The sixth sense

The sun was already high, reflecting off the water where small canoes bobbed gently, tied to a wooden pier.

A tall, tanned guy, covered in tattoos and with messy hair, waved, calling for the day's students to gather.

His name was Rodrigo, but everyone there just called him Rigo.

While Felipe was Yuri's parents' right-hand man in their absence, he was Rigo's right-hand man. Rigo was older than both of them and had been working at the resort for much longer.

— Good morning, everyone!

He looked around. Six guests were already gathered, all wearing life jackets and clearly eager for the lesson.

— Alright. Those of you who had lessons with me yesterday can go ahead and choose your canoes and head out. Carefully, okay?

Three of the six guests nodded and headed toward the nearest canoes.

— And for you, who are starting today...

Rigo gestured to the three newcomers, then waved over two young men waiting nearby.

— We'll have guided lessons. One instructor per canoe, so you can get the hang of it first.

Beside Rigo, Yuri smiled and waved at the new arrivals. His light-blue uniform stood out sharply against the orange life jacket. Even though he helped out in every sector of the resort, taking part in the activities was definitely one of his favorites.

— To start, we've got Yuri... — Rigo introduced, gesturing toward him.

Yuri smiled and raised his hand.

— And this is Rafael — Rigo continued. Rafael, a skinny blond guy, waved shyly but in a friendly way.

— And last, the best instructor... me! — Rigo said with a grin, pointing to himself.

The group laughed.

— So, do you want to choose your instructors, or does it not matter to you? — Rigo asked the three new students.

The guests exchanged glances, politely asking each other about their preferences. The couple said they didn't mind, so Emili chose to go with Yuri. The couple split up, with the woman going with Rigo and the man with Rafael.

— Deal, then, instructors. Grab your canoes and take your students. And remember: safety first! — Rigo whistled, already climbing into his own canoe with his student.

Rafael followed right after.

Yuri picked up a paddle and walked with Emili toward their canoe.

— Feeling better? — Yuri asked, looking at her.

— Yeah. The nausea passed, and I already took something for the headache — she confirmed, flashing a bright smile.

— I warned you all those beers wouldn't sit well — Yuri joked as he helped Emili get settled in the canoe, then sat down across from her.

Along with the other students, they pushed away from the shore, gliding toward the center of the lake.

— Okay, I'll paddle first to show you how it's done. Then you take over — Yuri explained.

He started handling the paddle with steady movements while Emili watched closely.

— Wow, I had no idea you knew how to row. Probably because there was no way to practice back on campus, right? — she laughed at her own conclusion.

— Not until now. But the way that city floods every time it rains, I might end up becoming a canoe Uber soon.

They both laughed at the mental image.

— Was it Rodrigo who taught you? — Emili continued.

— No. My dad — he answered. — He used to run the tours before Rigo started working here.

— I thought it was him. He really looks like he knows what he's doing — Emili said, as she and Yuri watched Rigo giving detailed instructions to a student.

— Hey, don't I look like I know what I'm doing? — Yuri shot back playfully, raising an eyebrow.

Emili burst out laughing.

— You do too! But he's got more of that veteran aura — she justified herself. — And what about that other guy, Rafael? How long has he worked here?

— Actually, he doesn't work here — Yuri replied, steadying the canoe. — From what I understood, he started as a helper at Rigo's surf school, and Rigo brought him along to help here today too.

— Oh... that explains it.

Hearing that, Yuri looked at her with a curious expression.

— Explains what? — he asked.

— My bad feeling — she replied, using a tone Yuri knew all too well.

Yuri let out a genuine laugh.

— Damn... did the poor guy fall victim to the sixth sense? — he teased.

— Keep laughing. Making jokes is easy. What's really hard is pointing out a time when I was wrong, isn't it? — Emili bragged, wearing a smug smile.

She wasn't wrong. Ever since Yuri had known her, every time she had a bad feeling about someone, time ended up proving her right.

— But why Rafael? You don't even know the guy... hell, even I don't know the guy! — Yuri questioned again as he handed the paddle to her.

— I don't need to know him! It's like a pre-monition, not a post-monition — she shot back.

— Yeah... or maybe it's just pre-judice. You jerk! — Yuri accused, joking.

After that, Yuri gave Emili the paddling instructions, explaining the technique step by step. After a few more laps around the lake, she found her rhythm and started rowing the canoe back toward the shore.

— That's it. You got the hang of it — Yuri praised her as she paddled.

— Ugh... Can't you row on the way back? My arms are already killing me! — Emili complained, out of breath.

— Nope — Yuri replied, laughing at her. — I need to make sure you can get the canoe back to shore on your own.

Emili stuck her tongue out at him, making a face, and kept paddling with clearly fake bad temper.

— I thought you wouldn't take this whole instructor thing so seriously — she huffed. — This must be just because I called Rodrigo a veteran!

— That's what you get for being prejudiced — Yuri shot back with a proud smile. — I grew up here, remember? When Rigo started working here, I'd already been rowing for three years.

Emili just made a helpless face, too out of breath and out of arguments to respond.

— So you're coming back to take over as an instructor? — she asked, already nearing the shore.

— Oh, no... — Yuri's answer started confident, but faded by the end.

— No? I thought you were — she commented, surprised. — I remember you saying something about coming back here after college.

She didn't know about the list of dreams Yuri had abandoned. The recent conversations with Ana had almost made Yuri himself forget about it.

All Emili knew was that he blamed himself for his father's accident and was determined to help at the resort so something like that would never happen again. But he had never told her the deeper reason or the conditions behind it.

— So what are you going to do when you graduate? — Emili asked, innocently.

Yuri's earlier answer echoed in his head.

"No? I'm not coming back?" he asked himself. After all, that was the promise he had made to himself.

But he didn't have to think long to understand what had changed. It was reuniting with Ana that had put the spark in him to give that answer, even if it came out hesitant.

— Yuri? — Emili noticed his brief silence.

— Huh? Oh... — Yuri snapped back. — I don't know. I haven't decided yet — he replied, shrugging and forcing a smile.

But, just like the smile, his answer wasn't entirely false.

Back at the shore, Yuri and Emili were the last to arrive. As he helped her out of the canoe, Rigo and Rafael walked past them.

— "There's no way around it. If he didn't understand, it's because you didn't manage to explain it."

Both Yuri and Emili heard Rigo speaking to Rafael in a serious tone.

Apparently, Rafael had trouble instructing his student. Seeing that, surprised, Yuri immediately looked at Emili.

— I told you — Emili shrugged, once again bragging about her spot-on intuition.

After the ride, Emili needed to head back to her bungalow. She planned to review the play's script one more time before going to the afternoon rehearsal.

— Thanks for the lesson, professor. Good luck with work — Emili joked as she walked away.

— See you. Good luck at rehearsal.

Yuri waved goodbye and headed in the opposite direction, toward the reception after making sure that Rigo no longer needed his help. Even though he wasn't on check-ins that day, he still had a few things to take care of in town: pick up the service car that was in for maintenance and buy supplies for the resort's drink stock.

He walked for a few minutes from the resort's exit to the pedestrian lane of the bridge that connected the tourist area to the city center.

Hands in his shorts pockets, music playing in his headphones, hair swaying in the sea breeze, Yuri looked out at the ocean as he walked, watching the reflection of the huge white clouds in the sky.

"I don't want to come back to the resort after college..." he thought. It wasn't so hard to admit that to himself anymore, after the last conversations with Ana.

"...But I can't go back to my old dreams."

His stomach twisted just thinking about it.

A stronger gust of wind dried his eyes for a moment.

"That day in the garden, Ana told me to have new dreams. And, for once, being less stubborn, I admit that shook me somehow," he lifted a hand to shield his face from the wind. "But after chewing on the same dreams for so many years..."

Yuri let out a deep sigh.

"How am I supposed to explain to Ana that, even before I gave up, I already didn't know how to have new dreams?"