Cheater ✯ Kovit x Nita ✯ Market of Monsters

2

Nita and Fabricio followed the deckhand, Kovit, up a flight of stairs to the upper decks. His back was hunched slightly and he kept his hands in his pockets.

"Here you are," he said gesturing to a door. Nita nodded and Fabricio gave a small thank you. He just shrugged and wandered off. Nita choked out a small laugh at his offhandedness.

"What's so funny?" asked Fabricio. Nita shook her head.

They entered the room. It was nice, it was fancy. It was exactly what Nita would have expected for a rich couple ready to relax and have fun on a cruise. That bit made Nita crinkle her nose but she pushed her prejudice aside when she saw the King-sized bed.

"Holy shit," she said, dropping her backpack and stalking towards the bed. Fabricio took a quick look at it, raised his eyebrows in surprise, and turned back to their bags. Nita splayed her hand out on the blanket of the bed, letting every fiber reach the deepest lines and grooves in her hands. It was a cloud.

In a normal circumstance of pure joy and elation, Nita would take a sliver of time to thank whoever had given her this opportunity–usually, it being her mother–but she didn't have time to think of all the people who had gone through their each individual troubles to get her and this bed, the sheets, pillows, and blankets in the same room. The people who had stuffed the pillows and mattress; worked the machines that threaded the pillowcases and sheets; the CEO of the cruise line for hiring the person who chose this as the perfect combination for a first-class couple, and finally, her own mother.

"God, this feels amazing," she said falling slowly onto the bed and bouncing. Fabricio kept his face passive and swung his suitcase onto the bed next to Nita.

"It's pretty normal for higher-paying patrons." He unzipped the bag and carefully pulled out his delicately folded clothes, transferring them to a few drawers in the dresser.

"My mother was holding out on me," said Nita. Fabricio made a noise that was uninterpretable. Nita took it as a laugh

The evening came. And as the sky got darker, it signaled the beginning of the journey.

This particular cruise held a launching party. Neither Fabricio nor Nita wanted to go so they opted to stay in their cabin and chill. Nita was especially excited about falling asleep on the bed.

It began wonderfully. Nita didn't even have to look or talk to Fabricio, just what she wanted. But soon she was just annoyed at being in the same room as him. His breathing was too loud, his movements not on time, his presence was annoying her.

She gave a dissatisfied huff, flinging the sheets and comforter off and stomping out of the cabin. She wanted to wring his neck at the moment. It was rash and unwise, and she knew that it was only her anger that made her wish death upon him.

She could see the city lights, their brightness unwavering. They were much prettier from far away. Nita sighed in contentment. The beating of the water against the boat was more rhythmic and soothing than the sounds that she had been hearing.

She couldn't wait until this trip was over. She and Fabricio would get married and she would go to school. It would be loveless, the trip wouldn't change anything between them, they barely held any romantic feelings at all.

How had her mother convinced one of the richest men alive to marry off his son? Nita didn't know. But she did know that she wanted the money, she would have married the widower herself if she hadn't already been married.

Even thumps grew louder to Nita's right, someone was coming up the steps. She turned her head and saw the figure slumping with their hands in the pockets. Nita squinted against the light and saw that it was Kovit, the deckhand from earlier.

He looked up from where his hair hung in front of his eyes and gave her a small smile. She returned it, glad that he wouldn't be bothering her, and turned back to the water.

She could see out of her peripheral vision that he had leaned against the railing as well, a few feet from her. He looked down at something. This easily piqued her interest and she moved her head to see what he was looking at. It was a knife.

He played with it between his fingers and switched it open and close over and over. He was mesmerized by it and so was she. The way he manipulated it in his hand was beautiful. She followed the muscles on his hands all the way up to his shoulders and face. He was beautiful. That was saying something, Nita didn't often think about people's looks.

He turned his head towards her and raised his eyebrows in question. Nita shrugged unsure of what to say to him. He turned back and she stared at him a second more before doing the same.

She wanted to look back at him and contemplated it briefly before deciding not to. She didn't want to make him uncomfortable by staring, she knew she wouldn't like it. But she wanted to see his face again. She positioned her head to look and saw that he was staring. She turned away quickly, her face heating up.

She leaned back from the rail and walked along the deck to stand somewhere else, someplace without any distractions. She went to the other side and stared out into the sea trying to take her mind off of the deckhand but his face always came back to her. She wondered what he looked like when he smiled. She imagined it and she felt warmth in her chest.

She kicked herself when she caught her thoughts and huffed out in annoyance. He was just really pretty, that was a fact.

She sighed and walked back around to her room, noting dully that Kovit wasn't there anymore. She wasn't relaxing out here anymore. Fabricio was curled up on the chair inside the room smoring peacefully. Nita pretended to flick him and crawled into bed once she got her PJs on. The bed was all hers.