You feel someone's hand tapping your shoulder, waking you up from your sleep. You sit up groggily, rubbing your eyes to get a clearer view of who had woken you up. And there stood the person you least wanted to face at the moment, Jeong Yunho.
"Uh, ... Good morning?" He stuttered awkwardly, scratching his neck.
"Yeah, Good M-morning" you reply quietly, trying to avoid eye contact at all costs.
Not now, what if he asks-
"I don't mean to bother you but, ... Is everything alright?, I mean... you just ran away crying yesterday and I felt like you needed your space. That is why I didn't follow you to the kitchen.
... I'm sorry if I was being a bit cold yesterday, it was totally unintentional." He speaks in a low tone, probably worried about your sudden fragility the day before.
You slightly panic but calm yourself down quickly before gathering the courage to look at him.
"I'm... Okay, I just needed some time."
You smile at the concern refusing to loosen it's hold on his features. He slowly puts a hand on your head before ruffling your already messy hair.
"Some of the boys may seem a bit... rude, but trust me, they all like you a lot. Not to mention you are the first female on board." He looks at you with caring eyes.
"If anything happens or you want someone to talk to other than San, you always have me. Not to mention but Yeosangie as well, he's great at these sorts of things." he finishes with one last nod at your direction before smiling and walking back to the stove.
And just in time, all the crew members come blasting through the kitchen door making you flinch rather dramatically. Yunho stood there grinning widely, seeming too used to the shocks these men give him on a regular basis.
Yeosang was the one who flung open the door with one arm while using the other to strangle Wooyoung who seemed to have been regretting his decision to befriend him, yet still, giggling joyously at his childishness.
He probably didn't notice your presence if he was being this carefree.
Jongho entered while singing a high pitched song but abruptly cut it off when he saw you standing there mouth agape. While Seonghwa was dragging a half awake-half dead Mingi into the kitchen and simultaneously discussing something serious with Hongjoong as they all entered at the same time, thus, wreaking havoc in the kitchen.
You stood there greeting them one by one before your eyes locked with Wooyoung's. His smile was being slowly washed away, replaced by a rather straight face.
"G-Good M-morning, hehe" you immediately regret your decision and mentally slap yourself as you just made the interaction even more awkward, thus adding that weird chuckle at the end to make it better but turns out, it just made things worse.
He was taken aback a bit but to your surprise, his lips slightly curled up from a side, now smirking as he nodded at you before walking away.
Your body seems to have frozen in time as you watch him smile as he pulls out a chair and sits down, now already chatting with Yeosang who was sitting on his left. Suddenly he clings onto Yeosang and yanks him playfully, as he starts whining something.
Oh...
Why can't I hear anything?...
You are confused as to why this man has such an effect on you. Seriously?! You can barely take your eyes off of him.
He's alluring... You think for a moment but something pulls you out of your head.
"Good Morning...", you hear Yunho's voice call out to someone. Looking ahead, you realize it was Renèe who had just walked in, still somehow maintaining the bitchy face; which you were now slowly getting used to.
She replies with a silent nod and a 'morning'.
"She's just a bit shy guys", San announces to the whole kitchen in a giggly tone as he enters the kitchen last, leaving the door open behind him.
"Oh... No good morning for me?" You pipe up from the corner as she notices you grinning widely.
"Good Morning, Ines", she looks down eyes closed as a smile creeps up onto her lips.
A series of gasps and shocked sounds follow as everyone looks at the both of you in amazement.
" What the hell just happened?" Mingi asks in awe, exchanging glances with Hongjoong and San.
"Nah, nothing big, we just had a small talk yesterday and I made a new friend." You giggle as you speak, trying to avoid looking at Wooyoung for God knows what might happen if you do.
With that, Renèe makes her way towards the table and before you realize... She's already sat down beside captain and Yunho.
Oh no...
shit shit sHiT sHit SHIT...
You don't have a choice now do you?
You look over at the only empty space at the table... And that was beside the one and only... WOOYOUNG.
From the corner of your eyes, you notice a slight smirk on San's face that's quickly washed away with a shrug as you glare daggers at him...
I'm gonna kill him for this.
You awkwardly walk towards the seat beside him and sit down as quietly as you can.
Luckily, he was too busy whining at Yeosang that he didn't notice you as soon as you sat down. But soon enough, he turned around to face the table and he noticed a frozen figure looking straight at the wall before her, eyes unwavering.
It was like you were trying to scare the wall with your gaze. You felt his gaze on you but you decided to eat your food instead.
Your mind tuned out any other conversation that was happening around you. Your focus was now only on the food, yourself and most of all, him.
All of a sudden you feel your appetite drain out of you as he was now staring at you, face once again, as blank as a fresh canvas. And then you feel the edges of his lips slightly turn upwards... Resulting in him now staring at you with an incredibly subtle smile of sorts.
To say you were surprised would be an understatement. You were absolutely ecstatic! Added to that was your inability to understand this joy that you have started to experience lately. Just before you could ponder anymore, your captain says something.
"Make sure to get ready and stay vigilant in your duties, we will be reaching land in about a few hours."
You felt a pang of shock hit you.
He could have said to me earlier. I guess everyone else knew except me.
You look around to find at least a single face that was even slightly overjoyed at the fact. But instead, you were met with rather calm ones.
Of course, they all knew...
You turn to look at your captain.
"Why did no one tell me?!, do ya'll don't trust me enough?" you ask in total doubt and upset.
"It's not something to be so worked up about." He says nonchalantly.
"Yeah well iT Is!, it just clearly shows that you don't count me as one of your crew members. You told everyone but me!" You say, not realizing that your voice was rising with every word.
"I SAID YOU, ITS NOT FOR YOU TO MEDDLE WITH RIGHT NOW! ", He snaps at you, but suddenly looks taken aback at what he had just said himself. Your face sank into a rather upset one as you shift in your seat and look down at the table.
Everyone was shocked at his sudden outburst, now trying their best to return to what they were doing before, rather than addressing it.
All of a sudden, you hear a light grunt and loud, shaky breathing. Renèe was now holding her head, seemingly in pain. You were starting to panic but you stayed still, looking at your friend suffering.
You wanted to ask what was wrong, but your mind said else. And so you stayed quite. You watch her as Yunho passes her a glass of water, looking just as confused as I was.
" Some crew..." She said before pausing to take in a shaky breath.
"Some crew you are..." She chokes out, now taking her hands off of her head.
Her eyes now glowing in a bright red.
Your brain immediately shuts off any other comments that were being exchanged.
Yup!... Now I'm triggered.
" You better shut that hole in your face before you receive a shoe in it. You didn't even HAVE a crew to begin with! " you glare at the girl before you, trying your best to contain your sudden hostility from causing pain to others.
Because you knew it wouldn't end well.
Much to your annoyance, she just smirks and grabs the glass of water in front of her.
"I can throw three back at ya, you decide. As for the crew part, I know that they are like a family so I do have an idea." She replies, taking occasional sips.
Wait... She has ThReE sHoEs?!?!
Your anger was now being drowned into something less dangerous at the funny thought, and you do the unexpected.
You giggle.
"Wow! you are absolutely unbelievable." You remark.
"You really do judge a book by its cover don't you?" She scoffs at you. You dramatically act as if you are about to pounce over the table and kill her, but your poor buddy San thought you were being serious as he immediately grabs you and tries to hold you back.
Wait... O' Lord I forgot about Mr Cold beside me. Or maybe he isn't cold. I mean he just smiled at me today. And he even had a decent conversation with me right? I mean it wasn't a conversation but... Meh.
Like... I should stop thinking like that... Maybe I'll call him Mr Handsome from now on... You think.
"Enough!" you hear your captain's voice boom through the entire kitchen as suddenly Renèe chokes on her water. Yup, he thought that this fight between you and RenRen was actually serious too.
Omg such dumbos.
You mentally facepalm as you laugh hysterically at her trying to catch her breath after that accident.
"Serves you right!" You manage to say between your laugh as you flip your hair dramatically and turn back to finish your food.
Beside you, San was absolutely baffled by what he thought was a serious mental case of mood swings that you have.
Omg, ..... Why are they so DuMb?!?.
Maybe it was because they never had any female crewmates before this. Well, women really are complicated.
You impatiently finish your food, trying not to spare any attention to Mr Handsome sitting beside you; which you realized was incredibly difficult and unsuccessful, with you taking quite peeks occasionally every time he looks elsewhere and the angles come into your favour.
Finally, you take one last glance at him before rising from the table, intending to leave the silent kitchen and the presence of your captain.
Walking out of the kitchen, you are again met with the bright light of the sun accompanied by the fresh morning winds. Although the winds were rather harsh, you decide to stand near the edge of the ship to watch the horizon. In hopes that it could somehow clear your mind from whatever had happened just a few moments ago.
Why would he say that to me?
Behind you, Jongho and Renèe had come out to the deck to start preparing for something. You twist your head to them as you watch them stance themselves. It was getting more interesting by the second as now the whole crew was scattered around the ship, but still watching the two of them readying themselves for what now seems to be a battle.
You immediately turn and run to get closer to them to get a better view, almost tripping on your way there out of enthusiasm.
"Ooo this is already getting interesting!" You coo out to them.
You could swear you saw RenRen smirk at your comment before she launched herself at Jongho.
But you feel a hand grabbing your wrist. You turn around to see who it was.
Of course, it was San...
He didn't say another word but used his actions and dragged you with him to the mainmast. You watch speechlessly at his back, mouth half-open in confusion as you struggled to maintain your balance.
Before long, he stops at the bottom of the tallest mast.
"Climb..." He says in a soft, demanding voice as he slowly let's go of your arm.
"Hm?" You poke his shoulder teasingly.
He sighs deeply with a blank face as he looks up and juts his chin towards the mast, indicating you to follow his words.
"Alright meanie, you're no fun." You stick your tongue out to him as you quickly start climbing the masts like a spider before he gets a chance to yank you back down and make you apologize. You could swear you saw no normal reactions from him as he waits till you reach the crow's nest so that he too could climb up.
After a few seconds of waiting on the wooden platform, San's head peeked up from the edge and locked eyes with you before shifting his body weight onto the platform. He crawls over to your side and sits beside you, facing the ocean side.
"How can you climb so fast?" You giggle at his calm face, which was rather unusual because he was always smiling or grinning at people.
"I'm a look-out if you haven't noticed yet, it's part my job to climb quickly. But that's not what I dragged you here for..." He says as he looks down in guilt.
"Yeah well, it better be for some good reason. I'm missing RenRen's battle right now." You giggle in an attempt to lighten the mood. He chuckles lightly, still not looking happy.
"I'm... I'm really sorry for what Joongie hyung said back there. He really didn't mean it. I don't know what happened to him but I'm sure he regrets saying that." He says it all in one breath as he finally looks at you in the eyes. You grab his head and yank him towards you for a hug.
"Just breathe baby, I don't want you to die when there's tons of oxygen out here." You chuckle as you hold him and he finally seems to calm down, now reciprocating the hug.
"I just... Hated seeing you like that Ines, hyung really didn't mean any of it. He'll apologize to you. He too seems sad." He speaks softly into your shoulder as you feel the vibrations of his voice ring throughout your body.
A smile creeps up onto your face as you feel his concern for you, like a blanket being wrapped around you, giving you warmth and comfort.
"I don't know how grateful I am for having people like you in my life... I feel like I don't even deserve it." your eyes start to water ever so slightly and somehow, he feels it as he tightens his grip around your way tinier frame. Burying his face even deeper into your shoulder.
"You deserve the world, Ines! It's us that should be glad." He chokes out, clearly getting infected by the contagious disease called emotion.
You finally pull away from him and frantically wipe your tears away with the sleeves of the shirt he gave you. He seems to have held it in pretty well as you barely notice any flowing tears like you.
"Oh please, San! Crying doesn't make you any less manly." You giggle as you poke his nose teasingly.
He just chuckles as he watches you getting up and dusting off your clothes as you prepare to climb down.
"Hey wait!!! You've got some work to do." He scrambles to get up and follows you down.
"What work?" You fix your sleeves and tie your hair up into a bun as you wait for San to get down.
"First, go call Yeosang. Tell him that I'm gonna go to refill the water tank so he should fill in to watch for enemies." He smiles at you.
You nod as you rush towards his cell, knocking on it. He opens the door with a cold gaze but it softens down as he sees you standing there.
"Hello there" he chuckles at you.
"Uhm hello! ... San is gonna refill the tank so he wants you to take over the masts." You chuckle at him.
"Aaaaargh I already have some mapping to do..." He whines but complies with you as he picks up his boots and follows you to San.
"Hey man! I'll be off then!" San greets Yeosang and once again, drags you with him, not waiting to hear Yeosang whining at him.
"Okay is this like an official job for me now???" You ask cluelessly as you get dragged beneath the deck to the 'tank' that San was going to refill.
"Today, you will be the one to do that!!!" He announces merrily as he pushes open a creaky ass wooden door, only to find Seonghwa and some powder monkeys mopping up the leaked water from the tank.
Hell, it's dark in here!
And just like he read your mind, San grabs a lantern and effortlessly lights it with a matchstick; which luckily wasn't wet like everything else in that cell.
The tank before you was humongous. It was cylindrical and surprisingly, made out of metal. It was rusty at parts but was still holding well.
"Ah! Good morning!" You hear Seonghwa coo at you both.
"Good morning!... I brought her to do the paddle work today." San announces joyously.
Wait-... Paddle work???
Wtf is that???
You watch the powder monkeys grab their stuff and move out of the cell. Followed by Seonghwa, who just flashed you a smile and a 'Good Luck!' before leaving you with San in utter confusion.
"Come on! I'll show you how to do it! It's pretty easy." He giggles evilly at you as he moves behind the tank and calls you over.
You slowly walk towards him follow his instructions.
Before you, there's an apparatus with two paddles beneath it.
"So, when you turn these paddles, the salty ocean water is taken up and processed into sweet water... Which, unfortunately, is not drinkable, but, can be used for other purposes like bathing, cleaning, and anything else!" He explains to you in a calm tone.
"Wow! That's so cool!" You gasp in excitement as you watch him turn the paddles.
"It feels mysterious. Nobody knows how it's turned into sweet water with just this small task but it's one of the special traits of Aurora." He smiles as he pats the tank like a mother patting her child for doing something good.
He let's go of the paddle and glances at you once before walking across the cell and sitting down on one of the chairs placed in the corner.
"Okay then! Go ahead! Let the show begin!!!" He chuckles loudly as you shake your head and start turning the paddles...
Only if I would have known that this task would go on for hours.
Luckily San was there to take shifts.
Oh, how I love these men!...
A few hours later
Heavy panting...
Heavy panting...
And even more heavy panting...
San was now giving you a piggyback ride to the deck because you could barely stand on your own.
O hell, I hate this job.
You couldn't help but think about how you never wanted to come back to that cell again as you were being carried by a sweaty San like the loafer you are. He was panting like hell and then there's you who can barely manage to even breathe at this point.
"How..." You pant once before continuing.
"How the fuck do you do that brother?" You manage to croak out.
"That's called stamina! We take shifts to do this as it should be done every day to provide enough for the whole crew. Wooyoungie's the best at this, he can fill up the tank twice every day without even breaking a sweat! " He chuckles.
Wow...
He must be strong!...
"Oh! By the way, how old are you?" You lift your head up before placing your chin on his shoulder.
Well, I've never asked them this question yet. I mean, they don't care about it as much right?
"Why? you wanna marry me or something?" He laughs out loud.
"What the fuck? Where did that come from?" You giggle as you use one of your hands which was wrapped around his neck to slap him... Which you were sure did not hurt even as much as an ant's bite.
"Ouch! Alright alright, I'm 21. What about you? 19?", he dramatically asks.
"Yesss, I'm 19!!!" You wiggle your legs out of excitement.
He gasps slightly, "Yeah well, I saw that coming." He starts laughing again.
Before long, San reaches your room. Taking his time to open the door and slowly enter.
"Hey, San..."
"What is it sleepy head?" He asks as he lays you down and tucks you in.
"Can I tell u something?" You chuckle at the nickname he gave you.
"Yeah of course, just don't doze off in between." He grins at you.
"Thank you for saying all those things earlier today." You send him a heartfelt smile as he gets on his knees and hugs you.
"Anytime Ines!, but for now, get some sleep. I'll wake you up when we reach."
You smile at him one last time before you finally doze off to sleep. And clearly, the nightmares begin.
There he is... That boy again. Same clothes and the same voice. His face, once again, faded and blurred. Standing amidst the same forest.
Except this once,
He's digging a grave...