A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Earth's POV

I know that it's now past nine at night but my splitting headache won't go away and it's keeping me awake.

I decided to go down to the infirmary and ask for a pain pill. The cruise ship administrator had announced to everyone at the beginning of the trip that the infirmary would be open 24/7 because they had three registered nurses who took turns taking the morning and evening and night shift, while there was a doctor who was on call at any time for any situation that the nurses could not handle by themselves.

I knocked on the door before turning the knob and walking in.

There was no one at the reception desk but there was a buzzer on the wall that had a sign that said to press it if the receptionist was not behind the desk.

I pressed the buzzer and waited.

In less than a minute a male nurse came out through the door that was behind the reception desk.

"Hi, how may I help you?" he asked.

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

I looked at his name badge that was pinned on his uniform front pocket. It said Tee Jarujittranon RN.

"I have a headache that won't go away," I informed him.

"Come with me," he said, opening the door behind the reception desk and waiting for me to go in with him.

He led me inside a cubicle where he let me sit on a chair by the wall.

He moved a short metal pole that had wheels and a small caddy attached to it that contained a digital blood pressure equipment.

He wrapped the arm band that had a velcro to keep it tight around my upper arm. With the press of button it started to tighten around my arm. Then after a sharp beep the band started to loosen up.

"Your blood pressure is slightly elevated," he informed me, "have you taken any aspirin before?"

"Yes," I replied.

"And you did not have any allergic reaction to the aspirin?" he asked.

"No," I told him.

"Very well," he said, going to one of the cabinets against the wall.

He took out a bottle of aspirin and shook out one of the pills into the lid and then transferred the pill into a small medicine paper cup.

He then took a small clear plastic tumbler and poured some water from a pitcher into it.

He handed both medicine paper cup and plastic tumbler of water to me.

"Thanks," I said, taking the pill and popping it into my mouth before drinking some water from the tumbler.

"If your headache persists during the night, just come back here and I will do a re-assessment of your condition," said the nurse, "but I'm hoping that the aspirin will do the trick."

"I hope so, too," I said, standing up from the chair.

His foot must have been too close to mine because when I stood up, I happened to step on his foot.

"Oww!" he yelped in pain.

I knew that he was not exaggerating with the pain because I am a heavy guy and he must have borne all my weight.

"I'm so sorry," I said, catching him before he could fall to the floor.

Our faces were very close to each other.

Our eyes met, and for a split second I could feel my blood pulsing on the side of my forehead as his cologne or men's perfume reached my nose.

We both straightened up.

"I think you better take my blood pressure again," I said half-jokingly.

I noticed him blushing.

"That won't be necessary," he said, "the aspirin I gave you was a fast disintegrating pill. Already it's going to start its action on your system in the next few minutes."

"Okay, if you say so, nurse..."

"I'm Tee," he said, "just call me Tee."

"And I'm Earth," I said, extending my hand to him.

He took it and we shook hands.

"Can I come back here even if I don't have the headache anymore?" I asked.

He laughed a little nervously.

"No, sorry," he said, "nurses and other cruise employees are not allowed to mingle with clients."

He must have noticed the disappointment on my face.

"But before you disembark, you can come to the clinic and we can exchange contact numbers."

"Thank you," I said with a big smile, "I will hold you to your promise."

He smiled back and led me out of the clinic.

"Get well soon," he said patting me on my back before turning away to go back inside.

As I went down the corridor that would lead me back to the foyer where I was going to take an elevator back to my deck where my cabin was located, I could hear voices in a heated argument.

The argument seemed to escalate as I got nearer to the source of the sounds.

When I reached the foyer, a tall well built guy was in the act of punching a shorter guy.

On instinct, I rushed up to the taller guy and held his wrist tight before he could land his fist on the shorter guy.

"Don't stick your nose into other people's business," he said, glaring at me, "if you know what's good for you," he added for good measure.

I looked at the shorter guy. Suddenly I recognized him. He was the sous chef in the breakfast room who was handing out strawberry waffles to the passengers in the morning.

"I'm not finished with you," said the taller guy to the shorter one with whom he was having an argument, before walking away towards the opposite corridor.

"Thank you for intervening on my behalf," said the sous chef, extending his hand to me, "my name is White, I am the assistant chef in this cruise ship."

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

"Yeah, I remember you," I said, taking his hand, "you were the one handing out the strawberry waffles this morning."

"Oh, you went to the breakfast room this morning? How did you like the strawberry waffles?"

"They were good," I said, "I don't know if you remember me but I was the one who kept going back to you for seconds."

White laughed. I noticed that when he smiled, his eyes seemed to be smiling too.

It was only now that I noticed how attractive and unique his eyes were. They were shaped like lotus petals. Yes, indeed, he had lotus petal eyes. (A/N: I would like to credit reader @muted_whispers for providing the description of White's eyes. I read it in the comments of the first chapter of this story and instantly fell in love with the description. I got the reader's permission to use it in this chapter. Thank you, @muted_whispers! I owe you!)

"I'm aware that the ship's employees are not allowed to mingle with the passengers," I said to White, "but if it's all right with you, can we exchange numbers so that I can keep in touch with you after I disembark?"

I noticed him blushing a little but he was smiling. Again, I noticed his lotus petal eyes seemed to be smiling as well.

"Very well," he said shyly, "but please keep it under wraps."

"I promise," I said, handing him my phone.

He keyed in his contact number and I immediately tapped on it. I heard his phone ringing inside his pocket.

"Thank you," I said extending my hand to him, "if the other guy gives you any more trouble, please do not hesitate to call me."

"Thank you," he said, taking my hand,"I hope that I won't have to."

We parted ways when the elevator door opened and I went inside it.

By the time that I got ready for bed, my headache had disappeared.

The nurse was right. The aspirin did its work.

I dozed off with the happy thought that I was able to make two friends on my cruise vacation so far.

I was determined not to disembark from this ship without finding my potential love partner.