To Be Yours Again Chapter 62 Just like that

*ALORA*

Caden and I spent the rest days of our honeymoon mostly sightseeing around Santorini.

We visited a lot of places and did a lot of activities but the highlights of them all to was the cable car ride, and when we kayak around the caldera.

I found him so attractive as he paddled the kayak, he was so skillful with enchanting with it. He paddled past the famous Red and White beaches.

We snorkeled through sea caves, and we saw the stunning lava formations up close.

We also explored the ancient origins of Santorini

Akrotiri was one of the most powerful settlents in the Aegean before it was destroyed by a volcanic eruption around 3600 years ago. When Akrotiri was unearthed in 1967, the frescoed buildings and their contents were amazingly well preserved under volcanic ash, just like at Pompeii.

Our licensed tour guide told us a lot about the history of this place.

It was fascinating.

We spend half a day exploring Akrotiri also included a visit to ancient Thira, a stunning site at the summit of a sheer mountain looming above Kamari Beach.

We also went tomatoes shopping, the cherry tomatoes of Santorini were renowned for their sweet intensity. Pre-tourism, these tiny flavour bombs were one of the island’s main exports along with wine.

We also learnt more about this native crop and how it was processed before electricity arrived on Santorini at the tomato industrial museum, the last of nine tomato canning factories that once operated on the island.

After touring the factory floor, we ca by the vintage canning machine and picked up funky gifts in the design shop.

When we were done, we tried out the tomato fritters, an excellent fish taverna overlooking the Vlychada Marina.

We went swimming in search of Atlantis

I said it was just a myth but Caden kept insisting that people said this place was a likely inspiration for Plato’s lost kingdom of Atlantis.

It was fun swimming though, he was a better swimr than .

And no, we didn’t find the Atlantis.

But we went exploring the inland villages

While everyone was oohing and aahing over the views from the cliffside terraces, suites, and restaurants, I discovered life went quietly on in Santorini’s inland villages.

We wandered up to the pinnacle of Pyrgos, a tumble of whitewashed lanes clustered around a 16th-century castle, with views across the island.

We got lost in the fortified Byzantine citadel of Emporio and light a candle in one of the island’s oldest churches, Palia Panagia.

We stopped for ho-style ze at the traditional kafenio in galochori, and stock up on ceramics from Earth and Water, the workshop of renowned potters, Andreas Makaris and Kristi Kapetanaki. The villages of ssaria, Exo Gonia, and Akrotiri also harbour plenty of easy-going local life.

Caden and I also did so local shopping.

Boutique in Oia was the place for breezy sumr staples in linen and Greek cotton.

They also stock We Wear Young, Maria Sklavounou’s tiless leather and suede clutches, totes, and bucket bags in rainbow hues. For a more unusual nto, we picked up one of the traditional musical instrunts designed by Yannis Pantazis at Symposion, a workshop/performance space, or "mythological botanical garden", in galochori village. Pantazis also ran workshops where we learnt how to make our own ancient Greek pan pipe.

Each evening at sunset, crowds, including Caden and flock to Oia’s high-flung castle, we stood shoulder-to-shoulder clapping the suns’ descent over the caldera’s black rim as if it was a performing seal.

For a far more serene way to watch the sun spread its last glittery golden-red rays over that world-famous caldera, Caden led to Akrotiri’s 19th century lighthouse on the island’s isolated southerly tip where the views were just as spectacular, but with the added bonus that we mostly had them to ourselves.

There wasn’t much crowd or noise.

On the last day of our honeymoon, we sat on the balcony of our suite watching the sunset.

I was really going to miss watching the sunset in Santorini.

I thoroughly enjoyed my stay here and a part of didn’t want to go ho.

I watched as the sun dipped below the horizon, bathed the sky in a vibrant array of colors, often transitioning from warm hues like orange, red, and yellow to cooler tones like purple and blue as night approached.

It evoked feelings of peace, serenity, and even lancholy, all at the sa ti.

I glanced at him.

“I’m curious about sothing. I know I shouldn’t be but I just want to know.”I began.”

He turned to face .”What?”

“Why did you hide your identity as Ford Group’s CEO until now?”

He stared at , as if contemplating whether to tell or not.

“I wanted to build in secrecy.”He admitted.

I frowned.”What do you an?”

“You do know I was in jail for three years, right?”

I nodded.”I found out recently.”

“You...you didn’t know before?”

I shook my head.

“So when I stopped coming to London, what did you think?”

“I just thought you have given up trying to win back and had gone back to your playboy ways.”

“Oh.”He let out and I winced.

“My stepmother tried to kill the day I got out of prison. My father had already disowned before then, she probably thought I was going to beco a threat to her son.”

I was surprised to hear that.

“Thankfully, I was with Mason at the ti and he had his n close by so I didn’t lose my life but I was pissed off by her actions. My dad never ca to see in jail. When I was suddenly acquitted of the murder charges, and finding out Jacob didn’t die because of , I was confused. I didn’t even know what to do with myself. I was still trying to process everything and she sent soone to get rid of just like that.”