Love Rhapsody || The Music Freaks Fanfiction || Cruise AU

Chapter Three: First Meets

Teal hair.

Warm, brown eyes.

She missed those eyes. Those eyes that belonged to her mother. She missed the days where they would take hikes in the woods, or road trips to the countryside, or roast marshmallows as the flames tickled their faces. She missed being able to refer to them as "mother and daughter".

Hailey brushed the woman in the family photo with her fingertips, trying to stop the tears from welling up in her eyes.

"Why did you have to leave, mom?" she whispered, trying to convince herself that the tremor in her voice wasn't there. "Why did you run away?"

To this day, she still didn't know the reason. She still didn't know the reason why one day her mother was there, with her beautiful, brown eyes, and the next day, she wasn't.

"Miss Austin?"

She snapped up, swiveling her head around towards the voice. An older staff member peeked into her cabin, and she quickly dried the tears from her face.

"Miss Austin, you are needed at the front desk by the main entrance," the staff member told her.

Frowning, Hailey quickly followed him downstairs towards the help desk. When she got there, Captain Avala was waiting for her, and she was talking to a girl with white hair and fair, blue eyes.

"Ah, Hailey, greetings," the captain said, looking up from their conversation, "this is Daisy Etheridge, the guest you will be assisting this journey. Daisy, this is Hailey Austin."

Daisy gave her a bright smile and a small wave. She seemed friendly, which was the least Hailey expected for a younger staff member, especially after what had happened earlier that day.

She quickly shook the thought out of her head. Just the thought of the incident made her fists clench.

"Would you mind showing Daisy towards her room? It's cabin 1913, sixth cabin on the left."

"Yes, ma'am," said Hailey, taking the white haired girl's suitcases.

"Oh, there's no need!" Daisy exclaimed, "I can carry them myself!"

"No worries, Miss Etheridge," she reassured her, walking towards the glass elevators. "I do this all the time. It's not heavy."

"Ah, thanks, Hailey! I hope it's not too much of a bother," she added worriedly, "but don't fuss about calling me by my surname, you can just call me Daisy!"

"Alright, Daisy," Hailey couldn't help but smile. Usually, she wouldn't be on a first name basis with a special guest like her, especially considering she was now Daisy's personal assistant, but she seemed extremely kind, and Hailey couldn't see how she could decline.

"I've never been on a cruise this big before," Daisy remarked as the glass elevator slid higher and higher towards the nineteenth floor. Her eyes were fixed outside the glass as she surveyed her surroundings. "I also haven't seen a cruise with such natural lighting! The plants around here are just divine, and everything is so clean!"

Hailey chuckled, "You'll get used to it soon. You should see the Imperial Aria - another cruise ship from the Imperial cruise line. Theirs has to be at least four times bigger than ours."

"That's amazing!" Daisy gushed. "I haven't been on that many cruise trips, despite my parents being famous and all. My mother's a model, and my father is a wealthy film producer. You'd think that with their fame and money that they'd go spend it on something worthwhile, but I have to stay inside most of the time to focus on dance training." She sighed, turning her eyes to the floor.