cooperation. Not to mention a global buyer who would keep his resorts alive.
‘That’s what we do. We close deals, Marcos,’ Neel said.
‘Wonderful. You are staying for several days this time, I hope,’ Marcos said as he signed the
documents. ‘Stay on a different island each night.’
‘I wish,’ Neel said. ‘But there’s a lot of work back in Hong Kong. We will leave tomorrow.’
‘Same place then? Pengalusian?’
‘Yes,’ Neel said.
‘You saved my people their jobs. Thank you so much,’ he said.
I collected all the documents Marcos had signed. Neel shook hands with Marcos.
‘Pleasure doing business with you,’ Neel said.
I stood in front of the mirror at the Pengalusian Island Resort and turned from side to side. I wondered
if my black shorts and the white gunjee over my pink sports bra revealed too much. Neel had
suggested a run before our deal-closing celebration dinner. ‘Let’s burn calories before we consume
them,’ he had said.
‘It’s fine. Be cool about it,’ I said to myself and checked myself out one last time. Okay, so the
shorts were a little too short. The gunjee was, well, a little too short too.
I met Neel at the reception area. He wore a blue workout T-shirt and black cycling shorts. He
also had blue mirror-tinted Raybans on.
‘Wow, you’ve transformed,’ he said. The sunglasses covered his eyes. I couldn’t tell if he was
staring at me. I thought he did. Maybe I wished he did.
‘I haven’t run in the longest time,’ I said.
‘We’ll just jog. Three rounds of the island?’
‘Two, please.’
He laughed.
‘Okay, let’s go,’ he said.
We jogged around the periphery of the tiny island. We had walked this route on our previous
trip. However, today the island felt even more dreamlike. Despite the bright sun, a cool breeze kept
the temperature just right. We jogged on the beach away from the water, which slapped lazily against
the shore. Neel ran slower to match my pace. This way he remained only a few steps ahead of me. I
noticed his muscular legs. He had perfect, sculpted calves. He ran in flawless, graceful form. I,
meanwhile, gasped, kicked and panted through the two-kilometre route. I wanted to quit after the first
round. However, Neel wouldn’t let me.
‘Enough,’ I said, holding my stomach.
‘Come on, you are doing great,’ he said.
For the second round he remained behind me. I looked back from the corner of my eye. I don’t
know if he noticed my legs. It would have been hard to miss them, considering my shorts bunched up
even more when I ran.
‘I am done,’ I said, gasping for breath as I finished the second round.
‘Mind if I run a bit more?’ he said.
‘Sure,’ I said and exhaled noisily.