His Devious Rule

Sitting on the armchair, Alvin yawned for more than an hour looking at Anya who was sitting on the couch and working on her laptop without break. She had asked him to sleep but he was uneasy she might go out alone and fall into some trouble.

Alvin looked out of the window. It was already dark outside, the weather had changed drastically. The calm surface of the ocean was brewing in the storm, slowly changing the smooth sailing of the ship. In no time, the heavy raindrops started pelting against the glass window.

He turned to Anya who pressed her arms close to her body and her brows crumpled slowly due to the rain that dropped the temperature of the ship.

He stood up and grabbed the comforter. When he carefully draped the comforter around her, she silently cooperated lifting her laptop in one hand while typing in another. "Thank you." She thanked him without averting her gaze.

Shaking his head, he covered her legs and sat down next to her. As soon as the seat went down next to her, she glanced at him and her fingers stopped dancing on the keyboard. "You didn't sleep in the evening. Get some rest."

"No." He adjusted himself on the couch, placed his legs on the coffee table, and leaned his head on the couch.

He was forcing himself to keep himself awake when his body was craving to get some rest. "Don't be a kid."

"I am not."

"Then sleep. I won't go anywhere."

"You will definitely."

Anya: "..."

Well, he wasn't completely wrong. But why was he reminding her of her son?

***

'Baby, Momma has some work, please go to bed.'

'No. I will wait for Momma.'

'Aren't you a big boy now?'

'Yes.'

'Then Baby should listen to Momma and go to bed. Momma will come soon.'

'No, Momma will forget to sleep.'

***

Her son is stubborn like Alvin. Although he was five, he was too smart for his age. He clearly knows she will forget time while trying to complete her work. He was also aware she could ignore anything for him.

She spoils her son, doesn't mean she has to spoil Alvin. Probably she could. Seeing his sleepy eyes, she even itched to drag him to bed and sit by his side if needed. Nevertheless, she forced herself to 'behave.'

Alvin shifted his gaze to the ceiling and yawned when she resumed her work. He closed his eyes and mulled over why she was gathering evidence. Once the ship reaches the port, the cops will take care of all that. She could just rest or… Spend time with him. While thinking further, he didn't realize when he slipped to a dreamland.

As Anya dug into the ship network, she continued to find a few illegal activities on the ship hence she was busy gathering the evidence.

Initially, she made sure there were no other radio devices that could be used to connect with Johnson shore communication. However, she found a device in the secret monitor room that could be used to send messages as text, secret code, or small file-like images. She was trying to hack it when it lost connection from the network. She was trying different methods but the device was turned off.

"Alvin… I couldn't get the log of the device that had sent a picture to Harper's men." She reported to him as he was the one who told her Vice-captain Berwick had sent a picture and they might have to ghost Harper by sending a different picture.

Anya didn't hear any response and she didn't bother looking at him either. She continued to check into the network. Sometimes her eyes widened and sometimes she was disgusted. She also found the location of illegal drugs, firearms stored in a room. There were more suspicious activities on the ship which probably the vice-captain Berwick had no idea. She could only conclude as Harper's men who were in his plan weren't just three, more were on the board.

She was continuing to check into the details when half of the ship network turned off. Berwick's secret room was also shut down. Then she checked the security cameras of passageways and around, the busy, brightly lit ship was completely deserted.

She checked the time, it was half-past twelve. Since it was her first time on the ship, she assumed it must be how the ship operates at night.

Closing the laptop, Anya stretched her arms and focused on the sounds around her. She realized the rain was heavier hearing the fierce patter on the window. It was so aggressive that her heart started to pick up speed.

She turned to Alvin, who was again asleep in an uncomfortable position. She had thought he might like to speak about his family with her. She was kind of sure he never spoke about it with anybody. And he didn't speak with her either, so she didn't bring it up during or after dinner.

Looking at his calm, resting face, she wondered how the years made him handsome rather than aged. The tips of her fingers brushed his hair strands that were resting on his eye.

"..." After realizing she was staring at his sleeping face.

Immediately covering the blanket over him, she went to the ensuite to keep the laptop in the luggage. She looked outside the window where she couldn't see anything. It was creepily dark that gave her goosebumps.

Putting her hand on her chest, she felt her loud uneven heartbeats. 'Why am I scared?'

She started to breathe long and deep. She shouldn't be scared of darkness or rain. What if Zane was with her? If she gets scared, wouldn't it affect him more?

'It's night and raining.' She convinced herself. That's her way of making herself strong.

Probably that's how a woman becomes a mother. A mother who is less afraid of many things. There was a time when she was running away seeing a cockroach, afraid of some things, or facing people who look frightening. Now she could handle them head-on. Similarly, she didn't want to be afraid of this haunting darkness or wild downpour.

She washed her face while sensing the sailing wasn't smooth. She had to focus on balancing herself on the floor to avoid falling. It was like she was standing in a bus that was climbing and descending the slopes of a mountainous road.

Dabbing her face dry, she fetched a warm coat from the closet so that he could use a blanket and she could make do with the coat. Closing the door, she was wearing the coat when her eyes shifted to the window due to the lightning that brightened outside.

Her blood froze in her veins and her eyes widened looking at the huge ocean waves that could swallow the ship.

'Bang,' An ear-piercing, heart-thumping thunder struck her ears.

Panic flared in her eyes, she shivered inside. While she stood frozen, only she knew how terrified she was and wanted to cry out. But she had forbidden herself from breaking down.

Outside everything went to haunting darkness, yet she imagined the huge wave flipping the ship. She wanted to move, think of something but her body refused as if it knew nothing could save them.

"Little Donut…"

She heard Alvin's worrisome voice but she couldn't bring herself to turn to him. She missed her balance on the floor and fell on the floor. The steep slope made her slide. Her mind believed the huge wave was flipping the ship.

As if waking up from a nightmare, Anya reacted looking around. She tried to hold something but nothing was around. While she was thinking of holding the door frame, Alvin appeared out of nowhere and pulled her to his embrace.

Her hands involuntarily held him when he protectively buried her in his arms, as if trying to hide her from all the evils. He took her out to the bedroom without getting up from the floor. He closed the socket door of the ensuite while an arm kept her secure in his embrace.

Anya heard him breathe in relief while hearing his erratic heartbeats. He gently rubbed her head which worked on her. But it didn't calm her down, rather, she was thinking about how to reach the lifeboat, where are the lifeguards were stored.

Alvin was feeling uncomfortable on the couch as he kept sliding off due to ship movements. When the thunder woke him up, the first thing he did was to look for her. Since the door wasn't closed, he had seen her pale as a sheet, frozen on the spot while watching outside.

She was working when the ship staff announced the thunderstorm. He knew she didn't hear the announcement. He didn't expect to doze off before giving her a heads up.

There was carpet on the floor in the bedroom so they weren't slipping on the floor anymore, despite the ship continuing to rise and fall repeatedly on the waves. Still feeling her tremble and her fingers tightly clutching his shirt while holding her breath, he could guess that she probably caught the sight of monstrous waves that frightened her wits. He was amused that she could still hold herself in compose without crying or screaming or fainting.

Anyway, he rubbed her back, "Relax, Little Donut, nothing will happen. During thunderstorms, the ocean currents will be disturbed. It will stop soon." His soothing deep voice sounded above her head but his words scared her more.

Anya heard him and tried to speak as she sat back but her voice was numb in shock. Her mind could just imagine the waves trying to swallow the ship.

'Thud,'

Anya jerked closer to him with a gasp when a water wave slammed on the glass window. She shuddered by picturing how large the wave could be to reach their room.

Realizing what she did, she flustered and quickly went away from him. 'I shouldn't be afraid.' She repeated in her mind and forced herself to calm down.