Their waiter eventually returned to them and was halfway into taking their orders when an angry customer distracted them.
“Hey! Asshole! Watch where you’re going! You've ruined my goddess’ dress!” Came the voice of an angry man sitting at a table close by.
It appeared as though another waiter had accidentally spilt sauce on a lady's dress whilst serving, thus infuriating her man.
“That's Wilson Yi Tian, our wealthiest and most famous customer. He travels with our cruise company quite often and he's known to be popular with the ladies. Do you mind if I run over and help my colleague out? I won't be a second, it's just he'll have all our heads if he is unhappy with one”.
“Go, go”, Lori insisted. Lakshman thanked them and ran over to assist. “Well that rich guy is rude”.
“And self-centred and chauvinistic”.
“Isn't that part of the role?”
“Seems so”.
“So glad we’re not rich asshats”.
“Who said we can't be?”
“Could you imagine us like that?”
“Surrounded by plenty of women we treat like crap? Probably not. Backstroking in a swimming pool consisting of money, probably”.
“That… is like the most simple-minded idea ever… but I like it”. The two young women laughed and began discussing what they would do and how they would react if they won the lottery. Eventually Lakshman returned to serve them and before long they were eating heartily.
Night fell and the two made their way to the bow of the ship, where they remained for hours in embrace, kissing and whispering sweet nothings to one another.
9:21am - 1 Days until outbreak
Day 4 and they decided to hit the gym together bright and early. For an hour they worked up a sweat before rewarding themselves with a nice cool swim, sauna room sweat off and finally a massive lunch where they met Wendy and her friends again.
Together with Wendy and friends, they went bowling, the cinema and finally the arcade, before concluding with the bars, but the evening was cut short when they encountered someone they knew well.
“Dad?” Rachel exclaimed, stopping dead in her tracks.
He slowly looked towards them, a grisly unkempt, lazy shell of his former self, a dishevelled man who had certainly seen better days. He was almost entirely unrecognizable with his vomit stained shirt and torn trousers.
“Ah… my daughter… tell this… lowlife… to get me another drink”, he begged of her, falling clumsily off the stool and dragging his feet towards her. His words were slurred and barely intelligible. The disgusted look engraved upon Rachel's face could tell stories.
He reached out to her and Lori could tell that it took every bit of Rachel's willpower to not flee, or at the very least step back.
As he embraced Rachel, that stench emanating from him was enough to make even plants in the vicinity shrivel up. What the heck was he doing like this?
“Do you know this man?” The bartender snapped.
“Yeah… he’s my dad”, Rachel replied.
“He’s been here the past fifteen minutes being a nuisance, I was just about to call security. He’s already been kicked out of several bars, he’s been drinking all day, smells atrocious and is scaring away customers ranting on about women being untrustworthy. Get him out of here, I don’t care where you take him, just make sure he doesn’t come back”.
“Err…” Rachel replied, completely stumped.
“Fuck you, man… you don’t know… anything about me, you’re just… some bartender… who can’t even… do his fucking job!” Edward snapped back.
“Fuck off”, the bartender spat and returned to serving his customers.
“Want some? I’ll fight you… right here and now!” Edward proclaimed, making towards the bar counter. Rachel grabbed his wrist and held him back.
“Lori! Help me!”
“Me?” Lori replied, not exactly enthralled by the premise of having to go anywhere near Rachel’s father.
“Yes, who else? Is there another Lori here?”
“Aw man, I like this top too”.
“Fuck the top, help me here”.
“Okay, okay”, Lori conceded and helped her girlfriend restrain her father.
They managed to drag Rachel's rampant father away from the bar and to a quieter part of the ship, where they found a vacant bench and sat him down.
“Can you get him some water please, Lori?” Rachel asked of her girlfriend.
“Will do, I mean I'm already covered in his puke… I think… so I guess a little water can't hurt”, she replied sarcastically and disappeared to get a glass of water.
“Dad? Are you hanging in there?” Rachel asked, turning to her father.
“I'm… just peachy… I dunno… I think I am. Been throwing up last few days… so alcohol… is helping, y'know?”
“No… I’m pretty sure it'll just compound the problem”.
“Well… least I can forget about... that whore!”
Rachel suddenly felt guilty. She did want them to feel some of the pressure of the burden they put on her, but had she gone a step too far?
“Yeah…”
“I'm not lettin’... her destroy me… I’m gunna rise above it all”.
“Uh huh, this is your way of rising above it, is it?”
“You have to climb the mountain before....” His words slurred and trailed off into something unintelligible again.
“Dad, what have you been doing since yesterday and where?”
“Fucking drinking… since yesterday… those bars kicked me out… some woman called me a vagrant”.
Rachel chuckled. She had to admit that was kind of funny.
“Have you seen mum since?”
“No… don’t want to see that whore!”
“Stop shouting that, people are looking at us. Dad, you two need to talk it out. She was lonely and he was kind of there for her, a little too much so. Yeah, sure she's a grown ass woman and should have known better, but she was vulnerable and hurting. If
