

Yvette was crying miserably. Shielded as she was between Shawn and Chester, she looked like a wilted white rose.

I stood across from them like an unyielding wall.

"Fine," I said, turning to walk toward the door.

"I'll go buy a mango smoothie," I finished over my shoulder.

"Jasmine—"

"She wanted one, didn't she?"

I shut the door.

Once I arrived at the elevator, I took out my phone and pulled up a booking application.

There were two economy seats left on the earliest flight off this island—a regional airliner headed for the state capital at 4:20 pm.

I booked a seat, and a brief chime rang out notifying me of the successful payment.

I then pocketed my phone, headed downstairs, and walked to the beverage shop across the street to buy a mango smoothie.

With the smoothie in hand, I went back upstairs and opened the door to the honeymoon suite.

Yvette was no longer crying. Instead, she was leaning against Shawn's shoulder with her eyes closed.

Chester was sitting on the balcony, smoking, though the wind had scattered away the smoke clouds.

I placed the smoothie on the bedside table.

"One mango smoothie with less sugar," I announced.

Yvette opened her eyes and looked at the smoothie, then at me.

"Thank you, Jasmine," she said timidly.

Shawn patted her hand, then turned to look at me with a complicated expression. "I'll have a proper talk with you tonight, Jasmine."

I smiled briefly. "Sure."

I proceeded to return to my standard room, where I collected my passport and purse, then stuffed my most essential belongings into a backpack.

I left my suitcase in the room. It was so big that the others would hear me if I were to drag it along with me.

At 3:30 pm in the afternoon, I took advantage of the fact that they were napping to head downstairs via the fire escape.

There were a few taxis parked at the hotel's back entrance. I got into one of them and instructed, "The airport, please."

The driver glanced at me through the rearview mirror and asked, "Are you alone?"

"Yes."

As the taxi pulled away from the hotel, it grew smaller and smaller through the rearview mirror.

The honeymoon suite was on the ninth floor. The curtains were drawn, so I couldn't see the inside.

I turned off my phone and paced it at the very bottom of my backpack.

As the plane taxied along the runway, I watched through the porthole as the island shrank into a green dot, then disappeared beneath the clouds.

I didn't look back.