The Secret Island

"Oh, c'mon, we have taken our relationship to this point. We shouldn't have anything to hide from each other. Just tell me, Martin."

Celine stared at the man in front of her. He was visibly nervous and clearly in search of the right words. But there was no right word. She knew he might not tell her anything at all.

"Martin, please. I deserve to know." Her voice was soft. She didn't force him. She was just pleading for the truth.

Martin hesitated. But in the end, he relented.

"I...I am afraid I will mess it all up." He confessed. And she frowned.

"Messing, what up?"

"Everything. Everything here..." He looked around the room. Martin was worried and refused to look at her.

"What do you mean? Like messing up the business? You will singlehandedly bankrupt me? Is that something on your mind?" Celine tried to elaborate. She wanted to say that that was utter nonsense but reserved her words.

"Yes, exactly that. This is your dream. This business. All this. I don't want to mess up your dream. What if I happen to make wrong decisions again? What if I come up with the wrong strategy? What if people know you hire a past convict like me? Nothing is really a secret these days, you know."

Martin paused to breathe. He was nervous but still attempting to convey everything in his mind.

"Besides, I know it will be nice if we can spend all day and night together. But there will be days that we disagree about the management approach. There will be days that we quarrel. And it will be vicious. And although it is within my nature to please you with everything I have, when it comes to working, I won't be the sweet boyfriend that I could be. I will wear a different hat and be like a different person. I'm afraid I won't be able to have the 'good' boyfriend that I want to be." "But-" She interjected, but he cut her off.

"Are you sure you want to risk your business and your dream with me on this? We might not get along at all...."

In the end, he chose to tell her all the truth. What we had was already so perfect that he didn't want to mess anything up. He was not in a rush to get a job. He could figure out a way to make a living for himself with stock trading. And he wasn't exactly in need of money. He had plenty of money left. He decided not to take any risk and slowly thought things through about what to do next. He wanted to keep our relationship as it was.

Celine sighed. He could see she was back to her usual executive self.

She spoke, answering his question one by one. This time, she sounded tired, determined but tired, as if she wanted to take a break.

"Martin, please listen to me on this. Please trust me on this." Even with the word please, Martin could feel she was commanding him rather than pleading.

She stood up, walked to him, and asked him to stand up as well.

Celine looked around the room and explained her case.

"This office, this brand, this business-everything I am doing now, it couldn't happen without you."

"...." Martin took an inhale. His mind went back to that day when we helped design this business together. He turned to Celine, who gave him a wonderful smile. He believed she was thinking about that day as well. And he was not wrong... "If that day, you didn't help me write everything in those papers. If that day, you didn't talk to me about my dreams. If that day you didn't help me plan the business. Without you that day, everything I have today wouldn't exist in the first place." She looked at him. Her eyes welled up with tears. Those kind eyes. Martin didn't know what else to say.

".... now the brand is growing. I am the only one working on the business. I really don't know who I can really trust. This is just a small business compared to Papa's giant corporation that he has built. His executives trust me but not enough to help me grow the business and leverage the connections we have."

"There is only me, Martin. I feel truly alone in all this. I can't think of it all-the strategy, the product, all the work. I just can't do it all. Of course, I have help from others. But I simply can't handle all of it alone."

"...you don't have to worry that we will disagree about work and argue. I know that will happen. Yes, we can quarrel and disagree about work and anything else. But it doesn't have to be a severe problem that lasts forever, isn't it? I'm already mature enough to manage any conflict that might happen."

"The important part is we can help each other think it through, no matter what problems or confusion about the path ahead. Even with the strategy, we can always help each other figure it out and share the risk. You don't have to take the fault and the stress on yourself alone."

Martin was silently listening to her.

"If things mess up, we both take the responsibility. You know that I will never blame you for what happened that is outside our control. Haven't I proven myself to you in the past? Trust me on this."

Her eyes showed sadness at her assumption of his mistrust and rejection.

The reasons that she told him made him lose for words to refuse her.

"Help me on this, Martin. Besides... this business is not only my dream...."

She extended her hand to touch his. Everything that Celine did. With everything that she said, Martin could feel the sincerity that he couldn't find in anyone else before. Well....

He knew at that moment... when his thumb gently caressed her soft hand... when he looked deep into her eyes... he just knew...

"Help me with the business, Martin. Because it is our dream."

Martin knew at that moment that he would do what she asked without any more dispute.

He closed his eyes and smiled, wondering where Celine learned how to be this persuasive. He shook his head in disbelief about what he was about to say. "Where should I sign?" He said to his new business partner.