Water Heart | P.Sh

| 27 |

"Throw the anchor!"

Jay's voice boomed out over the deck, causing me to turn around in confusion. We hadn't had any trouble with sailing all day, why was it first now, at noon, that he found it problematic to continue sailing, and then with the only land in sight being some island up ahead.

As crew members began stumbling around to get the anchor dropped I immediately searched the deck for the dark figure weaving in between crew members and barking out other orders.

I quickly clipped up my skirt and rushed towards where Sunghoon was heading. Once close enough I grabbed onto his arm, his black sleeve burning against the palm of my hand, having been warmed up by the scorching sun up on the sky.

"What?" he immediately questioned as he turned and looked down at me, for a second it had looked like he was about to snap at me, before realizing it had been me that grabbed onto his sleeve.

"Why are we dropping the anchor?" I frowned at him and he pursed his lips before immediately glancing around.

"The wind has changed direction," he shortly replied and I frowned at him, "it usually is an early sign of a storm, so we need to get everything sorted. Just go find Jiyeon, okay?"

"You need to get down under deck if it's about to storm," I shook my head and tightened my grip around his arm, only causing him to frown at me, "the cold rain."

"It's like ten miles away, it won't hit us before tonight," he shook his head at me, snickering slightly in amusement, "but I appreciate the worry."

I watched as he carefully removed my hand from his arm before continuing his job and eventually rushing up to Jay by the helm. Eventually I gave up on saying anything to him and just wandered over to find Jiyeon, who still sat around with some wickwork.

"What's on your mind?" she immediately questioned as I sat down beside her.

"What do you mean?" I questioned with a small sigh as I leaned back against the railing behind me.

"You and Sunghoon has been talking more lately, without any glares," she commented and I hummed at her, "are you taking a liking to him?"

"We agreed to be kinder to one another," I excused with a small shrug and looked over at her with a small smile, "he says a storm is coming."

"He's wrong," Jiyeon shook her head and I frowned at him, "the storm is not coming towards us it is passing by a few miles East. We won't feel it."

"How do you know?" I questioned in confusion and she casually shrugged.

"Everyone knows," she excused, "why wouldn't they know?"

"Because Sunghoon is fully convinced that it will hit us," I pointed out and she casually hummed as she tied off her wickwork and fixated the ends, so that it won't unravel again, "we'll start sailing soon though. It's unusual for the wind to be going this direction at this time of year. It'll change back soon enough."

"I was beginning to feel slightly seasick anyways," I commented with a small laugh, "do you think there'll be a possibility to row into the island?"

"Probably," she nodded at me as she turned her head to look at me, "if I question Jungwon, he'll surely arrange that some of us can go and eat dinner by a bonfire there."

"Sure, work your magic," I hummed and bit down on my thumbnail as I kept watching Sunghoon rush around the deck.

"I do so... frequently," she hummed at me before just flipping her basket upside down and resting her feet on it, "I'll ask Jungwon once the anchor has been dropped then."

"Well, he is gonna say yes right away," I remarked and she chuckled at me.

"Say yes to what?" Jungwon's voice immediately piped up as he sat down beside Jiyeon, looking at her with a questioning look, "what am I gonna say yes to?"

"Soomin and I was wondering if maybe we could row onto the island and have a small bonfire there for dinner," Jiyeon pointed out with a small smile, "we can go, right? If we bring a few people with us."

"We don't know if there's any people on the island," Jungwon immediately shook his head making Jiyeon raise her eyebrows at him, "it might be dangerous."

"But it'll be fine if we bring a few people with us," Jiyeon reminded him with a small smile, "you'll come with us of course... bring Sunghoon and Jay too then. The crew will enjoy that the three of you aren't there to bark orders at them."

"Jay have to stay," Jungwon shook his head in return, "we'll send a swabbie or so with you. We can't leave the crew alone on the ship, you know that," he reminded and gently brushed her hair out of her face.

"But you're coming too," Jiyeon reminded him and he just nodded at her, "besides Soomin has talked about getting slightly seasick these days."

"You should've just said so," Jungwon remarked as he looked over at me with a frown.

"It's just these past few days," I shook my head in return, waving it off with my hand.

"We were wondering why you had shown no signs of being seasick, considering you've nearly been here for a month," he pointed out and I only nodded at him, "we would've gotten you to the nearest land if we knew sooner."

"Jungwon... it's like two days ago since I started noticing the nausea," I let out a small laugh, "it's not that bad, really. I'm fine."

"I'll inform Sunghoon about his trip tonight," Jungwon excused and rushed up to his feet to march off.

"He loves you," I remarked and Jiyeon hummed as if she hadn't heard me and immediately turned her head towards me.

For a second her eyes were opened to look all wide and round, while a small smile rested on her face, but it had immediately been replaced by her usual smile. She looked at him differently from how she looked at the rest of us.

"He loves you," I repeated and she somehow looked to stiffen, "it's in his eyes," I excused and pointed to my own eyes, "Sunoo used to look at another girl like that too, and he surely was absolutely head over heels for her. The matchmaking I've attempted to do there is unbelieveable."

"I think I'd like to meet Sunoo," she spoke up and I blinked at her a few times in shock, "he sounds so nice."

"He is," I nodded at her, "he is the kindest person you'll ever meet."

"I want to meet him when we get back to your harbour," she announced and I smiled softly at her, only nodding in return.

I was sure Jiyeon would absolutely love Sunoo, but I was even more sure that he would adore her in every way there is.