titanic - shin ryujin

three

Your POV--"Who's the artist miss?" My maid Yeji asks, as she helps put up my paintings.

"Picasso."

"He'll never amount to anything trust me. At least they were cheap." Jaehyun says as he stands in the doorway. A porter wheels Jaehyun's safe into the suite. "Put that in the wardrobe."

I go to put up another painting, as my maid hangs up my clothes in my bedroom.

"It smells so brand new, like they built it just for us. And to think...when I crawl between the sheets, I'll be the first." Yeji says excitedly.

Jaehyun looks at me. "And when I crawl in between the sheets, I'll still be the first."Yeji, blushing at his innuendo, edges around Jaehyun and makes a quick exit.

April 11, 1912

It's lunch time, and I'm sitting at a table with my mother, Jaehyun, our friend Choi Lia, the master ship builder, Mr. JYP and the manager of the White Star Line, Mr. Yang Hun Suk. We're sitting in Palm Court, a beautiful sunny spot with high arched windows.

Mr. JYP, who clearly dislikes all the attention, tells us about how they came about building the Titanic.

"Well I may have knocked it all together. But it was all Mr. Yang Hun Suks idea. He envisioned a steamer so luxurious and grand in scale that it's supremacy could never be challenged. And here she is!"

"Why're ships always being called 'she'? Is it because men think half of the women around here have big sterns and should be weighed in tons?"

Everyone laughs at Lia's joke. She's the bubbly type. Doesn't give a damn about how anyone perceives her. I can relate to her more than I could ever my mother. The waiter comes to take our order as I light a cigarette.

My mother looks and scrunched up her nose. "You know I don't like that Y/N." I blow the smoke in her face slowly.

"She knows." Jaehyun takes the cigarette out of my hand and stubs it out. "We'll have the lamb. Rare. With a little mint sauce...you like lamb don't you sweetpea?"

I can see Lia looking at us from the corner of my eye. I can tell she noticed the dynamic between him and I.

"You're gonna cut her meat for her too there Jae?" I smirk at Lia's sarcastic remark.

Jaehyun, ignoring Lia and turning to Hyun Suk. "So, who came up with the name Titanic? You Hyun Suk?"

"Yes actually. I wanted to convey sheer size. And size means stability, luxury, and safety."

I turn to Yang. "Do you know of Dr. Freud? His ideas about the male preoccupation with size might be of some interest to you, Mr. Yang."

Mr. JYP chokes on his breadstick, trying to hold his laughter.

"My God Y/N, what's gotten into you?" My mother whisper shouts. "I apologize everyone."

"Excuse me." I get up and exit the room.

"She's a pistol Jaehyun, sure you can handle her?"

"Well I may just have to start minding what she reads." Jaehyun says tense.

I walk outside onto the B deck. And stand against the railing, that looks over another deck. I unpin my elaborate hat and take off the frilly thing in disgust. I throw it out in the water and watch it float away. I look down and see a young woman, she appears to be just about my age. Maybe older. I catch her staring, but she doesn't look away. So I do, but I look again and she's still looking at me.

I feel a hand on my shoulder, and turn to see that it's Jaehyun. We both argue and then I storm off. I turn my head back a little.

She's still staring

.-- time skip to night --

I run into my room, and stand in the middle, staring into my vanity mirror. With an anguished cry, I claw at my throat, ripping the pearl necklace off of my neck. I tear my clothes and pull at my hair, and knock everything off of my dresser. I throw a hand mirror at the vanity, cracking it. I run out onto the B deck, my hair flying and my cheeks stained with tears. But I'm also furious! I'm shaking with emotions I don't understand. Hatred, self-hatred, desperation. A couple strolls pass me, shocked by my public display of emotions.

I run all the way to the back of the ship, clinging onto the pole, staring down at the black rushing water. I lean out, my arms straightening, my dress and hair flying behind me. All I could see are the massive propellers churning the water below, leaving a ghostly white trail. Then suddenly I hear a voice say...

"Don't do it."