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her.
    Wait. Yes I can.
    I stop on the other side of the street outside Burger King, my heart drumming against my ribs. The traffic is already a moving wall between us. I watch her give her order as a million thoughts collide and make me want to vomit again. I suck in deep, hot breaths of pollution and smog and when the traffic clears I bolt. 'Bizzy!' 
    I'm on the sidewalk now, heading for the vendor. She spins around, a whirlwind of blue dress and brown hair. Her eyes widen. I'd know them anywhere. I stop a meter away, say her name again under my breath, hold her gaze like we're both at opposite ends of a rope and at any moment she might let go and disappear. 'It's me, it's Ben.' 
    She throws a hand over her mouth. I step towards her and the iced coffee she's holding drops from her other hand and spills on the street, the plastic cup splintering up the side. 'I thought I was going crazy,' I start, but I choke on the words.
    She can't speak either. I watch tears fill her eyes as I step over the ice cubes, close the gap between us and pull her into my arms. I can sense the coffee guy watching us in bemusement, and the others too, all setting up their stalls, but my eyes are closed and all I can feel is Bizzy; alive, hot, breathing and shaking up against me now as her arms find my waist and she holds on. 
    'I thought you were dead,' she says into my shirt after a moment. 'I couldn't find you, I looked everywhere...' 
    I can feel her scrunching up my damp shirt, feel her sharp breaths as she sobs into my chest. 
    'They had you on the list.' My own voice comes out as a croak. I pull away, take her face in my hands. She blinks and I can't help it, I kiss her forehead, then her nose. She's beautiful; the same, only older and crying and splattered in iced latte. 'They found you, they found Isabella from the UK, on the list...'
    'My name's not Isabella!' 
    'What?' 
    She's clutching at my shirt at the front, like I might drift off somewhere. 'It's Isla,' she says. 'Izzy's short for Isla.'
    'You never told me that!'
    'I never got the chance!'
    I'm laughing suddenly and so is she. I can tell people must think we've lost our minds. I take her hands now, look down at them, see the scars on her pale, bare arms. My breath catches in my throat. What the hell did she go through? Was it anything like what I went through, looking for her, looking for Toby and Charlie? I swallow, forcing the fog to clear in my brain. In a flash I think of Sonthi. 
    Shit. The flight.
    'I have a flight to Phuket,' I say, moving back towards the road, leading her back the way I ran. I'm not letting go of her hand. She follows quickly, matching my steps, gripping my fingers and I register our palms together, clammy and tight, just like they were that night. 
    'I can't believe this is happening,' she says, breathless beside me. 'Ben, you're leaving, now?'
    We stop just outside the hotel. I'm still holding onto her in every sense of the word. This is insane. She swipes at her red cheeks with one hand as my soul splinters. The words come out of my mouth without me even thinking. 'Come with me.'  

ISLA

    'Come with you?'
    'To Phuket,' he says, dropping my fingers and raking his hands through his hair. It's long, to his ears, not as crazy as I remember it was with the sea salt in it, but the same color, falling the same way into his eyes. I shake my head. I still can't actually comprehend what's happening, that Ben's alive and standing here. He pushes open the door, motions for me to step back in and the blast of air-conditioning feels good on my sweaty skin. 
    'Where you been, man? We're late,' a Thai guy says, walking across the lobby towards us, looking annoyed. He's wearing Ray Bans. He takes one look at our faces and his expression changes instantly. 'What happened?'
    'This is Bizzy,' Ben says.
    ' Bizzy ?'
    Ben nods and I watch the penny drop on the Thai guy's face. ' The Bizzy ?' He lifts the sunglasses from his face, looks me up and down in disbelief. I