Chapter 80: The Memories

When Jiyo Kael and Benjamin Gustilo got back to the boat, the boatman was sitting on a pile of old sacks, snoring holding his hand to his chest, his loose top loosening with every gust of wind. Jiyo Kael jumped up and assisted Benjamin in firing the gun. Their loud entry woke the boatman from his slumber and he suddenly woke up.

"Ahhh—" he muttered, shaken before struggling to his feet. "Oh, you'd come back," he whispered. "I thought you'd stay there all bloody night."

Jiyo Kael and Mr. Gustilo smiled at each other. Then finding a place to sit among the crates and lobster pots scattered on the deck, they made themselves as comfortable as they could. The boat headed for mainland Cagayan, its noisy engine emitting thicker black smoke. Jiyo Kael hopes it will make it all the way to the beach. The sea was fiercer now, the boat was rolling in the waves, and he didn't like the prospect of being stuck in it while waiting for the coastguard to rescue them.

"You didn't even tell me how it all started?" Jiyo Kael said, trying to get the picture of them all being shaken in the sea out of his mind. "The Project," he added, nodding back to the island.

Benjamin looked over his shoulder for a moment and gave a sweet smile as if his PA's question brought back happy memories. "Well, that's kind of a story," he said. "I was approached by a young woman, a new graduate of the university with her new Ph.D. He has been working on the environmental idea she has had since she was thirteen or so really dedicated. Do you know the guy?"

Jiyo Kael nodded. "I also met some staff who was great," he said.

"He spent a few weeks trying to see me."

Jiyo shook his head. "Don't worry about anyone like that right now."

"It's your time, Jiyo Kael. Anyway, she had finally passed for me," he grinned. "A formidable lady indeed, so I set her an appointment, and here she was, sitting in front of me, asking for money to develop a crazy scheme of her. She told me that, since my companies produce so much waste, it only makes sense for me to find a way to clean it up."

"She had a hard time preparing a presentation, so I felt like I had no choice but to sit through it. The thing is, I knew after the first overhead that it wouldn't work, but I still let her go on. I kind of felt sorry for her. , in all the years of hard work she has labored for."

"Do you feel sorry for her?" The doubt in Jiyo's voice brought a twinkling smile to Benjamin's lips.

"I have a heart, you know Jiyo," Mr. Gustilo said.

"Yes. Sorry. So what happened? "

"I said I'll take a look, then, after she left, she dropped her proposal in the drawer marked 'Rejects'. That was, or so I thought. Hell, how big, I was wrong." Benjamin stopped, staring at the vast sky, lost in his own thoughts.

Jiyo Kael coughed, raising his eyebrow as Benjamin's gaze returned to him.

"So?" he prompted.

Benjamin laughed, shaking slightly. "She wouldn't answer no. She came back, over and over, almost to camp in the office at one point, more office disruptions. Eventually, I had to get the police to evict her and make sure she wasn't let in again in the reception of the building."

"Then she started showing up in places I went to; Restaurants, theaters, places like that. God knows how she knew where I was. I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't spend a huge amount of money following me. She did never say a damn word, just sat there while watching. Do you know how annoying that is, Jiyo Kael? Someone looks at you like that wherever you go? Stalker! "

Jiyo Kael shook his head and smiled to himself. He did not see the Strict Man in such a situation. Jiyo Kael knew the old man was lying.

"It went on for. . . Oh, maybe six months. Then she changed tactics."

Jiyo Kael sees the Strict Man come back to his memory, but more than that is wearing a slightly embarrassed expression.

"You can't stop there. What happened?" Jiyo Kael prompted.

"She threw three trash cans full of smelly garbage on the sunroof of my Mercedes Benz. Then a post with a cardboard notice was attached to it, saying: 'If you make a lot of dirt and don't clean yourself up, this is what will happen, you bad boy!'

"Fuck," Jiyo Kael said, turning his head and laughing out loud.

"Fuck really," Benjamin agreed.

"A nut case then, what happened? Did you imprison her?"

"She was imprisoned but only briefly so that she would not turn my Mercedes into trash. She just wants a job, she will definitely do it."

"You got him out of jail?" Jiyo Kael couldn't believe what he heard. "Just a moment, she broke your Mercedes, stalked you, humiliated you in public and you put her out of jail, and then proceeded with her project. If you and her. . .? "

Jiyo Kael raised his outstretched fingers.

Benjamin laughed, quickly falling into a series of wet coughs in the damp air. "I'm a widower, for God's sake," Benjamin said. "And yet, a girl like this wouldn't have any romantic inclination like me."

Given how much power the Strict Man has and his billions in value, Jiyo Kael is seriously skeptical. "Then why?" he said.

Benjamin shrugged. "I really do not know. Something about her caught my attention, I suppose. Her perseverance and belief in her own work. The amount of time she devoted to trying to remove it from the earth. But most of all, the risks she's willing to take."

Benjamin sat down for a moment, then looked up at Jiyo Kael, the skin around his eyes wrinkled.

"I remember myself when I was young and full of fresh energy. I knew I had the answers to all the world's problems. Damn it Jiyo Kael, she made me young again!"

Jiyo Kael leaned over with new respect. He laughed again. "For me, you've already fallen for her, that you're already in-love with her?"

"No, you don't understand. I have only one daughter. She would have been the next. She's more like a child to me than anything." Suddenly his face dropped and he looked at the deck, seemingly getting old again. "And now she's gone, and I can't bury the rest of her."

"We have no choice if you want to survive here," Jiyo Kael said. "We can't have a chance for anyone to know what happened there."

Benjamin nodded sadly. "I know."

Jiyo Kael bit his answer with nothing left even to bury. "We have no choice," he repeated.

"So still, I gathered a small group of top scientists," Benjamin continued as if his Stalker had not spoken, "and they looked at her idea. Most of them agreed that it was impossible. The couple said it was a million in one shot and my Chinese friends help me create the lab."

"So you bought the island for a million in one shot."

Benjamin nodded, looking back at Palaui Island with a sad expression.

The clouds darkened and the wind grew stronger. Aside from the boat lights, the night was dark. The gray sea was flowing higher, and as Jiyo's eyes followed Benjamin's stare, it seemed to him a scene from some drama. All that was missing was the flash of lightning and the successive thunder to add the final touches.

"But damn me, Jiyo Kael," the Strict Man said quietly. "She did. She really went ahead and did it."

"Get ready, gentlemen," the boatman called, slowing the engine as the boat stopped at the dock.

As it bumped and collided with the brickwork, Jiyo Kael gave Benjamin help climbing the stairs. When he reached the top and stepped on the beach, a small ball of earth that had stuck between the heel and sole of his shoe when he was at The Hole, fell off. It fell to the ground and broke, the six eggs that lay in the middle of it were thrown clear. The tiny eggs rolled towards the side of the dock.

Five eggs fell into the sea, their embryos withering under the attack of salt water. But one rolled into a narrow crack on the beach and clung to it – the carbomer.

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