Say My Name | Seongjoong

2

"You– You're him..." Seonghwa gulped, how had he been so oblivious?

Enlightened by the newfound fear built up in the prince, the captain gave him a wry smile. "Who?" He played oblivious.

Gulping, Seonghwa really should have seen this coming. "T-The thief..."

Sort of taken aback, the captain regained posture quickly enough for the latter not to see, looking over at the prince once he was sure the ship could handle itself, he smiled again.

"Hm, that's a new one... Though, I guess that's what your idiotic parents have told you, huh?" He asked bitterly. "Though, enlighten me, how can someone steal their own things?"

Confused as ever, Seonghwa looked at him for a bit longer. So he had been right this whole time? His parents surely had been lying about the whole story about the Blue Birds ship and how it was 'hijacked' by an evil and crazy thief. But that did remind Seonghwa about who he was actually talking to at the moment. Gulping again, he really needed to control his nerves. Stepping down, the man got one of the others to take control of the ship as he led them both into the cabin of the ship. As the man sat down on the chair, Seonghwa stood.

"Captain Joong at your service, your highness." The last word was said in a rather bitter tone.

Not knowing what to say, Seonghwa kept quiet. Surely, Joong had known who he was from the start, therefore leading him to make the choice of running away with them. It was a trap, wasn't it? He wondered about it for a second, but it didn't make sense. Why would they trap him onto this ship if there was nothing that motivated the reason? And what was the reason? As the questions swarmed his head, he wasn't quite sure how to think straight at that moment.

"You knew, didn't you?" Seonghwa asked eventually.

Pondering his answer for a moment, Joong chuckled. "Not at first, but when I saw your eyes, you immediately reminded me of your mother." He gritted his teeth at the last word, as if it was acid.

It just didn't make sense, every story he had ever heard of the legendary Captain Joong, none of them were nice. Though he didn't really believe his parent's stories about him, it was more the village people and guards he heard talking about him the most. When he overheard two guards talking about Captain Joong, he couldn't help but listen, however, the story wasn't nice one bit. But that led him to two questions: Why did Joong speak so bitterly about his parents and his position? And what was the reason they took him with them?

"Listen, kitten, I don't have time for idle chatter." Captain Joong spoke suddenly. "But I can't help but wonder, why did you want to come with us? Didn't you know who I was?" He smirked.

Blushing slightly, Seonghwa fidgeted with his hands for a bit. "Uhm... No?" As he remembered he was asked two questions, he spoke again. "I-I got tired of my life under my parents high standards, I wanted something more..." He confessed.

A wry laugh came from the captain, and Seonghwa looked over confused. "So they can't even love their own son? How pitiful." As if noticing the prince's awkwardness, he sighed. "Well, welcome onboard. Your duties will start tomorrow, now go get something to eat at the other end of the ship."

Nodding, Seonghwa did what he was told, not really one to go against an order despite being high in position himself, but obviously that didn't matter here. He could be a king and pirates would still not care about him. Taking his time walking to the other end of the ship, he saw the other five or so men doing their duties, he questioned where the sixth man had wandered off to, as he remembered counting them before. And as he stepped into the other side of the ship, his nose was immediately welcomed by a lovely smell of fresh food.