I dig angrily in the sand, sweat dripping down my forehead, stinging my eyes.
Eva takes off her shirt, ties it into a turban, and sits cross-legged, patiently waiting for me to finish building the shade structure.
I strive to work responsibly, but it's tough constructing anything with only flimsy stems and vines. After half an hour of slave labor, I manage to put together something resembling a shade.
Eva wrinkles her nose a bit but still settles underneath, in the shade.
After all the desperate work, I deserve a break, so I stretch out to catch my breath.
"What are you doing, slave?" she asks, opening one eye.
"Well, as you can see, I'm done," I reply.
"Good!" Eva says, closing her eye again. "Since you have nothing else to do, start massaging my feet. Begin with the left foot. I feel a bit numb from sitting cross-legged."
I silently curse her in my mind, but I know I'm just the servant now, not the King of the Island anymore. A promise is a promise.
Reluctantly, I start massaging her feet. She has tiny, doll-like feet. If I pulled a bit harder... but I refuse to think about it.
I've spent two hours this morning building the fourth fish trap. Eva believes that in seven days of slavery, I'll manage to build one trap each morning. So, I have six more to go.
"Do I have to call you 'master'?" I jokingly asked her last night.
She thought for a moment, then replied dismissively, "Oh, don't be so formal. You can just call me Eva."
Her airs left me speechless.
Now I massage her other foot. I notice I'm starting to enjoy it. Her skin is smooth, her toes tiny and beautiful. Nails trimmed neatly, no trace of polish. Quite a well-kept foot, Tiberiu. How charming!
Suddenly, I have an erection, catching me off guard. I feel my cheeks burning.
What an ugly situation! I'm only in my briefs. I try to position myself so she won't notice my reaction. My hands start trembling.
What's wrong? Are you an idiot, Tiberiu? Do you have a foot fetish?
It's the first time this has happened to me. I take a deep breath and try to calm down. After all, what's happening is perfectly normal. Even if she were the sleaziest woman in the world, I still believe we would have ended up here sooner or later. It has nothing to do with her feet, and I'm not some kind of pervert.
Oh no! It's just Mother Nature playing tricks on me.
Eva glances at me through her lashes. Did she notice too? If she doesn't say anything, she probably didn't notice.
I continue massaging her right foot, closing my eyes to banish her image from my mind. With no visual distraction, my fingers become even more sensitive. I can almost see with the tips of my fingers.
Hmm, I need to get out of here urgently. My erection is about to rip through my briefs.
"Alright, thanks," she says boredly. "That's enough."
She stretches her legs in the air like a cat and then looks at me as if seeing me for the first time.
"Are you still here? You can leave. I'll call you if I need you."
I'm a bundle of nerves. I'm about to explode.
"Fine," I grumble. "Wonderful. Perfect! Are you sure you don't want me to fan you with a fan?"
Eva turns back, surprised, and points her two breasts like two apples. I can't bear to look there.
She takes off her pants lazily, indifferently.
"Go and wash these. When they're dry, I want to see them spotless. Impeccably clean."
I leave in a hurry, relieved that I managed to handle the situation honorably. After a hundred steps, I turn my head and see behind me an Eva dozing peacefully in the shade. The image of her nearly naked body pierces me painfully between my legs.
I don't deserve this. No, I don't deserve it! It's not fair. You don't do this to a man, damn it!
Without realizing what I'm doing, I wipe the sweat from my face with Eva's pants, then throw them away as if they were on fire. Clearly, I'm losing it. I'm surprised I didn't sniff them.
I head towards the woods, knowing exactly what I'm going to do, and the thought doesn't bother me at all.
I glance back like a thief. After making sure I can't be seen from the beach, I pull down my briefs a bit and start masturbating frantically.
I feel a dull ache in my testicles. That girl made a fool of me. I have no other way to solve this problem.
None.
I don't feel like I'm doing anything wrong because I'm not thinking about Eva's body at all. The flesh of her body is no different from the flesh of millions of other women. I'm not having sex here. I'm just trying to release this damn tension and become human again. It's neither sex nor pleasure. It's a purely... medical act. Yes. A kind of treatment, a...
I'm so focused on what I'm doing that I don't notice anything around me.
"What you're doing here is disgusting!" Eva's voice comes from behind me.
I turn and see her a few steps behind me, leaning against a tree.
"What... what are you doing here?" I stammer, wide-eyed.
"Nothing," she says, shaking her head in disgust. "I was just taking a walk. Please, put it back in your briefs, I feel sick. Men are disgusting creatures..."
I feel anger boiling inside me. I'm seething. I think all the blood in my body has rushed to my cheeks. Despite my rage, I try to speak as calmly as possible.
"Um... listen..."
"What?"
"I understand we're on an island, but... not like this!"
"How disgusting!" Eva repeats, shaking her head again. "Utterly disgusting. Don't you realize?"
"Give me a break!" I hiss. "Is there some rule in the world that forbids a man from having a romantic moment with his right hand?"
"There isn't, but—even so—it's still horrible!" she says, her face twisted in disgust. "I thought you were feeling sick, that's why I came after you. You looked pale when you left the beach."
"And you thought I needed a helping hand?"
"Not that kind of... helping hand," Eva chuckles. "Well... do as you please. I'll leave you to it. Get back to... work."
I wish the ground would open up and swallow me whole.
"I've heard teenagers do it, but I didn't know grown men did it too!" she says, walking away. "No, I didn't know. But now that I do, I wish I didn't."
"You should've stayed on your little piece of beach, Miss Virtue!"
"Yes, I should have," she says, walking away. "Indeed I should have. Goodness, how disgusting! I hope I don't have nightmares tonight."
I sit down because I feel the urge to chase after her and kill her. I put my hands over my ears so I don't have to hear her anymore.
"Heavens, I'm trapped on this island with a pervert!" her voice fades as she moves away. "It's frightening! It's horrible..."
I hear her lamenting for a few more seconds, then silence falls. I'm alone again.
Well, that's that. Congratulations, Tiberiu! I'm proud of you.
Well done, lad!