After the ice skating outing with Perez and Pascul, I returned to my room to relax a little before the game tonight. I texted Sha to ask where was she and Peter to check with him on his progress with Operation Safari, no response from either of them. I decided to watch a movie and order an afternoon tea package to kill the time.

I texted Sha again when it was almost time for the game, and her inactiveness led me to believe she was most likely with Aletta. I sighed and made my way up to the top deck, hoping that she would be there. There were surprisingly a lot more people than I thought there would be watching the game; I estimated around three hundred people. Those seated were chatting amongst themselves, waiting for the game to start. The players were nowhere to be seen yet, probably getting ready in the changing room.

I looked around the seats, unsure of where to seat when I saw Olivia waving at me. She introduced me to the four other girls sitting with her; all of who are from high-class status families in Spain. Apparently, all of us were rooting for Team A, which includes Nicandro, Perez and Miguel. I can only assume that meant Walter was on the opponent team; Team B.

Drum instrumental music started playing through the speakers a few minutes after and the chattering noise from the audience quickly died down. Everyone's attention was now shifted to the stage in front of them. The host, a woman in her mid-thirties stepped onto the stage and the audience welcomed her with applause.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. It is a great honour to present the first-ever sports game on the Palencia ship!" A roar of applause came from the audience before the host continued.

"Now without further ado, let's welcome the two teams!" This time the applause easily beat the last one, with a few screams mixed in. The two teams walked in from opposite ends, earning more noise from the audience.

As soon as I laid my eyes on Nicandro, his eyes found mine as well. I mouthed him a 'good luck' before he shot me a smile and then turned away.

The game was moving very quickly since the field was much smaller than in regular games. The ball was being passed from one player to another within seconds and if you blink for more than a second, you would miss the ball getting into the net.

I really don't know how people can just sit and watch sports for hours continuously. It has only been fifteen minutes and my eyeballs are tired from moving around from player to player.

Right now, there was a five-minute break before moving on to the second half of the game. So far, the scores for Team A and B are six and four respectively.

"Did you see how Nicandro scored that last round? I didn't know your man could play football well." Stacy, one of the girls I was sitting with, gave me a light notch on the shoulder.

I stiffened slightly at 'your man'. We've made our relationship official between us, but not to everyone else yet, to keep a low profile with Felon still at large. Damn, did Pascul go on to tell everyone? Or everyone just pieced two and two together? I guess there wasn't any way to keep a secret relationship with a prince a secret for long anyway.

Olivia must have noticed my stiff reaction. "Uh-oh, please don't tell me you let Alina win him over already."

"Yeah, I want to throw hands at the thought of her being the next queen of Spain." Another girl, Celia said in disgust. Did they know about the deal too? Seems like everyone knew about the deal with Alina's family except me.

"Trust me on that I'll not let her win without a fight." I said that but the uncertainty is creeping up on me. How can I possibly go against someone with a noble title?

A horn was blown, players got into position and the audience riled up. I accidentally made eye contact with Walter for a brief second before quickly turning away. My eyes wandered back to Nicandro, standing firmly in his position right behind Perez.

A whistle was blown, and it was then I noticed at the far end corner, that Sha was there with Aletta and a few other people who I don't recognise. Oh Sha, what are you still doing with her?

I concluded from their gestures that they wanted to leave the game and go somewhere else. They were walking towards the exit but not before they exited that Aletta saw me looking at them that she shot me a wink. My stomach churned at that.

When I turned my focus onto the game, the scoreboard was ten to four. "Since they're most definitely going to win, you got anything planned for Nicandro after the game for playing the game well?" Olivia asked me with a smirk on her face.

"Actually, he said he already planned something for us," I responded with hot cheeks. When he told me that yesterday, I thought it would be a movie night in or out in a fancy restaurant. But now I was thinking it might be something more intimate.

Defending applause then came. Team A was celebrating amongst themselves and the girls were standing cheering them on. I stood up and joined them in cheering when I saw Nicandro looking at me. I shot him a small wave before I noticed Perez giving me a light-hearted smirk wink and rolled my eyes at him.

They went on stage to get their trophy and posed for the photographers. The audience was now slowly making their way out of the area while the girls and I stayed back. When most of the people have exited, that was when I noticed Alina and her group; the same one from this morning sitting at the seats opposite of us. Of course she would be here and stayed back too.

The two teams were still in the playing area chatting with different people and taking a lot of pictures with one another. I was left all alone when we made it down; Olivia obviously with Miguel and the other girls went to talk with whoever they knew.

I felt a tap on my back. "Hey." Perez greeted me.

"Well done on the game." I congratulated him.

"Thank you." He then went to gesture at the photographer. "A picture."

I stiffened at that. Is it a good idea to take pictures? Regardless, not like I can stop Perez now. I'll just ask Efren to scrub the pictures from the database later. Can't let Felon target this family any more than he already has. "Nicandro, come join."

I was a little surprised when Perez said that. Maybe he and Nicandro really did get past the wedge that was between them. Nicandro politely excused himself from the conversation and stood on my left with Perez already on my right.

Perez took a few steps away from me. "I think you guys should take one without me." He was looking over in another direction while saying that and I turned to see it was Alina, no surprise. Maybe the wedge wasn't completely settled yet.

Nicandro put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer to him, and I leaned my head closer to his chest before the camera clicked. It was then I realised that it was our first picture together.

I was told by Olivia there was an afterparty at the lounge at the other end of the top deck. I told Nicandro that I need to use the washroom and will meet him there afterwards. The nearest washroom I could find was on the level below and I immediately didn't wish I used that specific washroom when I saw Aletta inside. She was reapplying her lipstick.

"Tiana, fancy seeing you here."

"Aletta." I acknowledged her and walked toward the stalls. I really don't want to deal with her right now.

"Or is your name not really Tiana?"

A wave of panic shot through me like a bullet. "What?" The word came out before I could calm my breathing down. I can only hope she didn't notice the shakiness in my voice.

She took a few steps toward me. "Just a theory I came up with. Because Sha doesn't seem to know of your relationship with Nicandro- at all. I've had the whole day to think about it and one of the stronger theories I came up with is you're living a double life."

Damn it. Of course, she would ask Sha about me to get any dirt on me she can find since she probably couldn't find any online. I shouldn't have let my guard down on her when she said she wasn't trying to pursue him anymore. This could turn into a real issue for me.

Is that why Sha didn't respond to any of my texts? Have the both of them been theorising about this the entire day, which also explains their weird behaviour at breakfast?

I faked a snort. "That's one of your stronger theories? What are your weaker ones then?"

"You've been caught in a lie, give up already and answer the question, Tiana or whatever your name is." She stared at me dead in the eyes, to try to crack me under pressure.

I put my hands up in defence. "Fine! You got me."

"I didn't tell Sha about Nicandro and I because I didn't want to be associated with him when the Felon thing came out. Plus, she's just a regular person who is better off not getting caught up in all the mess." I lied.

A sly smirk formed on her face. "See, I knew you were not just an innocent girl who genuinely loves him." My heart stung when she said that. "Don't worry, I'll not tell him or Sha your little secret."

"Oh yeah? And in exchange what must I do?"

"Nothing. Call this a mutually beneficial thing; you get uninterrupted alone time with Nicandro without having to explain to Sha where you have gone while I get to hang out with Sha." I slightly raised my eyebrows at her, as I found it hard to believe.

"I just wanted to get the satisfaction of knowing your 'very much in love' innocent ploy, Tiana. And I actually like hanging out with Sha." She cleared her throat awkwardly. "A lot better than you anyway."

I stood there for a few seconds after Aletta exited the washroom. Could she actually have feelings for Sha?

I felt my phone vibrate against my jacket.

Nicandro :) : Meet me at the spa and bring your swimsuit

The spa? I wondered what he could've planned for us there.

Me: Be there in 15

I couldn't hide the giddy smile on my face as I went back to my room and freshened up a little before making my way to the spa.

As I approached the door, I noticed the lights inside were off and the sign on the door has flipped to 'closed'. There was no one in there as I closed the door behind me and spotted a glowing light on the left and followed it. I turned to a corridor for lockers and saw rose petals on the ground. I followed along with the rose petals and stopped in my tracks when I saw the sight before me.

There were rose petals, as well as lighted candles everywhere. I realised I was in a hot tub room when I saw the huge hot tub in the middle of the room. I walked closer to see it to see air bubbles forming on the surface of the water and reached my hand in to touch the water.

"Hey."

I turned around and had to keep my jaw from dropping when I saw Nicandro in his swimming trunks. Shirtless.

I've never had much of a reaction when looking at someone's bare chest as I do right now. The feeling flows through my entire body, heating it up.

I managed not to stare at his chest for more than a few seconds. "Hi."

"You like this?" His voice was soft as he walked toward me.

"Like is an understatement. I love this." I grinned as he placed a gentle kiss on my lips.

Nicandro was already in the hot tub when I came out of the changing room. Nicandro held my hand as I slowly went into the hot tub to allow my body to adjust to the temperature change. Once I'm fully in, he reached to the table behind and passed me a pink-coloured drink.

He held up his glass. "Cheers to us making it through our first day as boyfriend-girlfriend."

I laughed and clinked our glasses together.