Prisoners Of Paradise (CTBB Spin Off)

-4-

Waking up in another country was strange enough without Sofia draping her arm and leg over my back and snoring softly in my hair, and Elif just had to snapchat it.

"Aw, you guys look so adorable!" Talia gushed, while Elif cackled, sending it to her friends.

I rubbed my eyes which watered at the sight of the bright light that washed the room. "I think the jetlag is kicking in now," I mumbled, flopping back onto my pillow, which for some reason had disappeared. I turned my head to see Sofia snuggling with it, and I immediately began to yank it from her grasp.

"No, it's mine!" Sofia moaned half-heartedly, clutching it to her chest.

Eventually I gave up on the futile tug of war and whipped my head to Talia and Elif, glaring at them. "Did you guys know Sofia is a bed-hogging sleep freak?" I demanded.

They just shrugged. "We flipped a coin, so fair's fair," Elif replied.

"Well, I think it's only fair that we go get breakfast now, 'cause I'm starved," I said, heading to the bathroom to brush my teeth.

After breakfast at the restaurant, we were all scheduled to go on a tour through villages and local supermarkets to experience the culture in Fiji. The tour was also with a bunch of other people from our hotel, and Joni, our tour guide, had the whitest teeth I had ever seen against his rich tanned skin, and he never stopped smiling, not even when we had to wait for a couple of late comers.

"Okay, everyone, let's go!" Joni's energy created an excited vibe on the bus, and throughout the whole ride he would commentate on the passing scenery of sugarcane fields and thick forests until we finally reached the historic town of –

"Viseisei, where the first Melanesian people arrived here on Fiji," Joni explained. He then began to explain the history of the place, which was fascinating and all, but I zoned out for a bit, until I heard the word 'lunch.'

"Finally!" I exclaimed, perhaps a little too loudly, for people turned to look at me, but whatever. We had lunch in a restaurant overlooking the sea, and we got to taste some delicious cuisine. Of course, I had to have a salad, because I was trying to be healthy, but as soon as I saw Sofia's fries, I just had to pinch a few.

"Hey!" she cried, but I just smiled innocently as I popped them in my mouth.

The next location was a gorgeous botanical park with thousands of different orchid flowers. We trekked through the forest witnessing nature first hand and passing waterfalls and lily ponds. Of course, I took loads of photos, so much that even Talia told me at one point to just, "enjoy the view" with my own eyes.

"I guess you're right," I said, putting my phone away, but soon I was asking Joni to take a photo of the four of us in front of the waterfall and in front of the flowers....and the lily ponds.

"You better be making one big photo album of our trip, Huda," Elif threatened jokingly after the tenth group selfie.

"How about I just send you the pics? I can't be bothered making an actual photo album," I answered as we drank cold sweet drinks while resting from the long hike.

"Aren't you going to run out of storage space eventually?" Sofia asked.

I shook my head with a smile. "Nope. I deleted everything on my phone just for this trip."

"Seriously?" Elif laughed.

"You can never be too prepared," I replied, glugging down my drink.

We went to a temple next, with a name I couldn't pronounce, and it was apparently the largest Hindu temple in the southern hemisphere. I hadn't even realised we were still in the southern hemisphere let alone planet earth from how heavenly everything looked.