You worry, in the real world, whether your worth as a person is attached to your relationship status. You know that it shouldn’t be, but as women we are raised to believe that we need to find a man. I suppose we do, in a technical sense, for some reasons. If we want to have kids, for example, it is unfortunate but only men have one of the key ingredients. Of course, there are other ways to go about it if you are single, but it’s nice to have a significant other, someone to make you feel loved and always have your back.

Being single isn’t really something people aspire to be, it’s what we are by default. It is human nature to want to find someone, and to feel disappointed if you can’t, or if things don’t work out. Naturally, you feel (wrongly) like a little bit of a failure if you can’t find the right person for you. I can’t make you feel better – you’re not going to take relationship advice from someone like me, are you? Look at the mess I’m in – but I can promise you that you can feel worse. Come to Valentine Island, if you want to see how small and insignificant you are. Here, I’m too single to even ride a bike.

There are some things I can do here that don’t require a significant other. I can go to the shops, buy loads of food, and go back to my villa and eat it.

I could’ve bloody done that at home though!

11

Obviously I forgot to turn the air conditioning on before I left the villa, so it’s like walking into an oven when I arrive back. It’s so warm in here, I’m surprised my dildo hasn’t wilted.

I pull open the bi-folding doors. It’s very warm outside, but it’s even warmer indoors. There’s no way I can sit in here, not until it cools down a little.

I slip off my sundress to reveal my bikini. One of the best things about being on holiday is taking a holiday from your bra too. I like to wear mine for as little time as possible while I’m away somewhere warm, and a bikini is a great way to do that.

Outside my villa’s back door, I have my own little sunbathing area, sectioned off by trees, right by the pool, so I grab my sunglasses and my bag of food shopping and head outside to hole up on my sunlounger.

The hot floor tiles outside burn the bottoms of my feet as I literally hotfoot to my seat. Right as I get there, I notice Freddie swimming laps of the pool. I’m about to dash right back where I came from when he spots me.

‘Hey, Lila,’ he calls out.

‘Hello,’ I reply politely as I take my seat. Well, I can’t go back inside now, or he’ll know I’m avoiding him.

As I take out my drink and my bag of crisps, I notice him swimming towards my edge of the pool. When he gets close, he rests his arms on the side and his chin on his arms.