Let Me Stay The Night

Night had fallen by the time Vito returned from the village chief’s house.

Standing at the door, Miriam pulled him into the woods outside the courtyard.

“How did it go at the village chief’s house?” she asked after making sure Christina wouldn’t be able to hear them.

Vito recounted everything truthfully. The village chief’s roof was severely damaged, but with everyone’s help, all the broken pieces had been cleared out. What remained was for the village chief to patch his roof with some new tiles.

Yet, Miriam didn’t care about that. Thinking about how Christina had asked about the village chief’s phone today, she fell silent for a moment before asking. “What happened to his phone?”

“It’s broken,” Vito answered.

A smile formed on Miriam’s face. Everything was going exactly as she had planned. “Let’s go. It’s time for dinner.”

While seated, Christina noticed the two return together.

“Vito,” she called out to him softly.

Hearing the woman call his name, Vito scratched the back of his head awkwardly, not knowing where to look.

Having interacted with him for the past few days, Christina was no longer surprised by his demeanor. Miriam, on the other hand, gave him a light slap on the head in frustration.

Then, Vito swiftly began scooping out the food from the pot.

“You must be starving.” Miriam served Christina’s portion of food on a plate.

The latter smiled and shook her head. “Not at all. I haven’t done a lot today, so I didn’t use much en she replied while pushing the plate toward Vito instead.

“You must be hungry, Vito. You were busy helping out at the village chief’s place all day.”

note of Christina’s kind gesture, feeling more

at the round table and ate harmoniously while enjoying the sea

a walk,” said Christina after dinner. “Could you come with me,

man didn’t say no, but he glanced at Christina’s

grow suspicious if they were to wander off too much. Miriam just so happened to hear Christina’s response and agreed that the two needed to spend some time alone. “Take Christina out for a

too, Vito could only accompany Christina on her walk

of a cane. Meanwhile, Vito stayed by her side, ready to help her at

and arrived at a slope before realizing

and sky

Vito remain standing,

eyes, Vito pursed his lips. “I-It’s

a girl alone.

pretty out here. I’ve never seen a night sky as lovely as this,” she exclaimed, gazing

the atmosphere between them eased slowly, and Vito was no longer as tense as before.

and lowered her gaze. “I miss home. I don’t

upset too. “Give me a few days to fix the boat, and I’ll

and Vito weren’t lying about the boat being

didn’t want to wait

no other boat we can take?” Christina glanced up

knew from the start that there weren’t many motorboats on the island; most boats here could only be rowed with paddles.

was no way she could get home

man was usually

and that was why Christina remained stuck

say. He bit his lower lip and kept mum as he remembered his mother’s instructions.