Wren thought that he really needed to see her face.

It wasn’t like he actually cared that much about looks but he did want to know what kind of celebrity she was... The mystery was starting to drive him crazy a bit.

The woman finished talking on her phone and turned back with a noticeably pale face. She approached the table with slow hesitant steps then sat down heavily and clutched her cup with trembling hands.

Wren leaned forward slightly with a concerned expression.

"Did your boyfriend say anything?" Wren asked gently and the woman slowly nodded as her hood shifted slightly with the movement.

She pulled the fabric tighter over her face, as if trying to disappear into it completely.

"He was mad that I went on this cruise without him..." she said quietly in a tight voice. "But it’s okay, I’m used to it."

She clutched her drink tighter, her knuckles going white around the glass.

"I’m ruining the vibe," she said suddenly, setting the glass down with a soft clink. "I should go. Thank you for taking me out for drinks, though. That was... nice of you."

She started to stand up, gathering her things but Wren shook his head and reached out... not to touch her since that would label him as a creep but as a gesture for her to stay.

"You’re not ruining anything at all," Wren said firmly. "In fact, I was just thinking... are there any games available on the cruise ship that you like to play?"

The woman paused mid-rise, then slowly sat back down. She raised an eyebrow beneath her hoo though Wren couldn’t see it from where he was sitting.

"Games that I like to play?" she repeated curiosly despite her distress and Wren smiled.

"Yeah. Something fun. Something to get your mind off that phone call," Wren said. "This is supposed to be a vacation, right? So let’s actually enjoy it."

There was a long pause then, very quietly, she spoke again.

"Bowling."

Wren blinked.

"Bowling?"

"There’s a bowling alley on the ship," she said with a hint of her earlier energy returning to her voice. "It’s... actually pretty nice. If you want to go?"

Wren’s smile widened.

"Lead the way."

...

CRASH!

The sound of bowling pins falling echoed through the spacious room as Wren and the mystery woman who had her hands tucked into the pockets of her oversized hoodie walked through the entrance.

A maid in the ship’s standard uniform greeted them with a professional smile and a slight bow.

"Welcome to the Celestine Bowling Lounge..." the maid said warmly. "This is our six-lane facility. If you’d like to register to play, please proceed to the front counter to check in and select your lane."

She gestured toward a sleek desk at the far end of the room.

"Enjoy your game, I must go attend to something now." the maid added then bowed again and departed, leaving them alone together.

Wren looked around the facility with genuine surprise.

The room was elegant... far more upscale than any bowling alley he’d ever seen. The lanes gleamed under soft lighting, the pins were pristine white and everything had that new expensive smell.

Digital scoreboards hung above each lane, and comfortable seating areas flanked both sides.

"Why the hell is there a bowling alley on a cruise ship?" Wren asked, he was genuinely baffled and the woman chuckled... it was a real laugh this time, not the ones from before.

"Is this your first time on a luxury cruise ship?" she asked with amusement in her voice.

"Yes," Wren admitted without embarrassment. "First time."

He looked at her, studying what little he could see of her posture and body language.

"But since you knew about this place," Wren continued. "You must have been on luxury cruises a few times before."

The woman coughed into her fist as they walked toward the registration counter.

"This is probably my third time on a luxury cruise," she said after a moment. "The two times before this, I went with my boyfriend."

They arrived at the counter, where another maid stood ready with a tablet and a welcoming smile.

"Good evening! Would you like to bowl?" the maid asked.

"Yes, we would," the woman confirmed.

The maid nodded and began explaining the system.

"We have six courts available," the maid said, gesturing to the lanes. "There are digital scoreboards next to each one that will display your scores in real-time. The rules are quite simple... each player gets two attempts per frame to knock down as many pins as possible. Knocking down all pins on the first ball is a strike, and on the second ball is a spare. A perfect game is 300 points across ten frames."

She tapped the tablet she was holding.

"To register, please enter your initials here... three letters each," the maid explained. "Your names will appear on the scoreboard above your assigned lane. You’ll be at lane six, which is currently available."

She handed the tablet to Wren first. Wren took it and stared at the input screen for a moment while the woman next to him leaned to see.

’My name is just "Wren" but...’ Wren thought with a mental shake of his head. ’I need to type three letters. Do I go W-R-E?’

He typed: W-R-E

Immediately, the letters appeared on the digital scoreboard above lane six at the far end of the room and Wren handed the tablet over to the mystery woman.

She instinctively leaned away, as if the device might reveal too much but Wren pointed at the screen where his own initials were clearly displayed.

"You saw mine," Wren said reasonably. "So I should see yours, Fair’s fair."

The woman let out a deflated sigh then she typed: I-S-B

Wren blinked as the letters appeared on the scoreboard next to his.

’What kind of person has I-S-B as initials?’ Wren thought curiously. The woman handed the tablet back to the maid quickly, as if getting rid of evidence.

"You’re all set for lane six," the maid said cheerfully. "The pins reset magnetically after each roll, so you don’t need to worry about manual setup. Bowling balls are available in various weights at the rack beside your lane. Please enjoy!"

The two of them nodded and began walking toward their assigned lane. As they walked, Wren glanced at her.

"You mentioned going on luxury cruises with your boyfriend before..." Wren said casually.

She sighed.

"Yes."

"That means you’re some kind of celebrity or something," Wren observed. "Regular people don’t go on multiple luxury cruises."

She shrugged with her hands still buried in her hoodie pockets.

"Maybe I am, maybe I’m not," she said evasively. "But that doesn’t matter, does it?"

Wren smiled.

"Not at all," Wren said honestly. "I’m not a celebrity either."

They arrived at lane six and stopped at the ball rack.

"Have you played bowling before?" she asked with a hint of challenge in her voice. "Or are you trying to impress me again like with the coffee?"

Wren laughed.

"I actually know how to play bowling," Wren said. "I used to play it when I went out with my best friend sometime ago. It was one of our regular things."

He selected a ball from the rack... testing the weight and finding one that felt right.

"I’ll start first," Wren said. "But how about we make this interesting? Let’s add stakes."

The woman tilted her head beneath her hood.

"Stakes?" she repeated.

Wren set his bowling ball down and turned to face her fully.

"If I win this match," Wren said carefully, choosing his words. "then you show me your face and tell me your name."

She stiffened immediately with her body language immediately shifting to defensive.

Wren raised his hands in a placating gesture.

"Not because I want to expose you or anything like that," Wren added quickly. "But because I think it’s exhausting to have a genuine conversation with someone when they’re literally hiding behind a hood the entire time. How can we actually connect if you’re treating me like a threat?"

He softened his tone.

"I’m not asking you to reveal yourself to the world," Wren continued. "Just to me... Just here... Because I think you need at least one person on this ship who you can be real with and I’d like to be that person."

There was a long silence.

’I just said something cringe, didn’t I?’ Wren almost died of embarrassment but he braved it then the woman spoke quietly.

"And if I win?" she asked.

Wren smiled.

"If you win, then you don’t have to show me your face or tell me your name," Wren said. "We just keep having fun exactly as we are now with no pressure or expectations. Just... fun."

The woman thought about it for a long moment, her hidden face presumably weighing the options. Finally, she pulled up the sleeves of her hoodie, revealing slender arms.

"Just so you’re aware," she said, her voice taking on a competitive edge, "I’ve never been beaten at bowling before."

Wren grinned.

"There’s a first time for everything."

...

The woman... ISB stepped up to the lane first, selecting a ball with ease. She tested the weight, adjusted her grip, then positioned herself at the approach.

"You want to know a technique I like?" she asked over her shoulder.

"Sure, I wouldn’t mind." Wren said while leaning against the seat behind him.

"Most people aim for the center," she explained. "But that’s actually not optimal. You want to aim for the pocket... the space between the front pin and the pin behind it on your dominant side. For me, that’s the space between the one-pin and the three-pin."

She demonstrated her stance.

"And you don’t want to roll the ball straight," she continued. "You want to give it a slight curve. That increases the pin action when you hit the pocket."

"Hook shot..." Wren said, recognizing the technique, Brett had mentioned it once after all.

"Exactly," she confirmed then she approached, took three smooth steps, and released the ball with perfect form.

The ball curved beautifully down the lane, hitting exactly where she’d described.

CRASH!

Strike. All ten pins exploded backward, and the scoreboard updated.

[ISB: 10]

She turned back to Wren with what he could only imagine was a smug expression beneath that hood.

"Your turn..." she said.

Wren stood up, grabbed his ball, and approached the lane. He took his time, remembering the games he’d played back home with Brett.

He rolled. The ball curved slightly... not as elegantly as hers, but it was solid.

CRASH!

Nine pins down and one remained standing in the back corner.

"Not bad, you really do know how to play." she commented.

Wren picked up his ball for the second attempt and knocked down the spare.

[WRE: 10]

The match continued, and as they played, the conversation flowed naturally.

"So what do you do when you’re not on luxury cruises?" Wren asked as she lined up her next shot.

"I drive..." she said simply, focusing on her approach.

"Like... for work? Uber driver?" Wren asked with a slight grin and she actually laughed at that. A simple Uber driver wouldn’t be able to get on the exclusive side of the Celestine after all.

"Something like that..." she said, then rolled another perfect strike and the pins exploded backward with satisfying force.

She was incredibly consistent... her form was perfect, her technique was flawless and when she held the ball, her focus was absolute. She wasn’t just a casual bowling player, this was someone who’d spent serious time practicing and perfecting their craft.

By the fourth frame, both of them got strikes this time.

[ISB: 76 | WRE: 68]

"You’re better than you said," she commented as they passed each other between turns.

"I’m trying my best," Wren admitted. "You’re just really, really good."

"It’s years of practice give or take..." she said. "When you travel as much as I do, you find activities you can do anywhere. Bowling alleys exist in every major city."

Fifth frame and she got another strike while he got a spare.

[ISB: 106 | WRE: 88]

The gap was widening. Wren was playing well, but she was playing at a completely different level.

"Do you always wear the hood?" Wren asked as he retrieved his ball for the sixth frame and she was quiet for a moment.

"When I’m in public..." she admitted. "It’s easier that way, people leave me alone so you could say it’s your classic celebrity stuff."

"That sounds lonely..." Wren said with a sigh, he didn’t really want that much people surrounding him.

"It is," she said softly. "But it’s better than the alternative."

In the sixth frame, she got a spare and he got eight pins.

[ISB: 122 | WRE: 104]

"You know what I like about bowling?" she said as Wren retrieved his ball for the next frame.

"What’s that?"

"It’s one of the few activities where I can just... be me." she said quietly as she took a deep breath. "There are no cameras watching every move... There are no expectations about how I should perform and no one judging me. It’s just the ball, the pins, and the score. It’s honest and pure in a way. You can’t fake a strike, it’s either you hit it or you don’t."

Wren looked at her, for this woman to be saying all of these things to a guy she met at the ship today, how exactly was her life?

By the seventh frame, Both of them got strikes.

[ISB: 152 | WRE: 134]

"Your form is really consistent..." Wren commented. "Do you practice a lot? I’m pretty much a casual bowler."

"I used to bowl competitively," she admitted. "Before... well, before my career took off. It was my stress relief and still is, actually."

"Makes sense..." Wren said. "Everyone needs something they can do to calm down."

She glanced at him and he could feel her gaze even if he couldn’t see her eyes.

"You’re surprisingly easy to talk to..." she said.

"Is that surprising?" Wren asked with a slight smile and she laughed at that.

"A bit... well come on, let’s play."

It was the eighth frame now and she got a strike while he got nine pins in total.

[ISB: 182 | WRE: 152]

The gap was too wide now. Mathematically, even if Wren bowled perfectly from here, she could still win if she maintained her pace.

"Fuu... you’re going to win and I won’t get to see your face." Wren said with a sigh.

"Don’t give up yet..." She said. "Anything can happen in the final frames, maybe if you want, we can play more games after this."

On the ninth frame, She got a strike and he got a spare.

[ISB: 212 | WRE: 172]

It was tenth and final frame now and the woman took a deep breath and she stepped up, took her position, and rolled.

Strike!

On the bonus roll, there was a strike as well and on the final roll... she got another strike.

[ISB: 242]

The scoreboard flashed her final score in bright letters and she turned around with her arms raised in victory.

"Wooh!" she shouted with genuine joy in her voice and in that moment of celebration, as she landed from her small victory jump, her hood fell back and Wren’s breath caught.

A beautiful woman stood before him with blonde hair tied up in a messy bun, stunning green eyes bright with excitement and a very radiant smile on her face.

She was gorgeous... and cute too, then she realized what had happened.

Her hands flew to her face, and she grabbed her hood, yanking it back up and over her head. She actually bent over toward the ground, trying to hide.

"Did you really see...?" she asked in a muffled voice.

"I saw..." Wren confirmed.

The woman practically collapsed to her knees, pulling her hood even tighter around her face, curling in on herself like she could disappear.

’This is it.’ she thought with rising panic. ’He’ll ask for a picture or something. Then he’ll go on Toktik and post about how he found me on the ship and bowled with me then Marcus won’t stop yelling at me and blowing up my phone with calls. My vacation is ov—’

She took a deep breath

’No... It isn’t over.’ she thought with sudden determination. She had to stand up for herself, that was what she’d come on this cruise to do in the first place.

So she stood up, pulling herself to her full height and faced Wren directly.

"Since you saw my face," she said, her voice was stronger now despite the trembling, "could you not say anything on Toktik or social media? I’ll even pay you to keep quiet, Name your price... I just wanted to enjoy my vacation."

Wren raised an eyebrow and he blinked before rubbing the back of his head with a confused expression on his face

"I don’t know who you are..." Wren said slowly, as if explaining something obvious and the woman’s hood fell down again... this time it from shock rather than accident.

Her mouth opened. She blinked once then twice as if she hadn’t heard him properly.

"Are you crazy?" she said with disbelief clear in her voice. "I’m Isabella Leeves."

She said it like it should mean something... like everyone in the world should know that name because they did.

’How is there a person in the world that doesn’t know who I am?’ Isabella thought as she was completely stunned. ’Is he dumb? Living under a rock? Some kind of hermit?’