A burst of static.

The chorus of a chart-topping pop song.

Some new boy band’s debut hit cut through the still morning air, jarring Lana awake in the middle of a dream. She swatted at the alarm clock, blindly feeling around for the off button to shut the noise up as quickly as possible. She didn’t particularly like the song. She didn’t even know the band’s name. The Archmages? The Archetypes? Something like that, not that Lana cared. She only set the song as her wakeup call because she knew it annoyed her mother.

She sat up in bed, peeling off her eye mask. The bedroom was still cast in shadows, but navy-blue light seeping in through the window blinds hinted that the sun was just beginning to rise. Lana knew it was insane for any human being to wake up this early, but it was a daily sacrifice she had to make: she needed ample time to shower and fix her hair. Unfortunately, she inherited her mom’s frizzy, black mane, so styling and taming it took eons. And today, she had an added chore: making sure Dad actually got out of bed. This was a job Mom usually took care of, but she was currently out of town for a book signing, so Lana had to pick up the slack.

She trekked the hall toward her parents’ bedroom, rapping on the door three times and waiting for a response. (Lana knew better than to barge in without knocking first. She learned her lesson as a high school freshman, when she walked in on her parents role-playing as teacher and student. The worst part? Mom was wearing one of Lana’s school uniforms that had mysteriously gone missing a few weeks earlier. She let them keep the uniform under one condition: no one was to speak of the incident ever again.) Of course, Mom wasn’t even home today, but for all Lana knew, Dad could be right in the middle of an early-morning video call.

A low-pitched, muffled grunt responded. Lana took this as an all-clear, so she cracked the door open an inch or two and called out into the darkness, “Dad, you awake?”

Another groan.

“Okay. Well, I’m gonna get ready for school now, so you better not fall back asleep.”

She purposely slammed the door louder than necessary as she left. If her dad wasn’t awake before, he was now, and her job here was done.

Lana customarily slipped into the bland, black dress that made up her school uniform. She hovered before the mirror, checking the look out. She was just smoothing out the last wrinkle when there came a sudden knock on the door. “Come in,” she called, turning to watch as her father peeked through the frame.

Miraculously enough, he seemed to have successfully gotten ready for work despite the early hour. Every button on his shirt appeared to be clasped in proper order, and his dyed-blond hair was effortlessly coifed thanks to years of practice. Lana didn’t think her mom would let Dad change his hairstyle even if he wanted to. She had seen pictures of the man from when he was younger, and he had hardly aged aside from some light wrinkles. He still had the same button-up shirts, the same icy glare, and the same intimidating presence.

“Lana.” The tone and timbre of his voice always demanded attention, no matter what he said. “I reheated one of the cinnamon rolls your mom left for breakfast. Go eat.” He turned to leave, but he quickly stopped himself on remembering something else he wanted to add. “It’s supposed to be cold today. You should bundle up.”

He disappeared from the doorway before Lana could respond. She turned to the bed, seeking the old, giant, beat-up dragon plushie that dwelled on it. For some reason, a dark-blue scarf had always been wrapped around the animal’s neck. Dad said he knit the scarf for Mom when the two were younger or something like that. To be honest, Lana didn’t really care about the story or meaning behind the muffler, but she automatically reached for it on chilly days, and today was no exception.

With the scarf snuggly coiled around her neck, Lana sauntered out of her room. There, she found that her father had moved down the hall and now loomed in her younger brother’s doorway. His vocal volume climbed as he scolded, “Why does your mother let you live like this? How do you even walk in this room?”

Lana knew she had to intervene if she didn’t want her father to become an insufferable grouch for the rest of the morning.

She brushed past him, peeking into the crowded, cluttered room. Hundreds—no, probably thousands—of video games lined the walls of his bedroom. Bookcases muddled with gaming memorabilia and old, antique consoles had been shoved in front of the windows, leaving the room completely devoid of sunlight. In the middle sat a tiny clearing filled with pillows and a blanket. Lana guessed he slept there—on the rare occasion that he actually slept, of course.

To say her brother was a bit of a recluse would be a major understatement. He practically lived in his bedroom, only coming out when absolutely necessary. He ate, he went to school, and he (surprisingly willingly) tagged along when Mom dragged him to the arcade every Wednesday night. He spent the rest of his time pent up in his domain, playing the latest games on his XBOX23040, Playstation 30, and WiiUi643DS Cube. The only socializing he ever did was in online discussions about when Half-Life 3 would come out.

Dad clearly abhorred his son’s chosen lifestyle, but Mom let him get away with it.

“Samuel Yifan Wu,” he demanded, “get up right this instant. You’re making us all late for school.”

“Come on, Sam,” Lana called to the boy. He was currently curled up on the ground, his gaming headset still planted on his ears. “If you don’t get up, I’ll dig up Mom’s first book and read it out loud—”

“Nooooo!”

Lana smirked. She knew exactly how to push the kid’s buttons. Sam was easy to tease when it came to their mom’s hit children’s book, Daddy Sleeps with Other Men for a Living and That’s OK. Though Lana’s parents insisted the book wasn’t written about her father, she wasn’t stupid. She knew her dad was once an adult entertainer named Dragon Express; any simple Google² search could tell you that. Lana had come to terms with her father’s former profession, but her younger brother was still clearly weirded out by the idea. And Dad wasn’t exactly thrilled when Lana brought it up either.

“Lana,” he grumbled a warning, narrowing his eyes at her. In the background, Sam had thrown off his headphones, jumped up from his makeshift bed, and begun fumbling into a clean uniform.

“What?” she replied, blinking innocently at her father.

He shook his head. “Go eat breakfast.”

Without another word, she disappeared to the kitchen downstairs. Two cinnamon rolls had been left out on separate plates. She grabbed the bigger one and poked at it cautiously. The middle was still refrigerator cold, yet the outer spiral was charred. Somehow, her father had burned the bun just by heating it up. His cooking skills were tragic to say the least. Such a shame, too; although Lana hated to admit it, Mom’s cinnamon rolls were actually tasty. It was kind of sad seeing one go to waste.

Lana tossed the plate into the trash. She would just grab a granola bar instead. As she reached into the cabinet, her father came thundering down the stairs, followed by Sam, who was listlessly dragging his feet along. Apparently, it had taken the high school freshman all of two minutes to get ready.

“Time for school,” her dad whistled. At least he was in a better mood now that Sam was back in the land of the living.

Lana was a senior in high school this year, which meant she was finally a student in her father’s English class. Not coincidentally, he was also her homeroom teacher. It wasn’t really a big deal; Lana just figured he pulled some strings with the school administration to make it happen. He would probably do the same once Sam hit the final year, which meant the poor kid would never be able to skip a class again.

As always, Lana entered the classroom alongside her father. The room was mostly empty, but pairs of students soon began to trickle in, until finally almost every desk had been filled. Her dad (or Wu-seonsaeng, as she was supposed to call him in class) promptly began taking roll call. When he had finished, he tossed the clipboard down on his desk, telling the students to talk quietly among themselves.

Lana shifted uncomfortably in her seat as girls around her immediately began whispering about her father. It was no secret that he was the object of many female students’ affection, even in spite of his growing age. Nevertheless, hearing her classmates gossip about “how y Lana’s dad is” always irked her for some reason. Even some of the male students seemed to be hot for teacher. All of the attention being thrown on a middle-aged man was gross.

Lana tried her best to ignore the girls and let her mind wander off to her after-school plans. Today was Wednesday, and she had been looking forward to it for a full week. Just as Mom always took Sam to the arcade, it was customary for Lana and her father to visit the museum every Wednesday evening. Today, they were scheduled to see a critically-acclaimed Titanic exhibit that would soon close. Lana was excited to get some pictures of the ship replica; she wanted to prove to her mom once and for all that the ship name was spelled T-I-T-A-N-I-C, not T-W-A-T-A-N-I-C.

Amid the idle chatter filling the classroom, Lana heard her father’s phone ring. She recognized the ringtone immediately—the chorus to an ancient song by some singer Lana had been named after. She watched as her dad took the call, a telltale sign that the caller was her mother. He wouldn’t have answered the phone for anyone else. As the two began talking away, he alternated between scowling and furrowing his thick eyebrows. Lana so wished she could hear what he was saying...

When he finally hung up, the first period bell was ringing. Students jumped up from their desks, quickly scurrying off to the gym so as not to be late and face the detention-happy wrath of Huang Zitao. Lana was ready to follow suit when her dad called, “Lana, can you come speak to me for a second?”

She strolled up to the teacher’s desk curiously. Maybe she would get a hint of what her parents had been discussing on the phone. “What’s up, Dad?”

“Your mom missed her flight home,” he informed her, wearing a curt frown. “I’ll have to pick her up from the airport after school.”

Lana’s heart sank. If he went to the airport, then he wouldn’t be able to take her to the Titanic exhibit, and she had been waiting for this all week. She stammered, “B-but we have to go to the museum tonight. It’s our last chance befo—”

“I’m sorry,” her dad sighed, cutting her short. “Why don’t you ask Uncle Kevin to take you instead?”

“Because I want to see it with you,” she pouted sullenly. It wasn’t fair. Everything always revolved around her mother. Dad was perpetually at the woman’s beck and call, and Lana didn’t see why. “Why does Mom have to be so stupid?”

Her father glowered severely at the insult. He snapped, “Young lady, don’t call your mother stupid. We have to love her in spite of her flaws.”

Lana huffed. She was far too exasperated for rational reasoning now. Without another word, she spun on her heels and stormed away. Why did she ever bother getting her hopes up? Her mom always ruined everything anyway.

Author's Note
Hello! This chapter has been sitting on my computer for a few days now, waiting to be posted. ;_; Unfortunately, I've been putting off making the foreword, so I ended up throwing a messy one together in like twenty minutes. The foreword will be redone eventually, but for now, at least I can start posting chapters. >_<

I hope this chapter wasn't too boring! I can't really get into the fun, adventurous stuff until I set up the Wu family dynamic. But that's okay, because I know everyone was dying to see Lana and Daddy Kris, riiiiiiiiight? ^o~ This chapter was actually going to be 2-3 times longer, but I decided to split it here so that the first chapter wouldn't be like 5k lmao.

And I see that I have 404 subscribers! ;O; I wish I could personally thank all of you for subscribing! I definitely wasn't expecting this many. And thanks for the 50+ comments you left as well! ^^ Anyway, please subscribe and comment! Love you all~ ❤

Edit/disclaimer/for those who feel like Lana is a brat right now: this story is about Lana's changing view of her parents and their relationship. In order for the storyline/plot to work out and to build up to the intended ending, the story has to start this way. You'll see how it all fits together eventually, so don't judge her too quickly. ^o^