Water Heart | P.Sh

| 37 |

Sunghoon quietly helped me up on the ship after himself, hoisting me up as if it was nothing, immediately a small frown plastering itself onto his face.

"What?" I questioned as he rushed off and down under the deck, "Sunghoon?"

"We should get some food into you," Sunghoon excused as I wandered down to the food depot, watching as he looked through the shelves, a blanket draped over his arm, "you were far too easy to pull up on the ship this time. You were lighter. Did you eat any of the food they gave you?"

"Heck no," I chuckled at him in amusement, "had you seen it, you would understand."

He only hummed before folding out the blanket and wrapping it around my shoulders while continuing to look through the shelves. I watched him quietly as I pulled the blanket tightly around me, eventually shifting my weight back and forth between my feet.

"I don't need foo-" I started and he immediately cut me off.

"I don't want to hear any of your bullshit, you need food in you, right now," he remarked as he stood up with a few fruits in his hands, "and a pair of shoes. What even happened to your old ones?"

"I'm not even sure," I murmured and looked down at my socks that once used to be white.

Sunghoon rushed past me and back up onto the deck, causing for me to trail behind him as if I was a lost puppy. He seemed like he couldn't calm down and kept rushing around while he got out yet another knife from some random box.

"Come on, I'll cut you a mango and a bana- a fig," he corrected himself and I smiled quietly before nodding and walking over to him.

I sat down on the box he stood by, while he cut the mango and fig right beside me, handing me the small pieces to eat every once in a while. I watched him closely, trying to figure out what was going through his mind.

"It's cold out here," I murmured and he immediately looked up, pulling on my blanket to tug it tighter around me, "I meant for you."

"No it's not," he quickly shook his head before turning back down to the fruit.

"Sunghoon," I sternly stated and he barely even replied at me with a hum, "you need to wear your coat if you're gonna be out at this time... please?"

"I'll go down and get it once I've cut the fig," he assured in a mumble while I just stared at him.

I looked on as he delicately cut through the fig and divided it into small pieces before he smiled slightly at me and walking off without another word, to go get his coat. I picked up a piece of the fig, trying to calm myself down.

When he had looked up at me with a small smile I had subconsiously stopped breathing and my heart had felt weird, almost like it had skipped a beat. I had never experienced that feeling at any specific time, it was always a little funny thing that came at the weirdest times, but it just seemed odd that it came at the exact point where Sunghoon had smiled at me.

I knew most of his kind gestures probably still was in an attempt to make me fall in love with him, in the same way I was still trying to get him to fall in love with me. But still, I couldn't help but feel a small amount of fondness for him, maybe even like. No, screw that. I definitely liked him by now. Maybe it was just the pain of knowing that I liked him and I wasn't sure if his actions still were genuine or not.

I quietly watched as Sunghoon buttoned up his coat as he came marching back towards me, a small smile spreading on my face subconsiously as I took a bite from one of the mango boats he had cut for me.

"What are you smiling for?" he questioned in amusement and pulled up the collar of his shirt slightly.

"I was just thinking," I excused and laid down the peel of the mango.

"And are you gonna share those thoughts with me?" he questioned and I shrugged at him, "why not?"

"I'm scared of what you would think," I admitted and glanced at him as his small smile slowly faltered and his fangs were the last thing to disappear from his smile.

"Why? Weren't we supposed to fall in love?" he questioned and I shrugged quietly, "you should be able to tell me."

"But you aren't falling," I reminded him making him frown at me, "you're not falling in love. I'm the only one of us who is slowly falling in love... and that is because my mind is so naive that the moment someone is just the smallest bit kind to me I get attached. I'm falling in love and you aren't, that's why you've felt the curse change. Because I was falling in love."

"Was?" he frowned immediately and I shrugged.

"Sunghoon you're not falling in love with me," I gently reminded him with a small chuckle, "I can't let myself get hurt just because of some stupid curse."

"But it's not stupid, you said so yourself. The curse is not stupid and we could reverse it," he pointed out and I shook my head quietly, "Soomin, if you're falling in love with me, then I am falling in love with you too."

"You can't force it," I reminded him with a small shake of the head, "your actions are forced. I can see it. You don't have to pretend to actually like me."

Sunghoon only stayed silent as he looked at me, eventually pursing his lips and looking down before quickly looking back out over the sea.

"It's fine. We tried, at least we tried," I reminded him quietly.

"We're not stopping yet," he shook his head, still not tearing his eyes away from the sea, "I know the two weeks I gave you has almost run out. But we're not stopping yet. Please?" he questioned and looked back at me with sorrowful eyes and eyebrows, "the past few days before you went away, I actually felt the curse change and felt stronger. Let's just continue more. If you already love me it wouldn't be a problem for you to try and keep me alive."

"Sunghoon... I can't do this to myself," I shook my head quietly as he kept looking at me

"No please, don't give up on me yet," he quickly spoke as he stepped in front of me, "please. I can fall in love, I'm just bad at it. I promise. I want to fall in love with you too, I swear. It's just... it's as if I can't."

"Then don't force it," I reminded him softly.

"But..." he started before just rubbing his face in frustration, "I really really want to fall in love with you, but it is as if something is keeping me from actually doing it. I'm trying, I really am."

"It's fine," I whispered quietly, "you can go down and sleep, I'll go to bed when I finish eating these."

Sunghoon went silent as he took a step away from me as a frown grew on his face, and I picked up a piece of the fig and looked out over the water. I blinked a few times as I tried to stop my eyes from burning. I quietly thanked the moon that it didn't shine bright enough for Sunghoon to see how red my eyes had become.

"It's the heart," Sunghoon murmured quietly making me glance at him. He stood as if he was thinking about something, fingers on his chin as he looked down towards my knees, "it's the heart Soomin."

"I know..." I trailed off slowly, "love is in the heart not the head."

"No no no," he quickly shook his head as he grabbed my shoulders, "the thing that is keeping me from falling in love with you is the curse. That's why I can't fall in love easily, no matter how much I want to."

"Sunghoon-" I started with a small sigh and he immediately shook his head.

"It's because of the water! Blood is thicker than water! My god it all makes sense now!" he exclaimed before stepping back and grabbing his head, "the saying makes sense! I am unable to feel emotions properly because water is running in my veins and not blood!"

"You're making no sense," I remarked and grabbed another piece of fig.

"It's not that I am not falling in love with you, it is that I can't," he continued rambling.

"That is literally the same thing," I muttered to myself.

"I am falling in love with you, but I can't," he happily realized to himself before turning to me with a small smile, "so it's all alright."

"Okay... so uhm... I'm gonna go down and sleep," I slowly trailed off before getting down from the box and hurriedly scurrying down towards the sleeping chamber before Sunghoon could say another word to me.