THE CRUISE SHIP AFFAIR: A twist of love and murder

The cool air was supposed to be refreshing, and as Quinn walked down the metallic ground, she was supposed to feel relaxed and alive, but she felt dead, and the air was certainly not refreshing because there was something polluting the air. Her black shades came in handy on the day she did not think they would. The shades helped to hide her eyes, which could literally shoot lasers at the two people she hated the most now. Her black shades did cover her eyes, but they were not enough to mask her face completely from the people that knew her all her life. They had recognized her in a snap of a finger, and they were looking at her, more like watching her like an eagle, and if they expected her to turn her back and run back to her house like a baby, they were joking and in for a big ride. Honestly, when she realized her sworn enemies were close to the door of the ship, she did want to go back home, but she had paid so much money to enjoy herself, and her valuables were already on the ship Vega, so there was no turning back now. Her second plan was to just walk past them like she had not seen them, but her legs betrayed her, making her stop beside them. “I see you are a fan of shades now, Quinn," Oprah said with a sneer, a sneer that was creepy even to this very moment. The first time Quinn had seen that sneer was when she caught Oprah kissing her man; she did not even look sorry one bit. The only best friend Quinn thought she had and trusted kissed her man and was never repentant about it. “I see you brought your new wife with you," Quinn said to Kennedy, the man she loved so much, the only man that was ever able to break her to the point that she slipped into depression and had to go for therapy, the man that kissed her so-called best friend many times and was unrepentant about it, the man she had been avoiding all her whole life since she was able to break free from the toxic relationship she had with him. Why had she not thought he would be on this ship? Why had she not thought that he would be among the billionaires who would pay a huge amount of money to go cruising on a ship? After all, he was pretty rich; that was one of the reasons he thought he could keep using her, and she would still not break up with him. Well, he was wrong. Quinn was not so rich when she met him, but she knew that she was an upcoming wealthy woman. The only thing that made her not break up with him was because she loved him. They say love is blind, but Quinn’s love for Kennedy was something much worse than blindness; she had been delusional, hoping for a change when it was obvious Kennedy was not going to change, and it took her a lot of willpower to be able to leave him. Even after she had left him, she had expected that at least he would be sorry and come begging, but all he did was send her a bunch of flowers, money, and a letter stating clearly that he never wanted to be with her and she should never come back. “She is not my wife," Kennedy replied, trying hard to remain calm and relaxed, though he was failing at his attempt. "Yet," Oprah added. She was obviously not happy that Quinn had completely ignored her existence. She put up her hand, showing Quinn the ring. “See, we are engaged; we are getting married after our cruise on the ship. I see you came alone, by the way. Poor you; no man wants to waste his precious moment with you.” "Oprah," Kennedy said, trying to make Oprah stop talking, but she was not ready to stop. “What? I am just stating the obvious; she came alone and has no man”, Oprah said, giggling, while Kennedy adjusted his tie, clearly uncomfortable with Oprah behaving this way. It had been a year since Quinn had seen Oprah, a year since the great betrayal, and a year since she had heard that particular giggle. For a while since Quinn stopped talking to her best friend, who had turned her back on her, she missed the sound of her giggles because it made her laugh. But now, it was a very horrible sound to hear, and Quinn got irritated. Oprah must have expected Quinn to say something to her because when Quinn said nothing and went into the ship instead, she started mumbling some curse words, which Quinn was happy she did not hear. “I came here to enjoy myself, and I will not get unhappy”, Quinn said to herself, and she greeted some of the people who were already on the cruise ship while also trying to fight back tears that dared to pour out of her eyes. She had successfully avoided Kennedy and Oprah for a year now, and the time she least expected, she was stuck with them for more than a month. She felt her heart beat go fast, and her vision was not so clear anymore. Her eyes were filled with tears that she battled to hold in. She greeted people briefly, not wanting to have a long conversation with everybody because she wanted to go to her room and let the tears out, but Victoria stopped her from short greeting. “Hey, how are you doing, Quinn? I loved that new diamond dress from your company. I heard an auction is coming up soon. I will definitely get that dress; mark my words”, she said, clapping her hands and smiling widely. Quinn smiled dryly, not wanting to meet Victoria’s eyes so that Victoria would not know something was wrong with her. Victoria was one of the richest people in the world that Quinn had managed to see before because most people preferred to hide away unless they were really needed due to security issues. But Victoria was a carefree online marketer and influencer who usually ended up having multiple online scandals, which somehow did not damage her career; all she did was get more popular and richer. Quinn had first run into her at a restaurant; it was she who had walked up to Quinn to talk, and she talked a whole lot, so it was not news to Quinn that Victoria was quite talkative. “I am great, and I definitely can’t wait to see you at the auction," Quinn said, looking towards the door to avoid meeting Victoria’s eyes but quickly diverting her eyes in another direction because Kennedy and Oprah walked in. “Can you give me a hint on the auction price?" Victoria asked, smiling hopefully. “I can’t do that," Quinn said, hurriedly adding, “I will talk to you later; I want to use the bathroom.” She walked so fast to her room and poured out her tears. She thought that after a year she would have healed totally, but the memories were still fresh, and now it was much worse because she was going to be seeing them for the next forty days. She did not come out even when the ship started to move, and she was called for the big introduction amongst the billionaires. At least she was sure she knew five people on the ship, so to her, there was no need to go outside. But that night, she could not sleep as early as she would have on a normal day. She tossed and turned, but the image of Kennedy refused to leave her head, and she could not fall asleep. She finally gave up, got out of bed, and walked out of her room. She was happy she did not go to Mrs. Reed to collect what she had given her before entering the ship; she needed some time off. It was late at night, but some people were still awake. Quinn walked right past them and went outside, not trying to be social. She noticed that one of the guys she walked right past looked at her like he was some hawk wanting to eat up his prey. His face did look familiar, but Quinn did not say anything to him, and even when she had walked past him, she still felt his eyes on her till she was out of his sight. “Aren’t you cold?" Kennedy said, sitting opposite Quinn, who was sitting outside drinking wine. Quinn felt her heart beat faster again, and her chest felt hot. She wanted to use the glass she was holding to smash his head, but she had the natural gift of calmness and was able to refrain from such a violent act. Instead, she looked in another direction, slowly drinking her wine and ignoring Kennedy. “I don’t think it's best to give me a silent treatment, Quinn," Kennedy said. Quinn loved to hear her name being called by him, especially in a calm tone, so when he called her name so sweetly and calmly, she felt her tummy tighten. “How did you find me? Aren’t you supposed to be with your wife?" Quinn said, taking another sip from her glass of wine. “Oprah is my fiancee, not my wife," Kennedy said. “Shut the f**k up and get out of my sight," Quinn said, her voice still calm but dangerous enough to make Kennedy look more uncomfortable than he was before. Quinn was also engaged to Kennedy when she got betrayed. She was so close to marrying the love of her life, but he had suddenly changed, and now she hated the word ‘fiancee’ even more than ‘wife’ or ‘girlfriend’. “There are some things I need to explain to Quinn; if you give me a chance to explain, I promise it will be worth it," he said. “Start from the part where you started lying about your whereabouts because you became an undercover detective for a hidden company and did not want me to know about it," Quinn said, drinking her wine and leaving Kennedy’s jaw dropped.