A Pirate's Tale | ATEEZ Fan Fiction

Chapter 37: Questions

As soon as the sun rose over the horizon, the boatswain was awake.

He got up from the bay-window and walked over to his bathroom, grabbing a clean towel before shutting the door behind him. He turned the tap on and ran his hands under the cold stream of water before lapping it onto his face, the ice-cold sensation sending a jerk of energy into his system as the events of last night still played vividly in his mind.

He came out of the bathroom and picked up the musket that lay on his desk, holstering it into the back of his pants before throwing a leather jacket on and leaving his room.

When he reached the ground floor, he could already hear the chatter of his crew mates, groans from their hangovers prominent points of conversation between them. As he entered the restaurant, the smell of hangover soup filled his nostrils as the eight individuals drank it groggily.

San looked up to see the boatswain standing by the entrance and greeted him with a smile, "Seonghwa-hyung! Good morning!"

The others all turned to the black-haired male and offered similar greetings, all to which Seonghwa responded with a simple nod of the head.

Mrs Song came out of the kitchen with a bowl of tofu stew and placed it at an empty seat of the table, gesturing for the boatswain to sit down and eat some breakfast. He smiled thankfully to her and sat down next to Wooyoung who was busy gulping down his bowl of soup.

"Seonghwa-hyung, how bad were we last night?" Yunho asked, stuffing a piece of tofu in his mouth.

"We were probably wild.. I don't think my head has hurt this much since I first tried the Double B at Mingyu-hyung's," Yeosang commented, placing his cup of water up to his head to try and cool down the throbbing pain. The rest laughed at his remark, making all sorts of noises to agree with the surgeon's reasoning. But the boatswain stayed silent, staring plainly at the stew in front of him, a cold expression laced through his face. Hongjoong noticed the disposition of the former and waved his hand in front of his friend's face, turning Seonghwa's attention to his Captain.

"What happened last night?" He asked rather curtly as the other eight fell silent upon hearing their Captain's serious tone.

Wooyoung examined Seonghwa's posture, the hunch in his shoulders conveyed that whatever happened last night was no light matter. His eyes travelled down to something sticking out from the bottom of his jacket and he raised his eyebrows in surprise and confusion as he realised what it was.

"Hyung, what's with the gun?"

The boatswain sighed, bringing his head into his hands before running his fingers through his slightly dishevelled hair. He stared down at the table.

"It's Illa."

"What about her?" Jongho asked, resting his hands on the table as the elder shifted his gaze from him to the Captain sitting opposite him.

"She.." He sighed again, "She was attacked."

The others widened their eyes at the words that came out of Seonghwa's mouth, looking to each other almost as a way to confirm that what they just heard was not a figment of their imaginations.

"What do you mean she was attacked? By whom?" San questioned, bringing his attention to the eight people sitting before him.

"Ali."

A crease formed on the sailing master's forehead as the rest of them diverted their gazes from each other.

A scoff came out of Mingi's mouth, earning everyone's attention fixed on him, "You can't be serious..Ali wouldn't harm a hair on Illa's head,"