Below Deck || C. Leclerc

xviii

Sylvie looked at Charles. Then at Liliana. Then at the two stewardesses who were standing next to each other, their eyebrows were raised. And she looked back at Liliana, who was smiling now. Sylvie knew Liliana well enough to know that it was a fake smile. She hated how professional she looked. However, the silence was to kill anyone.

"Hi, welcome," Liliana spoke up to break the silence. "I will bring this to the kitchen real quick. If you will follow me," she mentioned.

"Absolutely," Sylvie widely smiled. Apparently, Liliana had no one told that she knew Charles. The energy and vibes on the vessel changed extremely quickly. And Sylvie was living for it. She was following Liliana inside the yacht.

"Is there anything that I can get you? Coffee, tea, water, a cocktail?"

"I need an entire bottle of champagne, but I would like to have a cup of tea," Sylvie replied.

"Perfect," Liliana replied and entered the meeting room. "I will be right back. Make yourself feel at home." She left the room again, and the smile dropped immediately. Her jaw dropped, and she could feel her heart pumping blood extremely fast through her veins. It would tell her that she was probably dying soon if she was being monitored. Once she got in the kitchen, she put the dirty dishes down.

Julien turned around, feeling attacked by how loudly Liliana put the dishes down. "You good?"

All Liliana did was share a deadly look.

"Jeez, calm down, woman," Julien softly said, raised his eyebrows and turned back to the stove - what he was cleaning.

"I just don't..." Liliana pressed the words over her lips. Should she tell him about it?

Collin walked up the stairs, entering the kitchen. "You good?" He scanned Liliana's face.

"Do I look like I'm good?" Liliana sneered and shook her head. "Fuck, fuck, fuck," she whispered.

Collin and Julien looked at each other, trying to see if the other knew what was happening. They both saw how the confident woman was about to lose her shit.

"Did something happen?" Collin then asked. "I'm sorry that the guests saw her," he apologised, thinking that was the reason. "I couldn't avoid them." The plan was to let Sylvie unnoticeably on the yacht, but somehow she bumped into Charles and his friends.

Liliana put on the water cooker and rubbed her face with her hands. "Something personal happened," she mumbled and sighed. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and leaned against the wall. "Fuck."

"Is everything alright?" Collin again asked. "If you need a minute, I can go to Sylvie and say that you're on your way?"

"Please, escort me from this vessel," she said and looked him in the eyes. "As quickly as possible." For the first time during this season, Liliana showed nerves and fear. Things could escalate quickly. Things wouldn't be so complicated if Sylvie didn't say the word 'reunion'. It still was a problem that Sylvie set foot on this vessel, but that word made it worse. "Whatever," Liliana mumbled and put the hot water in a cup, taking the tea flavours and a biscuit with her.

Sylvie was looking around and looked impressed. She didn't know that Liliana worked on yachts. The yacht looked amazing, it was modern and looked like it was worth a lot of money. But there was one thing that didn't make sense to her; Charles on a rental yacht. He had his own yacht. And Liliana was serving him?

The door closed, and a professional look rested on Liliana's face. "There you go," she said and placed the cup of tea on the table.

"Thanks," Sylvie said. "I had no idea that you worked on yachts."