Water Heart | P.Sh

| 45 |

It was completely quiet around us, except for the occasional wheezing of the breeze passing by us and Sunghoon's grunts whenever his limps caused him pain or more exhaustion. Once in a while the grunt would be a groan, but each time I looked to check if he was alright he'd just smile at me, as if he wasn't the one of us who were quietly complaining.

"Soomin," Sunghoon eventually started and I hummed as I looked around myself, stepping up on a small gravel path as I squinted my eyes to look through the thick fog, "if I die out here..."

"Shut up, you're not going to die," I murmured and he snorted at me.

"But if I am," he breathed out and I closed my eyes momentarily in an attempt to tune him out, "just leave me here and get back to the ship, alright? You need to get back to Sunoo and give him your hugs."

"Don't bring Sunoo into this," I reminded him as I struggled to keep him standing against me.

"I just-" Sunghoon started before abruptly cutting himself up and stopping to limp along.

"What?" I questioned and he immediately hushed me, moving his hand down to grab onto his sword, not pulling it out of its sheath yet.

As I stayed quiet I noticed a sound of something cracking and clinging against one another. At first I had thought it to be Jiyeon, but when I heard a small giggle I immediately knew it wasn't Jiyeon. Her giggle was more mischevious to listen to, brighter. This giggle was... it was almost evil.

"Sunghoon..." I murmured and he only tightened his grip around my waist as the giggle slowly got louder.

I hated how much of a coward I was when I had grabbed onto the sleeve of his shirt. It almost made me cringe all the way down in my boots. I wanted to be braver in situations like this, but all I could do was cower and try to hide behind the bigger people.

"Who's this?" a voice echoed out and I could see Sunghoon close his eyes tightly, trying to hold in a sigh, "another lady toy?"

From the shadows of the fog a female figure wandered forward. Her blonde hair looked stringy and oily as it stuck to her scalp and cheekbones. Her lips was a light blue color and up her neck crept green veins. I wasn't even sure what color her dress was, but it was all lousy and ripped.

"Is she gonna be left here as well?" the girl questioned, her smile growing sickly wide and sinister.

"Sunghoon..." I trailed off and he nodded quietly, "who is it?"

"She's dead," Sunghoon assured softly, "she can't do you anything."

"Can't do her anything? Your curse works just fine, doesn't it?" the girl questioned in amusement and I immediately looked up at Sunghoon, whose jaw clenched.

"You made the curse before you died, you're nothing but the island playing with my mind," Sunghoon shook his head.

By a loud laugh of the girl I noticed Sunghoon hunching over slightly and a frown steadily appearing in between his eyebrows.

"She gave you the curse," I murmured and stepped a bit away from Sunghoon, "but then..." I trailed off and looked over at the girl, "you can remove the curse too."

"He has to fall in love," the girl shook her head calmly as she glared at Sunghoon, taking a few slow steps closer, "and he hasn't amounted to that, has he?"

"He has," I immediately lied and Sunghoon glanced down at me, "and I love him back."

"Liar," the girl immediately called out, "his heart has turned too cold for him to love. His ability to love have been gone for weeks now," she hissed as she walked closer and I immediately turned to look at Sunghoon, who pursed his lips as his eyes fell down to look at the ground in front of him, "or well... unless... you love him," the girl turned to me.