Day 2 of the Cruise onboard MV Maverick's Rose

03:15PM

MARISSE

The call came just as Marisse had returned to his post.

A voice crackled over the radio:
“Marisse Rickarte, report to the captain’s office. Immediately.”

His gut tightened. The timing felt off, too soon after the day with Rose. Too deliberate.

He moved through the narrow corridor, each step heavier than the last. His mind raced, sifting through possibilities. Maybe it was a scheduling error. Maybe there was a mechanical issue they needed him to troubleshoot. Maybe...

But the second he opened the door to the captain’s office, the air shifted.

Captain Riego sat rigid behind his desk, arms folded tightly across his chest. And seated on the chair just next to his desk---Don Enrique.

The old tycoon didn’t look up. He simply stared ahead, his hands clasped, his expression unreadable. Cold. Classic Don Enrique.

Marisse’s stomach sank. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

Captain Riego didn’t waste time.

“You’ve been in this industry long enough to know company protocol,” he said, voice sharp as broken glass. “Fraternizing with guests is a violation, Rickarte. And what I’ve just heard from Mr. Villamor…”he cast a glance at Don Enrique, “---is serious.”

Marisse’s mouth parted slightly, but the words didn’t come.

“I don’t care who you think you are,” Captain Riego continued. “Or how long you’ve been in service. You crossed a line. You will be suspended, effective immediately, pending an internal investigation into what this company defines as a major breach of conduct.”

Gutted. That was the only word Marisse could find for how he felt in that moment. He had worked too hard, sacrificed too much to fall like this. And over what? Over trying to keep someone safe?

He tried to swallow the panic rising in his throat. But fear, real fear, the kind he hadn’t tasted in years began to creep in.

Still, something inside him…maybe pride, maybe instinct snapped awake.
If he was going down, he would go down telling the truth.

He stepped forward. Eyes steady. Voice low but clear.

“Captain… I need you to listen. There’s someone on this ship. Someone who intends to hurt her.”

Captain Riego frowned. “What are you talking about---”

“Rose,” Marisse cut in. “I was assigned to her. I was told to guide her. Keep her safe. And I tried to stay within the lines, I did. But something isn’t right. I don’t have proof, not yet, but I know it in my gut.”

Don Enrique’s eyes flicked toward him now, dark and sharp.

Captain Riego looked at Marisse for a long time. The muscle in his jaw twitched once. Then again. Behind him, the low hum of the ship filled the quiet with a hollow buzz.

The room fell silent. Thick. Heavy. Like the seconds before a storm breaks.

Then, slowly, Don Enrique stood up and gestured to the chair opposite his own.

His voice was quieter this time. Controlled. But no less grave.

“Have a seat, and start talking…”

*******

04:42 PM
MARISSE

Marisse stepped out of the captain’s office, heart still pounding from the interrogation. But before he could process what had just happened, the adjacent door to the conference room opened and out walked Rose.

She stopped mid-step, eyes locking with his. Her expression was unreadable for a split second... and then it hardened.

Hurt. Anger. Betrayal.

The look she gave him sliced through him like a serrated knife. She didn’t say a word. Just turned and walked away, her heels clicking like gunshots on the floor.

“Rose…” he started, taking a step toward her.

But his radio beeped sharply.

“Rickarte, we need you in Section C for pre-departure inspection. Now.”

Duty called. And this time, he couldn’t ignore it.

*******

06:10 PM

Lifeboat Deck, Port Side

Twilight bathed the deck in gold and shadow. Marisse, clipboard in hand, moved through final checks before departure. His thoughts kept circling back to the look Rose gave him. The things he didn’t get to say.

Then he spotted her.

Rose, just a few meters away, was speaking animatedly with a male guest that was tan, polished, rich-looking. The man wore khaki shorts, a Hawaiian shirt, and that practiced smile of someone used to getting what he wants. Marisse instinctively moved to the lifeboat controls nearby, pretending to inspect the rig.

“…couldn’t believe it when I saw your name on the manifest,” the man said. “I joined this launch for business, sure, but mostly? I came here hoping I’d run into you.”

Marisse’s jaw tightened.

Rose gave a soft laugh. “It’s…surreal, Paolo. You haven’t changed.”

Paolo leaned closer. “Have lunch with me at the port tomorrow? Just like old times. Please.”

She paused, then smiled genuinely. “Alright. Let’s catch up. Lunch sounds good.”

Marisse’s chest went hollow.

When Paolo left, Rose turned back toward the railing, her posture deflating slightly. Then, without turning, she called out:

“You can stop pretending now. I know you’re there.”

Marisse straightened and stepped forward slowly. Rose turned to face him, her eyes like fire behind glass.

“I trusted you,” she said flatly. “You don’t know how much that cost me. And I went to the captain’s office, not to make excuses, but to defend you. I told them it was my call. I insisted you accompany me.”

Marisse’s mouth opened. “Rose, I didn’t---”

“But what did I hear through that damn door?” she snapped. “You telling them you were assigned to me? That I’m in danger? You made it sound like I dragged you into something you never wanted.”

Her voice trembled now, not with fear, but with fury.

“I thought… maybe we could start over. Maybe this was fate, or something poetic like that. But you lied to protect your job. You sold me out to save yourself.”

“No,” Marisse said, his voice cracking. “It wasn’t like that.”

“You know what hurts most?” she whispered, stepping back. “That I ever thought you saw me as who I really am, but clearly you also see me as something you can use…Like all of them!”

Then she turned and walked away again, this time without looking back.

And Marisse, for the first time in years, felt like a man truly alone at sea.

*******

May 21, 2022 – The Present

Penthouse Suite

MARISSE

He woke up as restless as he left the past. Marisse allowed his body and mind to process what could be the result of what he has done to Rose.

For a while, like flashes of a montage of his past life, Marisse recalled all memories he’s had of Rose leading up to the present in hope that the alterations of his current present would come more slowly to him unlike the last time when he nearly got sick as it was stuffed into his head in the middle of a work day!

He waited for a while, but nothing came. Yet as soon as he stood up Jax appeared on the long john at the foot of his bed.

Jax looked tired and displeased, “I asked you to wait for me, Marisse,” he was clearly taking his time speaking as Jax approached him and Marisse knew right off the bat that the angel had no good news for him!

“I waited until ten minutes before midnight, Jax, I was going to lose that day if I did not go.”

Jax breathe through his nose, “And do you realize what that one day had caused you?!”

Marisse was about to reply when his phone vibrated and lighted up by his bedside with an incoming call.

It was Enrique Villamor.

“I have to take this.”

Jax’s next grin was too dark to be from a celestial. “Yes, ---you sure do.” And then he disappeared as fast as he came.

“Marisse, my boy!” Don Enrique’s voice was warm. Too warm.

It struck Marisse immediately—there was something about Enrique’s tone that felt… off. Not threatening, not mocking. Just too fond. Especially for a man who only yesterday had him facing disciplinary action.

Marisse blinked, hesitating. “Sir?”

“I won’t keep you long,” Enrique said, still sounding like a proud uncle. “I just wanted to share good news. Wonderful news, really. My daughter, Rose, you have met he before, yes? ---Well, she’s agreed to spearhead the press conference for the Villamor-RPV2 merger.”

Silence. Long, thick silence.

Marisse sank down onto his bed. His knees didn’t just buckle, they gave in. His phone trembled slightly in his hand. He swallowed a breath that got caught in his chest.

“Rose… is coming?” he asked, voice cracking at the edges.

“Oh yes,” Enrique replied, utterly delighted. “I knew she’d come around. Took some convincing, of course, but you know Rose, strong-willed as ever.”

Marisse didn’t need to pretend to be overjoyed. The words she’s alive, she’s okay, she’s working with her father… all echoed in his mind, dulling everything else. He let out a long, shaking exhale and steadied his voice.

“How is she?” he asked, keeping his tone light, measured.

Enrique chuckled. “Better than ever. Married now, you know. To one of the del Ríos. I suppose you remember them. Political old-money types. Her husband just won as Congressman in the last elections, the youngest in his district’s history. And Rose? She’s running his foundation, hosting charity galas, traveling for diplomatic functions. I swear, she’s becoming quite the figure in the Manila social circuit.”

Marisse felt something hollow open in his chest. Married. A politician’s wife. One of the oligarch clans.

“She’s… busy, then,” he said, forcing a smile into his voice.

“Busy,” Enrique confirmed proudly. “But always brilliant. Always elegant. You’ll see for yourself when she arrives.”

The call ended soon after, but the weight of it remained. Marisse stared at the ceiling, trying to figure out what part of him had just broken.

He had not expected her to wait.

He didn’t deserve her forgiveness.

But he had hoped…foolishly, desperately…that what he did had saved her. That she was safe, happy, alive. And now… she was.

That should be enough.

And maybe, Marisse told himself, it was.

*******

RPV2 Holdings Tower

Executive Floor
MARISSE

By the time the sun yawned over the Manila skyline, Marisse was already at his desk. Dressed, polished, and methodically going over cruise schedules and security briefings like clockwork.

Routine. The one drug that numbs all memory.

He thought, for a while, that maybe his mission was done. The goal he had shaped his life around was complete. Rose was alive. Safe. She had a future that no longer required him in it.

He could move on now.

He had to move on.

But when he stepped out of his office that morning, the universe pulled a cruel trick.

Déjà vu.

The door beside his swung open. Andrew’s office.

And out stepped Rose.

No heels this time. Just soft flats, a tailored blazer, and that same poised energy that always preceded her voice.

Marisse froze.

For a moment, neither of them moved. The corridor between them shrank in his mind, then expanded endlessly.

Rose looked up. Their eyes met.

No anger. No affection. No familiarity.

Just... pause.

A moment suspended between timelines. Realities. People who had once loved each other like a secret and had become strangers all over again.

Marisse couldn’t speak.

His throat locked, his hands felt foreign, and his mind waited for some divine jolt...a thunderclap, an earthquake, even a whispered cue from the angel that had brought him here.

But nothing came.

Just her.

Standing there.

And him.

Still unable to say her name.

*******