Chapter 2

BO

It was surprisingly peaceful to wake up on the cruise ship. I wasn't sure what I expected, but I realised that it was a lot more noise.

I peeked outside my bedroom door, noticing that Mei and Chiguo's was still firmly shut. I sighed and turned back into my room, not entirely sure what I was supposed to do with myself now. I wanted to make the most of being on the ship, especially because I was technically working, but didn't have all that much to do. But I wasn't sure how I could manage that while I was sharing a suite with a famous idol and one of the most important gods in the Chinese pantheon.

I supposed there was nothing that said I had to stay here. I could go out on deck and enjoy the sunrise. It had been a while since I'd been able to do that.

I dressed quickly, making sure to grab a jacket. While it was going to be warm and sunny most of the day, I was under no illusions that first thing in the morning it would be cold.

The door to the room clicked shut with a surprisingly loud noise and I winced, hoping it hadn't woken anyone. It was strange not to have one of Mei's security guards stationed outside, but with the ship on the move, it wasn't quite as necessary. And I knew Chiguo wouldn't let anything happen to her either.

I didn't see anyone as I made my way up to the desk, which wasn't a huge surprise. From everything I'd heard about the cruise, it was a case of a lot of guests who would rise late and party later. For now, that was going to suit me just fine.

I stepped onto the deck and headed to the back of the boat where the platforms for viewing the sea were. The sun was already shining, but it was too early for it to be unbearably hot, which gave me plenty of time to truly appreciate the beauty of where I was.

A sea breeze ruffled through my hair. I should have tied it up, but it was so often neatly pinned while I worked that I wanted to take a chance to have it loose. I was technically on a working holiday and I was planning on making the absolute most of it.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, savouring the salty scent of the ocean. I hadn't even realised I missed the smells and sights of my childhood until now, but now that I was here, there was no mistaking it.

I opened them again and stared out at the sea, mesmerised by the way it moved. I'd grown up by the coast, but it had been nothing like this. I was used to seeing small fishing boats dotted around, not endless water.

A splash sounded not far away and I turned in time to see a dolphin jump out of the water and make its way back down to the depths. I tracked its path across the waves, surprised that it never strayed very far from the boat. Perhaps it liked the waves the boat was making as it poured through the water at a steady pace.

The dolphin continued towards the prow of the ship, and I found myself following, not wanting to let it out of my sight.

I whispered up a prayer to the Goddess of the Yangtze for protection in the water, even though I was well aware that this was a completely different species of dolphin. It was a tradition passed down to me by my Yeh-yeh who had grown up on the banks of the Yangtze river and still remembered the beautiful white dolphins that used to live there.

Maybe it was foolish to invoke the protection of any of the gods when I knew they were just people, but old habits died hard, and I hadn't learned about the existence of the gods until I was well into my twenties.

I leaned against the rail of the boat as the dolphin came closer and jumped out of the water. Even though I knew it was impossible, it felt as if it was close enough to touch if I reached out my hand.

Instead, I pulled back and got out my phone. I snapped a couple of photos before switching it into record mode, catching a beautiful video of the dolphin jumping out of the water with the rising sun in the background. A smile played at my lips. This was worth being on the cruise for, and waking up earlier than I'd planned to. I looked out across the water, wondering if the rest of the pod was nearby, but seeing nothing. It didn't really matter, even seeing one dolphin was exciting for me.

I watched until it disappeared, staying in place much longer than that and searching the sea for any sign that it had come back to play more rather than swimming off to do whatever it was dolphins did when they weren't jumping out of the water.

"Looking for something?" a deep voice said.

I jumped and turned to find a man with wet hair and a towel tightly wrapped around his waist standing a few feet away. I couldn't take my eyes off him. Had he been in the sea? It was the only logical answer considering the water running down his toned chest.

"Has no one ever told you it's rude to stare?" he asked when I hadn't said anything.

I cleared my throat and focused my attention on his face. Not that it was much better than staring at his chest. He had dazzling blue eyes, and a proud nose which suited him very well. "I wasn't staring at you." I looked back out at the water, hoping to see the dolphin again.

"Then why are you looking at where I was swimming?" His tone was more curious than annoyed, but maybe that was because I wanted that to be his reaction as opposed to being angry at me.

"I was watching a dolphin." I gestured to the sea as if the creature was about to reappear and prove me right. "I have photos, if you want to see them?"

"You were taking photos of me?"

I was about to argue that it was nothing to do with him when the reality of the situation hit me, shortly followed by horror. " You're the dolphin?"

He nodded and grabbed a towel from the bench and rubbed it over his head, leaving his hair sticking up in all kinds of directions. It made him look kind of cute.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realise."

"Not met a shifter before?"

"Of course I've met a shifter before, what makes you think I haven't?" I asked.

"The fact you're surprised that I'm a dolphin."

"Well, I...guess I've never met a dolphin shifter before. That I know about. Maybe I have met a dolphin shifter but I didn't know they were a dolphin shifter." Why was I rambling? I should just be apologising so we could move on and pretend nothing like this happened. I couldn't believe I was making such a fool of myself when I was normally much more composed than this.

Even worse, if news of this got around, I'd be tarnishing Mei's name. We might have gotten her to the position where she was able to perform at paranormal-only events, but those kinds of performances would dry up quickly if I started making enemies out of people.

I cleared my throat. "I'm very sorry," I said stiffly. "I promise it won't happen again, and I'll delete the photos I took."

The man gave me a strange look. "You don't have to do that."

"I do, I took photos without your permission and I should have known better." I pressed onto the camera roll of my phone and highlighted the dozen or so photos of the dolphin before hitting delete. I turned my screen to him. "See, no dolphin photos."

He raised an eyebrow. "No, but there are a lot of photos of your food. Don't tell me you're one of those food bloggers."

"What? No." I looked back at my phone screen. I guessed he wasn't wrong, there were a lot of food photos. "I just travel a lot. I take photos of the local dishes I eat so I can remember to look up recipes when I get home." Not that I ever get a chance to cook any of them, but sometimes it's nice to pretend that I'm going to.

"I see. Well, it was interesting meeting you." He waved and headed through the door that led to the cabins, not even stopping to put on a shirt first.

I stared after him, already replaying the incident in my head and trying not to feel too embarrassed about it. Hopefully, he wasn't going to be someone important at Jinx and lose Mei this opportunity.