Love Rhapsody || The Music Freaks Fanfiction || Cruise AU

Chapter Five: Prohibition

A single ray of sunshine escaped through the blinds of the floral curtain prints, directly shining across the face of a teal haired girl. She groaned and turned over, reluctantly opening her eyes to a narrow squint, thinking it was the morning sun that had woken her up. However, she was proven wrong when a set of knocks rattled on her cabin door.

"Hello?" she asked groggily.

"Hailey?" the door creaked open to a small sliver, revealing a pair of periwinkle eyes. Hailey relaxed her shoulders as Zander walked over and sat down beside her on the bed.

"Are you feeling okay?" he asked, sounding genuinely. She rubbed her eyes and looked down, realizing she had worn her staff uniform to sleep.

"What happened?" she asked, voice still heavy from sleep.

"Ah..." he leaned on his hands, looking up. "Well, you... you caused quite a scene yesterday. After you ran off, I found you asleep in our cabin with tear stains on your pillow..."

Just thinking about what had happened yesterday made fresh tears spring at the corners of her eyes.

"Oh gods..." she muttered, taking her pillow and burying her face into it. "I must've caused so much trouble... What did Captain make of it?"

"She told me to give you this," Zander replied, holding out a white envelope. She took it and peeled off the golden seal to reveal a crisp, folded sheet of paper. A letter.

Dear Hailey Austin,

I regret to inform you that this letter secures a 4 day prohibition from leaving the designated grounds of the Imperial Rhapsody cruise ship.

It was reported yesterday, on the 7th of July that you had caused a disturbance in the Symphony Dining Room. Witnesses observed that you had dropped two trays of items, breaking a considerable amount of glass. After, you proceeded to raise your voice and give disrespectful words to a V.I.P. guest before deserting your post for the evening and fleeing the scene.

Your punishment has been decided based on your following actions: dropping the tray, disrespecting a V.I.P. guest, leaving your post, and abandoning the rest of your tasks for the night. As there are four total violations, you have been cast to prohibition for four days, starting on the 9th of July, 2021.

On 07/13/2021, your prohibition will be revoked. If it is noticed that your behaviour continues to fail, your punishment will either extend, or you will be kicked from the Imperial staff team. Until then, you are still expected to carry out your regular duties on board.

If you have any questions about the following, please contact me directly.

The letter was signed by a cramped 'A' in the bowl of a loopy 'C', followed by several indistinct letters trailing at the end.

"Four days?" Zander asked in disbelief. "Only four days of prohibition? Even our previous captain would have at least extended the prohibition for at least a week!"

"Yeah... I guess she went easy on me," Hailey grumbled.

Zander's expression immediately softened. "Hey, I'm sorry. I just meant... Well, it could've been a lot worse, huh?"

"I suppose," she sighed, "still... Prohibition from going off the ship..."

Even as a staff member, Hailey was still permitted to explore the different cities the cruise visited like any other guest, so long as she finished all her chores. She loved walking through the streets, visiting ports, and talking to shopkeepers. Everywhere the cruise went, she followed. It became so that she memorized all the location maps by heart, and the locals knew her by name.