3 The Cruise (3)

"Yes they do! Like Dylan and Nila…" Vivian countered insistently and started firing off a list of the gods and goddesses she had heard of.

"Those are fictional characters that bloggers use to attract traffic." She interrupted her friend's rumble with a laugh. Just when she was starting to think that she was going crazy, Vivian proved that she was still sane.

"Look! We are here. The ship is docking!" Vivian announced, and it was soon followed by the announcement from the captain, stating the rules regarding the break at Cannon Island.

Vivian dragged Jasmine's arm and the two of them rushed to disembark the ship as soon as they were allowed to.

"Welcome to Cannon Islands. Would you like a guide?" A handsome man in burgundy uniform approached the young women.

"We are okay, thank you. We won't go too far." Jasmine spoke before Vivian could fawningly accept the guide.

As expected, the latter felt bummed about it and sulkily watched the handsome man say goodbye before complaining. "Why did you do that?"

"I thought you wanted to dive? I didn't know you wanted to take a tour instead." Jasmine chuckled.

"Ah, I want to dive. Let's grab a few snacks first. I would like to have a taste of snacks on Cannon Island. Not to mention, I must take more pictures to flex." Vivian hummed and skipped over to a stall selling street food.

"Hello, this looks yummy! What is it made of?" She excitedly pointed at a snack that looked like roasted balls of meat.

The stall owner offered a gentle smile. "Hey there, beautiful. It's roast rabbit meat with pepper and mushrooms. Do you want to try it?" He explained the ingredients in case of allergic reactions, seeing as the latter seemed to be a tourist.

"Jas, do you want to have a taste?" She waved Jasmine over.

The latter nodded but then frowned as she looked at her purse. "We forgot to exchange our money. How about we come back later?" She felt bummed as she was also interested in the street foods.

"You don't need to, beautiful. You can give me an equivalent of the sum in your currency." The stall owner smiled kindly.

"Really? Thank you." Vivian quickly bought hers and Jasmine's roast meat balls and excitedly took a bite.

"I knew it was yummy!" Vivian's eyes were full of excitement, and she caught sight of a ceramic flower pot.

While the women hopped around the island and bought what they thought was pretty or yummy, they didn't realize that they were being followed.

"Jas, check this out. Your mother will love it." Vivian held up an antique clock.

Jasmine glanced at the brown clock with a wooden sparrow on top of its frame and asked for its price. Just as she wondered what she should buy for Dahlia, she felt a chill down her back and turned sharply.

"Jas, are you okay?" Vivian asked.

Jasmine narrowed her gaze at a pair of young men behind her and scanned them. They looked like ordinary men, but she felt there was something strange about them, even though she couldn't figure it out.

Her gaze remained on them as they made their way past her and Vivian. When they were out of sight, she grabbed her friend's arm. "Let's go to the resort."

Vivian felt bummed, but she could only follow Jasmine to the resort booked by the crew.

_

The two young men turned to glance at Jasmine as she headed to the resort with her friend.

"Do you think she saw us?" The man with long, black hair asked his companion.

"Even if she did, she didn't notice anything. She's just an ordinary human." The other shrugged as they went their way.

_

"Why didn't you stick to your group when you were specifically reminded to? If you do not follow the rules, we will have you sent back to Efinchil. This troublesome pair." A crew member huffed as he scolded Jasmine and Vivian for not sticking to their assigned group and leaving on their own.

"We were assigned to a group?" Vivian asked her friend in a whisper.

"Young lady," The middle aged man furiously called for attention.

"We're sorry. We'll stick to the rules." Jasmine apologized and made a mental note to ask about the rules that she and Vivian had not heard.

The man huffed and left the ladies to enter the resort's restaurant on their own.

They walked towards three men and a woman, who were sitting at a table, and who according to the crew member, were part of their group.

"Why are we in groups anyway?" Vivian did not understand.

"For safety and ease of headcount. Hey there, beautiful. Come and sit beside me." A blond-haired man called Vivian over.

The man with round glasses and the other woman at the table were probably a couple since they were holding hands, so the other man looked up at Jasmine.

Before he could say a word, Jasmine narrowed her eyes at him and he had no choice but to shut his mouth.

She sat beside him nonetheless since it was the only available seat, but she minded her business and focused on her food when it arrived.

"What do you guys think we go diving?" Vivian suggested to the rest of the group in a low voice when they were more comfortable around each other. "My friend and I were thinking of going and after that, we would go to the Caves of Cannon for a short while before the trip resumes. But what a bummer. She had us return."

"We can just go later." The blond man suggested, then looked at Jasmine who looked aloof. "If your friend doesn't mind."

"I'm sure she won't. She wanted to go too." Vivian cheered. As long as they were sticking to their group and they returned in time, no one would have anything against them, right?

Hence, the group finished their food and set off to dive. They all changed into their diving gear before going up to the diving platform.

"Who wants to go first?" The blond man asked.

"I do! I can't wait." Vivian yelled excitedly and took Jasmine's hand so they could dive together.

"Wait, you…" The woman with the round spectacled man started speaking, but she didn't complete her statement since they had already dived together.

Jasmine found the feeling underwater foreign yet familiar in strange ways as she heard the sounds she thought to be dolphin sounds, and she wanted to explore as much as she could… until she noticed something coming at them at a high speed from the corner of her eye.

Her first reaction was to pull at Vivian so they would go back to the surface, but she didn't manage to catch her before the giant wave came crashing against them.

"Jasmine!" She thought she heard a scream as she lost her balance. Trying to reduce the impact and steady herself, she heard what sounded like the roar of thunder and just when she felt hopeful about being able to steady herself, a larger wave crushed her, making her world turn dark.

___

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