Chapter 168: Honeymoon?

Celine sat at the edge of the wooden bridge by the cottage house she and Tristan were given at the old dwellings, her legs casually dangling over the water as her toes slightly touched the surface of the water, she quickly curled them back due to the cold.

Tristan had left ever since they arrived saying he would be back in a while, but ever since he left, she hadn’t seen a single sign of him.

Though the cottage looked quite small from the outside, from the inside, it looked spacious and elegant, it had a massive bed, one that could rival that in a five star hotel, a normal sized bathroom with a single shower, a small yet puffy red couch was kept on another side of the room with a glass table in front of it, an average sized wardrobe with two sections enough to fit for two people.

Celine guessed such a setting was normal in the old dwellings since they mostly have married couples here, the room was set for the living of a couple.

Celine felt like she would really grow to like it here, the cold breeze blowing against her body as she sat by the bridge was somewhat refreshing since was bundled up, she’d worn a thick pink sweater over her shirt, and a wool cap over her hair to keep her ears warm, at this part of the island that was closest to the sea, it was definitely colder. She gazed up at the bright moon up in the sky, this was the first time in a long time she had enjoyed such a perfectly clear view of it due to living in a large city.

Celine wondered when Tristan would return, he had immediately left since they came here, she had no idea where he went or when he’d return.

With a sigh she decided to get up from the bridge and go back to their cottage. As she turned an intersection on the bridge, she suddenly collided with someone as she had her head lowered monotonously counting the steps she took along each wood on the bridge.

Celine quickly raised her head and apologized, “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going…”

“Celine? Is that really you?”

Celine was busy apologizing she hadn’t really looked at the person she bumped into, but hearing the familiar voice, Celine first fell silent, then confirming the person’s identity after properly looking at her face Celine was pleasantly surprised.

“Hailey?” Celine was pretty astonished to suddenly bump into a familiar face.

The woman in front of her beamed, “Celine, it is you.” She uttered with a tone of pleasant surprise herself before pulling Celine in a hug.

Celine hugged her back before they pulled away.

“It’s been so long, I think five years now, how have you been?” Hailey asked recalling the last time she and Celine had last seen each other, which was at the set of a movie they once shot together in the past before Celine’s wedding to Ian was announced back then.

Hailey and Celine could be considered friends, but they hadn’t been very close, they had only shot in a few films together and had been quite friendly with each other on set.

“Yes, it’s been five years, and I’m doing great, how are you?”

“I’m great too, I am actually here on a honeymoon with my husband.” Hailey informed raising her hand to show her ring beaming, she looked very happy.

“Wow, I’m so happy for you, I never heard about your wedding.” Hailey had gone on to become an even more famous celebrity than she was five years ago when they used to work together, so it was quite surprising Celine had heard nothing about her wedding, the public would have been crazily announcing it.

“Actually… We eloped, which is why we’re here at the old dwellings, we’re in hiding.” Hailey said the last words in a low whisper and winked playfully.

Celine gasped unable to find the words to say to that, Hailey smiled even more seeing her reaction to the news,

“Don’t look at me like that, I was in love.” Hailey said playfully.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean it that way, I was just surprised.”

“It’s okay, I know you’d understand, I heard about your wedding with Ian back then too, at first I wondered why you would do such a thing just like everyone else, but then I never expected I would be in a similar situation some day, and now I totally understand why you ran off from the wedding back then.”

Celine cringed slightly hearing her past, “So you must have also heard about those rumors.”

“Yeah, but everyone in the entertainment industry knew it was just a scandal from someone trying to ruin you, you don’t have to worry, it blew over very quickly, It’s really nothing to be ashamed about, tell you what, my husband and I are going to meet at the restaurant for dinner, come with me, you can at least meet my husband then.” Hailey offered.

Since Celine had nothing to do currently and Tristan still hadn’t returned yet, she decided to just go with Hailey and probably explore some parts of the old dwellings.

They walked through the beach over to the parts where they came across a lot of people, some women they met on the way would greet them politely while looking at Celine strangely probably aware that she was new around there.

Hailey on the other hand seemed to know almost all of them as she stopped to slightly converse with them before they resumed walking again.

They finally arrived at a building that looked more like just a shed with all four sides of it open without walls however there was a nice looking roof over it, and the grounds were beautifully marbled.

But the place looked like a normal restaurant in the city with a bar up ahead and tables arranged all around. Up ahead was a small platform on which a beautiful woman wearing a shimmering sequin dress was singing a slow romantic song.

The whole atmosphere was harmonious and romantic, a lot of the tables were occupied by couples.

“Do a lot of people come here for their honeymoon?” Celine knew the fact that the old dwellings rarely accepted strangers, so she was quite surprised to see a lot of people who didn’t look like locals of the Rowena islands here.

“Yes, actually, but a lot of people who come to the islands for honeymoon are usually at the resorts, only the special ones are allowed into the old dwellings.” Hailey explained, at Celine’s quizzical look, she continued, “Actually, my husband is the nephew of the island chief Richard Reyes, he went out to the city to pursue his career, that is how we met, and now that we’ve eloped from the outside world, what better place to come hide than here, his home.”

Celine finally understood the situation.

“Actually, a lot of couples here are either locals who came from the city, or people picked by uncle Richard to stay for a period of time,” Hailey said then seemed to suddenly remember something, “Oh, this makes me realize, you can’t come into the islands if you’re single, well, as a stranger at least, are you also married?”

Celine merely smiled in reply which seemed to confirm Hailey’s suspicion as she beamed and jumped into a hug with Celine, “This is so exciting! I’m so happy for you, I see you’ve finally found someone after Ian, don’t tell me you ran away from the wedding back then to be with your true love.”

“Actually, we just recently got married.” Since she was telling a lie, she didn’t say much because she was feeling quite awkward and guilty for lying to someone whom she considered a friend, especially with how open and honest Hailey was being with her.

“This is such a coincidence, are you also on a honeymoon?”

“No, we were here mainly for work, we’d wanted to acquire lands to build a resort on the islands, but then the chief asked us to stay here for a while.” Celine explained as they found a seat in the restaurant.

“Oh, so Rowena can determine if you are worthy or not,” Hailey said finally understanding everything.

“Hey, do you know how that’s supposed to happen? How will we be determined worthy?”

“I’m not too sure, I also just began learning of the culture here.”

Celine thought that made sense since Hailey also must have just recently arrived on the islands.

“But hey, this can be considered your honeymoon too right, how about this, call your husband over so we can have a double date when my husband arrives, what do you think?” Hailey suggested enthusiastically.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep