hello beautiful people.｡.:*☆ i'm finally able to update this fic omg, it feels like i haven't put a new chapter in ages hahaha. i blame uni classes and having to write Casa Amor, which all of us know that is a total pain in the ass lol. thanks for all the support this fic has been getting and i hope you're liking how the story is going so fars✿✼:*ﾟ i hope you enjoy this chapter!

If there’s one thing that stands out in the crane operator’s reasoning is keeping things grounded; he knows that the chances of her getting her head turned or meeting a bloke who she truly fancies while she is away are high, specially considering that there’s not one but six new men available, who will surely be all over her because she’s a proper sort.

Chapter Text

Day 14

In the Villa’s bedroom – Early morning. ♪

The faint sound of Minni’s phone amongst the boys snores wakes her up in a heartbeat, mostly thanks to her light sleep. Dazed from slumber, she lazily peels her blue eyes open, just to find Lucas’ broad frame next to her, breathing gently. The young woman takes a second to move her hands towards her face and presses her soft fingers against her puffy eyelids, feeling a bit numb from just having woken up. Then, she lifts her head and notices that it’s still dark outside, which only confuses her while she blindly pats her nightstand to find her phone.

Squinting because of the harsh light of the screen, the brunette reads the text. <Minerva, today you and the girls are going on a mini break. You must all get ready and meet at the entrance without waking the boys. #catsaway #micegonnaplay.>

Just when she finishes reading, she hears another phone beep quietly across the room, and then another, and another. With her curious sight scanning the dark bedroom, Minni wonders if everyone is getting the same text as her. One by one, just the girls wake up and sit up in their beds, most of them equally puzzled and giving each other questioning looks.

“What’s this about then?” Chelsea asks with a normal volume and her mouth hanging open in surprise.

Hope is fast to shoot her a poisonous glare from her bed, her slim eyebrows forming a frown. “Shhh!”

After the sixth phone beeps, they stop and, for a moment, nobody makes a noise. Chelsea covers her mouth at Hope’s reprimand, to force herself to keep quiet even though the only thing she wants to do is talk and ask all the questions she has swarming in her head. Beside her, Gary stops snoring, hiccups loudly, then rolls over and continues snoring. The blonde girl lets out a relieved sigh when she notices that she didn’t wake him up.

Once they make sure all the boys are still sleeping soundly, Hope decides to whisper loudly, “Girls. Dressing room, now.”

With that, Minni concludes that all of them must’ve gotten the same text. A sudden rush of excitement strikes her, making her eager to find out what all of this is about and why it has such a secretive atmosphere to it. So, without wasting any more time, she is careful to slip out of bed as not to wake Lucas— she would’ve liked to commando roll out of the bed just for the fun of it, but there’s no way she’s going to ruin the operation or risk it by the boys noticing that they’re gone. Silently, she tiptoes her way to the dressing room to join the girls, her usual fuzzy socks quenching her already light footsteps against the tiles.

The girls expeditiously start getting changed and putting on their makeup, as they chat about how funny it will be when the boys notice that they’re gone. Nobody has a clue what all of this is about, but the mystery also makes all of this seem more thrilling, like a small secret vacation in the middle of another vacation. In any case, Minni guesses that it must be just a girls’ only day in a fancy spa or at the beach, knowing that the text explicitly says ‘mini break’; she’s sure it will be a fun activity to catch up and get their spirits up after the mess of a Recoupling that happened last night, and that they will probably be back this evening.

After a while, the room is silent as everyone get down to work, quickly, just the tiny sounds of makeup being put against the vanity, brushes, clicks of compartments, fabrics and zippers filling the dressing room. The physics student gets ready in no time, her experience of hurriedly changing and doing her makeup when she’s running late for her morning classes helping her a lot in this situation. She finishes a little before the other girls and ends up boringly sitting in her bean bag in front of her place in the vanity, watching as the rest hurries and doing practically nothing for a couple of minutes.

In that moment, an idea flashes in her mind, striking her like white lightning at the realization. Last night she and Gary finally got to have a few words in private and agreed to talk this morning about how they wanted to plan on how they will going to make things work from now on, and now they won’t be able to have that chat at the time they planned to because, by then, the girls will be long gone and starting their mystery trip. Perhaps waking him up to say goodbye would be a good idea, Minni thinks.

Whilst she ponders her options, the young brunette’s heart flutters, particularly when she recalls their brief chat of last night— she can’t believe that she was Gary’s first choice for that Recoupling. She still feels so blissed by his confession that she does her best to push away her doubts about it, and why all of the sudden he decided that she didn’t fancy Lottie more than her. A small smile forms in the blue-eyed girl’s lips at the thought that finally things could start going the way she wants, that eventually all of this could work and that, after all this time, they could get their feelings out in the open and couple up again in the future. Needless to say, since they got separated by Priya, she’s had the persistent sensation that she belongs to Gary somehow and that she should’ve always been with him, despite everything that’s happened between them.

Driven by delight, the young woman sneaks out of the dressing room and tiptoes back into the bedroom. In there, a mix of different volume snores and deep grumbles reverberate, the dim light of dawn that comes through the slits of the curtains illuminates the line of beds. All the boys seem to be sleeping heavily, few of them moving on their mattresses and tangled in white bedsheets, completely oblivious to the fact that all the girls are gone. She chuckles internally at how unaware all of them are.

As silent as possible, Minni creeps over to Gary’s bed and kneels down next to his face, her forearms resting in top of the mattress on the space between the two. She doesn’t remember when was the last time she saw him fast asleep and wonders if she found him this cute back then. Although the crane operator is a big, strong and rugged man, his hair and beard appear to be softer this way, his pale locks all messy and sticking to his brow; they look more like light-colored feathers instead of his usual spiky texture accompanied with a prickly stubble. His mouth being closed doesn’t stop the low snores that escape his throat, rumbling on his chest. The girl finds it funny how his thick and dark eyebrows are slightly knitted together, a small wrinkle forming between them. She smirks at the adorable sight of him.

A few seconds of dumb admiration on her part pass before she takes the decision to whisper, as quietly as she can. “Hey, Gary.”

The muscular man shifts a bit at the sound and stops snoring altogether, but seems to be still in deep sleep.

“Gary, wake up,” the brunette tries once more.

At last, the crane operator opens one tired eye, the girl’s sweet voice having trespassed the fuzzy and clouded walls of his slumber mind. He can’t contain the smile that forms on his face when he sees Minni crouching down beside his bed, her chin placed over the small portion of mattress that separates them along with her arms crossed in front of him. The beautiful student’s big eyes stare at him attentively, her fresh raspberry perfume lingering near his nose— she’s all dolled up, he notices. The way she is right there in front of him is almost dreamlike and completely unexpected. What a sight to wake up to, he reckons.

“Oh, hey,” Gary murmurs with a raspy morning voice, not having much time to process things or to question why she’s there.

Minni beams. “Listen, we don’t have much time,” she begins saying. “Don’t tell anyone I told you this, but the girls are going off on a secret trip.”

A crease forms between Gary’s eyebrows again, this time being deeper as he looks at her in confusion. “Oh, woah, is everyone gone?” He asks as he cranes his neck and looks around the room. All of the beds are half-empty, with just the boys in them and the rest of the girls nowhere to be seen. Next, his sleepy crystal blue eyes go back to Minni. “You lot are like cats. I’ve got no idea how you did that without making any noise,” he smirks, sluggish.

His lighthearted comment makes her giggle quietly. “It helps that you guys sleep like sack of potatoes,” she replies. “Specially you.”

“Oi,” Gary chuckles at her teasing. A brief silence follows, with him taking special attention in the way her glittery eye makeup twinkles in the dim light and the corners of her lips turn upwards when she smiles. “So where are you going?”

“We don’t know— we’re just leaving and it’s meant to be secret,” the blue-eyed girl responds. “But the text says we’re going on a ‘mini break’, so I guess it’s a day at the beach or at the spa, something like that,” she explains, excited at the idea of having a fun day out of the Villa. “I came here to say goodbye just in case we arrive really late today, since you and I were planning on talking about… you know.”

Regardless of the vague early morning light, Gary can see how her freckled cheekbones blush with pink color. With his smile widening, the crane operator’s large and calloused hand flies to cup her cheek, the muscles of his arms bulking at the movement. “You’re blushing already,” he teases, mischievous.

His thumb lightly traces her smooth skin as he maintains his confident smirk. Now that he knows Minni still fancies him, even if it could be just a bit, he surely feels like he has his cheeky mojo back. He feels more like when he first arrived to the Villa, and not like the somehow smothered man he started to become on the inside. The fact that there’s this small chance that this gorgeous bird could become his makes him have the sensation that he could take over the world.

“Hush,” Minni pouts, embarrassed that he unexpectedly has left her out of cheeky comebacks. As time passed, their constant flirting was reduced to just friendly interactions, so all of this feels kind of new, refreshing, like they somehow are starting from scratch.

Realizing that they don’t have enough time to savor their private moment together, Gary’s smile falls a little when he decides to snap out of his state of rapture and get talking. “We can have a word later today. I’m sure it won’t be long until you girls come back,” he declares, caressing her face with the rough pad of his thumb. “I have lots of things to say and I don’t reckon rushing it will be good.”

“Yeah, me too,” the girl agrees, leaning onto his touch.

“We’ll all be here waiting for you when you get back,” Gary reassures. He has trust on himself that he will be fine with being patient enough to wait until the girls get back from their trip.

Suddenly, a quick feeling of worrisome flashes across Minni’s eyes. “What if they’re making us go away so they can bring a new girl in, and she tempts you all away?” she asks, her lips forming a slight pout like whenever she’s questioning something.

This only makes Gary look at her with more adoration. There’s no way he could get his head turned now, he’s sure about that, less after realizing that they are getting back on track. “There’s not a girl in the world they could bring in here who’d hold a candle at you,” the blond man reassures.

“Correct answer, Gar,” Minni beams, feeling better. With that same content expression she reaches across and ruffles his pale hair. His bed head feels softer, as she figured. “You cutie. Have fun while we’re gone.”

“I’ll try,” the man responds, his smile falling a bit.

“Oy, quiet down over there.” They abruptly hear Bobby groaning, covered all the way up with his duvet.

The brunette girl just smirks and hisses out a giggle. Not even a second passes before the other girls’ almost imperceptible footsteps can be heard across the hallway, all of them probably ready now and heading towards the exit. Minni’s eyes dart towards the door and then back at Gary.

“Okay. I have to go,” she says in a hurry. Even when she’s in a rush and saying goodbye, her silky voice sounds chill and animated. “Bye!”

After that, Minni plants a single and lingering kiss on Gary’s bearded cheek, his golden hair tickling her face. This is something she’s been waiting to do for a while without having to think much about it, and hopes to make it a habit. The only way he responds for a second is smiling widely, his crystal blue eyes lighting up. The touch of her plumped lips phantoms on his skin and leaves a small mark of strawberry gloss, causing him to blush indistinctly at the gesture.

“See ya! Have fun!”

“I will,” the blue-eyed girl answers. She sneaks one of those cheeky winks of hers before disappearing through the bedroom’s door.

In the Villa’s kitchen – Morning.

While lazily rubbing one of his eyes, Gary pours his recently brewed tea on a navy-blue mug. Blurry and clear steam floats upwards from the dark liquid, whirling in the thin morning air, and he watches it drift until it fades, his body feeling slightly tired. Should he add some milk to it? He’s not quite sure. His light blue eyes go to the fridge and then back at his cuppa, indecisive.

After getting a couple of more hours of sleep, he woke up all of the sudden to find himself already impatient for the girls to come back. He stayed still on his bed for a few minutes, staring at the ceiling as the Spanish daylight replaced the neon colors that illuminated the dark bedroom, with the rest of the boys fast asleep around him. Later on, he convinced himself that it was Noah’s loud snores, and surely not some kind of weird indiscernible gut feeling he had, what didn’t let him get some more rest. So, without waiting for too long, he decided to get up and make himself some breakfast, as he waited for his mates to wake up.

Gary finally settles on adding milk to his cuppa, all of his tasks delivered in a slow and calm manner. The smell of newly made tea and milk reminds him to his nan’s place, in where there’s always a warm cuppa waiting for his arrival. During his two weeks in Love Island, the crane operator has tried not to get nostalgic and homesick about it all, choosing to remember home happily and jokingly instead, but in quiet moments like this, when he doesn’t have a distraction or someone to snap him out of it, he can’t help but to miss everything about his life in Chatham, despite having luxuries he could’ve never imagined of here in the Villa. He wonders how’s his nan doing on his absence— he asks himself if his mate Dicky still drives her to bingo as he promised to do while Gary is away.

“Oi, Gary!”

The blond man almost drops the milk because of the startling call. With an unusual and meaningful angry glare for almost having his cuppa ruined, he turns around to see Lucas walking towards the kitchen, confusion all over his chiseled features.

“Where are the girls?” the physiotherapist says, his dark eyes scanning the entirety of the lawn.

His question catches Gary unprepared, and he doesn’t know what excuse to come up with since Minni asked him not to tell anyone. “I, um… I—”

“Hey, guys, did you notice that the girls are gone?” Both men hear Noah ask, his voice raspy by just having woken up, with Bobby, Jakub and Ibrahim walking right behind him.

“That was what I was asking, mate. They’re nowhere to be seen,” Lucas responds and shrugs as he takes another analytical look at the Villa.

“Are they all gone?” Jakub questions, stitching his pale eyebrows together.

“Yes, bruv, all of them,” Ibrahim states, puzzled.

“There’s no way they could’ve gone away without us noticing. We don’t sleep that heavily, come on,” Bobby says, incredulous and skeptical about the situation. He squints his honey-colored eyes and scrunches his nose, deep in thought. “They must be somewhere in the Villa and this has to be just a silly joke. Ugh, I bet this prank was Minni’s idea,” he continues, his thoughtful expression becoming a scowl. “Girls!”

Most of the boys grimace at his sudden scream, particularly because of how it pierces the calm morning atmosphere, but the pastry chef seems to ignore them, his hands still on at either side of his mouth to amplify the sound.

“Bobby, I don’t think yell—” Noah tries to say, but is cut short by another screech.

“Girls! Come out, come out, wherever you are!” Bobby keeps shouting, this time also while opening one by one the kitchen’s cupboards and then the pantry.

“I don’t think they could fit in there, mate,” Lucas doubts in a quiet voice.

Ignoring him, the Scottish man is determined on finding the girls. After opening all of the cabinets, drawers, cupboards and even the oven, for some weird reason, his frown deepens when he walks to the middle of the lawn, now being in complete denial. “Girls! Stop hiding!”

The rest of the boys follow him, all still dressed in their pajamas, their torsos bare and with disheveled bed heads. Most of them squint at the harsh sunlight as soon as they step out of the kitchen. Gary remains calm, his cuppa cradled between his hands meanwhile he follows his mates without saying a word, itching to tell them what’s going on but also unable to do so because of what he promised to Minni.

Ibrahim sighs at his friend’s outburst. “Bobby…”

“Girls! Come on, this is not funny!”

This time, Noah is the one who tries to talk. “I reckon—”

“Girls!”

Just when he finishes what would be his last yell, the pastry chef turns his head to see his fellow Islanders staring angrily at him for not keeping quiet and letting them speak. Different sets of colored eyes look at him, equally annoyed; all except for Gary, who hides behind his optical frames as not to appear suspicious.

When everyone is silent, the librarian takes a deep breath and exhales. Next, he finishes his previous phrase, “I reckon they’re gone, man.”

As if it has been on cue, the sound of a familiar notification pierces the air. Lucas feels his phone vibrating in his pocket, so he takes it out and reads the announcement text out loud.

<Boys, we’ve sent the girls away on a mini break to Casa Amor. They’re going to spend the next few days getting to know six new boys. This also means six new girls will arrive to the Villa. Prepare to meet your new Islanders. #boyswillbeboys #headswillturn.>

Following that, the male Islanders look at each other in shock. Gary feels his stomach sink, like if it gets suddenly stuffed with nothing but a bunch of heavy rocks. He can’t wrap his head around the idea that he and Minni have just agreed on making things work, that they were about to have the open chat they both needed so much and that wanted to have for the longest time, and now she won’t be back in the Villa until a few days— the text doesn’t even specify how long they will be gone. Mini break, it just says.

He was a fool, he reckons, for not suspecting that they were being taken away to another place for a longer time than just one day, but also there was no major clue about it. He should’ve made the most out of the small private time they had together this early morning, he should’ve told her at least something that could’ve given away where his head is at and how much he fancies her, something beyond just wanting to couple up with her. He should’ve kissed her for good measure.

In a split second, a rapid wave of thoughts and worries flash on his mind. Will Minni come back to the Villa with a new lad? What if she finds a better match for her in Casa Amor? What if she forgets about him? If there’s one thing that stands out in the crane operator’s reasoning is keeping things grounded; he knows that the chances of her getting her head turned or meeting a bloke who she truly fancies while she is away are high, specially considering that there’s not one but six new men available, who will surely be all over her because she’s a proper sort. Besides, she’s currently in a friendship couple with Lucas and she and Gary haven’t been coupled up since day two, leaving practically the doors open for her to graft on whoever she wants and to romance someone new. If she does, the blond Chatham man doesn’t know how he will be able to move on, but is sure that he will never hold it against her.

Without giving him more time to think, he feels a heavy and strong pat on his back. His crystal blue sight goes to Rahim, who is standing at his side and who pats him once again to get his full attention, his eyes wide as he points urgently at the Villa’s doors with his large, dark-skinned hand. Just then, Gary looks at where he’s pointing at and sees six eye-catching birds sauntering towards them, walking confidently across the green grass of the lawn.

For a moment, Gary thinks his eyes are deceiving him— they’re all incredibly hot and, all of the sudden, he feels like a kid in a candy store. His orbs light up whilst he follows Jakub and Lucas in hot pursuit, both of them having already taken several steps in the direction of the new girls.

Eager to meet all of them, the muscular blond’s mind fuzzes and his worries get stored in the back of his mind for later analysis. A cheeky side smirk forms on his lips while he tries to play it cool, approaching them in a friendly and warm manner. When he notices a few of them shamelessly checking him out, he surely feels his ego skyrocket and his confidence boost.

“Good morning, girls,” Jakub’s voice thunders, his frame towering the new arrivals as he gets closer.

“Alright, ladies?” Gary greets, puffing his chest and slightly tightening his arm muscles so they appear bigger than they are. “Welcome to the Villa!”

The new Islanders are most definitely an assured bunch, all of them being very distinguishable. There’s a curvy redhead, a dark-skinned petite with braided hair, a couple of slim brunettes, a dark-skinned tall blonde and one with eccentric green hair, their flirty looks and wide smiles, probably caused by their excitement of finally being in the Villa, make them look even more attractive and pleasing to the eye.

The perplexed and confused ambiance that the place had after the text arrived is replaced with enthusiastic greetings, hugs and air kisses whereas the boys keenly welcome the new girls. Once everyone has properly introduced themselves, Gary takes a step forward, being welcoming and stretching a broad smile.

“So, girls. I guess you’ll be waiting for the grand tour,” he says, friendly. “I’d be chuffed to show you around. How about we start with the pool area, eh?”

At Casa Amor’s lawn – Noon.

“That’s amazing! I always thought most people wrote the lyrics first and then the beat,” Minni smiles, as she leans forward to meet Kassam’s eyes. Even though he’s not shown huge interest in her, the girl is willing to continue the candid small talk with him, mainly to get to know everyone. “Although, honestly, I know nothing about music. My brother says I’m tone deaf, which I don’t think it’s completely true. That’s why he tried to teach me how to play the drums.”

The girls’ arrival to Casa Amor has been a complete shift from the Villa, and not just speaking of the change of physical place. Getting to know six new guys has kept Minni mostly distracted from thinking about the boys that are still back on the Villa and the possibility that there’s also six new girls in there now, even if Gary crosses her mind from time to time. The brunette student is overly happy by the idea of meeting new people alone, and everything has become better for her when most of them are being keen on her and openly expressed that they fancy her— this is the kind of attention she used to get on her first days in Love Island, something that lifts her spirits after all the unnecessary drama that keeps following her.

She would be lying if she said that none of the Casa Amor boys has caught her eye already, at least in the slightest. All of them are fit and so different that she feels indecisive on who she’d rather get to know first. Arjun, a dog groomer from Indian heritage, is all cheeky and confident, which she likes, but she’s not sure if she rates how forward he is. Next, there’s Elijah, a dark-skinned model; Minni doesn’t know if she should go there because Chelsea is already infatuated by him and is all enthusiastic on getting to know him. Following, there’s Graham, a hunk fisherman. Some girls weirdly point out that he looks like Gary, a resemblance that Minni can’t grasp. He’s the type of lad the young student would go for but he seems too interested in Marisol that, yet again, the blue-eyed girl prefers to let go in favor of Girl Code, even if Marisol doesn’t believe in it herself. Then there’s Kassam, a mysterious DJ who is so hard to read that she sees him as kind of a fun challenge. And next there’s Felix, the youngest boy in the cast, who doesn’t look like has much experience into this dating thing. The Cantabrigian finds him odd and quite annoying, but somehow has a laugh when seeing him squirm and talk lots of nonsense, and sometimes she wishes she could help him. Finally, there’s Carl, the oldest boy out of the bunch. He’s a tech entrepreneur and totally Minni’s type on the physical aspect. During the brief chat they shared on their speed date, she noticed that he seems to know a lot about math and data and all the things she’s into, which is great. The brunette girl reckons she should definitely try to get closer to him, but, despite him being positively eye-catching to her, she’d prefer to get to know everyone first before making a decision.

After a quick round of speed dating, everyone has settled to chat by the pool, some of the boys giving her eager looks as if they were waiting for their turn to talk to her, whilst, curiously, Minni is nonchalantly speaking with the quietest of the entire group: Kassam, a closed-off techno DJ, who’s following the chat, slowly and reluctantly realizing that the Cantabrigian is more charming, sparkly and pretty in person than he saw on the telly.

“That’s cool. So your brother knows about music?” Kassam’s eyes light up faintly as he finally takes a higher interest in her responses.

The blue-eyed girl nods, casually moving her milky-white legs, which are dangling in the pool as they’re sat on the border. “Yes. He’s very talented, and I’m not saying that just because he’s my older bro. He’s hell of a musician and plays lots of instruments, but is mostly a drummer,” she smiles proudly. “He’s so good he’s friends with this famous drummer— I don’t know if you know her, her name is Ry.”

In that instant, the boy’s expression changes and he forms a smile. “Oh, yeah, I know her,” he answers. “She’s my celebrity crush, if I’m honest.”

Minni beams at his declaration. “Then I could give you her number when we’re out of here,” she winks.

Just when Kassam is about to reply, they hear an animated voice from behind them. “Hey, you two!”

The pair turns around to see Felix standing right beside the edge of the pool, wiggling his eyebrows. Quickly, the blue-haired boy sits between them and shifts on his place to take a better look at Minni. The girl, being naïve and welcoming as always, just smiles at him, not minding the interruption even though he’s proven to be mostly exasperating. Kassam rolls his eyes and lets out a quiet breath, glancing at the rest of the Islanders who are gathered nearby. Graham notices the club promoter’s not-so-subtle way of getting in the middle of the conversation and throws a mocking smirk at the techno DJ.

“What are you talking about?” Felix asks.

“Oh, we were just talking about music,” Minni responds with a kind voice tone.

The younger boy’s eyes open a little wider and he inches a little closer, confidently but also in an awkward way. “Music, huh? I reckon you should know that I’m a DJ, too.”

The brunette girl blinks a couple of times before answering. “Yes, you told me that already, remember?”

Kassam grumbles under his breath, “I figured.”

Without paying him attention, Felix is awkwardly fidgeting with a pair of sunglasses, his eyes fixed on the girl next to him. “Sure, now I remember,” he says as he scratches his head, trying to dissimulate that he’s lying.

“So what? You also know about astrophysics too now?” Kassam inquires, raising an eyebrow. He’s sure Felix is not a DJ and that he’s using it to seem more appealing and interesting to the girls.

“Hell no. I’m more of an artist myself,” the blue-haired boy replies, gaining his overly assured attitude back. Next, he turns to the brunette girl. “I leave that brainy stuff for brilliant people like Minni,” he adds with a clumsy and exaggerated wink.

Despite having him make finger guns right after winking at her, Minni still feels flattered by the compliment, values his efforts. She knows that this guy, much like Jakub, is a little uncomfortable to hang out with, but also overall harmless. The young student surely appreciates the good intentions behind his phrase, despite not fancying him a bit.

“Thank you,” she giggles, taking the compliment graciously.

With the belief and hope that his amazing grafting techniques are working on the fittest girl in here, just because accepted his compliment, Felix puffs his chest and decides to keep the conversation going. As he always does, he speaks before thinking, and just says the first thing that comes to mind, “Tell me, why did you choose astrophysics? You must like aliens a lot, don’t you?”

As soon as she hears his questions, Minni’s face falls drastically, a sudden rush of unexpected anger brewing inside her veins at a fast pace. The rest of the girls, who have been eavesdropping and having fun while listening to Felix’s inept attempts, share a worried look. A while ago, during their firsts days at the Villa, they saw the same reaction coming from Minni when Bobby, without fully knowing the blue-eyed girl yet, tried to pull the same comment as a quirky joke. After the student’s long rant, the topic was practically banned from the Villa— for some strange reason that few of them comprehend, the girl always gets triggered when someone tries to relate her career to aliens.

“Ugh, you believe in that too, don’t you?” Minni asks, her eyes piercing Felix’s as she tries to hide her discontent.

The young boy is left out of words at her change of attitude. He opens his mouth to reply, but no words come out. This gives Minni’s annoyance time to completely develop and soon, she’s rambling about why she gets irritated by the topic, just like she did back when Bobby mentioned it.

“I don’t know why people think that we, astrophysicists, are into aliens. Honestly I don’t get it,” she starts saying with an exasperated sigh.

Her characteristic enthusiasm when talking about her studies shifts, and now all her energy turns into a displeased sentiment, being somewhat unnecessarily indignant at the comment just because it hit a nerve. The girls start stifling laughs at the anticipation of Felix’s downfall, the boy bound to take the full force of Minni’s rant.

“That just proves that everyone has a misconception on most science sub-topics. I get this all the time, and I didn’t mind at first but now it’s been said to me so many times that it only shows that people and media spread stereotypes to simplify science, which doesn’t help in understanding it and does the opposite of educating people who are not necessarily involved in it,” she frowns and then rolls her eyes. The brunette knows deep down that her lecture is disproportionate, but the topic brings a smaller form of Volcano Minni to the surface, all triggered by that mention alone. “I’m not saying that everyone should know, but the word ‘astrophysics’ says it.”

Joining the other girls, the Casa Amor boys also begin to hold back laughter, entertained by the scenario. It’s very rare to see Minni upset, less this angry, and the fact that is Felix, the most annoying of the group, the one who is the target of her fuming makes the scene even funnier to them. The only one who decides to take a different approach to the situation is Carl, who instead of laughing is analyzing the blue-eyed girl’s words.

“I have to agree with Minni on that,” the tech entrepreneur declares, getting into the conversation. He sits on the sun chair he was lying on not too far away, and strokes his chin, deep in thought. “It just takes to notice that astrophysics has the word ‘physics’ after the ‘astro’,” the man points out.

After pondering his statement, Minni’s bitter stare softens a little. She definitely likes how smart this bloke is, her sight meeting his. “Exactly. If I liked aliens, I would be studying astrobiology, not astrophysics. We, the physicists, mainly describe the observational data of astronomy as consequences of the physical laws that we know of,” she continues, now feeling unable to stop speaking, specially knowing that someone in here understands and gets what she’s trying to say. Her mild wrath starts evolving into her typical enthusiasm, all because of Carl’s knowing attitude. “Astrobiology studies the origin and evolution of life in the universe— that’s for alien fans. They’re two different sciences, mate.”

Also liking the direction their chat is going to, the brunet man decides to follow, a small smile forming on his pale lips whilst he returns the knowledgeable girl’s look. Ever since he watched Love Island, he’s had an eye on her mostly because how smart and schooled she is. He’s glad that she’s just as intelligent in person as she appears to be on television.

With his smile widening, Carl decides to continue and display all his cards on the table to get her complete attention. “Astrobiologists study the about the possible existence of life on another planets, even in the so-called exoplanets. Astrophysicists, for example, study the evolution of a star by evaluating, maybe, the function of the nuclear reaction that said star has inside.”

“Nerd,” Graham snorts under his breath, making Marisol elbow him so he doesn’t interrupt. This causes the bulky man to let out a small yelp.

The rest of the Islanders share quizzical looks, some of them totally lost due to their words. Either way, most of them are still having fun while witnessing the scene, more so now considering that Felix’s attempts to flirt with Minni have completely failed and that, on top of that, she’s evidently taking interest in Carl and ignoring the younger boy entirely.

Not even noticing the other people around them, Minni’s eyes light up, raw excitement visible on them. She feels like she hasn’t had this type of science talk with someone who knows about it in such a long time, essentially for being in the Villa. “Y-You know about exoplanets, Carl?” she asks in awe.

“Yes. I had to make a statistics arrangement study when I was in uni, and I chose their data because they provide an extent and interesting amount of characteristics to sort, filter and rearrange,” he responds, not minding to use complicated words because he reckons she will get him.

The accuracy of his quote makes the young student gasp. “They do,” she simply replies.

As she maintains her amazed gaze on Carl, her stomach gradually begins to flutter, the sensation becoming more noticeable to her when realizing how clever he is— she hasn’t had this level of attraction towards anyone, no other Islander making her feel this way, except for Gary. Minni’s thoughts about the boys at the Villa dissipate thoroughly meanwhile Carl meets her blue eyes.

A couple of seconds pass before she willingly snaps out of it, now all calmed down after her angry outburst at Felix. After smoothing her brunette locks to shake off the fuzzy and content feeling in her face, as to avoid blushing, the girl turns back to the club promoter.

“I surely don’t deny aliens’ existence and I reckon they’re interesting, but— no, I’m not into aliens… um, in case you didn’t notice,” she finally answers his question in a more comforted tone, her facial expression showing evident sheepishness. She now feels bad if she somehow made Felix feel dumb about it all.

For some reason, the young boy seems to forget all of Minni’s rambling and irritated attitude from before and decides to keep chatting her up in no time, introducing another topic. Weirdly confident as always, the blue-haired boy makes several and exaggerated hand gestures as he tells her an obviously made-up story about that one time a widely recognized Hollywood celebrity asked him to perform his music at their birthday party. Valuing his efforts once again, Minni decides to tag along and listen to his nonsensical narrative, but the thought that she most definitely fancies Carl now never leaves her mind, just as the raven-haired man stares at her from the sun chair he’s sitting at, not too far away, his blue eyes following her with genuine appreciation.

In the Villa's lawn – Afternoon.

The boys are all hanging out by the pool, wearing their best swimming suits and looks, tanning under the warm Spanish sun while getting to know the new girls, when the unexpected sound of a text resonates over the excited chatter.

“I got a text!” Gary exclaims from his sun lounger.

He’s all stretched on his spot, his pale skin glowing because of the sun cream he recently applied and his muscles cockily bulging with every move he makes, catching the attention of three of the new girls, Blake, Cassie and Ramona, who are sitting around him and trying to chat him up.

Gary is not one to notice this kind of things, like when girls are trying to have some alone time with him and when their compliments could mean something beyond being friendly, but Blake has been so evident on her intentions to graft him that, despite quite enjoying her attention, he can’t help but to plan taking some distance later on to let her know that he’s not interested, although the young man doesn’t want to make her feel like he’s straight out avoiding her either. In honest words, the Chathamite doesn’t want to give her signs that could make her think that he’s leading her on, when his mind is evidently somewhere else, constantly thinking about a certain blue-eyed, freckled physics student that he already misses so much even if she’s just been absent half a day, something he’s not quite comfortable admitting to himself.

Putting all of this thoughts aside, he’s having lots of fun by getting to know the new girls, even if none of them has caught his eye and he’s now mainly aiming at friendly conversations. Now that his initial and exuberant excitement of meeting new birds, mostly testosterone or lad driven, has died down, Gary, being the chill guy that he is, has decided to go along with the flow once again, ignoring the fact that this hasn’t completely worked in his favor so far.

“Boys, it’s time to go upstairs and pack a suitcase for your respective partner. Make sure to pack their essentials for several days and feel free to add some cheeky gifts. Once you’ve finished, place them all at the entrance. #forgetmenots, #getpacking,” the blond man reads out loud, once all the Islanders are gathered around him.

All the men exchange confused looks, but don’t waste time in heading towards the dressing room and carrying their partner’s suitcase towards the bedroom to start packing their stuff, considering that the girls’ things are still here and that they didn’t have time to pack anything for their day-lengthy vacation away from the Villa before sneaking away this early morning.

Easily carrying Chelsea’s pink suitcase with one hand, Gary passes by the row of beds and settles in on top of their mattress. While he neatly folds some of her clothes, just the way his nan taught him to, he takes a peek at Lucas, who’s working on Minni’s suitcase in the bed next to him. What gets the crane operator’s attention is noticing that he’s opening and closing the young woman’s sunglasses cases one by one, to take a look inside and decide which pair to pack.

After realizing that he’s struggling, Gary decides to speak. “The blue ones are her favorite,” he simply says.

Surprised by his intervention, Lucas lifts his sight to meet the younger man’s blue eyes, while still holding one of the cases. “Which blue ones? There’s like a dozen in here,” the physiotherapist pouts, conflicted. His large and smooth hands motion to the more than fifty sunglasses cases, all scattered over the duvet.

The muscular blond conceals a smile. “The blue and yellow frames. They’re stored in a denim case, if I remember correctly,” he begins to explain, even surprising himself to have memorized those small details about Minni without meaning to. “She also loves the transparent ones, and they must be in that case over there,” Gary continues, pointing at a shiny metallic case at the far left. “And make sure to pack her glitter makeup thing, she uses it a lot with those.”

Right when he finishes speaking, he almost feels embarrassed of how much he already knows about Minni, specially for the way Lucas stares at him, positively impressed by the blond’s knowledge and attention to her details. After thanking him for his help, the Asian man decides to follow his instructions just to make his packing job easier, since he was kind of struggling because he barely knows the girl.

Later on and having gone through his own struggle to choose things to pack in Chelsea’s suitcase, because he also scarcely knows her, Gary decides to take a breather and spends a few seconds curiously glancing around the communal bedroom. The place has become a mess, all the boys similarly confused and some talking to each other to get opinions and advice.

“You’re packing her socks?” Ibrahim asks Bobby, perplexed.

The pastry chef shrugs. “They’re not just socks, pal. They’re my favorite pair. And they’re even clean,” he beams, proudly wiggling a pair of bright orange socks in the air.

That gives Gary the idea to collect some of Chelsea’s mementos to pack; he reckons he should send her something meaningful too, even if they’re not romantic or don’t know each other very well, and hopes she appreciates his gesture. He starts pacing around the Villa and he manages to find the cork of the first bottle of bubbly they opened, a daisy chain she made on her first date and gather a bunch of other things that surely have a meaning to her, and arranges them at one side of the suitcase.

When the crane operator is just finishing his task, he stumbles upon a pile of Minni’s physics books and can’t bring himself not to look at them fondly. They’re all fancy-looking, maybe not even totally belonging to her but borrowed from her uni’s library. All of them are placed on one corner of the dressing room, next to most of her stuff, and the moment he sees one empty spot in the girl’s organized arrangement he recalls her moping around and looking everywhere for the only notebook he brought with her, just a few days ago.

Just then, a quick idea crosses Gary’s mind, causing him to grab a random eyeliner that he finds on the floor without thinking it twice. Next, he takes out one of the sticky notes the blue-eyed girl uses to mark pages and writes a small, simple note, hoping that this will prevent her to forget about him while she’s away and surrounded by a bunch of new men. He can’t quite grasp the correct words to express his feelings just yet, partially because he doesn’t know what he’s feeling himself, so he settles on capturing a couple of modest ideas by using the black ink of the eyeliner, as he remembers previous chats they had, and particularly a joke Minni made during their second day at the Villa.

No worries, love. You still have the high ground.

Have fun!

-G.

Rapidly, the muscular crane operator sticks the note to the inside one of the book’s cover and closes it, a somewhat relieved breath leaving his lungs. He sighs once more before heading downstairs, to find that everyone is still in the same chaos as when he left the room to gather Chelsea’s things.

With a cheeky smile, Gary approaches Lucas and hands him the book, with the excuse that Minni would probably want to read while she’s away. The physiotherapist agrees and, without thinking much of it, shoves it in the brunette girl’s case. A triumphant smile gets drawn on Gary’s lips then, as he returns to his spot on the bedroom and finishes his task.

“You’re seriously packing her that, mate?” Bobby speaks, sounding unexpectedly close. When the Chathamite looks up from what he’s doing, he sees the Scottish standing next to Lucas and, subsequently, near him too. It takes him a couple of seconds to notice that Lucas is spraying some of his aftershave on his own underwear, probably with the intentions to put it on Minni’s luggage.

“It’s a joke. Minni likes banter, doesn’t she? She’s all about being cheeky,” the physiotherapist answers, nonchalantly. Gary also realizes that he folds a note and one of his shirts along with it, placing it on top of the rest of the girl’s stuff so they’re the first things she sees when she opens her suitcase.

None of the two other men reply to his words, mainly because he doesn’t seem to have any malicious intent, his gesture not being more than a cheeky joke to him. Still, that doesn’t mean that the crane operator likes the idea of Minni finding Lucas’ unwanted underwear amongst her things.

As soon as the Asian man closes the suitcase and carries it out of the bedroom and towards the entrance, Bobby leans towards Gary, trying to talk quietly without anyone noticing. “That’s quite rank,” the pastry chef whispers, pursing his lips. “They’re not close enough for him to do that, I reckon.”

The blond man agrees, and then shakes his head with disappointment. “Don’t worry too much about it, lad. Minni has good character, I’m sure she won’t rage or get offended by it.”

“I guess you’re right,” Bobby shrugs. With that, they end their conversation, both heading different ways to pick their respective partner’s suitcases and take them to the Villa’s tall glass doors.

In Casa Amor’s bedroom – Afternoon.

“What in bloody hell is this?” Minni gasps, a deep frown forming on her forehead and between her brunette eyebrows as he holds Lucas’ underwear in the air, by using just two fingers to keep it far away from herself.

The girls turn their attention to her, curious. Sets of different colored eyes, all adorned with diverse styles of makeup, open a little wider when they see the piece of clothing that’s hanging on the brunette’s small hand. Inquisitive, Lottie gets closer and peers into Minni’s case, both girls seeing that a note is in there too, which was under the pants.

“That note looks like it’s been written with my eyeliner,” the Aussie comments in a skeptical voice tone, raising an eyebrow. Since the entire secret kiss debacle, the two of them have maintained great distance and hardly talked to one another. Although the tension died down a while ago, more because of Minni’s lighthearted attitude, they’re not even close to speaking terms.

“Oh my gosh, you’ve got a note?” Chelsea trots towards the two girls and places her hands on Minni’s shoulders to take a better peek.

“Read it out, Minni!” Hope gasps from her bed, enthusiastic.

The young woman’s snub nose scrunches while she reads. “It says ‘Wish you were here’,” she states, letting out a small awkward laugh. She doesn’t know what caused Lucas so send this stuff, but she reckons it’s a bit weird considering how not romantic and even tense things were between the two after the Recoupling. She knows he’s a flirty joker and that he likes teasing and banter, but his move is still odd to her. She obviously wasn’t expecting any of this things.

“It was on a pair of Lucas’ pants!” Lottie sneers.

Marisol turns to look at them, her interested dark eyes squinting because of the smile that appears on her red lips, “That’s so funny. And gross.”

“Oh my gosh, he’s a right sort,” Hope comments with a grin. When she notices that the freckled student doesn’t look amused, she decides to add, “At least they look clean.”

Exhaling a small breath, Minni brings the pants just a little closer and a fragrant smell instantly catches her nose. She realizes he must’ve sprayed them with his aftershave, too. “Alright, I’m definitely grossed out,” she mumbles, not too chuffed, and leaves them in one corner of her suitcase.

Noticing the young woman not being too comfortable with what she found first thing in her case, Marisol takes a few steps closer to her and gives her a shoulder squeeze, “I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Oh, I know,” Minni agrees, absentmindedly fumbling with the things that actually belong to her. “But we agreed to be in a friend couple and this does not look exactly friendly,” she scrunches her nose again and makes a small pout, confused.

Deciding to drop the topic and move on, the brunette inspects the rest of the luggage that the physiotherapist packed for her. In between her clothing and essentials, she finds a soft shirt of his, something that she actually finds quite cute but is not planning on wearing anytime soon, and is also greatly impressed on the way he managed to pick her favorite pairs of sunglasses to pack. A huge smile forms in her face when she sees her glittery makeup palette stored right next to her beloved transparent sunglasses. It’s a pleasant surprise, and it gives her the sensation that he knows her more than she expected.

To top it all off, Lucas also put one of her physics books in there. Her smile widens as she holds it with both hands, not opening it yet.

“Guys, look! Gary packed the daisy chain I made on my first date,” Chelsea squeals. The interior decorator holds up some green and white mush that looks like it died days ago. “Well, we didn’t make it together, but I left it on the side of the bed. And these are the socks I lent him once…”

With her cobalt eyes unconsciously sparkling at the mention of the crane operator, Minni turns her attention away from her book and gets closer to her bubbly friend. Deep down, she wishes she would’ve gotten something from him too, giving the chat they were planning to have; of course she feels bummed out by not being able to get things out in the open with him again, even more so considering that they won’t see each other in days. But also, they aren’t even coupled up, so it makes sense that the idea of packing a reminder for Minni didn’t cross his mind. Maybe he’s back pedaling now that she’s not in the Villa, the blue-eyed girl worries.

“Sounds like you’ve got lots of memories already, babes,” Minni tells Chelsea, sincerely. She finds it sweet that Gary took the time to collect all those meaningful things for the blonde girl, and speaks lots of good things from him in the student’s eyes.

“Yeah…” Despite trying to look excited, Chelsea is not feeling it too much with Gary. Although he’s immensely fit, he hasn’t caused butterflies in the interior decorator’s belly yet. And, additionally, the more she thinks about the stuff she got from him, the more she doubts. “It has got me a little worried though. You know in the movies when you break up and they give you a box of all the things that belonged to you?”

Lottie knits her eyebrows together un confusion. “Yeah…”

“This is what this feels like!” the blonde girl finishes her idea, slumping her arms at her sides.

Her preoccupation makes Lottie roll her eyes, her annoyance also fueled by the jealousy caused by having her being coupled up with Gary. “Hun, you said yourself that you were up for trying new things in Casa Amor,” the makeup artist points out. Then, she picks up the daisy chain with her slender and pale hands. As she moves it a little, it falls apart in her palms. “Oops,” she says, not feeling too sorry about it. “Well, maybe that’s a sign. Things change just like people change!”

In front of her, Marisol nods, more confident that she’s ever been seen before. “Lottie is right, girls. Let’s stop living in the past with all this stuff. And start living in the now!” The law student declares. “Even if you don’t want to get with any of the new guys… we can still have some fun, right girls?”

Taking a couple of seconds to let her words sink, Minni’s delicate fingers trace her physics book’s cover, until she finally agrees. The brunette reckons she won’t be able to have fun if she starts moping around and overthinking about where Gary’s head could be at. Furthermore, there’s already a Casa Amor guy that has caught her eye, someone who is bound to take her mind out of other boys even if she doesn’t end up coupling up with him— she thinks it’s too early to tell if she would want to switch to him when the time comes and that it would not be wise to make a decision now, but she’s more than willing to see how things go between them.

“Girls, girls, girls!” Lottie chants, leaving her suitcase to a side and heading to the room’s exit with poised steps.

“Yeah, that’s right!” Priya seconds, following the Aussie with equal enthusiasm.

A smirk forms on Minni’s glossy lips whilst she’s still holding her book. Matching the group’s excitement, the young woman saunters happily towards the door, right after leaving her physics book on one of the nightstands. Maybe she’ll have time to read it later, if she’s not too distracted by all the new lads she’s just met.