“Jessica?”

“Wh-where am I?” Jessica opens her eyes

“The power’s back.”

“Oh. Mom. How come?” Jessica asks as she gets up from the couch.

“Some people from the electricity company fixed the power lines and replaced the post that fell down.”

“How were they able to? Wasn’t it still raining hard?”

“The storm’s already gone.”

“How long was I sleeping?”

“About twenty-two.”

“Hours?”

“Uh-huh,” her mom answers as she nods her head.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“I tried to, but nothing would work.”

“So, it’s already seven?”

“Yes, if you do the math.”

“That’s why I’m feeling so hungry.”

“Well, why don’t we eat out?”

“Just you and me?”

“Just you and me.”

“Well, I better take a bath first.”

“Yeah. You should. It smells as if we hadn’t taken out the trash last night,” her mom jokes.

“Haha. Very funny mom,” Jessica smiles at her mom and heads up to her room to take a bath.

She opens her room and switches the lights on. She heads to her closet first to get some clothes, but she suddenly tripped on something.

“What is this?” Jessica asks herself as she picks up a piece of cloth on the floor.

Jessica stands up and spreads the cloth in front of her with both of her hands. It was a bathrobe.

“I don’t have a bathrobe. Neither does mom. Whose is this?” Jessica asks herself once more as she sits on her bed and puts the robe on her lap. “Could it be… no… it’s… it’s impossible… it can’t be… is it… is it Tiffany’s?”

Jessica puts the robe aside for now. She heads to her closet once more as she picks out a pair of denim shorts and a blouse to match with it. Then, she pulls a drawer under the cabinet doors and takes out a set of underwear. She brings all of it to the bed and puts it on top. Then, she glances at the robe once more, and finally heads inside the bathroom. Then, she clutches a part of her shirt and puts it on her nose.

“Hmm. Oh God. Smells like unwashed gym socks,” Jessica describes as she takes the piece of clothing off her upper body.

After doing so, Jessica looks at the mirror above the bathroom sink and stares at herself. She narrows her eyes as she sees something that was smeared on her body. There was something on her stomach and she sees the same thing on her forehead. She wipes it off with the back of her hand and she stares at the pink smudge for a while. Then, she closes her eyes and tried to remember where it came from. She remembers the same thing that was on her ear the other night and she recalls her steamy moment with Tiffany. She opens her eyes wide and quickly removes her pajamas. There were marks on her thighs and legs too. She takes off the rest of her clothing and quickly turns on the shower. She steps in and rubs her skin hard. She starts with her legs and made her way up. As soon as she was at the stomach area, she involuntarily closes her eyes and caresses the spot with her fingers. Then, those fingers touch her forehead and her ears gently. Then, she touches her lips once more; those lips that have never been touched by any other of its kind. Subsequently, she opens her eyes and continued to rub her body. Then, she takes a bar of soap and wipes it on her whole body. It took some time, but her body was clean. Then, she reached for shampoo and rubbed her hair with it. The conditioner followed afterwards. Soon she was spending her last seconds in the shower. She turns the shower’s knob in a counter-clockwise motion and the flow of water stops. She reaches for another towel and dries her body and wraps the towel around her once more. Then, she leaves her bathroom and sits on her desk. She opens the desk’s drawer and takes a hairdryer and plugs it in the socket underneath the desk, she turns it on and aims it at her hair. Then she picks up a comb and untangles her hair. Soon, her beautiful blonde hair was dry. Afterwards, she takes a few hairpins and pins her hair up. Then, she removes the towel and puts her clothes on one at a time. Following that, she exits her room and goes downstairs and waits for her mother in the living room.

“Mom!” Jessica screams out. “I’m ready! And hungry! Where are you?”

“I’ll be down in a minute, sweetheart.”

As promised, her mother climbed down the stairs in a matter of minutes.

“Shall we go?”
“Yes, but where to?”

“There’s a new restaurant I found when I was shopping for groceries a while ago. We’ll try the place out.”

“The stores and restaurants are already open?”

“Well, the storm didn’t damage anything much. Just those near the shorelines were affected terribly. Our neighborhood just lost electricity for a few hours.”

“Then let’s go!”

The two women head outside to eat. They walk on their way there since they have no other means of transportation.

“Jessica.”

“What is it mom?”

“Last night…”

“Yes?”

“You were sweating a lot.”

“Maybe it was hot.”

“It was raining hard. Even I felt cold.”

“It must have been the leather couch.”

“Maybe that’s the case. But you were sweating a lot and it almost seemed like you were rained on in your sleep.”

“I wasn’t rained on? And I dried myself up before going to sleep. Why was I wet last night?” Jessica silently asks herself.

“Oh, and one more thing,” Jessica’s mom adds as she starts giggling.

“What is it?”

“You were making strange noises too.”

“What kind of noises mom?” Jessica asks as her face turns red.

“You were…” Jessica’s mom laughs first before continuing. “You were .”

Jessica’s face turned red as if it had been slapped numerous times. She was embarrassed, especially because it was her mom who heard her. Luckily, they arrived at the restaurant before things got more embarrassing.

“Oh, were here,” Jessica’s mom yells out as she stops at a small structure.

“This is it?” Jessica made sure as she stops after her mom.

“It’s a Korean restaurant.”

“Why here?”

“Well, we had Korean roots remember? Your dad had half Korean blood.”

“Oh yeah. Dad.”

Jessica bowed her head down and stared at the ground for some time. Her mom put her arm around her and rubbed her shoulder after a few seconds.

Jessica’s father passed away when she was six years old. It was a pretty ordinary day, with the whole family going out to spend time together. It was winter season and the snow on the ground was quite thick. As the day started, they played games in the snow immediately. They built snowmen with irregular structures and crooked arms, threw snowballs at each other, created snow angels in the snow by lying down and flailing their arms, and finally finished off by drinking hot chocolate together. Then, before nightfall, Jessica told her father that she wanted to play some more. And so the family went out once more as they play in the snow again. Excitedly, Jessica started to roll a handful of snowball between her hands. As she prepared to throw it to her dad, it slipped off her little mittens. The snowball rolled towards the road all of a sudden. Jessica didn’t want to waste the effort she put into making the spherical object so she chased after it. She stopped in the middle of the road and bent down to pick up the ball of snow, but as she was holding it in her hands, the sound of honking echoed throughout the neighborhood and two glowing orbs blinded her eyes. Then, all she could remember were warm and soft hands against her chest that pushed her to the snow-filled sidewalk. Then, as she wiped the snow off her jacket a snowball rolled towards her. She picked it up and stared at one spot intensely. There was an impure area on the white ball. It was red; a bright red stain. Then, she tilts her head to the left and a crowd nearby was gathered around. Curious as to what it was, she stood up from the pile of snow and forced her way into the middle of the crowd. Then she saw him; a tall white man, with brown-colored hair, and an unrecognizable face. The man was covered in blood, but Jessica was able to see his pure, bare hands. She picked one of them up and held it against her chest and felt the warm, caring, feeling it brought. Then, she uttered the word “Dad.”

“Don’t worry. I’m sure he’s in a wonderful place right now.”

“I’m sure too,” Jessica responds as she looks at her mom with teary eyes.

“Well, then, let’s eat!” Jessica’s mom muttered as she wipes the sides of her daughter’s eyes with her fingers.

The mother-daughter tandem enters the small restaurant. It was undersized as compared to other restaurants in the area, but it was cozier than any of them. There were only eight tables in the interior and they were the only ones who were inside at the moment. They finally sat at a table and waited for someone to take their order.

“The weather’s really nice today mom,” Jessica mutters as she looks at the star-filled sky out the window.

“It’s been great so far since the storm left the country.”

“Mom,” Jessica starts as she holds her mother’s hands which were across her. “It’s going to be dad’s fifteenth anniversary.”

“Yes. In three months, it will be.”

“We haven’t visited him in a long time,” Jessica tells her mom. It has been three years since they last visited her father. Her mother didn’t want to talk about him, let alone visit him, since it brought bad memories and worse feelings.

“Do you want to go then?” Her mother calmly asked.

“I want to of course.” Jessica was surprised that her mom said those words in a calm manner and that she didn’t even try to oppose the idea. “But, will it be alright for you.”

“Honestly,” Jessica’s mom utters as she damps her fingers on the sides of her eyes. “I didn’t want to bring up the topic because it reminded me of how your father died.”

“Well, I remember too. But it doesn’t make me love him less.”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just…”

“What is it mom?”

“My mind is blaming you for your father’s death.”

“M-me?”

Jessica couldn’t believe what she was hearing, but she could remember what happened. And in the end, she realizes that her dad lost his life because he wanted to save hers. There was a long awkward silence between them, and if it wasn’t for the waitress, they would have died from it.

“May I take your order now?” The waitress asked as she takes out a pen and a pad.

“Umm, give us a minute please,” Jessica’s mom replied as she takes a look at the menu.

“Mom, can we have one of these?” Jessica asked her mom as she points at an item in the menu.

“One order of bulgogi please,” her mom tells the waitress as she jots it down on the pad. “What else do you want sweetheart?”

“Jjajjangmyun?”

“And one order of Jjajjangmyun.”

“How about you mom?”

“And one more order of Kimchi Stew.”

“Will that be all?” The waitress asked as she jots down the other orders on her pad.

The waitress left the two at the table and went inside the kitchen to tell the chef what to cook.

“Oh, Jessica…”

“What is it mom?”

“Your school called and…”

“Don’t believe anything they say! I didn’t do anything wrong!” Jessica said defensively.

“No, you didn’t do anything wrong,” her mother said as she chuckles at her daughter’s behavior. “They said that school will resume tomorrow.”

“Was that all?”

“They asked me to tell you to not bring your books and notebooks. You should just bring an extra set of clothes.”

“I wonder what for.”

The two continued their conversation as they talked about random things; from school, to movies, music, and they even talked about squirrels. They had been talking for a long time until the first dish was served.

“This is one order of Kimchi Stew,” the waitress told them as she places the large bowl in the middle of the table.

“Thank you,” Jessica and her mom utter simultaneously.

The waitress went back to the kitchen and returned with two small bowls and spoons in her hands. She places one for each of the two customers and then goes back to the kitchen.

“This looks really delicious mom!”

“This was your dad’s favorite dish. I used to cook it for him.”

“Then, can you cook it for me sometime soon?”

“I stopped making the dish when your dad…”

“Oh.”

The atmosphere suddenly became gloomy and awkward once more as they talked about the man who used to provide for them. Thankfully, the next dish was served in time.

“This one is the bulgogi dish. Would you like a cup of rice with that?”

“Yes, two cups please,” Jessica told the waitress as the server went back to the kitchen to get a set of plates and utensils.

The waitress returned with two plates and two sets of utensils on her right hand and two cups of rice on her left arm.

“Here you go,” the waitress told the two as she places on of each item to each of her customers.

“Thank you,” the two said at the same time once more.

“Let’s eat!” Mrs. Jung said out loud as she grabs hold of the soup spoon in the Kimchi Stew’s bowl.

“Why don’t we say grace first?” Jessica told her mom as she smiled at her.

The two customers thank the Lord for the food and start eating. They served each other; pouring the stew’s soup in each bowl and giving each other a spoonful of the marinated beef.

“This is really delicious,” Jessica yelled out loud as she puts a spoonful of rice with the meat in .

“Try the stew. It’s kind of spicy, but it’s really delicious,” her mom suggested.

Jessica chewed and swallowed the food in in one motion and stuffs another spoonful of the stew in . The spiciness made her eyes water, but the scrumptious taste made smile. They continued eating and they were already halfway to being finished in a matter of minutes.

“So, Jessica, how’s your love life?” Her mom suddenly asked.

“What?” Jessica almost spat out the food inside at the question.

“Have you been in any relationships lately?”

Jessica never told her mother about her dreams and the girl she’s in love with, but the sudden question nearly made her do so. Lucky for her, the last dish was brought out.

“So, I guess this is the Jjajjangmyun,” Jessica asked the waitress, changing the subject.

“It’s actually my first time seeing this,” her mother muttered as she stared at the noodles covered in black sauce. “Let’s try it!”

“Excuse me, do you have chopsticks?” Jessica requested to the waitress as she was about to leave.

“How many sets?”

“Two please.”

The waitress went back to the kitchen and took out two sets of chopsticks. She brings them to the customers’ table and hands one to each.

“Thank you!” The two say in a synchronized manner as they split the chopsticks in two pieces.

Jessica mixed the noodles well first, then fed her mom after scooping an amount of the noodles. Then, she satisfies herself as well.

“Oh my goodness. This is delicious!” Jessica shouted out as she was made happy by the meal.

After a few more minutes, they finally finished everything on the table, except for the plates and bowls of course. Then Jessica’s mom signaled to the waitress who was behind the counter.

“We’ll be billing out now.”

The waitress hands the receipt on a small tray to her customer and Jessica’s mom places and amount on it and hands it back to her.

“Keep the change,” Jessica’s mom told the waitress as she smiled at her.

The two ladies finally leave the restaurant and walked back home. They talked about random things once more as they were walking. Jessica tried to avoid the subject of relationships while her mom avoided the topic of her husband. And so, they talked about something far from those; the letter ‘Q’. No one knows how they pulled out conversations from that topic, but they were talking about it until they were at their house’s gate. They finished talking and they got inside the house. Her mother directly went to the bathroom on the first floor to… well… take care of business. Meanwhile, Jessica sat on the living room couch to watch TV. She reached for the remote and turned it on. It was the 9 o’clock news.

“–ship was found at five o’clock this afternoon. The ship had no passengers and there were only two used guest rooms as investigators have found out. The cruise ship–”

As the news reporter was speaking, Jessica read the headlines on the bottom of the screen and it states:

“A luxury cruise ship with no passengers and no captain was found on the shorelines of a beach in the eastern part of the country.”

“–was not registered to any company and until now, no one has claimed ownership of the yacht. The ship drifted to the shorelines this afternoon and the captain was not on board. Police are still investigating the situation and no further information can be released at this point–”

Jessica looked at the screen captures of the said ship and it seemed familiar to her.

“Is that… could that be… no… it can’t be…” Jessica remembered the ship that she and Tiffany were on and she panicked at the idea of it becoming real. “Mom! I’ll be going to sleep now!”

Jessica quickly went upstairs to her room and lay down on her bed. Without even bothering to change clothes, wash her face, or even brush her teeth, she closed her eyes and forced herself to sleep.

“J-jessica? Where are we?”