Three Million Hilarities

There was a symphony of noise coming from all directions in the buffet dining hall: forks and knives, teacups and glasses, salad plates and soup bowls, and the most dominant sound of all, people talking and laughing.

"Well, it was a 7-day cruise after all, and it was supposed to be filled with sounds of all kinds, right?" Jacob talked to himself, trying his best not to have a nervous breakdown as he was hyper-sensitive to sound.

He was starved, and the sense of hunger distracted him a bit.

"Don't bite off more than you can chew!" Denise, Jacob's fiancée, reminded him with a gentle smile.

Jacob felt better when Denise sat close to him. He could sense her inner calm and joyous spirit simply by looking at her smile. Having been a nurse in a psychiatric ward for eight years, Denise's every facial expression seemed to carry a mysterious healing power.

As Jacob shoved down another coconut shrimp, his favorite, he noticed a tint of bewilderment on Denise's forehead.

"Anything wrong?"

"It's probably nothing."

"Tell me, Denise, what is it?"

"Well, the guy Pete that you ran into earlier—I overheard his girlfriend Kate arguing with him on the phone in the ladies' room."

"Oh..."

Jacob tried to stay calm, but with the overwhelming noise around him, he needed to stop eating altogether to avoid losing himself in distant memories.

Denise had held onto this question for a few days, but she thought it was the right time to bring it up, "Did you tell him?"

"I did," Jacob replied, his fists tightly gripping a napkin.

"How did he take it?"

"He laughed hard! He said it was ridiculous AND hilarious!"

"He laughed it off?"

"Yup."

***

Pete and Jacob were best friends in high school. They hadn't seen or talked to each other since Jacob moved from Phoenix to Chicago.

It happened during the summer. Pete's parents filed for divorce, and he lived with his dad, moving from place to place for three years. Jacob's family also moved but for a completely "ridiculous AND hilarious" reason.

There wasn't a good chance for Jacob to meet up with Pete and explain everything during that summer. Jacob never thought he would get another chance to do that.

"Well, let's not let the food get cold! Eat up, Jacob."

"Right."

Denise knew very well about Jacob's sensitivity. After all, they knew each other because Jacob was a patient of her uncle, who was a psychologist. They finished dinner quickly and found a peaceful corner on the upper deck for a little chat.

Unlike Pete's, Jacob's parents stayed together all these years and navigated complicated psychological conditions, which was hard. Maybe it was meant to be. When one huge blessing suddenly happened to your family, wouldn't God also take away other blessings to be fair?

***

Staring at the sunset, Jacob tried to recapture Pete's expression when he explained the "ridiculous AND hilarious" reason behind his family's sudden move to Chicago: winning a three million dollar lottery.

Jacob's parents lived happily for only a few months; then chaos befell. The family was never the same. Jacob had been living with hyperacusis all these years. Somehow, the fear of hearing his parents argue at night had settled into a heightened sensitivity to all sorts of sounds.

He gently held Denise's hand, as if she was the only person on Earth who could help him navigate the complicated psychological landscape beneath his family's wealth.

"How beautiful," Denise said, staring at the sunset.

Jacob stroked her hair and wanted to kiss her.

"Help! Help!"

A huge commotion with screaming and shouting burst out suddenly. Jacob's heart started beating fast. Denise noticed Jacob's face paling and suggested they stay put and do a breathing routine.

"What's going on?" Jacob couldn't calm himself unless he found out what happened.

Denise craned her neck, trying to get a glimpse of the situation. She thought she saw Kate's face being surrounded by cruise staff. She hoped she was wrong. After a few minutes, she finally got a clear view and was certain.

"Oh! Jacob."

"What?"

"That's Kate, Pete's girlfriend."

"Is she okay?"

"No, she's terrified. I think something happened to Pete."

Denise overheard Kate arguing with Pete over the phone earlier about seemingly trivial matters. She sensed something was off when Jacob said Pete "laughed it off" after learning about Jacob's family winning the lottery. After eight years of caring for patients with psychiatric conditions, she had developed an instinct for whether people were truly fine or just pretending. The moment Jacob introduced Pete to her, she knew something was off with Pete. That was after the two men ran into each other on the cruise ship and caught up.

***

Hours passed.

Jacob and Denise stayed in their room to calm down after learning Pete had jumped into the sea in an apparent suicide. They heard the roar of the helicopter taking him to the hospital. Jacob didn't say a single word after the incident. Denise stayed silent too, simply keeping him company.

It was now midnight. The whole world had quieted down. Jacob and Denise couldn't sleep and walked back to the upper deck.

"How could life be so damned ridiculous AND non-hilarious?" Jacob talked to himself, standing at the same spot where he had almost kissed Denise.

Finding no answer, he closed his eyes and let the temporary quietness be his sanctuary for a brief moment, with Denise in his arms, sending her warmth.