The Cruise (3)

Orea was navigating the tracker as Hyun walked all over the ship. She overheard him meeting up with many high profile guests, listening in on their important information. Somehow, she even ended up getting the codes to their country's nuclear weapons.

"Should I sell this to another country?" she wondered. "Would ease our work anyway."

But she knew SD would rather watch things burn slowly. Blowing u everything in a go was not his style.

Meanwhile, her laptop was scanning all the information regarding Shin Hyun. She was on the lookout for any six digit number which signified something in his life. So far, she got over a hundred dates which included his anniversary, work anniversary, birthdays and many other important moments in his life. But each code had different combinations which made her work harder. It usually took hours to decode one code but she had hundreds of them.

"What a pain," she muttered, fixing her glasses. She put on her microphone. Shin Hyun's voice came from the other end.

"I've never seen you before," he was saying in a hoarse tone.

"I…I am new here, sir," a nervous male voice came from the other end. There was a loud slap and the man whimpered in an erotic pleasure.

"You have a firm ass," Hyun was saying. To Orea's shock, she heard the ruffling of clothes followed by unbuckling of belt.

"Let's get down to business, shall we?" Hyun said in a suggestive voice. Soon, Orea could hear the grunting of the other man but not of pain but sexual pleasure.

"Oi oi oi!" she exclaimed, throwing away the headphones. "What the hell are you guys doing while a minor is overhearing ya? Aish! Perverted old geezer!"

She picked up her phone and texted SD. The latter, who had just stopped a the docks, felt his phone vibrating.

"We are here, sir," he informed Jonghyun. Jonghyun nodded at him and turned to Sunye. He let out his hand for her to hold.

"Shall we begin our mission?" he asked. Sunye nodded and took his hand as she got out of the car. SD did not look their way but kept his eyes down.

"You can go home, Haein," Jonghyun suggested. "Leave the keys with me. I'll take Ms. Han home."

"As you wish, sir," SD stated. Sunye glanced at him, trying to read his mind. What is he up to? She wondered. He had been awfully quiet for the past few days and was not even bugging her with the endless texts. For some reason, a quiet SD was more irritating than a talkative SD.

Jonghyun led her towards the ship where the cruise was about to start. Sunye looked at the large ship which was anchored at the docks. It was almost five storey high and 300 meter long. It was the largest cruise ship in the country, owned by the Finance Minister himself. It was built with the finest metal and was completely bullet proof, making it impregnable. There was no other ship in the country which could compare to it.

The whole ship was lighted with different colors. Laser lights were being reflected in the dark sky while holograms played on the large walls of the ship with large welcome signs. Sunye watched the color play in awe, her eyes widening at the sight. Fireworks exploded in the sky, glittering up the sky with gold, blue and pink.

Jonghyun glanced at her and was mesmerized the way she was looking at the lights. She looked like a little girl who had seen such festivities for the first time.

Her smile was brighter than the lights and for a moment, his mind went back to their childhood when she used to marvel at new things in her own innocent way. It felt as if she had become that girl again who used to run around with him, uncaring of everything else. Those little moments of their childhood were etched into his memories and for a minute, it felt as if they were back in those days when they were happy and innocent.

"Let's go," he said in a gentle voice. Sunye nodded and took his arm. They walked towards the entrance, side by side where they were assigned an escort.

Please follow me, sir and madam," the escort said. He led them towards the grand ballroom where the masquerade ball was about to take place. The guests were all wearing formal, dressed in suit and elegant gowns. As soon as Sunye and Jonghyun entered, they were given a pair of masks. Jonghyun picked up a full faced Volto Barocco mask while Sunye took a simple Sole mask.

The grand ballroom was buzzed with high profile guests who were talking amongst themselves. A band stood at one of the sides, playing beautiful classical music while a champagne fountain was placed in the middle of the room. Purple champagne flew out of it, letting the guests take their refills from it. Servers were dressed in white and red uniform, serving drinks and appetizers.

Black and gold theme was apparent everywhere. The chandelier above shone in bright golden light while black curtains were draped around it in curls. The grand staircase was also wrapped in black and gold cloth while black roses were lined on both sides of the golden stairs. Even the table cloths were of the theme colors while large crystal vases with black dahlias stood in the middle of each table.

"Fois Gras?" One of the servers offered Sunye. She picked up the appetizer while Jonghyun politely refused.

"Where's the Finance Minister?" she asked. "He should be here, right?"

"He'll pop up after fifteen minutes as per the schedule," Jonghyun muttered, checking the itinerary the escort had handed them. Just then, he spotted an acquaintance.

"Excuse me for a minute," he said. "I just saw one of our investors. I'll go and say hi to him."

Sunye nodded and watched him go. She stood near the fountain, waiting for the Finance Minister to appear. Just then, the music began to play and everyone was heading off to the dance floor with their partners. Sunye glanced around but Jonghyun was nowhere to be found.

"Dance?" a hoarse voice came from behind her.

She turned around to see Jonghyun in his Volto Barocco mask. He held out his hand. Sunye hesitated for a moment before putting her hand into his.

Before she could steady herself, he pulled her towards the dance floor. Suddenly, she found herself tangled deeply with him. His dark eyes were staring at her with a strange intensity from beneath the mask, making her heat skip several beats. He held her too close and even though they were barely acquaintances, his touch seemed familiar to her.

The music began to play. He held her waist, pulling her close before breaking into a slow waltz. His eyes were fixated on her, not willing to leave. Unknowingly, Sunye was also poring into his eyes, unable to understand what she was feeling. Why was his touch so familiar? Why?

They spun around, dancing to the rhythm of the music but were lost in their bubble. Sunye was conflicted and confused.

"You're not Jonghyun," she finally realized. "Who are you?"

The masked man did not reply but simply spun her hard, letting go of her hand. She was almost thrown off balance but a strong pair of hands caught her.

"Sunye?" Jonghyun asked. "What's wrong?"

But Sunye was not listening to him and was frantically searching for the masked man who had just shared a dance with her. Who was he? What did he want from her?

"Nothing," she whispered. Nothing at all, she added in her head as if trying to reassure herself.

…

Outside the hall, a masked man was taking off his tux's jacket. He walked into the male's washroom on the lower deck. Changing into a red and white server uniform, he took off the mask.

SD looked at himself in the mirror. His blue eyes were covered in dark contact lenses. He did not take them off but put on a long, white wig. Taking out a small jar, he put his hand and took out some black powder from it. He dabbed it all over his face and darkened his skin tone. Once he was done, he checked his appearance.

"Good," he complimented himself. "Even Sunye won't recognize me like this."

"If you were that desperate to dance with her, then why didn't you take her to the ball instead?" Orea's voice came from the mic in his collar.

"The tickets were expensive," SD shrugged. "And the client didn't pay yet."

"Cheapskate!" Orea sneered. "I better get my payment on time."

"Yeah yeah!" SD scoffed. "You will. Now it's time for the next step. You ready?"

Orea flexed her knuckles. "Oh yeah!" she exclaimed. "Let's go, teacher!"