If you haven’t read February 7 yet, you can do so here.

If you stumbled onto this post by accident and haven’t read any of the other stories, head over to this post to find out more about this project.

Jade Johnson had barely slept a wink the previous night. She wished she’d planned it for day 1 in Singapore, but she didn’t want it to be too obvious. Even so, there was now a chance they would cancel the entire day because of Coronavirus concerns. Luckily, nobody had symptoms on their ship or they would be completely quarantined. Her girlfriend Sofia had woken up at 7:30 a.m. looking perfectly well rested and positively radiant. If Jade had any doubts, they were squashed in that moment. 

“Honeybunches, you don’t look great. Did you sleep at all last night?” Sofia stroked Jade’s cheek lovingly.

“I’m fine. Just worried about this virus thing.” Sort of the truth.

“Oh babe. We’re pretty healthy. I doubt that anything bad is going to happen to us.”

Jade nodded. 

“But, we can stay here if you think we need to.”

“No!” Jade leapt to her feet and Sofia gave her an odd look. “No, it’s fine. I’m fine. I want to go.”

Sofia nodded slowly. 

“If you’re sure.”

“Of course, go shower. I’ll be there in a minute.”

Jade took a few deep breaths as she waited to hear the running water in the bathroom. Then she waited a few more seconds, just to be sure. She darted across to her day bag and searched for the little ring box. Triple checked the diamond ring was still inside and headed for the bathroom. She’d almost made it to the door when she noticed something had been slid under the door to their room. 

Jade scanned the paper quickly, with every moment her chest tightened a littler further. 

‘Dear guests, we have been forced to make the very tough call to leave Singapore port a day earlier than our initial schedule. Unfortunately, the continued threat of the Coronavirus is one we must take very seriously. The health of all of our guests is very important to us. There will be discussions today as to whether we need to forego any future ports of call. If that is the case, we trust you will understand our decision is made for the safety of all passengers aboard Pride 365. 

Kind regards, Adrienne McCoy.’

Jade rushed to the balcony of their room. Glancing outside, it was obvious the note wasn’t a prank. There was no land in sight. How early had they departed? How had they slept through it? She thought back, she’d barely slept, she should have noticed. 

She sighed. Singapore had always been part of her plan. How could she make it perfect if they couldn’t do it in Singapore? That had been their first trip as a couple. She’d planned to take Sofia up to the top of the observation wheel then ask her to marry her. Jade hadn’t made a backup plan. She cursed the Coronavirus and slid into the steamy bathroom to break the news to Sofia. 

You can read February 9 here.

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