Water Heart | P.Sh

| 2.10 |

Another night had passed and by now no islands were in sight. Not even the sense of land was anywhere. Sunoo was sulky and Jungwon seemed tired as we sat at the helm once again. Sunghoon was yet to wake up as far as I knew.

"Tell me, why in the world are we so far from any type of land?" Sunoo murmured under his breath, crossing his arms as he looked around himself.

"Tell you what. Why don't you go find Lin and figure out what we can get for dinner tonight?" I questioned him, "then you don't have to sit and look at the water. She is very occupied down in the food depot."

"I don't want to-" he started and I immediately cut him off.

"Then drop that attitude. At least Lin is doing some good on the ship," I snapped and he went silent, "now go."

Without further ado Sunoo got up from where he sat and rushed towards the food depot instead of continuing to discuss it with me. That left an empty spot beside me. One that was quickly occupied by a tired Jungwon, who heavily plumped down beside me and let out a large sigh as he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees.

"Slept bad?" I questioned and he shook his head.

"You can't really sleep unwell if you don't sleep," he excused with a small chuckle, only earning a funny look from me and Jay, who turned away from the helm for a short moment.

"Why haven't you slept?" Jay frowned and Jungwon only rubbed his face in his hands.

"Jiyeon," he quietly admitted, "she's fallen asleep now... but tonight... not a chance," he shook his head, "the moment she is in a quiet dark room she just clicks. She's not herself. Gets all quiet before she just..."

"Screams?" Jay questioned and Jungwon quickly shook his head.

"She just... she just laid there," he frowned deeply, "I got her in the bed and offered her to keep the oil lamp on through the night and she denied it. She just continued laying on her back all night, eyes wide and staring into the ceiling... I tried talking to her, snapping her out of it, but it was like she was somewhere else."

"It'll pass, won't it?" I questioned, "I mean... it's only been a few days since she was rescued."

"I don't know..." Jungwon shrugged, thoughtfully rubbing finger over his upper lip, "once light started escaping in through the wood she calmed down. I had talked to her all night and only then did she start to respond. She seemed to calm down and I got her to sleep a bit... then she had a nightmare of some sort and woke up again. I took care of it and she fell asleep once again, I stayed for a few hours before I knew I could leave her and go do some chores."

"Sounds weird," Jay remarked and Jungwon only nodded, "I mean... they can't just have been prisoners if she is acting like that."

"I don't even want to think about it," Jungwon shook his head, "I'm not gonna ask. She'll tell me eventually... I mean... for years she went through so many things on this ship and never once did she get like... that."

"Give her time," I nodded quietly, "but not space. She needs you if she's bad."

"I know," Jungwon murmured.

"But... you haven't experienced that with Sunghoon, have you?" Jay questioned in confusion and leaned his back against the center of the wheel behind him.

"I don't know," I muttered, "I slept in the hammocks last night. I had to make sure Sunoo was behaving... as dumb as it sounds. He told me he was fine."

"Hm... odd," Jay hummed before looking back over at Jungwon, "I suggest you listen to Soomin, she seems like she knows best."

Jungwon nodded quietly as I quietly rubbed his shoulder. It was clear the ordeal was bothering him, but he didn't want to burden anyone else too much with it.

"Can I get one of you to give orders to throw the anchor. The wind is changing up," Jay pointed out and Jungwon immediately nodded and got to his feet.

"You go sleep right after, you hear me?" I warned and he nodded quietly before rushing down on the deck.

Somewhere a bit away I could hear him yelling for crew members to get moving and throw the anchor into the sea. Even though I couldn't see him I could clearly hear the tired strain in his voice, somehow almost sounding desperate.

"Alright..." Jay turned around and placed his hands on his hips as he looked at me, "what's the actual reason you slept in the hammocks last night?"

"What makes you think-" I started and he immediately cut me off.

"It is painfully obvious that it wasn't the reason," Jay casually excused and waved it off with one hand, "are you scared?"

"Of him? No," I chuckled and shook my head.

"That wasn't my question. I asked if you were scared," he pointed out and I stayed silent while I kept staring at him, "why in the world would you be scared?"

"Have you seen him?" I whispered quietly and he merely nodded, "he's not himself... he looks like he could break at any touch. Of course I am scared."

"It's still the same Sunghoon," Jay gently reminded and I nodded quietly, "he wants you to be there just as much as he did four months ago. If not even more now."

"I'm scared of finding out what they did to him, and what it did to him," I admitted, "he's not my Sunghoon."

"He is," Jay reminded, "and he surely needs you just as much as you say Jiyeon needs Jungwon. I think you should sleep by his side as well. You can't do anything wrong, but not be there for him right now."

"What do I even do if he acts like Jiyeon?" I whispered and Jay sighed.

"You do whatever you think is the right thing to do in that moment," he shrugged and wandered over to lean against the box I was sitting on, "which usualy in your case is the right thing... I've purposely pushed out the idea of finding an island to rest on before continuing to a pirate town, just because I know you guys all need time... keep an eye on him, alright? I assure you it is your Sunghoon."

I frowned slightly at Jay before he excused himself and rushed down onto the deck to bark orders at swabbies. Meanwhile, for the rest of the day, after Sunghoon had woken up, I kept on watching him for any signs. 

He seemed completely normal and exactly like my usual Sunghoon, but all he did seemed to be covered in some sort of hue. As if there was something underlying in all of his actions. Something I couldn't quite decipher.