Tzuyu and Me (Tzuyu X Reader)

Chapter 26

A/N:

It's been over two years since I've touched this story, and I can't tell you exactly why.

I don't know if it was because of my fading interest in the TWICE fandom, or writer's block, or simply a lack of motivation to finish something I once felt so invested in.

This story and the thought of coming back to it has always been in the back of my head. Writing this brings up odd feelings of shame, because I feel that I have betrayed the support of my readers, nostalgia, for the joy of writing this once brought me, and determination to finally finish this.

Some of you have sent me private messages asking to me update the story, and some of them just wondering if I'm okay. I'm glad to say that I am, and I feel like I can pay my debts to all of you and give myself the satisfaction of finishing this fanfiction.

Without further ado, here is Chapter 26, two years later.

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Painful.

Painful is the first word that came to my mind when I hit the water.

It was the coldest thing I had ever, and may ever experience. Physically, that is. I had read about this feeling once before. Cold shock response was the term, if I remember correctly.

First, you start to hyperventilate, which could mean you accidentally inhaling the water that you're in, causing you to drown.

I'm still here, so we're good for now.

Second, your muscles start to spasm out, hindering my already non-existent ability to swim.

I wasn't wearing anything to help me float. My odd winter coat simply soaking in more water, making me sink even deeper.

Mind you, I wasn't the only one who fell into the ice-cold winter water. At least hundred other people came down along with me after the wooden floorboards of the pier gave in to the immense amount of structural pressure everyone was exerting on it, all thanks to the glorious gala that was being held.

Everyone else in the water with me was understandably panicking, trying to stay afloat with all their might. Their rabid splashing only provoked waves into the water, waves that went straight over me, threatening to take me down straight to the bottom of the pier.

I wasn't sure what options I had. Any body heat I still had left in me was rapidly disappearing. I could barely feel the ends of my fingers anymore.

Serene.

Serene is the first word that came to mind after I went down. The odd transition from the surface to below the water always bewildered me. One second, my ears wear being deafened by the sound of panicked screams for help and the splashing of water, but now all I could hear was the subtle, calm sound of nothingness.

Drowning has to be one of the worst ways to go. The feeling of water entering your lungs, the raw pain of it. Then comes the realization that you're not going to make it, and only two choices are left. Acceptance, or futile denial.

However, things are different in freezing waters. I'll probably pass out before I drown. Maybe then I won't feel anything. At the most, it'll be like a light slumber, one I'll never wake up from.

Closing my eyes, I chose acceptance. I let the water's freezing embrace have it's way, it was time, after all.

Strange.

I feel pain again. Enough time has passed that I shouldn't really be feeling anything at this point.

My eyes slowly open, but the image I'm given is blurry, I can't make anything out of it. All I'm certain of is this large orb of light looming upon me, and what looks quite similar to a person's face.

Tzuyu?

Surely not, right?

My ears pick up the sound of speech, but I think my eardrums are frozen solid.

Slowly, the sound gets more clear, clearer than my vision at the very least.

"Sir? Sir, do you hear me?" I make out the words, a man's voice.

I suddenly remember that not a minute ago I was drowning, and my natural instinct to breathe is about to kick in.

I painfully cough out the water still left in my lungs. The pain is sharp and searing, as if someone left a hot iron inside me. Eventually, the air enters my system and I'm finally able to breathe, thought exceedingly difficult.

"Just breathe. Try not to move too much, sir." My eyes had straightened out enough for me to tell that the person talking to me, and who probably rescued me as well, was a first-aid responder.

Looking around, I could see over dozen more first-aid responders tending to their own patients, some of them breathing, some of them not.

I was lucky.

"What happened?" A stupid question, but I asked nonetheless.

"You and over a hundred other attendants fell into the pier after the floorboards gave in. Some civil engineer gonna have a long talk ahead of him for this," he shook his head. "Be thankful you're still breathing, we couldn't get to some others before it was too late."

"What about all the idols, what happened to them?"

"Some of them fell in as well," His eyes suddenly turned dark, a hint of regret showing. "I know this might sound deplorable, but they were our priority. All of them got out mostly unharmed."

"I see," was all I could say.

It made sense after all, didn't it? A superstar or a celebrity dies? It's a tragedy, a worldwide heartbreak. Everyone's spirits are shattered. A bunch of fans die due to a structural accident, a miscalculation? In the eyes of the masses, its a statistic, an unfortunate incident at best. But everyone's got a family, it just takes a bit of time for us to accept the fact that everyone has lives just as complex as their own.

It didn't make it hurt any less. I was glad that the girls were most definitely safe, but it still didn't sit well with me. The other people who went down with me, we weren't first priority. Our lives didn't matter as much as the ones who already had everything, the ones who were adored by the world over.

All my thoughts began to make my head hurt even more than it already did. Taking a moment, I steadied my breath as best I could, and clutched onto the towel that the first-aid responder provided me with, trying to get some semblance of warmth back into my body.

"You're going to be fine, sir," I heard him say.

Tonight has been the worst night for a long time.