Say My Name | Seongjoong

7

Waking up the next day felt weird.

Something was gnawing at him, as if he was hungry, but not quite that feeling. He wasn't hungry, the food from yesterday still somehow filled well, but something in his stomach was gnawing at him, and he had a feeling it was something else. Seonghwa sat up in his bed, looking out the small window of the small cabin to see that it was still dark out, and that the sun hadn't risen yet. It was the same feeling, kind of, when the thief was there. But then again, it wasn't quite the same, something was up, but not wrong. Standing up from his bed, he cleaned the bed before standing over at the closet. He thought he might as well get the best out of the day now, since he couldn't sleep anymore due to that weird feeling.

Maybe he could catch a glimpse of the sunrise this time, something he wasn't really allowed to do back at home. Putting his ear against the door to the hallway, he couldn't hear anyone, no footsteps and no chatter. Seonghwa guessed they might all still be sleeping. Since they were still headed to the next stop, he didn't feel like waking any of them up. So quietly, he opened the door to the hallway and went out. He made it up onto the ship seemingly without making a noise. Sighing, he felt the soft wind out on the ship, surprisingly, it wasn't bad, the wind was somewhat still, and didn't make him feel like there was any chance he could fall over.

Looking around, Seonghwa located a mast, and got a brilliant idea. He looked around for a moment, then started to climb. From up there, he could get a better view of the sunrise. Climbing carefully, he sat down at one of the stops, making sure he couldn't fall over anytime soon, of course. He saw the sky start to bright up, and although he wouldn't admit being excited over a sunrise, he couldn't help but feel a bit excited anyway. Though he couldn't help but start thinking about the few days that had gone by.

Ever since he joined the pirate ship, that didn't feel like one for that matter, he had felt more alive. He had felt that there was a reason as to why he was here. Of course, Joong's talk about him just being here for revenge purposes never ceases in his brain, but he chose to ignore it, and believe that Joong had a change of heart. He did feel grateful towards Mingi for trying to defend him, though he couldn't tell him that, because he had no idea that he was there when they had the talk. Seonghwa still cringes at the thought of Joong finding him behind those barrels. Surely not his most famous story on the ship yet.

What did cross his mind, though, was the fact that Joong acted like Seonghwa hadn't just heard what he had said. Joong must have known that he hid there to try and listen in on their conversation. There was no way he didn't know. Shaking his head, he didn't really want to think about it, he knew Joong knew, and it was probably in his plan to have him know. As confusing as it was, Seonghwa chose to ignore it. As he looked out towards the horizon, he could see small streaks of yellow, red and orange begin to fill the sky as the sun was slowly rising. It was beautiful, and Seonghwa wished he could capture the moment forever.

Being too busy looking out on the horizon, he didn't notice the presence beside him, until he felt something touch him. Looking over curiously, there sat Joong, looking the same way as him, out onto the horizon. Seonghwa didn't want to say anything, in fear of interrupting the captain's thoughts. How he hadn't heard him come up here, was still a thought that lingered in his head, but instead of trying to make sense of that, he sighed and looked back out to the horizon. Finally the sun was starting to show itself.

He felt free. Finally having the opportunity to just do whatever he wanted, without any limitations. He remembered back with his parents, he was barely allowed to read, always wanting him to do prince duties and stuff, he barely had any free time. But now, he had all the freedom he could ask for, though he knew a small part of himself missed home, it wasn't really his parents he missed, but more everyone else back home, who was actually sweet to him. A tear escaped his eye as he looked away from the horizon again. However, before he could wipe it away, his head was turned around to look at Joong.