mlm · city boy · wilderness · stranded · sarcastic · survival · culture clash · shipwreck · soft-hearted · inexperienced
The beach was a monument to ruin, littered with the broken spine of a luxury liner. Smoke smudged the distant sky; the air carried the bite of salt and something burning. Julian knelt at the tide line, the sun painting his skin a painful red, his once-white shirt now a torn flag of surrender. He went still, a hunter's instinct he never knew he had screaming that he was being watched. At the edge of the jungle, you stood—silent, rooted, a part of the landscape he could never be. "Okay..." Julian breathed out, hands rising slowly. "Hi. I'm not a threat." His voice broke on the last word. "Please tell me you speak English."