Josephine looked a little reluctant but still nodded in the end.
She watched Lewis leave the beach and disappear into the woods.
As per his instructions, she waited by the campfires and kept adding firewood from time to time.
The young woman's survival experience on this desolate island was close to none. She would have died in less than two days if she weren't with Lewis.
Compared to her, Lewis was very experienced in wilderness survival. He could use all the resources on the island to his advantage.
The man returned to the beach soon enough. Once he was done placing the traps in the woods, he hurried back right away.
The water was still boiling inside the crate. When Lewis approached it to check it out, he realized that the amount of water had increased instead.
A frown appeared on his face at that moment. "Did you add more water into the crate?"
Josephine nodded happily while gesturing, "I noticed that the water was almost out, so I added more water into it."
Lewis could feel the corner of his mouth starting to twitch. He took a few deep breaths in order to calm down.
Josephine blinked mutely, not understanding what he meant.
The man explained, "The water has to be dried up. How am I supposed to extract the salt without doing that?"
His partner finally understood what he meant, so she apologized while looking quite guilty.
"It's fine as long as you remember this fact."
Josephine nodded once again.
Lewis made a trip back to the yacht and gathered the empty bottles there. Then, he placed them in a crate before heading into the woods to collect the water from the stream.
After the freshwater was boiled, he stored the water supply in the yacht.
The man made several trips into the woods and always returned with fruitful results. At one point, he even dragged a banana tree all the way to the beach.
The man stacked the banana leaves together before binding them with vines. It would serve as a makeshift door for the cabin.
Once the layers were stripped from the banana tree's stem, Lewis dug the banana blossom out and fed it to Josephine. While she ate, he filled the crates with bananas.
Josephine noticed how busy Lewis was, which made her feel even more guilty. She really wanted to help him, but she couldn't do anything without screwing up.
After the man stopped her from doing anything a few times in a row, she settled down and decided not to lift a finger. At most, the young woman would just gather firewood near the outskirts of the woods or keep the campfires running.
Josephine would slack off the rest of the time after those chores were done.
It appeared that Lewis' traps were useless. Two days had passed after that, yet he was unable to secure a prey.
However, he didn't plan on relying on the traps. When the man had free time on his hands, he made himself a bow and some arrows.
On the fifth day of hunting, Lewis returned with a squirrel.
He sliced open its guts at the beach and thoroughly cleaned it with water before dicing the flesh up. That was how he was able to prepare a nice pot of meat stew.
Josephine stared at the meat chunks floating in the stew, her mouth dry as she swallowed. A sense of sympathy welled up within her for the deceased squirrel, yet hunger gnawed at her stomach.
It had been more than a dozen days since she and Lewis got stranded on this island. They didn't get to eat food that could sustain them for long hours, so starvation became somewhat of a normal occurrence for her.
The man pierced a clean branch through a chunk of meat before passing it to Josephine. "Give it a try."
She blew the steam away from the meat, which was still piping hot. Finally, she started eating it.
It stank a little, but it was still edible at the end of the day. Josephine preferred satisfying her stomach with stinky meat rather than letting herself starve.
Lewis' culinary skills were very limited. There weren't any seasonings available to enhance the meat's flavor as well. The fact that he was able to extract salt from the seawater was impressive enough.
Honestly speaking, there was nothing for Josephine to complain about.
The man was very experienced when it came to wilderness survival, but his culinary skills were quite worrying.
Whenever he cooked, he would either throw everything together and make a stew or leave the ingredients over the fire and let them cook on their own. He didn't really care about the food as long as it was cooked thoroughly.
Josephine didn't mind, though. She just ate whatever Lewis cooked.
Once they were done polishing off the stew, it was almost evening. The sea's surface glittered under the sun, the water now coated with a layer of gold.
Lewis and Josephine stood on a reef at the beach. While the former attempted to shave in a crouching position, the latter busied herself with playing in the water.
The razor provided on the yacht had been intended for a single use. After several shaves, its blade had dulled, rendering it ineffective. Determined to maintain his grooming routine, Lewis resorted to sharpening the blade against the rough surface of the reef, hoping to restore its cutting edge.
Josephine wetted her fingers and splashed droplets in Lewis' direction.
Conrad had the binoculars raised to his eyes as he scanned the sea meticulously for any signs of Lewis and Josephine.
"We've been searching for so many days. They can't be dead, right?" Conrad muttered under his breath. The search had stretched on for days, and with each passing day, his once overflowing confidence began to wane, gradually replaced by a growing sense of disappointment.
Those two had been stranded at sea for so long that they would have died from either starvation or dehydration. Conrad couldn't help but feel sad whenever he thought about that possibility.
Seth was right next to him when he said those things. The man just smiled and commented, "Evil will never die. There's no way that man would die this easily."
Conrad didn't know why Seth was able to remain confident after so long. Perhaps he didn't care about Lewis at all.
Hence, the assistant retorted, "Why do I have a feeling that you want them dead so badly?"
Seth just chuckled in response. "Their living status has nothing to do with me, though. Then again, if both Kiran and Lewis are dead, I should be the one inheriting Alvarez Corp next, right?"
After all, the man never got divorced from Daphne. It was perfectly reasonable for him to become the next successor of Alvarez Corp.
Conrad's jaw went slack as he didn't know what to say in return. In the end, he gritted out, "In your dreams!"
"It's in your best interest to be nicer to me, Conrad. Perhaps I might become your new boss soon."
"You—" Conrad glared at Seth angrily.
The latter still had his signature smile plastered on his face while gazing at him in a friendly manner.
No matter how furious Conrad was, he knew now was clearly not the time to argue with the other man. Hence, he continued scouting the surface with his binoculars.
When he turned to look in another direction, he spotted a faraway island.
"There's an island over there! We have to go check it out!"
The pilot saw where Conrad was pointing and turned the helicopter around. Their new destination was now the island.
Seth snatched the binoculars away before placing them before his eyes and gazing at the surface.
It was just like what Conrad said. There appeared to be an island.
"You've already searched the last two islands. This one might be deserted as well." The man didn't hesitate to burst Conrad's bubble.
"Shut up!"
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: What Separates Me and You