TIFFANY P.O.V.

“Do you trust me?”

 “PABO!” I yelled, chucking a piece of popcorn at the TV in an attempt to hit the blond boy’s face, “If only you knew what happened at the end of your sorry life! The whole freaking ship goes down and she has an entire door that she’s laying on but she won’t share any of it with you, and then you DIEEEEEEEE!”

My screaming didn’t seem to faze the handsome actor at all, and he continued to wrap his arms around his lover.

“I trust you.”  The girl answered, her eyes still squeezed shut.

Laughing at his stupidity, I chucked another piece of popcorn at the screen. “Dude, you could do so much better…” I shook my head in disappointment and got up from the couch, turning the TV off. It wasn’t until I entered the kitchen that I realized Victoria was still there, trying to clean a soda stain off the white tile.

“How was the movie?” she asked me, scrubbing furiously at the floor.

I smiled and sat down next to her, “It was incredibly stupid,” I confirmed, chuckling slightly.

“That’s what it sounded like. God, I hate the Titanic. The only good thing in the whole movie is that handsome son of a with the blond hair, and then he dies, which is incredibly depressing.”

“You mean Leonardo de Caprio?”

She shrugged and continued to work at the red, sticky mark. “Who cares; I don’t do names.”

“Dude, you don’t have to do that; that stain has been there since 2005.”

“No, I have to. Besides, I’m building arm muscles.” She winced and grabbed her back like an old lady.

Grinning, I grabbed the sponge out of her hand and threw it in the sink. Victoria looked angrily at me, which made me laugh, because I hardly ever saw my best friend with a frown on her face. “YA! Didn’t I tell you how much I need this money from your mom? That purse from Forever 21 is one of a kind, and I have to buy it!”

I gave her a weird look, “Its 20 dollars, Tori. Are you really that broke?”

“Well, I’m grounded, and according to my mom, my allowance is terminated whenever I’m going through one of my ’bad-girl phases’; was stealing a piece of caramel from Walgreens really that bad?” she asked me, flipping her hair for dramatic effect, “I swear, I want to throw her and that stupid- rule book out the window!”

Victoria saw my raised eyebrows and glared at me, “What? My mom really is that ridiculous, if that’s what you’re wondering, so quit arching your eyebrows!”

“I believe you! No need to get so defensive.” I watched as she scooted up next to me and stretched her legs out.

“So…” she began, fiddling with her fingers, “when does your family get back?”

 “In 2 days, I think. My mom said something about the weather being bad and having to pull over yesterday, so I’m guessing it will be longer.”

“Did she call you?”

“Yeah, but I couldn’t really hear her since she was at dinner with everyone.”

“Wait, so your entire family is there?”

“Yep, every single aunt, uncle, cousin....”

She let out a long breathe before turning towards me, “So why aren’t you there, with them?” she questioned.

Shrugging, I pulled my knees to my chest. I wanted to tell her the truth: that cruise ships freak me out, and that I wished my relatives that I hadn’t talked to in gazillion years could see me and say that I had grown up to be really pretty and sweet. But ever since I started hanging out with Victoria and the other popular girls at school, everything had to be a secret. If you said one wrong thing about yourself, your cool-girl reputation would be gone in a second. “I didn’t feel like it,” I answered simply.

Victoria groaned and leaned back up against the kitchen wall. “I wanted some kind of deep, meaningful answer. SO BORING!” She rubbed at her head and gave me her best pouty lips, trying to get a better answer.

I put on my best thinking face and looked her in the eye. “I didn’t want to tell you this, but I guess I have no choice. I’m actually a secret agent, and I couldn’t go because there was an important mission involving Lee Joon and a muscle inspection.”

“Scandalous; I like it!” she wiggled her eyebrows, making me laugh.

The ring of the home phone interrupted our giggling. “Someone demands my attention,” I announced, getting up and strutting towards the counter. She laughed as I picked up the phone in a mock y manner. “Hello?” I said, winking at my friend.

“Is this Tiffany Hwang?”

I gave Victoria a weird look and walked into the living room, “Yes; may I ask who’s calling?”

“My name is Eleanor Massenfield; I work in the Public Relations Department at Royal Caribbean. I’m afraid that some terrible events have occurred recently.”

“What is it?”

“We have discovered that one of our ships headed towards Costa Rica, which your family was reported to be on, sank last night at 1:00 A.M. due to an unexpected thunderstorm in the Pacific Ocean.”

My heart almost stopped at that point, and I could feel my blood run cold as I tried to process the new information, “I’m sorry, you must be joking…”

The woman cleared , “Ms. Hwang; we do not joke about such serious things.”

“Well, t-there must have been some survivors, right? Surely someone must have grabbed onto a door, or a lifeboat, perhaps-”

“The search team investigated the area for survivors but found nothing. Unfortunately, everyone has been reported to be dead.”

“Are you sure?”

“Ms. Hwang, we are certain. I am very sorry. Would you like us to contact someone to assist you further?”

Her voice became quieter as my knees buckled. The phone slipped out of my hand and fell to the floor, and I could feel my head hit the hard wood flooring.

“Tiffany? Dude, are you okay?”

Victoria’s voice seemed to echo as she yelled me name, but I was too weak to answer, and I could barely see her running towards me, trying to get me up. I tried to keep my eyes open, but my vision became blurry. Before I completely faded away, my mother’s face appeared in front of me, and then I was alone with her, in the pitch black.

“Mom?”

“Tiffany? Is that you?”

“Mom! You’re alive, right? Please say you’re still alive and breathing.”

“I’m sorry, Tiffany.”

She started to fade away, her silhouette growing fainter and fainter until it was gone.

“No…”

“Tiffany…”

“Don’t leave me! MOM!”

I called her name, but she was gone. I was suddenly standing in a dark room that seemed to go on forever, and every time I spoke my voice echoed on and on. “Where am I?” I mumbled, trying to walk forward.

Suddenly, my legs began to move faster, and my surroundings changed so that I was on the deck of a boat. 

I was running, trying to speed up but slowing down due to the turning and twisting of the ship. I could see my mother and father in front of me, grabbing a lifeboat and throwing it into the water. Trying to get their attention, I called out their names repeatedly.

“Mother! Father!”

No matter how loud I yelled, they didn’t seem to hear me. Turning away, I tried to get someone else to talk to me, but no one could hear me no matter how close they were.

Suddenly, my mother turned towards me, giving me her signature smile. “How can you be smiling right now?” I screamed, “You lied to me; you said that this would never happen again!”

She approached me and put her hand on my shoulder. “History will often repeat its course, Tiffany.” As soon as she let go of me, the ship began to turn over, and a chill ran through my body. A single tear floated down her cheek, “Remember, my darling; no matter where I am, you will always be my princess.”

“MOM!” The ship continued to tip, and all I could see was her face before she disappeared into the water.

I jolted up in bed, sweat beads rolling down my face. Looking around, I saw only white hospital walls and a small TV with my name and birthday written in ugly green lettering on the screen. It didn’t seem like anyone was there, so I tried to stand up but was shocked when someone grabbed my shoulder. “I wouldn’t do that, Ms. Hwang.”

Looking up, I saw Myungsoo’s brown eyes staring back at me, his hand pushing towards the bed. “Myungsoo… what are you doing here?” I asked him.

“I’m your mom’s lawyer, which means I’m required to be here to support you when needed, like today.” He pulled up a chair and sat down next to me, giving me a weak smile. “Can you remember what happened?”

“Yeah; all the details are still here,” I replied, pointing to my head. “But why am I in the hospital?”

 “You fainted, and your friend was there so she called for an ambulance,” he said simply.

“Victoria… is she here?”

Myungsoo shook his head. “She was at first, but only for an hour. You’ve been out for two days.”

“Two days?!” I asked, my eyes widening, “It felt like minutes”

“It can often feel like that when you’re asleep.”

I closed my eyes and leaned back against the headboard. “What about school? Are my grades okay? How about my friends? What do they think-”

“Tiffany, everything is okay at school. We haven’t told anyone anything, and your friends think you’re home sick. I wouldn’t worry about it so much, okay? Right now, we have bigger things to think about.”

 “You’re right.”

“Are you feeling okay? Do you want to talk about anything?” I could sense that he was worried about me, but I wasn't sure if I should trust him with my feelings.  I didn’t know him very well; we had met once or twice at family parties and get-togethers, but that’s about it.

“No, that’s okay,” I answered, shaking my head.

Myungsoo took a deep breath and grabbed my hand awkwardly. “You know, sometimes it helps to talk about it.”

I gave him a sad look, “You really want to know all the sad crap that happened to me?”

“I just want you to talk to me; let it all out, okay? You’ll feel a lot better, trust me.” He looked and gave me an encouraging smile, and I sighed before slowly turning to face him.

“Last year, my mom and I watched the Titanic for the first time, and when the movie was over I asked her if something that horrible would ever happen again. She looked me right in the eyes and said no, and I believed her,” I choked back tears and tried to look him in the eyes, “She was wrong, though, because it did. I can’t help but feel like she lied to me.”

I felt his hand squeeze mine comfortingly. “Tiffany; your mom didn’t know that she would have to leave you. I knew her very well, and she loved you very much, okay?”

“It’s not just my mom, you know,” I answered defensively, “My whole family went down in that ship; my dad, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins… everyone I know and love has been taken away from me.”

“Well, you’re not completely alone, Tiff. You still have someone left.”

“I do? Who is it?” I asked him, trying not to get my hopes up but failing.

He smiled at my eagerness. “A couple of years ago, your mom updated her will; she knew that if something were to happen, there should be some place that you could go to live,” he rummaged around in his brown briefcase and pulled out a brochure, handing it to me slowly.

I took it and read the title before giving him a stupid look. “Saint Mary Academy?”

“It’s not as bad as it looks, trust me. Your mom went there for a few years as a kid when she lived in Seoul, you know.”

“A boarding school? Yeah, that’s not happening.”

“Hey, it’s either that or Ireland with your great-uncle Steven and his chickens.”

Taking another look at the brochure, I shrugged before answering, “This suddenly looks a lot more appealing.”

He laughed and let go of my hand. “That’s what I thought. Now, do you remember your great-aunt BoA?” Myungsoo asked.

“Barely, but I’ve only met her once at a wedding. She went on the trip though, right?”

“Well, she was going to, but she got a concussion. She’s an art teacher at the academy, so she’ll take care of you while you're there.”

I gave him a weak smile. “Sound’s better than nothing.”

Smiling, he stood up. “Don’t worry too much, Tiffany; everything will be okay,” he reassured me.

“Thanks, Myungsoo.”

He nodded and kissed my forehead. “Get some rest, okay?” I watched as he walked out the door, flicking the lights off and leaving me alone in the dark.  

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annyeong! this chapter is a bit sad, just to warn you, so please don't cry to much. the fluff starts next week, but this chapter was kind of a downer. please don't be mad at me, okay? ^^ love you all, and thanks for 24 subscribers! oh, and comment below if you find any spelling errors or grammar fails... saranghae!