Chapter 10 A Fateful Mistake

Allison quickly sat down to start scraping the fallen coins from her wallet. She was also a bit annoyed but knew she was also at fault because she didn't look at her walk.

"I'm sorry, miss." The man who bumped her immediately apologized and sat down to help her. Allison couldn't even look at the young man because she was busy picking up the coins until their hands touched.

Allison was stunned a little before she slowly lifted her face to look at the man in front of her. She immediately stopped a little when she saw the man's handsome face, dark brown and round eyes, and sharp nose. Allison suddenly felt ashamed of her appearance because the wind made her hair messy and untidy.

'I didn't know so many handsome men were on this ship; I should always fix my look. How can I hook a handsome man if I look like a lost beggar here.' She couldn't help but say that to herself.

"Miss, are you okay? I'm really sorry." The young man said. Allison came to her senses, quickly snatched the coins from the man's hands, and stood up.

"I'm fine. I'm good; thanks for the help," Allison said. "I'm the one who's at fault, so I'm sorry; I'm not looking at what I'm passing by either," Allison added, a little shy, then she simply put the strand of hair scattered on her face behind her ear.

The young man just smiled at him. Only then did Allison notice how the man was so good-looking. He wore a cream-colored long sleeves polo with the first three buttons open and his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. A pair of sunglasses was hanging in the polo pocket as well.

Allison was even more embarrassed because she was only wearing a simple black shirt that she put on a denim blazer cropped top. She was also wearing simple shorts and a pair of high-cut converse shoes.

If I knew that many handsome men were scattered here, I would not go outside looking like this. Gosh!

"We both don't look on our way, so it's also my fault." The young man said and soon laughed before offering his right hand. "By the way, I'm Caleb Ignacio."

"I'm Allison Gregorio," Allison introduced herself and accepted Caleb's outstretched hand. The young man's hand was soft and free of calluses as if he had never had to deal with heavy work.

Aside from accepting Caleb's hand, Allison immediately had something in her mind- maybe this was the man who would help her move on. It was just a joke at first because he told her friend, Shanell, about how she didn't have to wait until she got to Coron Palawan if she was going to meet a man on the ship.

"Oh, yeah, right. I thought you were a foreigner, and I was right. You really look like a foreigner, and your surname explained it all," Caleb said and smiled.

Allison felt fluttered by what the young man said, and she smiled back. Many people say she looks like a foreigner because of her natural straight hazel-brown hair color. Also, add to that is her heart shape face, almond and colored brown eyes, and small and cute nose.

"My Dad is a Italian," Allison answered to give specific information about her.

"Oh. So, nice meeting you, Allison. I would have liked to talk to you and get to know you better, but I have to go now," Caleb said goodbye to her.

Allison felt a little shy again because she felt that she looked easy to get. She was so open to the young man, so she nodded in approval.

"Oh yeah. Nice to meet you too." They waved at each other before they parted ways; Caleb was going to the right way while Allison was going to the left.

They were only taking a few steps away from each other when Caleb suddenly called Allison's name again, causing her to stop walking automatically. Allison didn't know if she would turn around right away, but the young man was already close to her before she could do that. She raised an eyebrow at Caleb and gave her a surprised look.

Allison wondered if the young man would entice her to meet again or if he might ask for her cell phone number.

'Ugh! My thought is thinking too fast. Allison, slow down, okay?' she said to herself.

"Why?" Allison asked. She was a little nervous about the young man's possible answer until Caleb spoke soon after.

"Ahmm. Maybe you want to go to the event hall around 9 PM, if only when you're free. I'm a performer here at 2Go. Singer, to be exact," Caleb said with a smile.

'Wow! He's a singer!' Allison said in her mind. It's very different from the profession of her ex, Troy, and that's not really her type, but she can persevere just in case.

Allison is open to entertaining guys, and there is nothing wrong if she agrees, right? She'll put more effort into refusing so that she doesn't look easy to get for the young man.

"Okay then, let's see," she smiled while nodding. "When I'm free, I'll pay a visit. I just want to rest today. Maybe I'll come tomorrow.," she smiled.

"That's okay, I perform every night, except every morning-- I was free then. I hope to see you as one of my audience," Caleb smiled.

"Yeah. I hope so. You know that someday will be later or tomorrow."

Allison was a bit horrified at that. It's because she's not really used to entertaining men or even talking to them. After all, as she always said, she only really focused on Troy when they were together, thinking he would be her last boyfriend. But it looked like it was just a mistake. A mistake that she only focused on Troy and forgot how big the world was.

Allison felt annoyed when she remembered her shameless ex again. It's a good thing that Caleb said goodbye to her again; if not, he would surely notice how mad she was at that time.

Allison went straight to the charging station, there were quite a lot of different cellphones plugged in there, but fortunately, there were still charger chords available for her TYPE C phone. She only dropped 15 pesos for 30 minutes of charging because, for her, that's enough until she gets to Coron Palawan. She also doesn't use her cell phone much besides taking pictures.

While waiting for her phone, Allison thought of buying something to drink at the convenience store on the ship because she was feeling thirsty. She knows that there is such a store there, and she also knows that she will not lose her phone because a female staff guarding the station.

INSIDE River's room, where he took a little nap, he finally got up. River remembered that he needed to charge his cell phone because when he arrived in Coron, he couldn't do that because he knew Carlos and Fiona-- they certainly wouldn't allow him to lock himself in his room.

As he took out his two phones and chargers from his black handbag, he couldn't help but frown. He noticed that he only brought one charger.

"What? Did I forget the charger for my iPhone?" He couldn't avoid asking that himself because the only charger he could see was for his android phone.

'Fuck!' He muttered to himself.

River thought he didn't have to leave his room, but he was wrong because it looked like he would be out in no time.

Later, he decided to leave his room to go to the charging station. River wears his sunglasses and fixes his comb over his haircut before he starts to walk.

He didn't have any trouble finding the 2Go charging area either. He started looking for a type C chord and didn't notice the female staff staring at him from behind. The crew was one of the three women who guided him to his stateroom earlier and seemed fascinated at him. River was busy finding an available type C, so he did not notice that woman staring at him.

Before the staff approached River, she raised her skirt upward, thinking that she would get River's attention.

"Sir, aren't there any chords available for your phone?" The woman asked, so River immediately gave her a look and then smiled before answering.

"Yeah. But it's okay; I can wait for the chord to be available-"

"You don't have to wait, sir. It's available now." The staff immediately suddenly removed the phone charging on the cord. Unfortunately, that phone belongs to Allisons.

"Ahmm. No, actually, I can wait--"

"The time for this phone is up anyway, so you can have it now." The staff even smiled widely at River. "Can I have your phone, sir? I will charge it for you." The woman cut River's words off as if she didn't hear the restraint he was doing. And because he wanted his phone to get charged too, so he just gave his cell phone to the staff.

"Thanks," River answered the woman modestly.

"Your welcome, sir; I'll drop the coins for you until the battery is full, then I'll just calculate it at the end, and that's what you need to pay," she even suggested, even though that's not really part of her job.

River just nodded in agreement before he went back to his room. The staff took Allison's cell phone, which she removed from charging and placed on her desk.

After 30 minutes, Allison returned to the charging area wearing sunglasses she bought at Quick Mart. He only intended to buy something to drink, but she happened to pass by the mart, so she purchased sunglasses to make herself look more like a tourist.

At that time, the female staff was sitting at the counter desk taking a little nap, so she didn't realize that Allison had taken River's cell phone without realizing it.

Is it a coincidence or destiny that they have the same cell phone as the young man, so Allison does not realize that the phone does not belong to her. She didn't open it or even check how long the battery was in it because after she removed it from charging, she just put it in her shoulder bag and left the charging station.

Little did the two know, especially River, that he would see the girl he had been looking for for a long time because of that accident.