Water Heart | P.Sh

| 2.11 |

As I had promised Sunghoon I had joined him in the captain's sleeping quarter once night fell. Only the moon and stars lit up the sky outside, but a small oil lamp I had brought up into the sleeping quarter helped light up the room for Sunghoon and I.

I sat quietly at the square table in the middle of the sleeping quarter, watching Sunghoon as he was wandering about the room, getting himself ready to go to sleep.

"Jungwon says Jiyeon has trouble relaxing in dark rooms," I remarked as Sunghoon passed by me. My eyes following him as he wandered over and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"I could imagine," he hummed with a small nod.

"Do you have-" I started and he let out a small laugh forcing me to immediately stop in my sentence.

"I'm fine," he assured with his usual smile, "I promise."

I let out a small huff before pushing myself up from my chair and wandering over to the bed as well. Crossing my arms as I looked down at him with suspision.

"I just needed sleep, didn't I?" he questioned calmly and I nodded quietly in agreement.

With no other words to say I wandered over to one side of the bed and laid down, soon having Sunghoon fall down on the bed beside me. I laid quietly on my back and looked up at the tree above me, hands folded over my stomach.

"Don't think about it too much, alright?" Sunghono questioned quietly, only earning a nod from me, "we're alright now."

"Are you though?" I murmured and turned my head to look towards him, "are you really? Or are you just telling me that to be at ease?"

Sunghoon stayed quiet as he glanced down, eventually looking up at my eyes again. Quickly he raised his hand to place it on my cheek, leaning in to softly press a kiss against my lips. Slowly his hand on my cheek moved over behind my neck and his forehead moved down to press against my shoulder.

"I've missed you so much," he whispered quietly and I slowly turned onto my side to play with the hair at his nape, "every night... no..." he shook his head quietly as his other arm snaked over to curl under my waist.

"What?" I murmured softly and traced patterns on the back of his neck.

"At the beginning they seperated Jiyeon and I," he whispered and I hummed lowly, "every night they would take us in for questioning, she was always first. They stopped after two weeks. Every night I... I don't know what they did, but I could hear her whenever she was complaining, either screaming or yelling things at them... I got them to stop, confessed to everything they claimed to be true, said she was innocent. Then they let us in the same cell again... She seemed calmer after that."

"What about you?" I questioned quietly, "what did they do to you?"

"Punished me for my crimes," he murmured and I reached down to cup his cheeks and lift his head, trying to get him to look into my eyes, "They didn't find my execution to be enough I suppose," he murmured quietly, a sad smile playing at the corners of his lips.

"Execution..." I murmured quietly only getting a hum in return.

"I'm not safe to be around Soo, I've told you a million times," he gently reminded, "that day you came by my cell... they were setting up my noose outside. I thought I was hallucinating, simply because I was trying to accept the fact that I would never see you again."

"But I always come back," I reminded him, "you know that."

He nodded quietly, pulling me closer to hide his face once again. A small sigh left my mouth as I just resorted to wrapping my arms around him. He just needed comfort right now I suppose. Somewhere on my back I could feel his fingertips pressing into my chemise, grabbing at it desperately.

"I'm sorry Soo," he murmured, "I don't sleep well at night."

"I know," I muttered. I knew he had lied everytime he said he was fine, but I never wanted to tell him. I knew he would admit to it eventually, like he did now.

"I really don't sleep well," he whispered, "I keep hearing her screams, feeling my back burning and... I see how they taunted us... everyday."

"It's alright," I whispered, "you're both safe now..."

Sunghoon stayed quiet for some time. Long enough for me to assume he had fallen asleep. I let my eyes fall close and quietly moved my head so that my lips could press against his hair while I slept.

"You won't be able to sleep here," Sunghoon whispered quietly, "I'm so sorry."

"It's fine," I muttered, "just try and get some sleep. I'll be here all night."

"You should go down to your hammock," he continued and I shook my head quietly.

"I'm not leaving you," I insisted.

"Please Soomin, you need proper sleep."

"So do you. I'm not leaving."

He let out a small gasp for air, which almost sounded like a dry sob. Eagerly his head dug further into the crook of my neck as his fingers finally grabbed onto fistfuls of my chemise behind my back.

I laid completely still as I listened attentively to his breathing, noticing when it started slowing down. Eventually his breathing became heavy soft breeze on the side of my neck, signalling to me that he had fallen asleep.

Throughout the night I stayed in a constant state of light sleep. In total I woke up at least eight times either because Sunghoon had started to become uneasy in his sleep or had woken up completely from a bad dream. Each time I had to rush up and grab his shoulders to softly push him back down into the mattress and help him slow down his breathing before he would be able to continue on sleeping.