— The Runners —
Emi woke early, starving. Her robe was open and she was practically naked lying on her bed. One breast out and nothing covering her lower half. It was a good thing these rooms had locks.
She had nothing to wear so she decided to bring her laundry to the scrub room. It felt awkward going commando out in public, wearing just her robe, so she found a complimentary loincloth in her room to wear as well. It wasn’t ideal, but better than nothing.
For a moment, she took off the robe and looked at herself in the tall mirror on the door wearing just the loincloth. She looked almost like that girl in the poster, she mused. She made a few sexy poses and then put the robe back on, leaving the room with a bundle of laundry in her arms.
The scrub-room wasn’t as bad as she had expected it to be. After fifteen minutes she was hand wringing out her clothes. Back in her room, she actually had a clothesline to hang up her stuff to dry. She washed everything except for one set of clothes that she needed to wear.
“Emi, are you here?” Hannah knocked on her door. “Are you coming to breakfast?” she asked.
Emi followed her to the entrance where Sam was waiting with a rickshaw.
“Get in!” Sam said, taking the runner position, holding the front handles. Hannah and Emi got in, and Sam started running.
“Are we allowed to take these?” Emi asked Hannah. “What about Becca?” she added.
“No way! I totally stole this ride,” laughed Sam, puffing away like mad. She was quickly getting winded as she wasn’t pacing herself.
“They are complimentary for guests,” Hannah replied while fixing her hair. “Becca decided to eat in the staff lunchroom,” she added. “I wish I could have gone with her, but this is fun too,” she said as they rolled along at a nice speed.
“Yeah right, you wanted to go with her,” Sam laughed out loud while breathing heavily.
“I will totally eat with Becca next time,” Hannah declared bravely.
After a half-mile, Hannah took a turn, while Sam climbed in beside Emi, too winded to say anything. Hannah giggled like a kid while running. It was a new experience for her to be a rickshaw runner. Emi found herself looking forward to her turn.
Eventually, Hannah brought them to the corner store. She decided to stop and take a look inside. Her shopboy fans were there and treated her like royalty.
Soon they took off again with Emi running. It was indeed fun being the runner. It was surprising how little effort it took to pull two people. Once the rickshaw was up to speed, almost no effort was required to keep going.
Emi ran the last mile in no time. They enjoyed a good breakfast at the same place that they had eaten at before. The blonde HAPA guy wasn’t there this time.
On the way back they again took turns. Sam and Hannah did a half-mile each and Emi ran the last mile, from the corner store to the resort.
Once they were back at the resort, they noticed that Becca decided to work in just a loincloth today. Nobody said anything about it for the first couple of hours. It was kind of awkward at first, but gradually it felt somewhat normal because after all, they were in a nudist resort. Eventually, Sam couldn’t resist the odd crude comment, but she wasn’t too nasty. Other than that one bold and brave thing, it was a fairly normal day – work-wise. They were making good progress.
After work, Emi headed to the beach where her co-workers were. Seeing that they were all just reading, sporting little smiles, Emi decided to instead go for an early run. As usual, she headed towards Lookout Point. Becca was still just wearing a loincloth, she looked completely comfortable.
— A chance encounter —
Emi ran along the beach and was halfway to the gate-less gate when she saw a woman slumped over, sitting on a log. She had folders and papers scattered around her on the ground, covering her face with her hands. She was shaking.
Emi ran straight to her. She seemed like she was in pain or something. “Are you ok?” she asked?
The girl froze, making a motion to shoo Emi away. She seemed embarrassed at being caught crying, wiping her face quickly.
Emi got down on one knee and put her hands on the girl to help her. “Hey… it’s okay…” she said gently.
The girl looked up boldly and locked eyes with Emi. Emi was surprised to see that it was Su-Ning. She had a cold look on her face, but when she saw that it was Emi, her expression softened.
“Su-Ning…” Emi said in surprise.
“Hi Emi, out for your daily run?” Su-Ning said, picking up the papers strewn around her.
Emi helped her. “Uh, yeah… I try to run whenever I can,” Emi answered. She knew she shouldn’t pry but suddenly worrying about the resort, she just had to ask. “Is the resort in trouble?”
“That’s an understatement,” smiled Su-Ning weakly. “So far we haven’t produced much interest in the resort,” she lamented, taking a deep breath. “Sometimes I have these little panic attacks,” she admitted, looking down at her feet. “I have been given too much responsibility. It was fun initially, making lots of big decisions, but now it’s just scary.” She kicked the sand aimlessly.
“I think that you are doing great,” Emi said, honestly.
“You’re one of the rare good decisions that I have made,” Su-Ning said, smiling for a moment. “I also heard that Becca tried the dining room. What did she think?” Su-Ning asked.
“She said the waiter was decent, the food was very good and not too expensive, and the atmosphere was fantastic,” Emi answered.
“I’m glad to hear it,” Su-Ning said, looking relieved. “Does Becca know about the Ambassador program yet?”
“Um… no, I only told her about the white robe issue. I think she was trying to help, that’s probably why she went to the dining hall,” Emi explained.
“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that Emi,” Su-Ning admitted, digging into her folder for something. “Here, please give this pamphlet to Becca. I had it printed just today,” she said.
Emi took the pamphlet. It was about the Volunteer Ambassador Program.
“Thanks again for being a friend Emi,” Su-Ning said sincerely.
Emi bowed politely, and they both laughed.
Later up at Lookout Point, Emi took a look at the Ambassador Program details. Becca might indeed be interested in this, Emi thought. But still, it was outrageous to think that Becca could work fully nude, or escort new people and show them around. Emi looked back down the trail to see if she was alone and then turned away from the trail and safely went to the other side of Lookout Point away from the trail. She faced the ocean.
Emi wondered what it felt like to be topless outside. She envied Becca’s recently toplessness on the beach. Becca seemed to be really enjoying herself so much while in just a loincloth. Looking again at the trail entrance Emi quickly lifted her shirt and bra and exposed herself to the sea. She could feel every bit of the wind in a way that she never had before. It was exhilarating but also very scary. She couldn’t believe she was doing this, here, out in the open. After ten seconds or so, she covered up her breasts. The experience was a lot to process. She sat down on the bench and thought about what had just happened.
She thought about her phobia, her kryptonite, her weakness. It was really like any other weakness. She was good at slaying weaknesses. Good at taking tiny steps towards success, relentlessly. Was today the first step? She mused about that idea. What would be next? Take her top fully off? No, that was not going to happen. She had no desire to expose herself, especially not to others.
