Love At Sea

Love At Sea

Throughout the whole Atlantic Ocean, there have only been 2 ships that have been considered the strongest. Tiffany Hwang’s Poseidon’s Gem and Kim Taeyeon’s The Atlantic Compass were both tied as the conquerors of this particular ocean. Yet when both of them crossed paths, neither of them found the idea of ‘equal power’ agreeable to the two of them. And so, their battle for the strongest ship had begun.

I was pacing in my quarters, just looking over the map that was posted over one whole wall as it was lit by the illuminating lamps around the room. Even though the night had turned dark and late, I still had to think my strategies over. I can’t take any more of her sneaky tricks.

And right then, the door opened, revealing my First Mate, Yuri. “Captain, Poseidon’s Gem just dropped down their anchor right next to The Atlantic Compass.” She announced, stepping inside slightly. I turned to her, slamming my hand as lightly as I could on my table, sending the objects on it to shake.

“What?! Do they pose a threat at the moment?”

“No, Captain. All their cannons aren’t loaded and the crew isn’t armed.” She explained with a calm form, keeping her hands behind her.

I turned my back on her, sighing as my head started to feel light. “Aish, what does she want this time…”

“Yuri!” My Quartermaster’s familiar voice shouted and in the doorway appeared Sooyoung. I turned to both of them and found Sooyoung mumbling something in Yuri’s ear afterwards, Yuri turned to me with a slightly confused expression and Sooyoung with a nervous one. “She wants to meet with you, Captain.”

Poseidon's Gem I stepped outside on the deck with Yuri, feeling the chill of the midnight breeze immediately, making me fix up my captain’s coat and clench my fists. “Yuri, check in on Yoona about the status of The Atlantic Compass.” I mumbled to her as I glanced at my Pilot on the bridge. [Bridge = one end of a ship where they have the helm: where you steer and control the ship]

“Right away, Captain.” I still proceeded to walk across the main deck as Yuri turned to Yoona who was standing right in front of the wheel. “Yoona!” Yuri shouted. “Is everything to order?!”

“Yes, Ma’am! Anchor is stable and all damage from our last battle has been repaired!” I heard her shout back. My heart felt a bit more of comfort as I knew that even if she was going to attack, my ship was ready to stand.

Yuri walked back to my side, saying, “Everything has been handled, Captain.”

I nodded and we both continued walking to the right-end of our main deck.

Through the evening mist, I could still see the equally humongous ship next to mine and it was the only ship that would make me want to throw cannon ball right in its core so badly…and the captain of this vessel was the one person that could make my blood boil in 2 minutes.

I took a few more steps forward before my sight finally cut through the fog, giving me a look on their main deck. And there she was, leaning against the railing of their ship as she rested her chin on the palm of her hand with a smirk as devious as the Cheshire cat. “Aye Aye, Cap’n Taeyeon!” She greeted as her other hand gave a wave. “I see you also brought your First Mate with you!” And my eyes turned to the person behind her, whom, if I recall correctly, was named Jessica.

I kept my strong figure, standing straight with a confident expression as I replied, “What do you want Tiffany Hwang?”

“Aww, c’mon, Tae. Don’t be so cold to me~” She complained, pouting. I gritted my teeth together. I hate the way she teased me. Especially with that never-ending flirty tone of hers.

“Don’t call me that.” I commanded her.

“Don’t call you what? Tae? What’s wrong with that, Tae? I think it’s quite cute.” She smirked. “Or would you prefer ‘Taengoo’?”

I looked away, not letting her get the best of me since the blood in me was already boiling.

She giggled loudly, sending echoes to the sea. “It’s so fun to tease you as usual, Tae. You make it too easy.” I turned back to her, finding her mouth to be grinning widely. “I saw your ship while passing by this area so I just thought I’d remind you about our little planned battle tomorrow that’ll take place at any time.” And with that sentence, the smirk she had before grew back. “I won last time so I’ll be starting everything off.” She winked.

“How can I forget the event of me destroying your precious Poseidon’s Gem to pieces?” I answered back, placing my hands on the railings while I still kept a confident expression.

She chuckled, looking at me with a sly smirk. I just wanted to wipe it off her face. “Don’t be too cocky now.” She waved her finger back and forth at me.

Before I could reply back with a clever comment, her pilot, Sunny came running down their bridge and talked to Tiffany with a voice too low for me to hear…but once they were done talking, Tiffany turned back to me, saying, “Oops, I have to go, Taeyeon.” She winked. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” She waved flirtatiously.

The last thing I saw was her turning to Sica, mumbling something about taking up the anchor before I turned my back on her, heading back to my quarters with Yuri following me.

“What is your strategy this time, captain?” Yuri asked.

I glanced at her, analyzing her determined expression as we entered my quarters. “…Yuri.” I said, staring at the miniature version of my ship on my table. “Call Yoona and Sooyoung here and let’s have the strategy meeting.” Yuri smiled at me, knowing that I had an assuring plan already in my head.

~~~

At the brink of dawn, my ship and crew were already on full alert as we were already positioned into the usual location of every battle Tiffany and I had: Right in the middle of the crystal waters at Portland Bay.

These fights were common between the both of us. Ever since we’ve crossed paths at sea a year ago, we’ve been having battles 4 – 5 times a month at who was the strongest ship of the Atlantic Ocean.

The rules are: 1. All battles take hold at Portland Bay. 2. Whoever won the last match shall have the honor of having the first hit to their advantage. If it was a tie, the two captains have to have a sword-tosword combat, at which whoever drops their sword first will lose. 3. The match shall be considered won if the captain of either ship has been considered trapped or captured by the other captain. 4. The time on which the battle takes place is randomly decided by the previous winning ship and so, the other captain has to stay alert the whole time until the first hit has been declared.

I looked through my spy-glass as I stood on the bridge of The Atlantic Compass, searching for any sign of her. Even if she had the advantage today, I could still do my best to steer out of her attack range with any means necessary. “Tch…” I couldn’t see anything through this morning mist.

“Any sign of her, captain?” Yoona asked while keeping the helm in her control.

“Not yet, Yoong.” I sighed and turned to her. “This is the one of the parts I hate, waiting for her.”

She smiled at my comment, probably finding it kind of funny. “Name another part then, if you don’t mind saying.”

“Seeing her face.” I grumbled. And at that sentence, Yoona chuckled while she still steered the helm around the bay.

Yuri appeared at top of the stairs, walking towards me. “Cannons are loaded and the crew is prepared to fight.” She announced.

“Thank you, Yuri. There are still no signs of her, though.” I mumbled, straightening out my coat.

Yuri smiled at me with assurance, saying back, “I’m sure she’ll turn up sooner or later—“

Boom!A cannon was shot, sending a steel ball right in the middle of my bow. The rest of my crew sprawled out of the berth and my quartermaster ran up the stairs, towards us. “Where is she, captain?!” She asked with her mind being all alert. [Bow = the forward part of the ship. Berth = where the mess, sick bay, living/sleeping quarters were found.]

I ran to the right side of the bridge and through the fog, I saw the very familiar pink flag raised right on a masthead. I looked farther into the ship and gripped the railing as I saw her waving at me with a grin on her face while she stood on her main deck. All of her members were hard at work, prepared to fight and arming the cannons.

I turned to Yuri and Sooyoung, telling them, “She’s on starboard, Sooyoung, tell the crew to man their stations and the carpenters to get their materials and tools ready for all the damage Tiffany will be inflicting. Yuri, on my command, we’re going to execute our plan, stay close.” [Starboard – right side of the ship.]

“Yes , Captain!” They both answered before Sooyoung ran down to give the orders and I turned to Yoona.

“I’m counting on you, my friend.” I said to her, patting her shoulder.

She smiled in return of the friendly encouragement. “We’ll win this time, Captain.”

~~~

The sound of cannons firing and the disturbed waves of the water filled my ear. It’s been an hour and both ships were still standing, even though they were both equally damaged and cannon balls were still launching at an alarming rate. If this keeps up, it’ll only be just a battle between who has more ammo.

I still stood on the bridge, watching the battle in a clear view. I sighed, gripping the wooden railings, seeing as this fight won’t be won without the strategy.

I grabbed my spy glass from my coat and extended it to its maximum capability before looking into it. I looked for Tiffany and her first mate on every part of the ship before I finally found them entering the Captain’s quarters. I smirked and kept the spy-glass back in my coat then turned to Yuri. “Let’s go, Yuri.” She smirked back.

We both ran down the bridge and went to my quarters, grabbing a sword and threw one to Yuri which she expertly caught. I grabbed another one and slid it in the sheath that was connected to my leather belt then grabbed two pistols and slid them in the two holsters hidden in my coat. “Need a gun, Yuri?” I asked, holding up the chest that was filled with guns.

“I’m fine. I should be able to do this with just a sword.” She grinned cockily, making me laugh.

“I trust your swordsmanship, dear friend.”

~~~

Yuri and I jumped off the port-side of the ship, not visible to the enemy. It was a good thing that both Yuri and I were strong swimmers, it made it easier to swim through the strong waves and currents our battle was giving. Especially since we had to board Tiffany’s ship without anybody noticing.

We climbed in by the ladder on side of its hull. We were both careful not to cause any disturbance…everybody was busy attacking our ship but that doesn’t mean their ears and eyes were closed shut.

Both of us hid behind a couple of stacked crates, gaining our breaths from all that swimming. “You…okay, Yuri?” I asked, giving a grin.

“Ready to attack, Captain…” She replied, grinning back.

I leaned against the crate as I peeked, seeing as everybody was too busy to turn their backs. “Go!” I whispered to Yuri before we both ran for Tiffany’s quarters.

We stood in front of the door, looking at each other with determined eyes. “Remember to just handle, Jessica, okay?” She nodded as we pulled our swords from our sheaths.

We barged in, slamming the door open and found Tiffany standing right in front of her desk, looking at us surprised. “Hi there.” I smirked, raising my sword at her.

“Hello, Tae.” She smirked back. I looked at her confused, what was she smirking about?

“No greeting for me?” An icy voice said before I heard a sound of a gun being loaded behind my head and Yuri’s. I sighed, still not lowering my sword and so did Yuri.

“I never expected you to be behind us, Jessica.” I mumbled.

“I didn’t expect you to be charging in Tiff’s quarters like a bunch of fools either.”

“Neither did I.” Tiffany chuckled, grabbing a sword that was hanging on the wall before pointing it at me. “Did you miss me that much, Taengoo?” She smirked. I glared at her as she continued to say a bunch of flirty nonsense.

“Don’t joke with me, Tiffany.”

“Aww, you really did miss me.” She giggled.

“Tch.” I continued to glare at her. “Yuri.” I whispered.

“Yep.” She whispered back and in a blink of an eye, she turned around, pushing both of Jessica’s guns downwards before she pulled both triggers, averting the bullets downwards and I lunged at Tiffany. However, Tiffany quickly parried my attack and Jessica pulled out a sword to face Yuri properly.

A battle between the captains and first mates.

I turned my full focus on Tiffany, knowing that I could trust Yuri with a sword. It was annoying me that she still kept a smirk with every attack I threw at her and the fact that she could handle a sword well.

I lunged, making our swords clash and pushing Tiffany against the wall. Our faces were so close while both of us had a match of strength, trying to push each other’s swords away. Both of us looked at each other for a second with a blank expression...I don’t know about her but I couldn’t help but examine her face more clearly.

Was she always this pretty?

But as soon as I saw that smirk of hers again, I got back to my senses. “Falling for me, my dear Taeyeon?” I scoffed at the comment before she pushed me away, continuing our battle.

I exerted a lot of forced into my blocking, pushing her sword out from her hand as she charged her sword at me. She tried to grab her sword back but I quickly got out my gun and shot it away. I turned to her with a victorious smile, pointing my sword at her. “Well…” I said, grinning widely.

She gritted her teeth, refusing to look at me. I grabbed her arm and pulled her towards me, securing her capture by holding both her hands and a sword pointed at her throat.

“Tiffany!” Jessica exclaimed, seeing as I’ve just won the battle.

Yuri grinned at me before making Jessica drop her sword and captured her as well. We both went outside, revealing to Tiffany’s crew that we have won.

Once everyone noticed, a roar of victory washed over my ship, every one of my members cheering while Tiffany’s crew just stared at the person in my arms in

disbelief. “Well, that was fun, wasn’t it, Tiffany?” I asked her with a smirk as she still refused to accept her defeat by not facing me.

Split-Second Decision

Both of us sailed away as I still kept my victorious smile. I stood straight on the bridge while Yoona steered the helm behind me, I couldn’t stop my ever-growing happiness. While the wind blew on my face and the waves crashed against the surface of my ship, I reminisced on the previous battles. Like how, somehow Tiffany brought a lot of extra members for her crew and it was twice the numbers I had on my crew; half of them, shot cannons while the other half attacked my ship.

Every battle was different, some of them were quite shameful yet some of them were even worth laughing at. And right now, this battle is something to be proud of. Before this, Tiffany had won 3 battles in-a-row; I can’t believe such a simple strategy defeated her. She was probably too arrogant.

“I forgot to say congratulations, Captain.” Yuri’s familiar voice struck my ears after I felt her presence behind me. I turned around, grinning widely.

“I couldn’t have done it without you, Yul.” I replied, patting her shoulder. “After this, you can just call me Taeyeon.” She widened her eyes, shaking her head.

“I simply can’t. It’s too—“

“C’mon, Yul. Just like the old days. I didn’t even ask you to call me that during our first day.” I smiled warmly.

“A-Alright…Taeyeon.” She replied, giving back a half-smile.

“Sorry to break this tender moment but where should we set course to, Captain?” Yoona interrupted with a smile. I turned to her, chuckling a bit before replying back.

“Find the nearest island with as much resources as possible. We need to repair The Atlantic Compass.”

“Aye aye, Captain~” She answered and continued to steer the wheel.

~~~

The rocks grinded against the bilge as we were approaching the shore of an uncharted island for the restoration of the ship and as the sun crossed the sky lower and lower, we needed to fix the ship before night time as it would troublesome to find resources in a unknown island in the dark. [Bilge = The bottom of a ship's body.]

I walked down the stairs from the bridge onto the main deck, meeting with Sooyoung. “What are your orders, captain?”

“Send 7 members into the forest and collect all the wood they can along with 2 other members to collect food. Tell the carpenters that they’ll only have 3 days to repair the ship before we set sail again.” She nodded as I continued to speak. “I’ll be going down to check the area with Yuri, when we come back I want a full status report.”

“Right away, Captain.” She agreed and walked to talk to the rest of the crew.

“C’mon, Yuri.” I called behind me before I went down the ladder and she followed right after. As soon as we both stepped on the sandy beach, Yuri heaved a long sigh.

“Being on a ship really makes you miss the earth on your feet.” I chuckled at her comment before we walked along the beach, scouting the area.

After about 10 minutes of scouting the beach, Yuri and I decided to enter the forest, looking around for any signs of other people or looters. “Wait.” I whispered, holding Yuri’s arm for both of us to stop for a second. “Do you hear that?” I whispered again as I heard a few branches breaking and a couple of murmurs.

“I hear sounds coming from both left and right.” Yuri mumbled, looking into both sides. “Which one should we inspect, Cap—Taeyeon?” I smiled at the little side back of the name before replying,

“You go left, I’ll go right. You have a weapon with you?”

“I have my sword. What about you?”

“I have my pistol.” I replied, pulling it out of my coat. “Okay, let’s go.” And with that word, we both briskly walked away from each of our spots and aimed for the sound.

(Yuri’s POV)

Once I made sure that I was going on the right track, I ran through the place, searching for the source of the sound as fast as possible.

And right then, I felt a gush of wind and saw a shadow pass by my right side. I quickly turned, inspecting the area. “Wha…” I mumbled, not finding anything.

“YAH!” A voice shouted before a heavy weight landed on my back, sending me to the ground. “Who are you!? What have you done to Captain Tiffany?!” A familiar voice asked.

“T-Tiffany?” I mumbled, turning my body and found Jessica sitting on top of me. “You!” I shouted with my reflexes kicking in, making me sit up and my forehead clashed with hers, sending me back to the ground. “Ow…”

“Ouch!” She squealed. “Ugh…so it’s you.” She mumbled. I was still lying there, keeping my eyes closed to ease the pain. “What have you done with Captain Tiffany?!” She shouted, regaining her composure once again.

“I…didn’t do anything.” I mumbled, rubbing my temples.

“Then where—“ A gunshot was fired, not far from here, making us both jump. “Tiffany!”

“Taeyeon!”

(Taeyeon’s POV)

Hearing the murmurs become louder, I walked as fast as possible, still making sure that I was silent. “…drop…kill…you.” Only fragments of each sentence were

heard from my current position. “…lower…let…away…” My ears perked up to whom that voice belonged to.

Tiffany?

I approached faster, finally reaching the scene. I was surprised to see Tiffany in a state of being so helpless like this. She was held at gunpoint by another pirate. It seemed like she was carelessly walking around in the island without defense because she didn’t have a sheath or any gun holster on her. “For the last time, drop the gun, good sir.” She demanded. I can’t believe she has the nerve of telling that when she’s completely harmless.

He snickered, not lowering the gun. “I’ve got you cornered, madam. Just hand over your riches and I’ll leave you alone.”

“I have nothing of value.”

“Handing that pretty necklace of yours is something I find of value.”

“Never. This was given to me by my mother. I won’t let scum like you even touch it!” She resisted, holding the locket in her hand, dearly.

“You little…” He loaded the gun, about to fire, making Tiffany shriek.

As a split-second decision, I let my reflexes win, aimed and fired at his head. He dropped dead on the ground after the blink of an eye. I ran out of the shadows, checking to see if there were still signs of living, still pointing the gun at him just in case. “T-Taeyeon?”

I turned to the crouching, powerless girl beside me, looking completely shocked. I was shocked myself; I just saved my greatest enemy’s life. “A-Are you okay?” I asked, trying to avoid the shocking topic.

She looked at me closer, as if she couldn’t believe it was me. “Yeah…Why did you—“

“Taeyeon!” Yuri called, coming out from where I did as well and behind her stood Jessica.

“Tiff!” Jessica exclaimed, coming to Tiffany’s aide. “What did you do to her?!” She demanded, helping Tiffany up.

“No, Sica, it’s okay…she was the one who saved me actually.” Tiffany stated, standing on her feet. Once Yuri heard this, she turned to me, showing the same shocked expression Tiffany originally had. I shrugged as I looked at her with a clueless expression.

“Saved you?” Jessica mumbled in disbelief. All three of them turned to me, looking at me the same way, confused and shocked.

“Is this true?” Yuri asked, approaching me by only a few steps.

“I-I…” I couldn’t answer. I was confused myself. Once I saw him, about to pull the trigger, I just…couldn’t let it happen. My body just went for it, my mind was rushed and my heart raced with the thought of what’ll happen if I didn’t save her.

I averted my gaze from the ground to them. They were just staring at me, waiting for an answer. “I-I’d rather not waste my time talking to you two. Let’s go, Yuri.” I quickly mumbled and walked back to the direction of the ship, leaving all of them dumbfounded.

~~~

I leaned over at the back part of my ship, watching the waves from the shore crash against the hull and my crew starting to prep the wood for repairing the damage, while I was trapped in deep thoughts. I was lost in my own mind. I didn’t even know what to think, the fact that I actually saved her or the thought that I couldn’t imagine her dying before my eyes.

Sighing, I turned around and found Yuri on the opposite side, watching me with a concerned expression. We stared at each other, having a mental argument about what happened earlier before I tried walking away. “Taeyeon.” She called as I turned my back on her.

I sighed once more, looking over my shoulder and mumbled, “I don’t know either, Yuri.”

As I walked back to my room, I saw the orange glow spread over the ship and when I looked up, I found the sun setting. “Quartermaster!” I called as she was just across the deck.

Sooyoung ran over, wondering what I wanted. “Once it starts getting dark, tell the crew to halt operation until the break of dawn tomorrow. I’ll be in my quarters if anyone needs me.” She nodded before I walked past her, wanting to just lie down in bed.

“Oh, captain.”

I turned around, finding her looking at me a bit worried. “Yeah?”

“Did something happen?” I stared at her as the image of Tiffany crossed my mind. “…I…” My gaze averted to the floor as I shook my head. “Nothing.” And with that, I turned around and aimed for my sleeping quarters.

Am I going crazy? Have I finally lost control of myself after being on the sea for 7 years? Never have I saved an enemy’s life, especially someone like Tiffany Hwang. I don’t even know anymore.

I tossed myself on my bed, not caring if I still had my coat and shoes on. I just wanted to sleep everything off. I didn’t want to deal with anything right now or think of anything that was going to cause a major headache.

I turned to my other side, staring hard at the wall as I felt the drowsiness hit me.

And before I finally drifted off, an image flashed through my mind…the time when she won one of our battles before…she gave me a proud eye-smile. I don’t know why, but my lips tugged upwards a split second before I finally slept.

~~~

I woke up, hearing the loud clutter outside. I guess they were starting reconstruction again. I dragged myself out of my bed, straightening out my clothes and rubbing my eyes before leaving the premises, checking the progress outside.

I saw Yuri on the bridge, looking out on everything like the First Mate she was and Sooyoung making sure everybody was doing their job. I puffed my cheeks, breathing in and out before walking out on the deck, making my way to the bridge with Yuri.

“Morning, Taeyeon.” Yuri said, not even glancing at me.

“Morning, Yuri. Time check please…” I mumbled, yawning.

“It’s 9 in the morning and patching up of The Atlantic Compass is progressing well.”

“Alright then.” I replied, standing beside her and joined the observation of the crew.

Awkward silence filled the atmosphere around us. I bit my lip, knowing that I must be driving Yuri crazy. She was more than my First Mate, she’s my best friend. Even before we first set sailed, we trained together. We learned how to handle a sword together—though she was always better than me. Our bond never disappeared even though I become Captain and she became my First Mate, we always stood beside each other. And the fact that I’m hiding something from her must be really driving her insane.

“…yesterday isn’t worth talking about.” I mumbled, taking a chance.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t think that you saving your greatest enemy’s life wasn’t something worth explaining.” She retorted, keeping her firm composure.

“I-It was a reflex!” I argued back.

“No…you’re keeping something from me and we both know it.” And with that final sentence, she started to walk away.

“E-Even I don’t know, Yuri!” I shouted, calling some members and Yuri’s attention. She turned to me, looking confused once more. I sighed, stepping closer and mumbled, “I’m just as confused as you so please don’t get mad at me right now.” We stared at each other, trying to understand each other.

After a few seconds, she finally lowered her defenses, heaving a sigh before replying, “Alright…I’m sorry. You just…haven’t hid anything from me for a while so I got paranoid.”

“I’m sorry too.” I said as we both stood up straight, looking at each other like we didn’t know what to do. We were staring at each other so hard that before we knew it, we started laughing for no reason. And it was a good thing too; it meant that we were okay already. No hard feelings. “I really am sorry, Yuri.” I said once more, giving a small smile.

“It’s okay.” She grinned, patting my shoulder. “So really now, you have no idea what happened back there.” I groaned and shook my head. “Do you still hate her?”

As soon as that question hung in the air, it was the first time that I didn’t have an immediate answer. I had to picture her in my mind, recall her personality, voice and everything else. I looked at Yuri with nervous eyes, mumbling, “I’m not sure.” She stared at me in shock. “I-I don’t know…I tell myself no but when I remember what happened yesterday, I feel that I’m just lying to myself.” I explained, walking over to the railings and getting a good look of the morning beach. “Maybe I—“ I jumped in my place as I recognized a face hidden behind a tree from the forest not so far in the beach. Tiffany’s face to be exact…she didn’t have the usual teasing smirk on her face. It was more like…she was observing me in a calm manner.

“What? What happened?” Yuri asked, seeing me jump in my place.

“Look over there!” I pointed, turning to her.

“Where?” She hurriedly went beside me, looking at the way I pointed out.

“Right there…” But before I could point it out clearer, she was already gone.

“There’s nothing there.” Yuri mumbled, seeming to be disappointed.

“I…” When I tried looking again, she was clearly gone. Have I gone crazy? “Yuri.” I turned to her, grabbing her arm. “Let’s check on Tiffany’s ship. They must be somewhere here on the island if they were here yesterday. Maybe they’re fixing their ship here too.”

“Huh? You really want to scout them now? The next battle isn’t for another week. Scouting when they’re still in damaged status isn’t worth anything.”

“Just go with me.” I groaned and grabbed the nearest pistol before I dropped down to the beach.

~~~

“Alright so what are doing here again…?” Yuri mumbled as we crept around their site. The trees were just enough cover for us to close enough but still be too far away to be seen. I don’t want a misunderstanding of attacking them.

“When I was pointing out something a while ago, I thought I saw Tiffany. So why not look at their ship as well?” I whispered, hiding behind a rock and started looking for her.

“Maybe you were just hallucinating…” She replied, hiding behind the tree beside me. “Yeah, maybe you were because you’re falling in love with her, aren’t you?” She teased, chuckling a bit. I rolled my eyes, hitting her leg lightly.

“I am not. The sound of her silly laugh just makes me wanna stuff a cannon ball in her—there she is!” I whispered loudly, seeing her walk around her ship on the main deck. I gripped the rock in front of me as I felt my heart tightening with her every step…I paid attention to her every movement and expression. I started feeling warmth in my chest as she leaned against her railing, pouting and puffing her cheeks, looking bored. “Has she…always been this adorable?” I mumbled, not turning away. When I heard no answer, I turned to her. “Yuri—what?” I asked, seeing as she was smirking. “What’s with that smirk?”

“Look at yourself, you were analyzing every bit of her and the moment you saw her, I swear, that huge smile on your face hasn’t disappeared.” She chuckled, standing up. “C’mon you lovebird, let’s go back to the ship.”

“I-I wasn’t analyzing her! I was observing her… so I could know her exact movements when we fight again—I wasn’t analyzing her!!” I argued. “And I wasn’t smiling, if I was smiling, I would’ve known because I actually own my mouth.”

“Sure~”

“I hate her! Yuri, you know I hate her! I hate Tiffany!” I continued to bicker as we made our way back to the ship.

“Uh-huh~” Yuri replied, not listening to what I was saying.

“Kwon Yuri!!”

~~~

As Yuri and I stepped onto the ship, she never removed that smirk of hers while we kept arguing. “Wipe that smirk of your face. You’re starting to remind me of Tiffany.” I mumbled under my breath.

“Aye Aye, Captain Lovesick~” She teased again. “Of course I remind you of Tiffany, you think about her all the time so even a crab could remind you of her.” She whispered and started laughing.

I sighed and glared at her before stomping to my quarters.

I locked the door shut, not wanting Yuri to barge in and start singing love songs before sitting down behind my desk and groaning all the irritated feelings she piled up inside me. “In love? With Tiffany? Psh, she doesn’t know what she’s talking about anymore. Argh, If anyone is in love, it’s her. Why did they show up together yesterday anyway…? Whatever. I am so not in love with Tiffany Hwang. Never. Ever. I am and never will be in love with—“ I paused, remembering her eye smile, the moment fear struck in her eyes the moment a gun almost killed her, her giggles, her smiles, her voice, her pouts…

I glanced across the room, still in denial of what I just realized.

How could this happen? Ever since I’ve heard that somebody has the power to conquer the sea as equal as mine, she’s been my sworn enemy for 3 years. I’ve

hated every single thing that was hers until this morning. I don’t know why or how or when did I fall in love with this girl but…

I stood up, pacing around my room.

Am I really?

I let out a heavy sigh, leaning against the wall, not knowing what to do anymore. “It can’t be…It can’t be…” I told myself. “No…No, Kim Taeyeon, No.” I groaned. “You’re just…confused. Yeah! You’re just confused. Don’t listen to Yuri or any of the signs, you’re perfectly fine. You’re not in love. No of course not, you’re not in love. It’s just another normal day, after you just defeated your number one enemy, Tiffany Hwang.” At the mention of her name my heart quickly thumped for a second. I moaned and hit the wall with my fist. “Ignore that. Ignore that, Taeyeon.” I mumbled.

~~~

As the clock struck 10pm, I walked to the galley, in which only my chef and Yuri was present. It seems like everybody else ate earlier. “Hey Yul.” I greeted her as I

walked to the counter where the chef placed my plate of food on before walking back to Yuri to sit with her. [galley = kitchen part of the ship.]

She turned to me with that same smirk. “Hello, friend.”

“I swear, if you keep smirking, I’m gonna make you walk the plank once we’re in the middle of this ocean.” I grumbled, putting my plate down and sitting in front of her. She chuckled before taking a bite of her hard bread and turned back to me.

“So after we repair The Atlantic Compass, where is our next course?”

“Hmm…Maybe we should check some of the northern islands, during this time, the vegetation on those islands are plentiful. We should stock up.”

“Good idea. I’m tired of bread and fish.” She groaned, taking a sip of her wine.

“That’s what you signed up for on this pirate life—“

“Captain?” Yoona’s voice entered the galley. And a few seconds later, she walked towards me. “Tiffany Hwang is calling for you, captain.” She mumbled, looking surprised.

I glanced at Yuri, making sure that she wasn’t smirking before I replied, “What? Now?” She nodded. “Where is she?”

“She’s on the beach. Sooyoung checked her, she has no weapons and a few of the members are patrolling the area to make sure that she has no back up.”

“O-Okay…” I wiped my mouth and stood up. “Tell her that I’ll be right there.”

“Aye aye, Cap’n.” She replied and got out of the galley.

Yuri finally released a laugh, turning to me. “Maybe she’s gonna confess to you~” She teased.

“Shut up. Be an adult, will you?” I groaned, hitting her by the back of her head before following Yoona.

I stepped out into the cold windy night, seeing as my crew replaced the torches that lit up the ship and the shore, illuminating the place. When I walked towards the ladder, I found Tiffany, being surrounded by my members, making sure that she wouldn’t do anything. My heart skipped a bit as soon as I saw her biting her lip, waiting for me.

I hurriedly went down the ladder and walked towards her. Once she saw me, she gave me a warm smile, mouthing the word, “Hi.” My heart started to beat faster.

“Hi.” I mouthed back with a grin. I couldn’t help myself. I was lost in my own mind. My mind went crazy over the loud and fast beats my heart gave, not letting me think clearly. I forgot all about who she is…I just knew that she’s Tiffany Hwang, a beautiful brilliant lady. “Everyone can go back to the ship, she poses no threat.” I commanded my members and they lingered the place, still thinking that she will attack at any moment but after a while, they boarded back on the ship.

I turned back to Tiffany, starting the conversation by saying: “What are you doing here?”

“I…” She started, looking at the ground. “I couldn’t come up with the reason on why you saved me yesterday. And if you would, I would like to know the reason.” She mumbled, finally looking at me in the eyes. I looked away, feeling my heart beat even faster as my eyes met hers.

“Y-You’re still thinking about that? I’ve forgotten it already, actually.” I quickly thought of, not knowing what to say.

“Oh, I understand. Someone like you must have such short memory.” She snickered. I glared at her.

“It’s 10pm, do you really want to start? I swear I’ll load my cannon so fast before you can even say ‘Taengoo’” I mumbled, starting to get irritated.

“No, I’m sorry. It’s a reflex, I see something I can make fun of about you and I just go for it.” She sighed. “I came here for a totally different reason.” She stated, looking in my eyes again.

“What is that?” I replied, deciding to look in her eyes. I was completely lost in them in a matter of seconds…her eyes were just so…beautiful.

“…Thank you.” She whispered. “For saving me. Thank you for saving me.” She smiled. “Jessica got lost and I didn’t have any weapon, I didn’t even expect another pirate to be on this island. If you weren’t there, I’d probably be…” She smiled while she looked down for a second before looking back at me. “Well, you wouldn’t have anyone to hate anymore.”

I returned the smile, replying with, “You’re welcome…” I said, sheepishly, not managing to keep my gaze on her anymore. She giggled, smiling at me. “What?”

“Why do you seem so tame? Usually, you’d be either…pointing your sword and gun at me or telling me to go away.”

I scratched my head, looking for an answer that won’t give anything that my heart is already saying. “Well…you’re saying thank you. And that isn’t something to be mad at. Being polite is the first thing to do.”

“Oh.” She cracked out an eye-smile, sending my heart jumping around my chest. “I never knew this side of you.”

“Well, there’s a lot you don’t know about me.” I smiled.

“Same with me.” She replied. “I have to go now. See you on our next battle.” She said, starting to walk away.

“O-Okay. See you.”

I walked away as well, climbing aboard the ship and heading towards my sleeping quarters. As I closed the door and leaned against it, I smiled silently to myself, repeating every part of the conversation. I walked to the bed and kicked my shoes after placing my coat on the hook beside my bed.

I lied down on my bed, not letting go of the big smile I had plastered on my face.

With my heart beating faster; this huge smile; the butterflies in my stomach; the fact that I can’t stop thinking about her; and the fact that I saved her life…there’s no way that I was not in love with my number one enemy, Tiffany Hwang.

Surreal

“Taeyeon! Taeyeon!!” Yuri’s voice blared in my ears followed by a series of loud bangs on my door, causing me to wake up. “Wake up!! It’s noon!” She continued to shout. I groaned, rolling around my bed before finally dragging myself out.

“I’m up!!” I shouted back, finally getting enough of being irritated. Hearing continuous shouts and banging on my door isn’t something I want to hear first thing in the morning.

I put on my coat and shoes before leaving my room, seeing Yuri waiting for me right outside. “You’ve never woken up this late before. What did you and Tiffany do, last night?” She stated, failing to stifle a laugh.

“We just talked.” I mumbled and stretched.

“Sure.” She replied, turning her back on me and walked to the main deck. I ignored the fact that she was obviously making up even more comments about Tiffany and just walked past her, wanting to check the progress.

As soon as I stepped up onto the deck, I saw that everyone was mostly on deck, preparing the ropes and patching up sails and checking everything was battened down, not on the hull where the damages are. I looked around, a bit surprised. Are they done already?

Sooyoung approached me with a wide smile. “Ready to set sail, Captain.”

“We were supposed to stay here for another day, how can you guys be done already?” I mumbled, fairly overwhelmed as we both walked across the deck.

She just grinned widely. I turned back at her, smiling back. “I’m very impressed, Sooyoung.” I commented, looking around. “Tell the crew that they’ve done excellently.” I smiled before walking to the bridge where Yoona was preparing to steer.

I stood in beside the helm, watching my crew do all their duties before I smiled proud and shouted, “All hands on deck! Set sail, full speed ahead!!” And at my command, everybody started scrambling around on deck. One was pulling up the anchor, handfuls were climbing up the ropes to release the sails and others were tightening ropes.

“Where are we headed, captain?” Yoona, behind me, asked. I turned to her, announcing with a big grin.

“Set course to the northern islands.”

“Aye aye, Captain!” And as soon as the wind pushed my sails, making the ship move out farther into the deeper waters, we were finally sailing once again.

~~~

It felt good to finally be out on the open waters again…to feel that sea breeze blowing on you and the sight of your ship standing proud and strong. Hearing the waves crash against the ship as the scenery around you passes by slow and steady. It’s one of the reasons why I decided to choose the life of the pirate. You can always have a moment of peace.

As I stood around the stern, leaning against the railing to watch the passing landscape, I felt Yuri’s presence behind me. I smiled and mumbled, “I’m not thinking about Tiffany. Tease me all you want.”

She laughed and stood beside me, leaning against the railing as well. “I wasn’t planning to tease you as of this moment. But if you insist—“

“No don’t!” I quickly said before she could start. Yuri laughed once more.

“All kidding aside, what happened last night that made you so…cheerful today? You’ve been smiling all this time.”

“Hmm…” I looked over the waters as I remembered the conversation last night.

“…Thank you.” She whispered. “For saving me. Thank you for saving me.” She smiled. “Jessica got lost and I didn’t have any weapon, I didn’t even expect another pirate to be on this island. If you weren’t there, I’d probably be…” She smiled while she looked down for a second before looking back at me. “Well, you wouldn’t have anyone to hate anymore.”

I closed my eyes, running her words all over my mind until I felt a gentle smile wash over my face. “Nothing much.” I replied, opening my eyes to watch the scenery again. “Aside from the fact that we’re finally sailing again.”

We both turned to each other, staring at each others faces before Yuri smiled at me. “What?” I asked, smiling back.

“Have you fallen in love before?” I blushed at the comment, not wanting to meet eyes with her as I replied.

“I don’t know…”

“Then you haven’t.” Yuri said with a grin on her face, stepping away from the rail. A second later, I felt her whisper in my ear. “If you and Tiffany get together, don’t hide it from me.”

“Wha—“ When I turned to reply to her irreverent remark, she was already stepping down to the main deck. I sighed. “Yul’s the same as ever.”

~~~

“Heave to and Drop Anchor!” I shouted upon the crew as we were about 5 meters away from the island. I walked to the Main deck where Yuri and Sooyoung were present while the crew dropped the anchor and adjusting the sails so the ship comes to a standstill.

“Sooyoung, gather a team of 10 and bring 4 people with you that carry baskets before setting into the forest and gather as much fruit as you can.”

“Yes, Captain!” She replied and walked past me.

“Yuri. I need you to gather the strikers to gather seafood down on the beach. Make sure no one will keep some for themselves. You know where the nets, harpoons and baskets are.” [strikers = expert hunters who trapped sea turtles and manatees; fished for sharks and other large fish; and also hunted wild game when the crew came ashore.]

“Yep~” She replied with a smile and walked past me too. “Oh hey.” She called out, making me turn to me.

“Hm?”

“What are you gonna do while we collect resources?”

“I’ll scout the area.”

“Bring weapons.” She grinned. “You might see your fair maiden in distress again.” She teased before running to the lower deck. I rolled my eyes at her statement as I walked to my quarters to grab a gun and sword.

~~~

I walked along the shore, aiming to walk around this island just in case there were other ships trying to collect resources as well. Right before I could walk away from the ship any farther, I saw Sooyoung enter the forest with some of the members and Yuri dropping down fishing materials on the beach. I smiled at all of them before disappearing to the other side of the island.

After walking 20 minutes around this place, I stood on my toes, looking around. “The place is pretty much deserted…” I mumbled to myself, stopping for a brief moment.

I took a few more steps forward, wanting to make sure. “Alright. I should head back—“

I turned my attention to the voice behind me. It was definitely a girl…she was singing in a language I wasn’t familiar with. But even though I didn’t know the lyrics, she was still singing so angelically. I was hypnotized.

“You’re so close but still a world away~ What I’m dying to say, is that I’m crazy for you…touch me once and you know it’s true.”

I walked forward, looking for the source.

“Slowly now we begin to move…Every breath I’m deeper into you. Soon we two are standing still in time.”

And my eyes turned to the figure coming up from the horizon, walking at the same pace I was. She was looking down as she sang even more powerful, as if she meant every word. I just stood there, admiring her voice while I stared at her beautiful face.

“You’ll feel it my kiss…You’ll feel it in my kiss because I’m crazy for you. Touch me once and you know it’s true. I never wanted anyone like this.”Soon, we were only a few meters apart and as she seemed to end the song, she finally looked at my eye-level. “T-Taeyeon!” She exclaimed, looking shocked.

“Hi Tiffany.” I smiled sheepishly.

“H-Hi.” She replied, giving the same smile I was giving. “We weren’t following you. I’m not here to attack so don’t—“

“No, it’s okay.” I laughed at the adorable panic mode she was in. “We’re both here for the food, right?” She nodded. “Then we’re okay.” I smiled.

She grinned at me, chuckling a bit. “Well, I’m just exploring the area for other pirates. And that other pirate seemed to be you.”

“Same here.” I answered back, still smiling.

“Yeah…well…I’ll be going back to my ship now.” She mumbled, giving a final smile before turning her back on me.

But no, I didn’t want her to go. I wanted more from her…my heart yearns for more time with her. I want to know more about her. I want her to…

I want her to love me back.

“Hey wait.” I called. Why is my heart beating so fast…

“Yeah?” She responded, turning back to me.

“Do you want to…talk for a while?” I breathed in deep and held my breath, hoping that she’ll say yes.

She giggled, replying with, “Are you really Kim Taeyeon?” I blushed, looking away and turning back.

“N-Never mind. See you next time, Tiffany.” I hesitated, suddenly feeling so stupid for asking her that question.

Soon, I heard a fast pace of footsteps afterwards, a grip on my arm. “That didn’t mean I didn’t want to, pabo.” I turned back, seeing her putting on a unique eyesmile. I stared at her for a second before I realized what she has just said and finally, I smiled back at her. It’s like a big weight lifted from my chest.

~~~

“Alright so what did you want to talk about?” She asked as we took shelter from this sun under a pair of coconut trees.

“Hmm…I don’t really know.”

“What?” She turned to me, surprised. “So we’re basically just wasting our time?” I nodded. I honestly did not know what to say. I just wanted to spend more time with her. I already felt kinda happy being this close to her actually…

“Did you…hit your head or something? ‘Cause first, you’re being so nice to me and now you want to waste your time?” She stared at me as if I had the most peculiar thing on my face. “Is this a trap?” She asked, starting to stand up.

“No no! This isn’t a trap.” I quickly countered, pulling her back down. She still stared at me, eyeing me carefully. “…what should I do so that you don’t think this is a trap?”

“Let’s put all our weapons far away from here.”

“Fine with me.” We both stood up and walked nearer to the forest. I pulled my sword out and plunged it to the ground then got my gun and placed it near the sword. Tiffany did the same, only she had 4 guns on her. Specifically…two in her coat and two in each of her ankles. “Wow. What were you expecting to fight?” I stated, still staring at her in surprise while we walk back to our original spot.

“Jessica wanted to be sure that I was safe since last time, I almost died if you weren’t there.” She explained before sitting down with me.

“Oh. You two are close.” I remarked.

She grinned, staring out onto the sea. “It’s because she’s my older sister.”

“What? You two don’t look like each other.”

“She’s my step sister. My mom died when I was young…and my father remarried.” She explained, surprisingly calm.

“I’m sorry.” I whispered, finding the courage to move even closer to her.

“It’s okay. I shouldn’t even be telling you this.” She chuckled. “You must be bored.” I shook my head.

“Not at all. Tell me more about you. I’ll listen, I promise.” I insisted. Knowing about her life intrigued me…for all my life, I cared for no one else but myself and Yuri and it was only because she was like a sister to me. She’s making me feel so many things at the same time that I’ve never thought existed until I just realized my feelings for her. It’s scary…but feels good.

She looked at me, surprised. “You’re out of your mind.” She laughed.

“I’m serious, Tiffany.”

“But why? You hate me. How can you be so interested in your enemy’s life?” How I wish I can tell you the reason but I’m scared. You’ll reject me for sure.

“I’m…I’m just interested. You look like an interesting person.” I lied.

She looked at me funny for a second but turned back to the sea. “Hmm…if you say so.” I smiled wide, seeing as she bought it. “I was born and raised in America before moving to Korea when I was 15. That’s when my father trained me the ropes in sailing a ship, taught me how to handle a sword and aiming a gun.”

“So the song you were singing earlier was English?” She blushed and glanced at me shyly, nodding. “No wonder I didn’t understand anything.”

She suddenly flinched, standing up straight and looked at me as if she discovered something extraordinary. “You don’t understand not one bit of English?” I shook my head. She turned to the ocean with a deep gaze.

“Tiffany?” I said, trying to see if she’s still with me.

“Not one word?” She asked, turning back to me. I shook my head again. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

She stared at me for a moment before saying, “Not even this?” She paused for a moment before talking in English, which I couldn’t understand at all. “I think I’ve been slowly falling for you the moment you saved my life. I don’t know how but I am. I love you. I think I’m in love with you. You’re my enemy but I love you.”

I shook my head. “I did not understand any word you just said.” She suddenly grinned, sighing happily and started laughing. “What? Did you just make fun of me?” I grumbled. She just continued laughing. “Tiffany.”

She finally stopped, smiling at me. “Never.”

I smiled back, feeling relief. “Then what did you say?”

“…hmm…I said thank you for saving me in English. It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” She mumbled, showing an eye-smile.

“Y-You’re welcome…again.” I stuttered, feeling my cheeks blush.

~~~

We ended up talking for hours. She told me so much about her that I just had to tell something about myself, before I knew it, it was already sunset.

“Seriously? Your first mate is better in sword fighting than you? That’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard.” Tiffany said as she failed to stifle a laugh, releasing loud laughter after she finished her sentence.

“Hey! It’s not my fault that she’s taller!” I whined, slamming my hand on the sand. “At least I could run circles around you.” I countered.

That’s when she stopped laughing to look at me with a raised eyebrow. “Is that a challenge?”

“There’s no challenge, milady. I just defeated you in a battle a few days ago.” She flinched, having an offended expression.

“That was sheer luck. You had a gun with you, if you didn’t have one, I would’ve grabbed my sword and defeated you.”

“The gun has nothing to do with it!”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah!” I replied, proudly. She stood up, looking down on me.

“Prove it.”

“What?”

“Prove. It.” She challenged, running to the place where we put our weapons and came back with both of our swords, handing mine to me.

I stared at the sword that hung in the air as she stared at me expectantly. “You’re on.” I answered, standing up and taking my sword.

We walked to the middle of the area, making sure that was nothing that could get in our way and pointed our swords at each other. “Ready. Set.” I mumbled, keeping my eye on her. “Go!”

She recklessly charged at me, making the blocking easy enough right before we could collide with each other. Our faces were so close. “That all you got?” I teased, intimidating her.

“Not by a long shot, Taengoo.” She smirked and twirled backwards to separate our swords, charging back by series of attacks.

I managed to avoid every move she made, managing a few counterattacks yet unfortunately, she was too quick.

“Not bad for a shortie.” She teased with that familiar smirk.

The rivalry came back in my mind, before I knew it, a part of me woke up, wanting to actually defeat her. “Don’t. Call me that.” I muttered and charged at her with a combination me and Yuri developed together. It required speed and focus. If you did it right, the opponent will remain unarmed and at the end of your sword in a matter of seconds.

I couldn’t help but snicker as I saw her overwhelmed face at the speed of technique I gave her.

“Wait…T-Taeyeon. Wait!” She exclaimed, looking a bit anxious. But I still kept going, thinking that she was afraid to lose this challenge. “A-Ahh!” She yelped and suddenly fell to the floor, pulling me in with her. Good thing we both let go our swords by instinct before the inclined structure of the beach made us roll down until we reached the shore.

“O-Ow…” I hissed, pushing myself up slightly with the support of my arms, my eyes still closed.

“That hurt…” Tiffany’s voice whispered. I opened my eyes and found her under me, our faces so close. My heart started beating faster and louder again, feeling the warmth emitting between us. My nose was filled with the scent of vanilla every second I breathed.

I was completely paralyzed by the sight before me. I took a second to take the chance of analyzing her in this close range… my eyes landed on the necklace her mother gave her…the beauty mark on her neck…her pink lips…and her eyes. She was staring at me right back. “T-Taeyeon…” She whispered.

We stared at each others eyes, losing ourselves in them. I felt like I could stare at them for hours…they were just so beautiful. Then I got hypnotized, like I wasn’t even the person that was controlling myself, I just felt my arms bending and my face leaning…toward her lips.

When she licked her lips, the urge in me just powered up, leaning even faster. I hovered my lips against hers, brushing against them lightly. But it seems like Tiffany couldn’t wait anymore as she leaned herself, capturing my lips with hers.

It all felt like a dream. A wonderful dream.

The sensation of her lips against mine was indescribable. The softness of her lips…the way they felt so right, it was like they were made to fit together.

I felt her hands being placed on my cheeks, caressing them lightly as our kiss got deeper.

It was only after a minute we decided to pull away, slowly. We both lingered, neither of us wanting this moment to end.

I was breathless and most of all, speechless. We just stared in each other’s eyes, not knowing what to say after that. I was still in denial, trying to convince myself that this wasn’t a dream. “Captain Tiffany!!” A familiar voice shouted behind me.

We both quickly stood up, not wanting anyone to see us. “T-That’s Sica…” She mumbled, looking down with pink cheeks. “I-I’ll s-see you next time.” She stuttered, running away before I could say anything.

“S-Sure.” I managed to answer back.

Hidden “What happened to you?” Yuri asked, appearing out of nowhere with a handful of grapes she probably got from a basket that Sooyoung harvested. I shook my head as a reply, not knowing what to actually say as I constantly touch my lips to remember the sensation of the kiss. “So…6 hours of disappearing on the island and nothing happened.” She stated, putting a grape in her mouth. “Huh.”

I sighed, having a hopeless-looking smile.

“Oh. Wait wait…” She paused for a second, having a grape between her fingers. “That’s right. I remember now, you were hanging out with Tiffany~”

I turned to her in shock, slamming the wooden railing in the process. “H-H-How did you know that?” I stammered.

She smirked, swallowing the food in her mouth. “After you were gone longer than expected, I went off to check on you.” My knees weakened and I hung my head low, hitting my arm that was on the railing while sighing heavily. I was too focused on Tiffany to notice any people watching. I cursed myself silently.

“What did you reach…?” I reluctantly asked.

“Hmm…I just saw you two talking and left. I figured you’d be pissed if you caught me watching and that would ruin the moment.” She chuckled.

I lifted my head, relieved that she didn’t see anything else. “You bet I would.”

“So did anything happen? Yuri asked, popping in another grape in her mouth.

“U-Uhm…” I looked over at the reflection of the moon on the surface of the dark ocean, biting my lip and closing my eyes as I reminisced.

Her vanilla scent…the softness of her lips…her warm hands caressing my cheeks…

“Yuri…” I whispered, slowly opening my eyes again. “I love her. I really do.” I clutched the wood in my hands, feeling the words roll on my tongue for the first time.

She slowly turned to me, having a smile forming on her lips.

~~~

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to see Tiffany the following days. Even though I kept my eye open on every part of the ocean we sailed on, there was no sign of her ship. I was getting desperate, I almost told Yoona to keep sailing until midnight…but that wouldn’t be fair to anyone on my crew. I wasn’t the kind of captain that would boss everyone around as long as it was for my benefit. They’ve done well this past week and they don’t deserve any abuse. And I didn’t want anyone but Yuri to know that I was in love with my greatest enemy.

I sighed heavily while the crew dropped the anchor to another day of not sighting Tiffany. “C’mon, cheer up, Taeyeon. You’re turning into an obsessive lover.” She joked. I threw back a half-hearted smile before reluctantly heading to my sleeping quarters.

The sensation of her lips against mine never wavered. It was still burning…the warmth and the gentleness. I can never forget any detail of it. I touched my lips lightly as the taste of her lips still lingered on mine. “Being in love is hard work.” I muttered to myself before turning and falling asleep.

~~~

I stood at the bridge, having my arms thrown over the wooden barrier as I looked out over the deep blue ocean and felt the afternoon sun blazing down on the Atlantic Compass. I felt hopeless after looking for her these past 3 days, turning up to no avail. “Tiffany…” I sighed, resting my head on my shoulder and puffed my cheeks in devastation.

Behind me, I heard Yuri and Yoona having a chat while we continued to sail. Day by day, we just sail every inch of the ocean we can until the sun sets, making sure that there is no unknown trespassing pirate ship or if we see something of value, we halt and collect it; much like food or a sunken ship that may hold treasure.

“Excuse me for a bit, Yoong.” I heard Yuri say before I felt her palm pushing my back, almost feeling like I was gonna go overboard.

“K-Kwon!” I exclaimed, regaining my balance and turned to her. “What are you trying to do?!” I yelled. She laughed and hit my arm.

“Pull yourself together. Everyone has been wondering why you’ve been acting aloof.” I stomped my foot, looking away as I puffed my cheeks again.

“Where’s Tiffany~” I quietly whined, making sure Yoona won’t hear me.

“She’ll turn up soon. Two massive ships circling the Atlantic Ocean shouldn’t be hard to meet.” She grinned. “Besides, you’ll meet either way. The next battle is 4 days away.” I blinked at her. I forgot about our battle…I haven’t thought up of a strategy yet. Will we still even fight…? After that kiss and these feelings in me, I don’t even know if I could land a scratch on her. “In the meantime, you should get a grip before everybody finds out.” She whispered and turned back to Yoona.

I sighed, fixing my coat. Yuri was right. If anyone knew my feelings for Tiffany, they might lose their respect for me…because I fell in love with the enemy.

I walked down to the main deck where everybody was hard at working in maintaining the movement of this ship, observing everybody tie up loose knots, polishing cannons and scrubbing the floor.

Putting my arms behind my back and breathing deeply, I walked towards Sooyoung to get updated on everything I missed and started gaining back my control as a captain.

~~~

I watched my crew drop the anchor and tie the sails back to its original state to another day of not seeing Tiffany. I sighed before pressing my lips together. “You’ll see her soon enough…” I mumbled to myself, standing alone on the stern.

I saw Yuri dismissing everyone except the couple of members who were assigned to keep watch tonight. Afterwards, she turned to me, saluting. “I’ll be in my quarters, friend!” She called out. I nodded.

“Goodnight!” I replied.

So as of 9pm, here I stand on the stern…alone with the exception of my watchmen on the main deck.

I took a deep breath, turning around to look at the dark night. And right then, at the distant island, I saw another ship that was illuminating with torches. But one specific thing caught my eye: a pink flag. “Tiffany?” I whispered under my breath and started searching for the spy glass hidden in my coat.

Looking through it, I searched carefully for any bit of her. Every moment my heart started receiving hope, it started jumping and my body seemed to become overactive. I got a continuous adrenaline rush that made me want to jump and run around out of excitement.

There she is.My heart whispered.

I felt blood rush to my head just by seeing her face. She was standing on the bridge with her first mate, Jessica. They looked like they were talking about something serious. But I didn’t care about any of that. I immediately put back my spy glass and ran to my quarters, quickly writing up a note about Yuri being in charge for the time being until I’m back and slipped it under her door before running to the small boat attached to the ship.

I rowed as fast as I could to her ship before I arrive too late and she’s already sleeping.

My heart pounded by the thought of seeing her again…to hear her voice again, to feel her touch and…to replay the moment of her lips against mine.

I rowed to the side of her ship, where the ladder to get on board was placed and left it there as I climbed the ladder. Little beads of sweat trickled down my temples as I got on board. That rowing was really tiring, I couldn’t even lift my arms that high…I just hope this was all worth it.

I saw Tiffany and Jessica enter the quarters together, making me walk want to follow after but the watchmen were on guard. I bit my lip, waiting for a moment I could walk past them.

When all guards turned their back, I quickly sneaked past them, running down the stairs that lead to her quarters while holding my breath. I didn’t want to ‘cause a misunderstanding of attacking. It’s going to be a confusing night for everyone on my and her ship.

As I stood in front of her door, I tried to make myself as presentable as possible. I fixed my hair and wiped all the sweat I could from my face before making sure my clothes were in order. I’ve waited for 3 days…and I’m finally going to see her again.

I held my breath, pushing in the door. “Who’s there?!” I heard Jessica’s voice exclaim as soon as I opened the door half-way.

I stepped in, revealing my face and quickly analyzing my surroundings. Tiffany was sitting on her desk while Jessica stood beside her, pointing a gun at me. “WWhat…our battle is not due for a few more days! Are you trying to kill Captain Tiffany?!” She accused, loading her gun.

I didn’t even pay attention to anything she said…as soon as I stepped in that room, Tiffany and I had deep eye-contact. It was the same stare we had after we kissed. “Taeyeon…” She whispered.

A smile slowly crept on my face. My heart was finally relieved of missing her all this time. “Tiffany.”

“Captain?” Jessica said out of confusion and astonishment to the situation and atmosphere that was surrounding her.

I turned to her after walking inside the room, pushing the door back to its original place. “I’m not here to fight, Jessica. Please put the gun down. Even I don’t have any weapons with me.” I explained, standing still. She still eyed me suspiciously, not trusting my words.

“Then if you don’t mind, I’m going to check your pockets.” She smirked and handed the gun to Tiffany. She walked towards me and started patting down my pants and coat then ran her hand on my inner shirt until she reached a sensitive area, making me cringe a bit.

“J-Jessica, that enough!” Tiffany shouted. I looked at her and found her glaring at the person whose hands were getting a bit too touchy. Jealousy type?

Jessica stepped away from me, still looking at me suspiciously. “Well you really don’t have any weapons…” Then she turned to Tiffany. “What do you say, Captain?”

“I think she’s clear.” She smiled at me. “You can leave us alone now, Sica.”

“But what if—“

“It’ll be fine. I’ll talk to you later.”

“…yes, captain.” Jessica agreed reluctantly and left but not without giving me a cold glare, sending shiver down my spine. It was only when she left that I could

finally feel like I could breathe properly. The aura she carries around her is enough to freeze a shark.

We both turned to each other, finally getting a moment of peace just for us, we slowly smiled. “What are you doing here?” Tiffany asked as I approached her.

I forced to break my gaze at her and swallow the excess saliva in my mouth before saying, “I just had to see you again. And not in the circumstances of you trying to blow up my ship.” I grinned sheepishly. She giggled. “I wanted to talk to you about that…kiss.” I mumbled, keeping a short distance between us.

I refused to meet her eyes and blushed, remembering the moment again. I was surprised when she did the same thing. “W…what about it?”

“I wanted to know how you felt about it…does it change anything between us or…”

Before I could even finish my sentence, she answered. “I thought…it was wonderful. It felt like a dream come to life.” She whispered. When I turned back to her, I found her looking down with red cheeks while smiling slightly. My heart skipped a bit.

I couldn’t help but smile. “Tiffany…” I mumbled, stepping closer and closer. “We’re enemies but…I think that kiss said something else.” I stated and reached out, grabbing her hand and holding it tightly. She averted her gaze from the floor to my eyes. We stared at each other for a second before I continued to ask…”Don’t you agree?”

She smiled sweetly and hopped off her desk, grabbing my other hand and intertwined all our fingers together. “…you don’t know how much I agree with you, Kim Taeyeon.” She whispered. “Ever since you saved my life, I couldn’t help but to keep thinking about you…until it came to a point where my heart started beating irregularly and my mind was constantly confused because of you.” She admitted, chuckling at her own words. “I was falling for you before I knew it.” And at that sentence, my own heart pounded as I gaze at her blushing face. “And that kiss gave me a little…push.” She whispered and started leaning…until our lips were centimeters away. I could feel her breath gently brush against mine as we stayed in this position.

I couldn’t take it anymore.

I leaned and captured her lips, finally feeling that sensation I’ve been longing to feel again. I let go of her hands, wrapping them instead around her waist to pull her

closer as I deepen the kiss. She kissed me back, wrapping her arms around my neck.

We pulled away, staring at each other’s eyes. “…I love you.” I whispered.

She smiled lightly, looking at me happily. “I love you too, Captain Taengoo.” She giggled and leaned to kiss me again.

~~~

3 hours later and I’m still in Tiffany’s quarters…after we confessed to each other, we couldn’t bear to separate. We just wanted to stay in each other’s arms and talk about ourselves…and our love.

“Are you going to tell your sister?” I asked while we were seated on the couch in her quarters as my hand held hers tightly.

“Jessica? Hmm…I don’t think so.” She answered, almost looking like she was ashamed.

“Why? She’s your sister.”

“…she’s overprotective of me. And if she found out that I’m in a relationship with an enemy, she’ll just explode.” She sighed.

“Oh.” I nodded, seeing the reason. “Then nobody can know about us.” I mumbled, feeling a bit down about that fact.

“I’m afraid so.”

“Though…my First Mate will know the moment I get back on my ship.” I whispered, suddenly hoping that she won’t hear.

Tiffany turned to me in shock. “How so?”

“She uhm…” I scratched my cheek. “She’s…observant. And found out that I was falling for you before I could even realize myself.”

Tiffany nodded. “You must’ve fallen for me hard to be quickly caught like that.” She giggled. I laughed and nudged her shoulder with mine.

“Don’t be too cocky now.” I grinned.

It took us a few seconds to stop laughing but afterwards, we became very silent as I felt us both realize one thing.

Our relationship has to be kept secret from every person on our crew.

---

Revelation

Tiffany and I stepped out to the main deck of her ship at daybreak, when no sailor of hers or mine was awake. We actually still didn’t want to stop being around each other but if I stayed any longer, this relationship of ours will be forced to end when it just started. We carefully sneaked around, making sure that we didn’t ‘cause a ruckus by tripping over rope or anything. Suddenly, I heard a stifled giggle behind me.

I turned around while I was tiptoeing around, finding Tiffany to be holding her laughs back by both hands. “What?” I asked, confused.

“Your face…and movements.” She managed to whisper as she tried to suppress her laughter. I blinked, looking down at myself before comparing both of us.

It turns out that I was the only one tiptoeing around the deck and having a paranoid face.

I sighed and slapped myself on the cheek. “Just when I thought I couldn’t get any dorkier.” I mumbled, disappointed in myself.

Tiffany giggled and stepped closer, holding my hand tightly. “I think it’s cute.” She smiled and leaned to kiss my cheek.

I instantly blushed the moment her soft lips touched my skin, sending tingling sensations starting from my face to my toes. “Now go. My medic, Seohyun, likes to wake up early and walk around the deck.” She quickly whispered and started pushing me towards the ladder.

I stopped right before climbing down the ladder, turning to face her. “We’re gonna meet in Hibiscus Lagoon a day from now, right?” I assured our plans, not wanting to make any misunderstanding.

“Yeah.” She replied, showing an eye-smile that sent my heart fluttering. “Go go! I think I hear doors opening.” Tiffany hurriedly uttered then told me to go down the ladder before turning around.

“Wait!” I called, grabbing her sleeve and turned her around.

“Wha—“ That was all she could say before I placed my lips on her, sending both of us into a entrancing kiss.

I pulled away, instantly having a smile glued to my face and whispered, “I love you.”

She slowly smiled back, staring into my eyes and whispered back, “I love you too.”

“Captain?” An innocent girl’s voice exclaimed from inside the cabins. I hurriedly climbed down the ladder until I reached the boat I used to reach this place last night and rowed away as fast as I could from her ship.

~~~

By the time I finally reached my ship, the sun already rose to two-thirds of its whole body. I looked around, finding nobody awake yet. “…the guards are already asleep.” I sighed in relief before sneaking back to my room.

As I thought that I was going to peacefully enter my room like nothing happened, I felt a hit on the back of my head. “Yah!” Someone loudly whispered.

“Ow!” I cried in pain, turning around to find Yuri glaring at me.

“Leaving like that in the middle of the night was completely reckless! What if we were attacked overnight?!” She scolded.

“That’s why I left you a note of being charge for the meantime…”I grumbled, gently rubbing the throbbing part at the back of my head.

She sighed. “It was still reckless…”

“Well nothing happened—“ I stopped talking, seeing the glass Yuri had to be filled with white liquid. I stepped closer, inspecting its contents. “What in the world is that?”

“Oh, Sooyoung told me that during their harvesting a few days ago, they found a weird fruit. And it turned out to be Ma.” She explained while grinning, letting out the familiar smell of Ma out her mouth. I stepped away, pinching my nose.

“Oh great, Ma is back.” I groaned.

“Yep~ It’s not that bad, Taeyeon.” She mumbled, sipping a bit of it.

“I thought once we set sail that I’d never be able to smell or taste or even see those things but it turns out that they haunt me.” I said in a funny noise since I was pinching my nose. “God, you used to drink that everyday when we were still training.”

“Yes and I miss it.” She smiled at the cup before gulping down all of the contents. “You should—YAH! You changed the subject! Where were you last night!?” She suddenly shouted, letting out a heave of Ma breath and a few drops of excess juice of it that were on her lip.

I wiped them away, throwing in a few glares at her before mumbling, “Tiffany’s…”

“Huh? She’s not even here. Did you sail around looking for her? How did you do that so silently?”

“No! That’s impossible, somebody would’ve felt the currents while sailing.”

“Then how?”

I glanced at the direction of where I know Tiffany’s ship is still floating at. “…I saw their boat in the distance using my spy-glass then rowed over there.” I admitted, sighing.

“Oh. So what happened?”

The whole night rushed through my mind and my mind commanded my mouth to smile, my heart to jump and my knees to weaken. From the moment I saw her first again… to the goodbye kiss and exchanging of ‘I love you’, I didn’t forget any detail.

I smiled widely at Yuri, whispering. “We’re official.” She widened her eyes, dropping her cup and exclaimed in a really high voice.

“SERIOUSLY?!”

I jumped in my place, thinking that would’ve woken everybody up and started suspicious. I quickly grabbed Yuri—then covered her mouth—and ran to my quarters, where no one could suspect us of being the noise. “SSH!!” I stomped my foot. “Can your mouth get any bigger?!” I commented sarcastically before releasing her.

“It’s not my fault! You and Tiffany are—“

“Ssh!!” I scolded her, sending glares.

“…in a relationship?” She whispered. I nodded, regaining the smile I had 10 seconds ago. We just stood there for a few seconds as I watched Yuri take everything in. Finally, she looked at me and said, “How do you kiss each other with your short height?”

At first, I wasn’t really thinking of her words but once I realized what she meant…”YAH! KWON YURI!”

~~~

With the sun high in the sky, The Atlantic Compass continued to sail proudly around the ocean for another day. I’ve never been in a better mood…though it was filled with Yuri always suddenly passing by me and whispering Tiffany’s name in my ear just for the sake of teasing me.

I stood beside Yoona as she steered, looking over everyone and making sure that we were on the correct course. From this angle, I could see Yuri and Sooyoung disciplining the crew together and making sure that everything was battened down.

When I looked back up, I saw that we were passing by at Hibiscus Lagoon. I couldn’t help but stare at it as long as it was in my sight.

I turned back to the front, almost straining my eyes for not blinking that long.

“I’m gonna miss you after this…” Tiffany pouted, holding my hand even tighter. I stared at her cute pout and couldn’t help but make a way to turn it into her beautiful smile.

“Let’s meet before our next fight. Just make sure that no one finds out.” She turned to me, looking happy already.

“How?”

“Let’s sail around Hibiscus Lagoon but not too far so we can still go there by boat. No one ever has to know. Is that okay?” I suggested, hoping that she’ll think it’s a good idea.

She slowly smiled at me and nodded profusely. “Okay. At night, so that we won’t be seen by others.” I nodded, smiling back.

I found myself to be smiling at the thought of meeting her again. Which caught Yoona’s attention.

“What are you thinking about, captain?” She asked, chuckling at the sight of my foolish smile.

“Nothing really…” I replied immediately. My everything.

Queen of Tropical Flowers

I paced around the main deck, looking out into Hibiscus Lagoon from a distance every once in a while, trying to see a familiar figure into the land. I couldn’t wait to see her…I just have to see her or else my heart will start erupting.

I stomped my foot, halting my walk to a complete stop and leaned against the wooden barrier to get a better look. “Is she there yet…” I mumbled to myself, looking more carefully as I realized the sun began to glow the color of red and orange as it slowly sank.

The Atlantic Compass stood still ashore an island away from our meeting place so that it’s still reachable but cannot be seen clearly in the night without the help of a spyglass…and I’m the only one who has such a thing on this ship.

We agreed to see each other once the sun wasn’t visible anymore but even though I knew that, I still hoped that she would arrive early so we can see each other sooner. Honestly, I wish that we agreed to just meet each other this morning—even though that sounds too greedy.

I sighed heavily, realizing a fact.

I really have fallen hard and deep for her to be so flipped out like this.

Tiffany nodded. “You must’ve fallen for me hard to be quickly caught like that.” She giggled. Just remembering her voice is making my lips tug upwards into a big grin.

“Oh golly…I think my girlfriend is ever so dreamy~” Yuri’s country-accented voice ringed in my right ear. “I wonder what our wedding is gonna be like~” She mumbled, still with a country accent.

I didn’t turn to meet her face and just chose to glare at the island near us. “It’ll probably so darn lovely…Oh! I just can’t wait!”

I sighed and raised my right fist to punch her in the arm. “Your teasing just gets worse and worse, you know that?” I muttered under my breath.

She laughed, probably thinking how fun it is to tease me. “I can’t help it with that dorky little grin of yours. You give me no choice.” She stated, still chuckling.

“And you’ve been looking out into that island for an hour now, why don’t you just go there and look for her yourself?”

I paused, thinking about her suggestion. “Fine.” I answered and stepped back. “You’re in charge until I’m gone, alright?”

“I know, friend. Just go already. Tell me how it goes.” She winked.

~~~

Once I stepped out of my boat and onto the sand of Hibiscus Island, nightfall fell, making everything dark with the moon as its only source of light. I think Tiffany would already be there. This is exactly the time we told each other to meet.

I started making my way in the forest to find the lagoon in the middle of the island, running faster and faster as my heartbeat raced. I ran past all the plants and pretended that I don’t see any insects until I finally reached the middle, where Tiffany sat on the opposite side, dipping her legs in the lagoon while sitting down on the soil.

I stopped moving for a moment…giving time to admire how beautiful she looked under the moonlight. It felt like my breath was taken away while she waved her legs around in the water with a sincere stare.

I slowly stepped out of the shadows, revealing myself to her. She slowly lifted up her head, showing an innocent face. “Hi.” I greeted with a small smile.

She slowly smiled back while stopping her legs from waving. “Hi.”

I walked towards Tiffany and sat down beside her, removing my shoes before dipping in my legs as well. “Am I late?” I asked and turned to her while moving my legs around in the water.

She shook her head. “I was just a bit early.” After that small talk, it became silent for a few seconds. We just took the time to play with the water and admire our surroundings. Above the lagoon was a big open area where trees didn’t cover, showing the bright glow and reflection of the moon on the water.

It might not be something ideal to where you want to be but as long as Tiffany’s beside me in this setting, it’s perfect.

A minute more in silence, I saw Tiffany’s hand sprawled out on the dirt. I smiled to myself and slowly reached out, wrapping mine around hers.

As she turned to look at what was on top of her hand, I turned right back at her, to meet her eyes once she lifted her face. We both smiled at each other lovingly, intertwining our fingers.

“That’s enough playing with the water don’t you think?” I mumbled, pulling my legs out and stood up, pulling her with me.

~~~

“Have you ever wondered what’s so special about Hibiscus flowers?” Tiffany asked as we walked hand-in-hand through the forest, spotting many different kinds of exotic plants and flowers, such as the hibiscus itself.

“Hmm…” I stared at a small shrub of it, with one hibiscus flower in bloom. “I remember that…” I mumbled as I stopped walking and let go of Tiffany’s hand, moving closer to the small shrub. “My mother came in the room with a bundle of hibiscus...and she told me that it’s the Queen of Tropical Flowers.” I smiled at the blooming flower, reminiscing the memory. “It’s beautiful, don’t you think?” I grinned, gently cupping the flower in my hand.

“Yeah.” She agreed, crouching beside me. “This island is filled with flowers right? How else would it be named after a flower?”

I nodded and turned to her. “What’s your favorite flower, Tiffany?” I asked with a warm smile.

“Hmm…” She hummed, giving it to some thought. “Begonias…I love the bright pink ones.” She smiled. I grinned and stood up, helping her up as well and continued to walk hand-in-hand. “Why did you ask?”

I looked around, trying to make up anything that could resemble a begonia in the dark. “I just wondered.” I lied, still looking around as we walked.

My eyes lit up, seeing a very small begonia bush beside a tree that only had 2 flowers. I let go of her hand once again, walking towards the small bush and picked one flower and went back to her. I admired the flower in my hand, carefully stroking the petals as if it was the most fragile thing in the world. “They say that…flowers are the sweetest things God ever made…and forgot to put a soul into.” I mumbled with a smile, lifting my face to meet her eyes. “But…” I added, while tucking in the flower behind her left ear. “You’re the sweetest person God ever gave me…” I whispered with a grin. I saw something in her eyes sparkle the moment I finished my sentence, making my heart jump. “Saranghae.” I mumbled shyly.

Her lips slowly smiled and her eyes went with it, crafting another beautiful eyesmile. “…I love you too.” We stared at each other before realizing how silent it’s been and looked away, shyly chuckling. “You’re making me fall for you harder…” She whispered, refusing to look back at my eyes.

I chuckled, pulling her closer by the waist. “At least we’re even now.” I grinned. “I’m falling for you faster and harder…every second I’m with you.”

She laughed, meeting my eyes finally. “You’re quite cheesy, Kim Taeyeon.” She commented, wrapping her arms around my neck.

“Should I stop?” I asked worriedly, thinking that she feels uneasy.

“No…no.” She whispered, soothing my heart. “…it’s wonderful.” She smiled and leaned closer and closer, eyeing my lips. “You’re wonderful.” And with that soft voice, she finally closed the gap between us and captured my lips with hers.

~~~

“Do you have anymore brilliant quotes to tell?” Tiffany asked as we decided to walk by the seashore.

I gripped her hand tighter, thinking of another quote. “To be overcome by the fragrance of flowers is a delectable form of defeat.” I mumbled, mindlessly.

“What does that mean?”

“…” I turned to her with a blank expression. “I have no idea, I just read it somewhere.”

She stared at me, looking at me as if I was joking. “Y-Yah!”

~~~

After an hour of walking, we sat down on the sand, facing each other. It was already around midnight at that time…I hope nothing’s happened to my ship. Or Yuri is playing around in my quarters. Aish, that kid.

I blanked out for too long, thinking on how Yuri must be doing. She’s a trusted First Mate but she has the tendency to be childish sometimes. Especially with Yoona, those two can be big kids. After I was silent for 5 minutes, I felt a poke on my cheek, making me avert my gaze to the person in front of me. “What are you thinking about?” Tiffany asked.

“H-Huh? Nothing, really…” I mumbled, obviously lying. She raised her eyebrow at me in wonder. “Well…I was thinking that Yuri might be playing around in the ship by now.” I admitted and let out an embarrassed laugh.

She giggled and scooted closer, grabbing my hand before playing with my fingers. “You assigned her first mate, she should handle it well.”

“She might look like a serious person when we’re in battle but if you hang out as often as we do, you’re gonna get a lot of weird events in your life.” I groaned, knowing that every word of that sentence was true.

“Is she really that bad?” Tiffany asked, laughing a bit.

“Very.” I grinned. “Hmm…c’mon we always talk about our First mates, tell me more about you.” I pried, turning the tables on her and I played with her fingers instead.

She growled. “I already told you everything about me.”

“Lies.” I argued back, snickering. “Okay fine…let’s play a game.”

“Game?” Her eyes sparkled and sat up straight. I laughed at this cute trait. “What game?”

“Just a basic question and answer game. You go first.”

“Alright…uhm…” She continued humming as she thought of her question, grabbing my other hand to play with in the process. “What’s your biggest phobia?”

“I guess…fire.” I admitted, sheepishly.

She stopped playing with my fingers, staring at me in astonishment. “Fire? How can you handle a battle if your ship is on fire?”

I sighed. “I don’t really know…That hasn’t happened to me before but I hope it never does. I’ll most likely leave Yuri in charge for the meantime and stay near the sides so in case fire comes, I’ll just jump overboard.”

“Wow…” She whispered, showing a smirk. It actually has been a while since I’ve seen that smirk of hers. “Okay, your turn.”

“…am I your first love?” I asked, daringly…even pausing to look in her eyes to make sure that she wasn’t going to lie. I wanted a relationship where we’re both our firsts, not knowing what happens next so that we can figure it out ourselves…together.

She slowly shifted her eyes to mine, showing a small smile. “No.”

Once I heard that small insignificant word…something inside me dropped like a big anchor and I didn’t want to play with her hands anymore. So much for that dream… “Oh.” I reacted neutrally and chose to stare at our hands instead. “Your turn.” I mumbled, not wanting to continue with this topic.

She chuckled, suddenly gripping my hands tightly. “Am I your first love?” Tiffany asked so softly, it was voice that could melt my heart instantly.

I lowered my head, refusing to meet her eyes as I answered back. “You…definitely are.” I whispered. “I don’t know why…but you’re special in my eyes.” I smiled warmly, holding her hands tightly. “…no one was ever worth falling for until I realized you were.” She stared at me, listening as if she was in a trance. “If all that fighting wasn’t our introduction, I would’ve fallen for you sooner.” I grinned.

She laughed. “Kim Taeyeon.” She suddenly leaned and pecked the tip of my nose. “For what it’s worth…I wish you were my first love.” The second I heard that sentence, I couldn’t help but smile.

~~~

At 3am, Tiffany and I were still together. Even though this was the darkest part of the night, I was leaning against a palm tree with Tiffany leaning against me as I snuggled her. “Taeyeon…” She mumbled.

“Hm?

“Tae…”

“What?”

“Taengoo…”

“Tiffany?” I tried to take a look at her face, wondering if she’s drifted off. She was still awake…but half-closed eyes.

“Taengoo-yah~” She whined, turning her face to meet mine. “Why do I have 3 names for you but you only have one for me?” She whimpered. “C’mon, think of something.” She insisted, constantly hitting my leg lightly.

“W-What? Where’s all this coming from?”

“It feels unfair…” She pouted. “Give me a cute name like Taengoo.”

“U-Uhm…” I mumbled the first name I could think of. “Fany?”

Suddenly, her eyes lit up and she started bouncing on my lap. “That’s perfect. Taengoo and Fany.” She grinned.

I started laughing as she continued to bounce on my lap. “Is this what you act like when you want to sleep?”

“I don’t know…” She sighed and bounced back to a comfortable position.

“You sound like it.” I smiled. “Let’s just stay here then. I don’t think this island has any other people and it’s too late and tiring to row back to our ships so—“ I cut my sentence as I felt the added weight on me. I slowly leaned towards the side, to check on her.

I found an angelic sleeping face, slowly sinking on my lap. I grinned and carefully positioned her back on my thighs. I wrapped my arms around her waist and laid my head on her shoulder before drifting off to sleep as well.

~~~

A warm sensation on my face and the smell of vanilla woke me up, opening my eyes slowly to find that I was fortunately in the same spot I was last night. The sun was shining bright over the island we were on and seagulls started to squawk above us.

I smiled to myself, seeing as the vanilla-scented person in my arms was still sound asleep. I stretched my arms by stiffening them and hugging her tighter then yawned quietly, making sure that the latter won’t be disturbed. Unfortunately, she woke up seconds after I relaxed again in my spot. “Tae?” She mumbled, stretching afterwards.

I unwrapped my arms around her, giving her some space to wake up. “Fany?” I replied with a big smile.

She chuckled a bit, stretching her arms upwards. “Hmm…we should get back to our ships.” I reluctantly mentioned.

“…yeah.” She replied, obviously disappointed.

We both stood up, patting our clothes for dirt before turning to each other. “We’ll see each other again on the battlefield, right?” She asked with a pout. I nodded firmly.

“I wouldn’t miss a day of seeing you.” I smiled and stepped closer. “Hey…don’t you think…” I wanted to ask her if we still have to fight. I don’t want to fight her anymore. Actually, it’s because I can’t fight her anymore. I can’t bear to hurt her or anything that she cares about. But then again…I’m afraid that she won’t be in the same position as I am. “Nevermind.” I continued, showing a big grin.

“Alright…” She laughed. “I’ll see you soon then.” I nodded. She moved closer and hugged me tightly, pulling away to whisper, “I love you.” She smiled, still not pulling away. I smiled back.

“I love you too.”

She stepped back and turned around, starting to walk away from me.

I stayed there for a minute until she disappeared into the horizon and made my way to the forest.

~~~

Our ship was hidden behind a massive rock near crystal bay; I had the upper-hand in this battle. I was too busy to form a strategy so I’m just going to go with the flow in this battle. I actually don’t even know if I could lay a sword on her.

“Taeyeon, do you want me to lead this battle?” Yuri asked as we both stood on the main deck.

I shook my head. “Even if I did let you, Tiffany would ask for me.” I sighed.

I turned around and faced Yuri, seeing as she was on serious mode. I laughed inside, remembering the time when I explained to Tiffany about Yuri’s goofy and serious sides. “What?” Yuri asked, confused about my staggering lips.

“N-Nothing.” I managed to mumble.

“Captain, Poseidon’s Gem has been sighted.” I stood frozen, suddenly not knowing what to do since the battle is about to start. Yuri stared at me for a moment, waiting for orders before finally giving up.

“All hands on deck! Battle stations!” Yuri shouted, sending the whole crew into a flurry of tasks.

~~~

I just stayed on the stern, watching Yuri handle everything from attack strategy to maintaining the ship. The battle was as fierce as ever. The sound of cannons never leaving the air and the tense atmosphere always hung around the scene.

My mind was blank. I had no strategy and I forgot everything that a captain’s head is supposed to have. It’s like everything’s been erased by Tiffany.

I took out my spyglass, wanting to see her. I extended it and looked through it, glancing around the whole ship, I couldn’t find her. Not even a sign. “Where could she be…” I mumbled to myself.

“Maybe she’s behind you.” An icy voice muttered and the sound of a gun loaded behind me. I widened my eyes, turning around quickly, finding Jessica.

“J-Jessica…” I mumbled, shocked. “How did you get here without being noticed?” I glanced behind her, finding Tiffany with a nervous expression.

“It’s easy getting past a crew that’s too ignorant to look around.” She smirked. I clenched my fist. Nothing is more insulting to a captain than getting an insult for their crew.

“TAEYEON!” Yuri shouted from the main deck. I turned to her, finding her running up the stairs with a sword in the air.

“Ah!” Jessica exclaimed. “Come any closer and I’ll shoot her.”

“That’s impossible. We agreed to never kill captains and important members of a crew.” Yuri said, gritting her teeth in rage. “And I don’t think you have the guts to take a life anyway.”

Jessica chuckled and said, “I thought that we should put an end to everything now. And I’m not taking her life. Tiffany is.” She explained and grabbed my collar, throwing me to the person behind her.

“Tiffany? But—“ I threw half of my energy away just to glare hard enough at Yuri, getting her attention. I sent signals to her, to say no more so that our relationship won’t be revealed.

Tiffany caught me by grabbing my arm, glancing at me with a worried look. I looked back at her, not knowing what to do now. “Go ahead, Tiff.” Jessica mumbled and gave her a gun, keeping the one in her hand at Yuri.

Jessica pushed me to drop on the floor, getting a clear shot for Tiffany. I watched as she loaded her gun and aimed it at my head. “F-Fany…” I mumbled, seeing her finger being placed on the trigger. I tried to analyze her face, hoping that this isn’t real. I saw that everything on her expression was firm except for her eyes…they were watery and filled with fear.

“Tiffany, what are you doing?! Do it!” Jessica pushed.

I stared deep into her eyes, trying to get through her.

I felt everything pause for a second just for us…everything rushed in my mind. Every interaction with her and every word we’ve said to each other…every experience and every word. I don’t know if that happened to her but I just felt it. Like our hearts suddenly started to beat as one.

Once that moment passed, Tiffany threw the gun away and turned to Jessica. “No.”

---

Unity ^

--Jessica stared at Tiffany in disbelief. As soon as Tiffany said that two-letter word, nothing can probably ever be the same again. I was still lying down on the floor, watching the heavy atmosphere drop on both of them. I felt helpless since I couldn’t do anything to help Tiffany with the intense conversation she’s about to have.

“What?” Jessica said, lowering her gun on Yuri and turned to Tiffany fully.

“C’mon.” Yuri’s voice rung in my ears as she helped me up and I stood by on the side, watching the scene while Yuri ran down the stairs to stop the battle.

Tiffany’s expression was mixed with fright and nervousness. I wish I could do something. “I-I can’t kill her, Sica…” She admitted, giving a slight sigh.

“And why can’t you? You’ve been fighting for a year and now’s your chance to end this tiring battle…then you say that you can’t kill her? Tiffany, are you out of your mind?!” Jessica said, raising her voice.

“I just can’t…”

“And why can’t you?”

A long pause took over. I held my own breath, waiting for Tiffany to spill out the truth and reveal everything at once. She glanced at me before turning back to her step-sister, declaring, “I…I’m in love with her. We’re in love with each other, Sica.”

At that moment, it felt like the world started revolving the other way around. And I felt so anxious, after all, from all the things that Tiffany has told me about her, I wouldn’t be surprised if she shot me in the leg right now. But I don’t really know the person, so whatever she’ll do next is unpredictable.

Did she pull out her sword?—No.

Did she start throwing a fit?—No.

Instead, she glanced at me and Tiffany with a look of being betrayed and walked away after mumbling, “I’ll be in the ship.”

I loosened my grip on the wooden barrier I was leaning on as I felt her presence slowly vanish. Tiffany turned to me, looking like she was about to cry. I sighed and walked towards her, grabbing her hand to give it an assuring squeeze. “It’s gonna be okay.” She nodded, looking at me as she bit her lips in worry.

~~~

Tiffany insisted that we both come ashore for the meantime. She wanted to speak to Jessica in private… that appeared to be everyone staying on the ship and the two of them talk on the beach. I made Yoona put The Atlantic Compass right next to Tiffany’s Poseidon’s Gem, leaving the ships on shore.

“What happens now?” Yuri asked as she came from the main deck to give the orders for the meantime. I shrugged. Even I don’t know what happens now.

We both walked to the bridge, leaning against the railings for a view of the island. And right then, I saw Tiffany walking across the beach with Jessica behind her. They finally stopped when they reached a distance from our ships. I tried to make out what the situation was but I wasn’t near enough to see their faces. But it seemed like a pretty tense conversation…at one point, they were typically screaming and shouting at each other.

I wish I could be there to comfort Tiffany…

I sighed, forced to just watch everything. “Her first mate seems to be so protective of her.” Yuri commented, watching them with me. I nodded.

“They’re step-sisters.”

“Wow…”

I felt a hand on my shoulder, making me face Yuri with a confused expression. She was smiling at me widely, as if she was congratulating me for something. “She must love you a lot, friend. Hold on to her.” With that, she walked away.

I sighed, shaking my head at the kkab’s sudden words.

I turned back to continue watching them but I only saw Jessica standing there with Tiffany nowhere in sight. “Boo!” A voice exclaimed and slightly pushed me from the back. I squealed a bit before turning to the person who did this.

She giggled, showing an adorable eye-smile. “Scaredy-cat.” She whispered, sticking out her tongue playfully.

“W-What are you doing here? Did you just leave her out there?”

“No, of course not.” She laughed. “C’mon.” She smiled and grabbed my hand, suddenly pulling me to the ladder, down to the beach.

I had no idea what she was up to or what was the situation but judging by that smile and cheerful aura, I wasn’t worried.

We jogged towards Jessica, who was probably waiting for Tiffany to return. I saw the calm expression on her face, arms folded and legs firm on the ground. I gulped.

I turned to Tiffany for a hint on what should I do and she just squeezed my hand before letting it go completely then stood on the side, between Jessica and I. Her eyes carefully inspected me, sending a bit of a shiver down my spine but finally, I was relieved when she showed a small smile. “So you’re gonna be taking care of my little sister for the meantime, yes?”

I nodded stiffly, completely nervous about this conversation. “Are you sure? I mean, that’s not a pretty picture in the morning, you know?” Jessica joked.

“Sis!” Tiffany scolded.

“I’m joking, calm down.” I couldn’t help but smile at the sisterly bond they had together. “I’m sorry for my behavior earlier; it was just too much of a shock as all.” She mumbled, showing a full smile to me for the first time. “But after Tiffany and I talked, I realized that my sister knows what she’s doing.” She continued, glancing at both of us. Tiffany smiled at me, giving me a bit of a boost. Jessica took her hand out, saying, “Take care of my sister, okay?” I nodded, putting my hand in hers and shook on it, symbolizing a truce. And suddenly, she gripped it so tightly, I felt like my bones were gonna crack.

I ended up kneeling on the ground because of the pain. “But if you crush my sister’s heart, I’m not letting it go easily.” She stated with a smile that scared the living daylights out of me. I just quickly nodded, not handling the pain any longer. “Good.”

Once we both retracted our hands, I felt this weight lift from my heart. Everything is gonna be alright. Nothing can get in the way of our relationship anymore.

Tiffany jumped in her place with a squeal and bright smile then ran towards me, giving me a quick hug. I chuckled at the hyper girl in my arms, hugging her back. When I looked back at Jessica, she was smiling at us in delight.

~~~

Tiffany and I both tried to board on our ships again, wanting to announce our relationship to our crews but our First mates insisted that we should spend some time alone together. We tried to resist but they just prevented us from climbing back on the ladders. No amount of blackmailing could get them to step away.

“But Yuri—“

“Nope, Taeyeon. Just go spend some time with your girlfriend.”

“Sica!!” Tiffany screamed a few meters away from me. I turned to them and found the two to be arguing like little kids. Tiffany was stomping and pouting, even trying to run past her but Jessica just kept carrying Tiffany back to her original spot. I laughed slightly, those two are closer than I thought.

“See. You want to be with her. Just go on, I’ll be in command. Nothing bad will happen.” Yuri persisted, turning me around and started pushing me.

~~~

After a few more attempts in trying to get back on our ships, we just gave up and decided to take a stroll around. It’s not like we had a choice though…neither did I mind to spend a bit more time with Tiffany. I have to admit, our first mates know what they’re doing.

“So what do you think of my sister?” Tiffany grinned cheekily as soon as we were out of sight from our ship.

I instantly heaved a sigh, hearing her question. “Do I have to answer?” She giggled.

“Yes you do.” A light hit on my arm followed after her reply.

“Let’s just say I’m happy that my soul can still stand.” I mumbled, placing my hand on my chest, pretending to feel my soul. Tiffany laughed and nudged her shoulder with mine.

“She isn’t that bad. She’ll grow on you, I swear.”

“I hope so. I mean…is she really that strong? My knuckles are kinda damaged.” I exaggerated, clenching my fist.

“You’re such a baby.” I turned to her, appalled.

“Who are you calling a baby, Tiffany Hwang?” She stuck her tongue out and pointed at me. “I’ll teach you who to call a baby, Fany-ah!” I announced and tackled her, poking her sides, making both of us drop on the sand.

She squealed and started giggling. “Y-Yah! Kim Taeyeon…stop that!” She managed to say between her fit of giggles.

“Take it back then.” I smirked and continued tickling her.

“N-Never!” She replied, still giggling.

“Have it your way!” I sat on her, my back facing hers and took off her shoes before scratching the bottom of her feet, earning various squeals and giggles.

“Y-Yah!! S-Stop! Please!” She begged, still giggling.

“Take it back, Hwang!” I grinned, continuously scratching her feet.

“I-I…take it…back!” She shouted, making me stop. I put down her feet and turned towards her with a victorious smile.

She panted vigorously, grinning at me. “You’re such a bully, Taengoo-yah.” She whined. I laughed and stretched my legs and arms, hovering on top of her.

I leaned so close until our breaths could be felt and whispered, “You started it.” I smiled. She chuckled just as she regained her breath and used her right arm—that was stretched upwards—to tap my nose lightly.

“Still mean.” She whispered, showing a set of bright teeth.

“Fine. I won’t do it again.” I gave in. “It was funny to see you giggling so helplessly like that.” She looked away, suddenly showing embarrassment. I laughed at the cute pout she gave off. “Yah, if I kiss you, will you forgive me?” She turned back to me still with pouting lips but a look in her eyes gave me the okay.

I giggled and leaned, pecking her pouting lips. “There.” I grinned.

“Yah! I want a real kiss!” She whined, tugging on my arm just when I was about to stand again.

“That was a real kiss!”

“But…” She pouted, looking at me with puppy dog eyes. It’s not like I wanted it, I just loved the look on Tiffany’s face when she’s teased.

I sighed and leaned, capturing her lips, secretly grinning.

We pulled away after a few seconds, smiling at each other.

I rolled over and settled beside her, sitting up so I can see the ocean. “Hey.” I called.

She sat up as well, turning to me. “Hm?”

“How was the conversation between you and your sister?”

She blinked at me and then turned to the ocean, telling the flow of the conversation.

Tiffany pulled her sister far away from the ships, not wanting anyone to overhear or disturb them. She wanted to settle things with her. She didn’t want any misunderstanding and she wanted to continue the love she had for Taeyeon.

She knew that it’s hard to convince her overprotective sister but she won’t let anything stop her from continuing to date her Taeyeon. Even if it took days to convince her, she’ll do it.

Once she decided that it was far away, she turned to face her sister, who didn’t even want to meet her eyes. “Jessie…” Tiffany sighed.

“What?” Her sister replied coldly. “Why did you even drag me out here?”

“You know why. We need to talk. Taeyeon is—“

“Our enemy.” She started, giving an icy glare to her own little sister. “How can you fall in love with her? Most of all, why? What do you see in that short stack?” Tiffany cringed at the tone of her blonde-haired sister but she wasn’t going to back down, especially after she called the person she loved by an offensive name.

“She’s just…special. I think she’s a wonderful adorable person. She makes me laugh even when she doesn’t try and she’s intelligent. She’s worth falling for, Sica.” Jessica instantly stomped her foot violently into the ground, hearing the words that seemed like poison to her ears.

“A week ago, you hated each other. It’s not like there’s some cupid that made you two lovestruck or a potion that you both drank to fall for each other. I can’t believe what I’m hearing, Tiffany!”

“Please try to understand, Sis…I don’t know what happened but the moment she saved her life I just—“

“The moment she saved your life? You mean the one with the rogue pirate? The proper thing to say is ‘thank you’, Tiffany. Not ‘I love you’.” Jessica muttered, obviously not handling her feelings well.

“No…I think I fell for her at some point before that. And the moment she saved me, I just realized it.” Tiffany continued. Jessica fell silent, seeing as her witty remark got backfired.

Tiffany sighed, seeing as she isn’t getting through her sister. “Jessica, I know that you and I both got hurt with our previous relationships. I know that you’re scared to love again but I’m not you…and Taeyeon isn’t Do—“

“Don’t say his name. Don’t ever say it!” Jessica cried, still feeling the pain in her heart whenever his name is mentioned. “I just don’t want you to get hurt again Tiffany. I’m saying this because I care. You’re forbidden to see Taeyeon ever again.”

But as soon as Tiffany heard that, her heart and mind just couldn’t take it and she gave it her all. “I’m not like you, Jessica! I’m not a coward like you that gets hurt a few times in the battlefield and just quits. You shouldn’t even treat me like a teenager anymore either. We’re both responsible adults! And I can say this for myself that I trust and love Taeyeon.” Jessica was startled as it was the first time that Tiffany raised her voice at her. Tiffany also realized this and calmed down, knowing that she won’t win this way. “I’m just saying that…don’t let what happened to you, affect me too. Give Taeyeon a chance, Jessie.”

“And she did.” Tiffany ended, smiling at me warmly. I looked at her in disbelief…I never knew that Tiffany could so be strong, especially just for us.

“Come here.” I mumbled, putting my arms out. She looked at me confused. “Just…” I stepped closer and pulled her in my arms, hugging her tightly. “You’re…simply amazing.” I whispered and hugged her tightly, suddenly feeling the urge to never let her go. “Thank you…”

“For what?”

“For giving me a chance.” I smiled widely and took in a heave of her scent to cherish this moment.

~~~

The sun soon turned into a color of red orange that colored the whole ocean into a bright vivid scene yet Tiffany and I were lying down on the sand next to each other, watching the different colors of clouds cross across the sky. My arms cushioned the back of my head, allowing me to relax fully.

“Hey Taeyeon…” Tiffany whispered lightly and suddenly, she was on top me, hovering.

“What?” I replied.

“What happens to us now?” She asked, slightly with a hint of worry in her eyes.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…our crew will know. Our first mates already know…will that change anything?” I tried to read her eyes, wanting to know what she wanted from me. “Also…I don’t know if I can be away too long from you after all this.” She smiled. I smiled back.

“Me either…”

“Then what happens to us now?”

“I think we should…join our ships.” I felt both of our hearts connect at that second. “Yeah.” I grinned, affirming my decision. “Let’s join our ships. Unite our crew together and we’ll be the strongest ship in this ocean.”

Tiffany showed a beautiful eye-smile, content with my answer. “I love you, Taengoo.” She whispered, starting to lean. I eyed her pink lips before meeting with her eyes and replied,

“I love you too, Fany.” Within a matter of seconds, our lips connected and our hearts fully bloomed and opened up to each other.

---

Construction “So let me get this straight…” Sunny mumbled and marched around the table. “You two are…lovers?”

Tiffany and I smiled at each other from across the table and nodded simultaneously at the pilot of Poseidon’s Gem.

We both called for a meeting in my ship, having all the essential members of our crew be part of it since the purpose of this meeting was to announce our relationship to everybody. We sat at a long table where most of my crew meetings were held and at one side sat Yuri and I as Sooyoung and Yoona stood behind me while at the other side sat Tiffany, Jessica with Sunny, her Quartermaster: Hyoyeon and her Medic: Seohyun standing behind her as well.

After we revealed everything, most of them couldn’t believe it. Some even concluded that one of us was planning this to just kill each other when they were weak. But after they saw our sincere smiles, they finally took the time to take it in.

“H-How is that possible?” Sunny continued to utter in shock.

“I can’t believe this Captain. After all those conversations you had with me about hating her very guts, it’s really impossible to believe.” Yoona interrupted, stepping out from behind me to meet my face.

“I know how much of a shock this is to all of you but…it really is true. I’m sorry that it’s quite a big confusion but we really do love each other.” I explained calmly, placing my hand at my ship’s pilot’s shoulder to calm her down a bit.

And right then, Tiffany spoke up from across the table. “If you don’t believe it or you somehow doubt my feelings for your captain, is there something I could do to convince you?” She suggested in a calm manner and firm expression, keeping her clasped hands on the table while sitting straight.

Everybody started glancing at each other.

I bit my lip, suddenly feeling nervous. I felt myself feel loose, thinking that they’ll do something inappropriate and I started to roam my eyes across the room.

But right then, I met her beautiful twinkling smiling eyes.

I didn’t have to worry anymore; I knew she had everything under control.

“We want to know if you’re serious so…what happens to both of you? Will you still fight? Or are we going to sail back to our country to have both of you settled down?” Yoona finally replied.

Tiffany and I blinked at each other before smiling, knowing that we had this all worked out. “Well…Yoona, Taeyeon and I actually discussed that already.” She grinned cheekily. “We’re going to merge ships.”

10 seconds of dead silence.

9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1…

“But Captain! The Atlantic Compass is built to be independent!”

“The Poseidon’s Gem was built to be handled by 1 captain and 1 of each essential crew member!”

“The structure of our ship is impossible to hold all of the people!”

“It’ll take forever for the carpenters to come up with a ship that you have in mind!”

“Taeyeon! You never told me about this!”

“Tiffany “Miyoung” Hwang, I’m so going to kill you for not informing me first!!”

~~~

1am into the night, I was faced with a lot of planning and ordering-around just to make a ship for Tiffany and I to call ‘ours’. Both of our ships stood on stand-by on shore for already 3 days and not physical progress has been made. So far, both of our crews are collecting as much resources as possible while Tiffany and I work on our ship.

This idea of ours really was easier said than done. It’s hard to construct a ship that can contain the number of people we have together. I’m not even gonna think on how are we gonna divide the positions.

I sighed heavily as I finished the draft of blueprints for our ship. “It shouldn’t be this hard~” Fany whined while sitting across me.

I chuckled at her impatience and propped my elbow on the table, resting my face against my hand. “If worse comes to worst, we might just have to use one of our ships.”

Tiffany whipped her eyes to me instantly and eyed me carefully. “…what happens to the other ship?”

“We’ll have to destroy it then.” I explained, holding back my smirk.

“…T-Then yours gets destroyed!” She immediately exclaimed.

“Why mine? My ship is bigger.” I grinned.

“But…” She slammed the table with her right hand. “Yah! My poor Poseidon’s Gem!!” She squealed. I burst out laughing and reached out to hold her hand for assurance.

“I won’t let that happen. I don’t want you to cry all night.” I smiled and stood up, leaning across the table. “I promise to just join our ships and not destroy either one fully, okay?” She nodded before I leaned over more to capture her lips with a smile.

“You better…” She mumbled between a kiss and smiled back.

“Alright. I know you’re my little sister’s girlfriend but that doesn’t mean that I enjoy seeing you guys connecting lips.” An icy voice interrupted our moment, causing me to pull away and sit back down on my chair. We both turned to the doorway and found our first mates to be just entering the room. “Besides, you have too much planning to do.”

“But we’ve been planning for hours! We’ve already worked out the amount of space we need, cabins, artillery and everything basic—“

“Have you figured out how to retain the rapid speed of Poseidon’s Gem?” Jessica asked expectantly.

“And how to keep all the vast power of The Atlantic Compass?” Yuri questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Tiffany and I turned to each other, sighing heavily with our heads hanging low in a second.

“That’s right. Now you better continue planning and don’t complain since you two are the ones who made this crazy idea.” Jessica continued and hit Tiffany’s head lightly like a big sister while Tiffany pouted like a little sister. I smiled at the cute bond they head—but then a smack landed at the top of my head.

“Same goes for you, my dear friend.” My first mate instructed, sternly. She wasn’t even the usual dorky best friend I know, it’s like we were in the battle field. It scared me a bit.

I stared at her before sighing heavily and turning back to our planning. “Alright, Fany-ah, let’s continue…” I mumbled reluctantly. Tiffany nodded lightly, still pouting.

Both of them nodded at us and turned to leave but Jessica looked back, stating, “Good. We’ll be back after an hour or so. If you still haven’t made any major progress, we’re not continuing with this. Period.”

“What?! But—“ They already left before either of us could even argue back with that deadline.

“Aish, those two…” I cursed under my breath and skimmed through our plans bitterly.

“Hm…Taengoo.” The suddenly calm person across me called. I looked up from the desk, seeing her face as if she figured out something.

“Yeah?”

“Don’t you think…those two are compatible for each other?” She suggested with a small smirk.

I blinked at her and leaned to my side, looking at the door where the two recently exited from before turning back to Tiffany.

~~~

The person whose head was placed on her arms on the desk across me groaned in frustration before lifting her head up, facing me with a tired face. “Taengoo-ah…I don’t wanna plan anymore.” She whined.

“Well…good for you…Because…” I let my sentence prolong as I was just adding a few more details. “We’re done!” I announced and put my pencil down.

“What? How did you do that? We still had to figure out how to lighten the ship for our weapons…” Tiffany mumbled, yawning and stretching afterwards.

I chuckled at the cute sleepy person. Even though did most of the work after 2 hours ago, I didn’t mind since I kept seeing Tiffany yawn and whine so adorably. She kept me awake throughout this whole plan-making. “All we have to do is use lighter wood…and lay off on a few of our people. Other than that, we’ve already figured out everything from shape, appearance and color to speed, power and agility.” As soon as I finished that, I held up our blueprints with a proud grin.

But the person I was talking to was only looking at me blankly with her eyes constantly blinking.

I put the blueprint down and walked to her side. Poking her cheek, I said, “Okay, you’re at your limit. C’mon, I’ll walk you to your ship.”

“Can’t I just…sleep here, tonight?” She muttered and hid her face with her arms on the table.

“But there’s no extra bed here, Fany.” I answered and rubbed her back to make sure that she’s still conscious and won’t sleep on me.

“What are you talking about? I’m gonna sleep with you, of course…” She mumbled, turning her head to me with furrowed eyebrows. I blushed at her statement, just thinking about the two of us being together in bed.

“I-I…isn’t that—You—Me—I can’t—“ I stuttered. My head was just filled with so many thoughts about being not ready for something like this.

Tiffany suddenly stood up, smirking. “Taeyeon?” She called softly, still grinning and pulled me closer. My arms were wrapped around her waist by her own hands and she leaned her face so close to me—doing that all while smirking. “What are you thinking…?”

“…Nothing. Nothing.” I couldn’t even reply right with my face heating up.

She giggled and stepped back. “You’re the cutest. I’m not planning to do anything, Taengoo. I just wanna sleep as soon as possible.” She winked and turned around to leave the room and into my bedroom.

I still stood there, flushed with the event that just happened.

It took me another minute to just move again and clear my head. “Aish, my girlfriend’s such a tease.”

~~~

The rest of the night’s 3 hours passed by too quickly as Tiffany and I slept in my room. We were so tired from using our minds to come up with the final draft

of our ship but construction had to start as soon as possible, and the most immediate time was first thing in the morning.

It was worse for me since I couldn’t even sleep a wink. Not with Tiffany being in the same bed as me.

At 6am, Tiffany was already asleep and making cute sleeping expressions but I was just staring at the angel in my arms. I wondered every minute if she could hear my heart beating so loud since I was so afraid of waking her up. As her eyebrows furrowed or her eyes closed harder, I kept staring at her in adoration and wondered what she was dreaming about. “Tae…” She mumbled, still sleeping and cuddling closer to me. I couldn’t help but smile and pull her closer, smelling her lovely scent.

“I love you, Fany…I’m so grateful that I have someone like you. That I’m merging ships with you and the fact that we both love each other so much.”

About 15 minutes later, I heard noises on deck…and Yuri and Jessica already talking to each other outside of our room. I sighed silently, seeing as the sun came up without me sleeping asleep for even a second.

“KIM TAEYEON!”

“HWANG MIYOUNG!”

Our first mates shouted. “WAKE UP!!”

~~~

(Yuri’s POV)

I laughed at the two lovebirds who were just sitting against a tree near the shore while both of their ships were practically being destroyed for construction. Jessica and I stood on the back deck of the Atlantic Compass, just watching those two fall asleep on each other’s shoulder.

Our arms were on the wooden fence of the ship while standing next to each other. We were left in charge of maintaining the continuous progress of our new ship since they begged to just continue sleeping. I couldn’t help but chuckle as Tiffany fell on Taeyeon’s lap.

I heard a chuckle beside me as well. “Can’t believe my little sister is so happy with that girl.” I turned to her, raising my eyebrow.

“Is that an insult to my best friend?”

She looked at me and shook her head with a smile. She explained her sentence, looking back at the shore. “I just can’t believe that my little sister beat me into finding someone that loves them as much as they do. She wasn’t lied to or fooled or used. She found Taeyeon instead.” She smiled bitterly. “Unlike me.”

I quickly jumped to what she said but before I could even reply, she already pulled away from leaning against the fence and walked to the crew to check on them.

I blinked in confusion at the girl who was shouting at the crew to maintain their focus before looking back at the two people against the tree. “Hm…I’m not the only one, huh.”

Helping Hands

Tiffany and I watched as our ships were being remade to be put together.

Everyday on the island we stayed on, it was filled with noise from cutting wood, knocking down walls, hammering and even constant sighing and groaning with all the work everybody had to do.

It was kind of heartbreaking to see the ship that I practically called my home to be torn apart. I even had to look away as my sail was taken away for the last time…at that moment, a wave of heartache splashed around me. But warmth enveloped my hand, when I looked to my side, I found Tiffany to be smiling at me for comfort. I smiled back and held her hand tightly. Everything is worth it if it was for Tiffany.

30 days passed for our construction. 30 days of non-stop hard work for my and Tiffany’s crew. I crawled out of the tent Tiffany and I made and hurried down farther up into the shore, looking at our progress. I grinned contently as our ship was almost completely done with the body was fully constructed and only the main deck was left to be finished. I stared at it with a content smile and breathed deeply. “Hello, new ship.”

“Nya!” A cute familiar voice exclaimed behind me, followed by a pair of arms wrapped around my neck. I smiled even wider as I turned to meet the person behind me.

“Why are you awake early?” I asked, pulling Tiffany closer. She smiled at me sweetly before opening her mouth to reply.

“I woke up too early and found you still asleep beside me so I decided to take a walk. Guess what I found while I was strolling through the forest.” She quickly pulled out a yellow begonia flower from her sling bag and held it in front of me. I couldn’t help but smile as the memories of our date during that night flooded through my head.

I gently took the flower from her and tucked it in her hair, allowing the color to make her face even more radiant. Tiffany looked at me with pink cheeks, smiling slightly. I chuckled at the flushed person in front of me and caressed her face. “You’re beautiful.”

My heart fluttered as she looked away out of bashfulness along with her cheeks developing into a beautiful shade of scarlet. I chuckled slightly at the sight and started to lean, wanting to capture her lips.

“Kim Taeyeon!! Why do you keep doing PDA with my sister?!” I pulled away immediately, hearing that sergeant’s voice.

Tiffany and I turned to the source of the sound and found our first mates to be meters away, supposedly coming from the ship. I scratched my head out of annoyance. This is more than the 10th time they’ve interrupted our moments.

As soon as they reached us, Yuri stepped beside me and put me to a headlock. “I’m happy for you, dear friend but I don’t like looking directly at you guys.” She laughed and tightened her lock around my neck.

“Ah! Yuri, get off!!” I shouted, trying to push her away. “Why do you keep doing this to me if even I’m older than you!?”

“Two words. I’m taller.” I stomped my feet unto the ground as soon as I heard that phrase.

“KWON YURI, GET OFF ME!!”

Beside me, a fit of giggles burst out. I quickly turned to who was amused and found Tiffany to be red, trying to breathe through her laughs. I was devastated to find that even my girlfriend wasn’t even helping me. “Tiffany, how could you laugh at this!” I exclaimed, still in Yuri’s headlock.

“You two are just…so…silly!” She managed to say through her giggles.

“Oh, would you look at that, Taeyeon? Your own lover is enjoying the sight of you being helpless like this!” Yuri said with triumph before giving me a noogie.

I pushed Yuri away with all my strength and glared at her as I fixed myself up. “Alright that’s enough fun, guys.” Jessica announced. I turned to her, completely appalled.

“YOU CALL THIS FUN—“

“Enough distractions, Taeyeon.” Jessica quickly cut me off before I could throw a fit, making me fold my arms and stomp my feet, getting filled with anger. “Some of the carpenters need some rest since they are on the verge of becoming ill so we have to cover for them. There’s only a few things needed to be done today and they’re not very heavy tasks so we can finish them our selves.”

Tiffany, who had just recovered from too much laughing, turned to Sica. “What? Sis!! I’m not good with woodwork!!”

“Then you just have to ask Taeyeon for help. Right now, we have to cut up floorboards, make the wooden fences, make doors if we can, double check the ship for any leaks and if we do find some, we need to fix that up and…you two will have to come up with your ship’s name and flag.”

As soon as Jessica announced that, my anger disappeared and turned to Tiffany, realizing that we actually haven’t even discussed what our ship is going to be known as. She slowly turned to me, after meeting my eyes, we both looked at each other the same way: slightly uneasy.

“So let’s get started. Yuri and I will cut up floorboards and you two can probably start checking on those leaks.” Jessica finished before gesturing Yuri to follow her and started walking away.

I cut through the tension between Tiffany and I, giving a smile and gently taking her hand and said, “Shall we?”

~~~

We got in the incomplete ship’s body and started to walk around inside it, look for any water to be squirting in or flooding the floor. As we strolled in, handin-hand, I analyzed Tiffany’s face and found it to be slightly distracted. Even I was actually. I couldn’t stop brainstorming ideas for our ship and at the same time, wondering if the name was okay with Tiffany.

I held up the lamp in my other arm, moving it closer to the wooden walls of the hull to inspect any reflection of water. We were doing our jobs but we were too silent. Even though I was also thinking of ideas, I can’t help but feel that the silence was deafening my heart. I needed to hear her thoughts and voice out loud. We’re never silent if we’re together.

So I opened my mouth and took the first step. “So what have you thought up so far?”

Tiffany lifted her head from daydreaming by staring at the floor, startled. “Huh— oh, nothing quite real actually. The names I’ve thought up of might a bit…weird to you.”

“Like what?”

I turned to her, wanting to see her face as she said possible names for our future ship. She struck an expression of nervousness before saying the first name, “The Atlantic Gem.” I giggled, realizing that it was an attempt to combine our names.

“That’s not bad. It’s a good one actually.”

“A good one? You laughed!” She whined.

“No! Really! It’s good!” I denied. It really was. But it sounded like a cute name, not a name for a fierce pirate ship.

She sighed and stared. “You say a name this time.”

“Hm…Trident of the Atlantic.”

She looked at me, biting her lip to stop from laughing. “Oh c’mon, what’s wrong with Trident of the Atlantic?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. She chuckled and shook her head.

“It sounds tougher than we want to look. Just like The Atlantic Compass.” She grinned.

“What?! The Atlantic Compass was a very tough ship!” I argued.

“Which was defeated by a ship called Poseidon’s Gem. A name that was as tough as a honey bear.” She laughed slightly.

I stood still and sighed, knowing that every word of that statement was true.

“I think it’s going to be a while ‘til we can agree on a name.”

~~~

(Yuri’s POV)

I continuously pulled the saw back and forth on the wood that I placed on the workbench, wanting to split it into a size fit for a floorboard. After a few repeats of my action, the wood finally fell off and I let out a loud sigh. “Alright, this is my 8th board and I’m already wearing down. Get pumped, Kwon Yuri!” I said to myself and plopped down the board I just cut up before placing a new sheet of wood on the bench.

“Cut this up in 30 seconds, okay? 1…2…3!” I gripped the saw tightly and moved it backwards and forwards at my top speed. I hurried up as the countdown in my head screaming out the last few seconds but finally, the piece of the wood dropped down right at the last second. “YES!” I shouted in success, hopping in my place with the saw still in my hand.

Right then, a giggle went through my ear. A sound that was coming from behind me.

I turned around, finding Jessica to be chuckling as she cut up her wood in a moderate pace. I put my saw down and approached her quietly. She really looked and sounded like she was having a bit of a hard time in holding in her laughter since air just kept escaping her mouth and her hand could just barely continue moving.

I stepped beside her and leaned to examine her face that was hung low to hide her expression. But when I finally did see her, she was really doing her all to keep from laughing by biting her lips with puffed cheeks and closed eyes.

“What’s so funny?” I asked. She opened her eyes immediately after I said my sentence but she just dropped her saw and stepped back before laughing hysterically right in front of me. “Hey…” I called out with furrowed eyes and my hands on my waist yet she just kept laughing.

After a minute, she started explaining through her laughs. “You’re just…so…dorky!” She shouted out and continued to laugh.

I raised my eyebrow at the helpless laughing person.

~~~

(Taeyeon’s POV)

“What about…Night Watcher?”

“Again, it’s too tough. How about The Pink Anchor?”

“That’s just…less fierce than we want to sound like.”

“But I like pink…” She pouted.

I jumped in my place, sensing that she was a bit hurt with what I said. “Not that you’re not fierce, Fany! I mean, pink is nice but maybe we can find a better name for our ship.” I mumbled to her in a hurry, not wanting her to misunderstand. “They’ll also find it an easy way to trash talk us.”

She nodded, slowly stopping her pout. “Fine.”

I sighed in relief once I got out of that possible fight between us and picked up my brush that was dipped in the varnish to start coating the fences again.

After Tiffany and I fixed up the leaks then Yuri and Jessica cut up all the wood they were assigned with into floorboards, we decided to work together into building the fences. Yuri and Jessica were in charge of putting them together while Tiffany and I were going to apply the varnish.

The whole morning was spent in fixing up those leaks and floorboards so after we had a break by eating lunch, we started up on these fences right away. Though, my conversation with Tiffany about our ship’s name still hasn’t ended. Throughout the whole 6 hours we’ve spent together, all we’ve been doing is rejecting each name we give out to each other.

I don’t even know what will happen if we have to think about the design of our flag already if thinking about the name is this bad.

We sat beside each other, painting each fence Yuri and Jessica gave us, who were putting them together right behind us. Right after Tiffany rejected another name I gave out, I heaved a sigh. “Are we ever gonna settle on a name?”

I looked beside me and found her to be smiling before turning to me and shrugged. “If we can’t settle on a name, we’ll just go with The Atlantic Gem as a compromise.” We laughed lightly at the statement though we both know that we’re thinking that we hope that doesn’t happen.

Suddenly, a scream of pain shoved in our ears.

Tiffany and I were both startled at the shriek and turned around to the two people behind us. It appears that Yuri accidentally hammered her own finger which is why she’s shaking her hand rapidly in the air and Jessica is laughing her head off beside Yuri.

We giggled at the sight, seeing that our first mates, who were usually serious about working, were actually having a pretty fun time together.

“Those two are quite cute together.” Tiffany whispered to me with a small smile. I smiled back and nodded in agreement.

~~~

By sunset, everything assigned to us for the day were all accomplished. From leaks to doors, we’ve finished everything with quality. Except for our ship’s name and flag.

The four of us were all laid out on the beach, exhausted. All of us were just staring at the once-blue sky to turn into a red-orange one side by side. No one dare to speak one word since we knew that everyone was too tired to even speak.

But of course, Tiffany and I had to settle something. “Hey Fany.” I whispered.

“Hm?”

“Let’s settle this ship’s name.”

“How?”

“On count of three, both of us will say the first name that pops into our head. Whichever name is better, that’ll be our ship’s name.”

She turned her head to me, looking at me as if I was crazy but I just smiled at her. We were both too tired to think anymore anyway. She sighed and turned back to the sky. “Okay.”

“Alright. One…two…three.”

“Fallen Angel.”

“Fallen Angel.”

Both of us were silent for a moment, not believing that we said the exact same thing. But a second later, Tiffany and I shot up from the sand, sitting up while facing each other. “Did you just say Fallen Angel?” Tiffany asked. I nodded.

We slowly formed a wide smile on our face. “Our ship’s name is Fallen Angel. Fallen Angel? that’s such a great name!” I exclaimed in excitement and stood up, pulling Tiffany with me.

“Gawd, you guys are so loud…” Jessica groaned. We just ignored them as we were too hyped up about finally deciding on the name.

“C’mon, let’s make our flag’s design, I already have an idea and I think you’re gonna like it.” Tiffany eye-smiled at me and pulled me to the site near the ship where we can make our flag.

~~~

(Jessica’s POV)

After being disturbed by those two loud-voiced lovers, I didn’t even realize that I fell asleep and when I opened my eyes again, I found the environment around me to be scattered with lit torches since it was already nighttime.

I pushed myself up with my arms while my eyes were still half-closed. “No wonder Tiffany calls me a sleeping beauty. I can sleep anywhere and feel that it was a good nap.” I mumbled. “I wonder where are those two…And Yu—“ I stopped talking as I felt my hand hit something as I was about to stretch it out.

I quickly turned to my side, finding Yuri to still be asleep.

I instantly smiled at the person beside me, remembering all the antics we’ve done together today. I decided to move a bit closer, examining her sleeping face…and I found her tongue to be sticking out. I covered my mouth, not wanting to laugh and wake her up.

I calmed myself down before reaching out and caressing her face lightly. “You, Kwon Yuri, are quite charming. Stupidly charming, that is.” I smiled at her.

---

First Sail

I stared at Tiffany as she sewed. The way she pulled the needle through the silk flag really made me hold my breath since she looked so graceful. Her eyes sparkled, showing the enjoyment she was receiving…and the sweet smile she has plastered on her face made everyone not even dare to disturb her.

She volunteered to make the flag herself. From design to actual creation, she’s in charge of it all. Even if everybody tried to help, she kept insisting that she did it by herself. And now, it’s her 7th day working on it.

The design was a back-to-back flag that was pink on the other side, and blue on the other but both sides had angel wings—hence our ship’s name: Fallen Angel.

Everyday, Tiffany would grab her sewing kit and the flag-in-progress and go to the middle of our deck—that was recently completed—and just sit there, continuing to work on it. Whenever I would see her, I stop in my tracks to admire her for a moment. Once I snap out of my trance, I approach her and kiss her cheek, giving her some words of encouragement. “It’s beautiful.” One of the things I would whisper to her.

One night, I kept on insisting for her to go to sleep but she wouldn’t drop her needle. “Fany-ah, it’s 1am, there’s gonna be another day tomorrow. Please climb in bed with me so we can both have a good sleep.” I tried to persuade her.

She shook her head and continued to work on the flag, not even bothering to utter one word to me. I sighed and gave up. “Just don’t overwork yourself to the point of fainting, okay?” I mumbled as I leaned to kiss her forehead tenderly. “Goodnight.”

I put myself in the bed and drifted off, seeing her continuing to work being the last thing I saw.

~~~

“YES!” A loud squeal woke me up.

I rubbed my eyes to get rid of my blurry vision. I quickly sat up to see what was going on and right in front of the bed, Tiffany was dancing around the room with the flag. “What happened…?” I mumbled before yawning and stretching.

She stopped prancing around and looked at me with the biggest smile ever, holding up the flag in front of her proudly. “It’s finished.”

I stared at the beautifully sewn flag, with the wings and everything.

Before I knew it, I couldn’t stop smiling and got out of bed. We approached each other and I grabbed the flag in her hands, feeling our ship’s flag for the first time ever before looking at her sincerely. “Let’s sail.” I smiled eagerly.

~~~

“Where’s your girlfriend, Taeyeon?” Yuri asked—almost in a form of a shout—as she ran up to the helm where I stood.

I continued to check the wheel and inspecting the rudder since I had to make the last check-up for our ship before setting sail. “She’s asleep.” I answered Yuri, moving to the side to see all of the crew to be working hard in setting up everything.

“What? The other captain of this vessel that we all worked hard on to make for the past 2 months is just sleeping for our first sail?!”

I nodded and kept examining everything. “She was up all night making our flag. She deserves some sleep. I don’t want my own girlfriend and fellow captain to have puffy red eyes while she’s struggling to just stand straight during the first sail. I’ll be more focused into doing this rather than stopping every once in a while to make sure my love is okay.” I replied with a serious tone as I face Yuri. I hoped that explanation was enough just for her to stop talking. There were so many things to do before the sun is high up in the sky and we have to sail.

“But—“

“Kim Taeyeon! Where are you keeping my sister? She has to finalize some things.” Jessica announced, stepping foot on the bridge as well. I groaned at the presence of more interruptions.

“She’s still sleeping! Now if you will, I have to—“

“Then I’ll go wake her up.” Jessica said and quickly went off to my and Tiffany’s quarters. I widened my eyes and hurried to stop her. I did not want anybody or anything to keep her from sleeping more. She worked hard on that flag and she deserved a break. It’ll break my heart to see a distressed Tiffany.

“No! She’s had a long week.”

“It’s the first sail. She has to wake up.” Jessica replied with a slight glare at me, emphasizing on the phrase ‘has to’.

“But she’ll just be all exhausted if you wake her up.”

“She can go back to sleep as soon as we’re in the middle of the ocean, okay?” She sighed, looking a bit irritated with my concern for her own dongsaeng. “Sheesh,

you’re more protective of her than me.” She laughed as she started to walk to our quarters.

I sighed heavily, shaking my head at that last remark and turned back, seeing Yuri to be grinning. “What?” I asked.

“She’s right about your protectiveness though.” She mumbled before bursting into a laugh just like Jessica.

I smirked at her. She’s not the only one who can tease now. “And you seem to be always siding with her. Physically, Socially and Mentally…” My statement was completely true. They seemed to be always together ever a month ago. At first it was only for the sake of the construction but even through breaks and when the sun sets, I could see them talking to each other. Some of the moments were about Yuri making a fool of herself and Jessica throwing a fit of giggles, others were their bickering…but rarely, you would see them just talking to each other with a sincere smile on their faces. I just knew something was brewing up between them.

Yuri jumped in her place and denied the sentence with her whole body. “What? No! You guys are just so lazy to actually do something about this boat of yours so we have to take charge of everything. It’s your fault why we’re hanging out so

often! Don’t tease me about Jessica if you’re the one to blame!” She said all in one breath and stormed down to the bridge. I laughed at the cute tantrum.

“Good luck, dear friend…” I smiled, watching the fuming person in denial walk march around the deck.

~~~

(Yuri’s POV)

I can’t believe Taeyeon thinks that. What makes her think that she knows? I don’t even know that. There’s nothing even to know about in the first place.

I mean, ever since Jessica has been less…cold since she’s already accepted the whole situation fully, she’s been friendlier and fun to hang out with so of course I’ve been hanging out with her more. She’s also been kind of caring, nice…and sweet…

I smiled at the memory of me and Jessica spending time together after waking up in a cool, crisp morning.

I crawled out of my hand-made tent to see Jessica already stepping into the ocean up to only her feet, looking far into the water a bit deep in thought. But still, I smiled to myself and decided to cheer her up a bit. After seeing her sad smile as she implied that she’s had her bad experience of relationships, I’ve wanted to take any opportunity I can to see her smile. Even if it meant my own shame or pain.

I kept my head low and legs slightly crouched, not wanting to attract any attention from her and quietly crept to her back. She didn’t seem to notice anything so my plan was going perfect. I crept a bit closer…waiting for a perfect moment.

When she stopped moving to stare at the distance again, I stood up and pushed her with enough force to make her legs wobble while shouting, “Oops, you’re falling Jessica!!” She instantly started to shriek like a dolphin as she slowly lost balance. I endured the scream and wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her back onto her feet while laughing so hard.

Jessica turned her head to meet eyes with her prankster. Once she realized it was me, she pushed me away and started to pound on me with her fist. “Kwon Yuri, you, pabo! Pabo pabo pabo pabo pabo!!” She repeatedly screamed. “You gave me a heart attack, you stupid—big—tan—giant!!” She shouted as she continued to hurt me with her fists.

“Ow! Ow! I’m sorry Jessica!” I mumbled, trying to protect myself from her pounding. But then I remembered the look on her face when she was about to hit the water and couldn’t help but continue to laugh. “I—Just wanted—some fun!” I managed to reply through my giggles.

“How’s this for fun?!” She shouted and lifted her foot to kick me away, sending me off balance and into the water. “Ha! How’d you like the water?” She smirked.

My heart was still beating fast from the shock of both the kick and water, making me a bit confused at what just happened. I looked up at her with my hands supporting me as I sat up in the salty water that I was in. When I finally put my thoughts together, I gritted my teeth with anger and grabbed her legs. “Why don’t you tell me?” I retorted and pulled her legs down with all I had, sending her to splash down in the water.

I laughed loudly when a piece of seaweed flew out of the water when she landed and plopped down on her head. “You’re right, this is fun!” I stated, continuing to laugh.

Jessica threw the seaweed away and slapped the surface of the water with her hand. “YAH, KWON YURI!” She shouted, meaning that she was ready to kill me.

“And that’s my queue to go.” I mumbled to myself and quickly stood up, running away from the fuming girl as fast as I could.

“KWON YURI, COME BACK HERE! YOU ARE SO DEAD!!”

I laughed as quietly as I could without me looking like I’ve gone insane as I continued to reminisce. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough. “Well, well…it seems the tables have turned.” I turned to my side, finding the owner of the voice. “You’re the one who looks crazy now, Yul.” Taeyeon grinned at me.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I denied and went back to stare at the water.

“Oh come on! You tease and bully Jessica like it’s your job! And I’ve known you long enough to say that your bullying is your way to get closer to her without her knowing your feelings.” She said with a tone that seemed like she knew everything.

I shrugged her words off and continued to stare blankly. “Y’know Yuri, if this was a playground, you would be tugging at her pigtails and pushing her down by now.” Taeyeon mumbled before snickering.

I furrowed my eyebrows, starting to get irritated by her words. I didn’t want to say anything back because I knew that she’d have a comeback almost instantly so I just turned away from her. But that just made everything worse for me.

I saw Taeyeon form an even wider smirk on her lips and that didn’t mean not one bit of a good thing to me. “So Yuri, tell me. If you really don’t have the slightest bit of feelings, how come you’re acting the same way to Jessica as the same way you acted with Victoria?” I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth the moment I heard that girl’s name. Taeyeon took notice of my rising anger and quickly placed a hand on my back, continuing with, “I didn’t mean to bring her up but I’m just really wondering what’s going on with you two.”

My head was clouded with rage. It was filled with images of her being in the very same bed that we made love for the first time to be with a man. Maybe that happened over 2 years ago but…my heart will forever be scarred by that experience. An experience that I don’t ever want to feel again. “D-Don’t compare Jessica to Victoria, Taeng…” I mumbled with closed eyes, trying to calm myself

down by removing my memories of her from my mind momentarily, one by one. “Just…Just don’t.”

She nodded and removed her hand from my back. When I opened my eyes, I found her to be beside me, staring at the water as well. “Be honest with me, friend. Even if it was just a bit, do you like Jessica?”

I pressed my lips together, staring at the deep blue water as I explored my own heart for the answer. I sighed lightly when I realized the truth…and that truth can’t be hidden or be lied about anymore. But when I opened my mouth to say my answer, a loud sound of a door being slammed open interrupted us.

(Taeyeon’s POV)

I jumped in my place as the moment of truth between Yuri and I was cut by a loud noise, sounding like it was coming from below deck. Wanting to know what was going on, I turned to my side to find Jessica dragging out her half-asleep little sister.

I sighed heavily. “What did this block of impenetrable ice do now…?” I mumbled with a load of stress creeping back onto my head.

“Hm, hey look over there, friend. Your girlfriend looks like exactly how you didn’t want her to look for your first sail.” Yuri pointed out, making me step forward a bit and examining the sleep-deprived person under Jessica’s arm. She was right. Tiffany looked exhausted and completely dragged out of bed judging by the looks of those red eyes and puffy eyelids. She couldn’t even stand straight which made my heart ache with worry.

I quickly marched to the two sisters as I sighed. “Darnit Jessica, look at her. She looks so tired.” I said sadly and pulled Tiffany out of her arms. I talked to her softly with the softest tone I could do. “Are you okay? You’re not gonna pass out or anything?” I asked her.

“…I don’t…know…” She mumbled and swiftly wrapped her arms around my waist before leaning and placing her head on my shoulder. I bit my lip in worry.

“See, Sica? She’s worn out. You can’t let your own sister push herself like this!” I tried to convince the person beside us with the best of my ability.

“I wanna…sleep…TaeTae…” Tiffany whispered in my ear, feeling heavier and I realized that she was falling asleep.

“It’ll only be an hour. Then she can sleep for the whole day for all I care.” Jessica shrugged off, ignoring that fact of how beat her dongsaeng actually was.

“But—“

“That’s fine. “ Yuri barged in. “Don’t be worried since it is our first sail and Tiffany should be here awake and standing. She can just sleep afterwards.” I groaned.

“You’re supposed to be on my side, Kwon. Agreeing with Jessica about every little thing is making me tired as well.”

“…don’t be so worried, Taengoo…” Tiffany mumbled, awaking for a bit and stepped away. She showed a small mischievous smile to Jessica before saying, “It’s okay if I lose some sleep for a bit…but if Jessica loses even just half an hour of her sleep, hell breaks loose.” She managed to say but still looked sleepy as ever.

Jessica looked at her with a look of astonishment; as if she wasn’t suppose to divulge any of that information.

“What do you mean?” Yuri and I asked.

“If someone keeps her awake or if somebody wakes her up…they won’t be able to leave the room without an injury.” Tiffany continued to say just above the tone of a mumble and laughed lightly.

“Tiffany, stop. Talking.” Jessica demanded, glaring holes in her.

“Really? Even if it was someone she was involved with?” Yuri dared to ask.

“Well…” Tiffany glanced at her fuming sister then turned back to us. “Let’s just say that person won’t be able to leave bed orfall asleep.”

Yuri and I widened our eyes as we both just got the sentence.

“OKAY! THAT’S ENOUGH OUT OF YOU!” Jessica said in an icy cold tone, with a smile so fake that it looked like she was either in pain or total rage. She

pushed Tiffany to the side where they had a conversation that was almost inaudible but I caught their sentences. “How could you tell that to them?!” She whispered.

Tiffany smiled widely, just managing to stand while tilting. “Revenge. Did you seriously have to pull me out of bed instead of shaking me awake first?”

I laughed at the cute sister relationship they had. I turned to Yuri, saying, “Aren’t they the most adorable—“ But I stopped my sentence, seeing Yuri stare at Jessica with a distant look, as if she was imagining something. I chuckled and pushed her lightly to wake her up from her daydream.

“What?!” Yuri exclaimed, regaining her balance from my push.

“You’re out of your mind, Yuri.” I stated, shaking my head at the fact and laughing at the same time.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Argh! I’m just—I’ll just—I’m gonna go check on the crew.” She mumbled and started marching off, whispering curse words to herself.

I chuckled a bit more at the love-struck girl before I was approached by Sooyoung and Tiffany’s Quartermaster, Hyoyeon. “Captain.” Sooyoung started. “All crews have reported that we are ready to sail.”

~~~

“All hands on deck!” I shouted to the crew as I stood on the bridge. Everyone started to double check everything and brace themselves from leaving the island that we’ve been living on during construction. “Hoist anchor!” I announced and they pulled up the anchor, allowing our ship to float freely.

I was approached by Yoona with a nervous smile. “Captain, who will be our pilot for this journey?” I turned to her, seeing Sunny to be behind her as well.

“Uhm…” I mumbled, unsure about my decision. I wanted Yoona as my pilot but of course that’s just me being biased to my old crew. “Fany-ah.” I called, twirling to my back where Tiffany was chatting with Jessica.

“Yep?” She replied after walking towards us.

“Who’s gonna be our pilot?”

“Oh. Uh…” Tiffany looked as confused as I did when I first heard their question. We had no problem with the other people on our crew since we were able to build a ship big enough and we only had to lay off on a few people. We didn’t even have any trouble with our officers and just decided to have everyone still on board. But the pilot was really a huge issue since there was only one wheel to steer. “Maybe they could take turns for steering the ship.”

“Yeah but what about today?” Sunny asked, looking a bit impatient.

“Err…” Tiffany and I continued to prolong the awkward decision making we were supposed to do. We both had too much pride to show our own biasness to our crew.

“Oh for goodness’ sake.” Jessica interrupted stood in front of us. “You two, play rock-paper-scissors, winner gets to be pilot for 3 hours.”

“What?! That sounds childish, doesn’t it?” Yoona and Sunny disagreed to the idea. I turned to Tiffany, looking at her with a look of disbelief on how her sister was solving this problem. She just smiled lightly and shrugged.

“Well it’s either that or you’ll let these two decide which will take 2 years.”

Our pilots looked at us then back at Jessica before finally turning to each other with their fists on their palms, getting ready to play. I was kind of annoyed by what just happened. I mean, come on, Jessica’s been pushing my buttons ever since we decided to merge. I didn’t know how Tiffany was able to stand her older sister or how Yuri can be smitten around this woman. Am I the only one that isn’t warming up to her any time soon?

“Rock-paper-scissors!” They exclaimed and the result came to Yoona being rock and Sunny being scissors. “YES!” Yoona shouted in victory.

“Darn.” Sunny mumbled and sighed, backing away.

Tiffany chuckled and stepped away from me to pat Sunny’s back for comfort. “Nice one, Yoong.” I grinned as she took her place behind the wheel. “We’ll be going on my command.”

“Aye aye, Cap’n.” She smiled widely and played with the steering wheel for a while.

“C’mon.” I pulled Tiffany down the bridge and across the main deck, running to prow where we could feel the full sensation of our first sail. [Prow – The back end of a ship.]

As we ran across the deck, I called all the officers to join the first sail of our Fallen Angel.

The sun was high and bright in the sky with the wind blowing in perfect strength that we needed. The timing for sailing couldn’t be any more perfect.

Tiffany and I waited until everyone was present to see the moment as we will. Once both of our first mates and quartermasters, along with Sunny and Tiffany’s medic, Seohyun were here, I turned to Tiffany with a smile on my face. “Wanna do it together?”

She giggled and smiled back. “Like I won’t.” I smiled wider and pulled her close to me before we both announced. “Full speed ahead!!” The whole crew responded to our command, saying ‘Aye Aye Cap’n!’. Everyone loosened the ropes,

revealing our sails for the first time ever, sending the ship out of the shore and into the water. Yoona started to steer and soon, our ship was sailing proudly across the sapphire blue sea.

I couldn’t stop the smile forming on my face as we were finally sailing after the longest time. Together.

Everyone smiled back proudly at us. Jessica, Yuri, Sooyoung, Hyoyeon, Sunny and Seohyun. I could even feel the wide alligator grin Yoona must be giving us now even if she was across this humongous ship.

I turned to the girl that had my arm wrapped around her waist, still not stopping my smile. She slowly turned to me as well, beaming at me.

We both turned to our back, leaning against the fence to look over the sparkling waters as the wind blew in our hair. Tiffany placed her head on my shoulder and we both sighed happily.

“Hey, Fany…” I whispered.

“Yes, TaeTae…?”

“Are you happy with this? With us?”

Silence took over the both of us, making me a bit nervous. But Tiffany turned around and wrapped her arms around my neck before leaning to kiss my lips.

I suddenly felt myself engulfed in the moment, wanting it to last forever. Everything felt perfect as we kissed. And when she pulled away, she smiled sweetly at me and whispered. “Kim Taeyeon…I’ll forever be happy with you. Through everything that we’re gonna face. As long as our hearts are beating as one, I promise you that you’re the only one who can give me such unique happiness.”

I instantly smiled and leaned to capture her lips.

---

Misunderstandings

(Yuri’s POV)

I was watching Jessica lean against the wooden barrier of the ship, watching the waves as we sailed for the second time. She looked so innocent and wondrous…one glance at her and I’m doomed to stare at her for minutes.

My legs seemed to have a life of their own since I was about 2 meters away from her, leaning against the same wooden barrier as her just to get a closer look at her face. I continuously stole glances at the ice princess that stood a bit far away from me.

My finger drew circles on the top of the fence while my smile started to become visible.

Am I falling for someone again?

How could I even fall in love with somebody again when my heart’s been damaged badly? After I declared to never let anybody fool me again.

My smile turned into a wide one after I realized that I simply forgot that answer to this question.

You’re in love, Kwon Yuri. It changes everything. It goes against laws, races, genders and distance.

“And what might you be grinning about, Kwon?” Her voice penetrated my thoughts, making me turn to her instantly. She was looking at me against the wind so one of her eyes was closed while her hair danced with the wind, making her look even more breathtaking in my eyes.

I was too stunned that I even held my breath, taking my time to stare at her more. But of course, this agitated the ice princess. “Yah.” She glared. I broke my gaze and smiled widely.

“Just thinking of the future this ship called, Fallen Angel has.” I lied, still beaming at her so she won’t see through me.

She continued to glare at me but finally turned back to the ocean. “I don’t know if it’ll be magnificent or tragic. The future for Fallen Angel, that is.” She replied, having a stoic expression on her face.

“And why is that?” I dared to step closer to her, losing 1 meter of distance from her. My heart started to pound just on the thought of being beside her so closely again. “Well, one. The success of fights depend on the cooperation of those two loveydovey people are going to give out.” Just about to close the distance with her…just a few more steps. “Two…I feel like I’m getting weak…for some reason.” My heart raced as I already felt her arm’s skin brush on my own. Being this close to her…it makes me unstable inside. But the statement she said woke me up from my own thoughts. She’s weakening? Is she sick?

“What do you mean?” I asked, trying to keep myself calm and listen to her, trying to have a normal conversation.

“I’m weakening…because I’m deeply distracted. By someone.” She whispered. My heart skipped a beat as soon as I heard her last sentence. My eyes popped open widely, staring at her serious and troubled face.

“S-Someone?” I dared to ask. My heart wasn’t ready for this. If it wasn’t me that she’s referring to, my heart will break even when nothing has happened between us.

But before I could even ask, she immediately stepped away from the view of the ocean and turned away from me. I watched as she walked away from me, still having the troubled expression on her face.

I sighed deeply. “You’re hard to read, Jessica.” I mumbled, particularly to no one.

~~~

(Taeyeon’s POV)

I smiled at the familiar brown hair bouncing up on the stairs to the bridge; where I was standing right now. As soon as we met eyes, she instantly threw an eye-smile at me, hopping to my side before leaning to plant a soft kiss on my cheek. “Where should we head first, TaeTae?” She asked with a cheerful aura around her.

“I don’t know. Where do you wanna go?” I asked, throwing back the very same question she asked me as I pulled her closer.

“I don’t know. Where do you wanna go?” She replied, smirking with one lip being bitten. We were both leaning forward, towards each others lips. Honestly, we’re both fairly incompetent once we set a mood between us or we manage to fall in each other’s eyes too deeply.

“I don’t know…where do you wanna go?” I whispered back before finally capturing her lips.

“Hey, love idiots, seriously, where do we go?” Jessica asked; who has apparently been there long enough to witness the scene.

I was upset to feel Tiffany’s lips parting from mine, making me angry that she’s interrupted us again.

“Darnit, Jessica…” I whispered but Tiffany still heard. She turned back around and giggled before taking my hand for both of us to approach Jessica.

“No need to call us ‘Love Idiots’, sis.” Tiffany said, pouting as soon as we faced Jessica.

“It was for my benefit, sis.” She replied, grinning. “So anyway, really, when it’s Sunny’s shift to be on the wheel, we have to set course for something, where are we going to head?”

Tiffany and I turned to each other, gazing at each others faces before turning back to Jessica, saying this simultaneously with a blank face: “I don’t know.”

“What? We have two captains yet neither of you knows what is our next motive?” I couldn’t help but crack up about that while I answered.

“Nope. It’s funny, isn’t it?”

“No, it’s not, Taeyeon!” Jessica said, slightly yelling. We were both surprised at the sudden raise of voice. Then Jessica sent out a serious heavy atmosphere around us with a serious expression plastered on her face right before she continued. “In case you two forgot, you’re both the strongest ships in the Atlantic Ocean and

numerous pirates want to challenge you. Now that our ships have been combined, there are going to be twice as much enemies wanting to have a battle against you. Stronger. And. Larger.” At that moment, the captain spirit in me woke up once more…and I had the urge to stand up as a leader again. And I knew Tiffany felt it too since she gripped my hand tightly. “If you want to just be two lovebirds on a boat, you better just give the ship to your First Mates.” She finished, still keeping a firm composure.

“Amazing motivational speech.” Tiffany complimented her older sister with an assuring smile.

“As long as you guys are focused now—“

Hyoyeon suddenly appeared on the bridge, looking a flustered. “Captains! Another pirate ship is attempting to be on close quarters at starboard!!” She announced.

My captain instincts fired up and made me instantly tense up, letting go of Tiffany’s hand and ran down to the deck, shouting with all my strength. “All hands on deck! Man your battle stations!!”

Soon, Jessica and Tiffany followed, rushing down the bridge and briskly walking towards me. When I saw Jessica, I grabbed her wrist and said, “Find Yuri and tell her that I need her right here, right now.” She nodded, running off immediately to find my first mate.

I turned to Tiffany, having a constant composure of seriousness and focus. I was relieved to see that she was having the same attitude at the moment. “What’s our plan?” She asked, having that battle smirk that I haven’t seen in a while.

Yet this time, it didn’t annoy me, it just pushed my battle spirit to be stronger.

~~~

“Taeyeon!” Tiffany called, running towards me across the main deck. “They’re not going down easy, we need a plan.” She breathed out. I replied with a confirming nod and looked at our crew that was working hard to continuously shoot cannons while others like Yuri and Jessica fought off the enemies trying to get on board. I sighed heavily, trying to think of a plan.

“What do you think we should do?” I asked her.

I actually had a couple of strategies in mind but…I don’t know why. Something was blocking me from saying it. I was afraid that Tiffany might not agree with that plan and think that it’s completely stupid. I didn’t want to say any of my plans to just be rejected.

“I have no idea.” She mumbled, having an uneasy expression.

“What? C’mon, you defeated me dozens of times yet you have no idea?”

“What about you? You defeated me on my last battle. you should have more ideas than I do!” She argued back.

“No—Oh c’mon, you’re the one that formed the strategy of recruiting a 100-man crew just to be able to handle the ship while catching me off guard! You should have an idea, Tiffany!” I groaned. “You’re not the Tiffany I fell for! Where’s the captain of Poseidon’s Gem!? You’re not her! You’re not the one I love!” But apparently…it made me sound too annoyed and insensitive, making my own girlfriend upset.

“Fine!” She shouted. “Then I think we should move closer and send you, me, Yuri and Jessica over to the other ship undetected and kill their captain.”

“That’s risky.” I directly commented, not considering my own words. “That might result to—“

“That was your strategy with me on our last battle!” She retorted, raising her voice with every word. “Don’t force me to say out strategies and reject them completely without even thinking first! And! Don’t reject them when you say that you have no strategy yourself!” She yelled, showing a completely frustrated face that was even going red with anger.

But the fact that she suddenly went angry when I did nothing wrong, made me go ballistic as well. “I’m only giving out my opinion! Geez, why are you so easily irritated?!”

“Because it’s you! Arrogant pabo you!” She shouted back. “It’s normal for cocaptain’s to fight sometimes but no! We’re in love with each other and we can argue but never bring out a topic like that! It’s like you questioned our love for each other!”

I was taken aback by her sudden burst of anger yet I didn’t understand most of it. I just blinked at her, asking, “What?”

She stomped her foot violently on the hardwood floor. “YOU—ARGH!!” She screamed in exasperation, hitting my arm before stomping down to the main deck.

~~~

(Yuri’s POV)

I turned to the loud scream coming from the upper deck but only saw Tiffany hurrying down the stairs while having a completely offended expression. I quickly pierced through the pirate that was in my way before running towards her. “Hey, is everything okay?” I asked. She only glared at me with teary-eyes and shook her head, pushing through me and hurried to the captain’s quarters.

Jessica quickly ran towards me, furrowing her eyebrows at the girl that was running away from me. “What did you do?”

“What? No! I didn’t do anything!” I denied immediately, raising my sword carelessly, almost injuring both of us if it wasn’t for her fast reflexes, pushing the sword back down to the floor.

“Watch where you point that thing, won’t you?” She scolded, sighing. “So what did happen—“

She couldn’t even finish her sentence since Taeyeon suddenly came running down the stairs, shouting with all her lungs, “Tiffany wait!! Listen to me!!” But she was already too late when Tiffany closed the door and Taeyeon was only halfway across the deck.

Jessica and I didn’t take our eyes off the scene as I said, “I’m guessing that my best friend is what happened.”

“I knew this would happen.” Jessica mumbled, sounding annoyed. “C’mon, we’re first mates and first mates have to do their job.” She said, abruptly pulling my wrist.

“What do you mean?!”

“We have to handle this battle ourselves, of course!” She shouted as we pushed through the battles around us.

~~~

(Taeyeon’s POV)

I pressed myself on the cold wooden door, continuously slamming on the door just for Tiffany to hear me. “Fany, open the door! C’mon please?! So we can talk about this!!” I shouted, hoping that I haven’t hurt the person I love so much too badly.

“I don’t wanna see you!” She shouted back with a slightly quivery voice. My heart ached…I made her cry.

“I’m sorry, okay?! But please let me in!! I can’t make you stop crying and make you feel better unless we ‘re face to face!”

“Just seeing you will make everything worse for me!!”

Every one of those words damaged my heart but I’m not giving up. Not when she’s handling even more pain than she’s giving me. “C’mon, don’t say that! Open the door, Fany!”

“No! Go away!!” She continued to reject.

I stepped away from the door, grunting with stress. “There’s only one way to get through…” I mumbled to myself then started to charge at the door with all my strength, throwing myself at it.

“Taeyeon?! What are you doing!?” I ignored her and kept ramming the door down, not caring if my arm was being badly bruised. “Taeyeon!” At my 6th crash onto the door, the locks finally broke and I fell onto the floor of the room. “You’re so— Yah!” Tiffany continued to yell at me as I pushed myself off the floor with the pain slowly erupting on my arm but I still carried on, standing up and approached the girl sitting on the side of the bed with tear-stained cheeks.

“No…T-Tae…stop right there.” She kept on talking, wanting me to stop in my tracks while she stood up and took one step backwards with every step I took forward. “I’m warning you.” She mumbled, still having feeble attempts to stop me.

I couldn’t handle the distance between us anymore…so I leaped and pulled her in my arms, holding her tightly and never wanting to let her go. “Stop— Taeng…stop…” She started with a strong voice—even pushing me away but as I continued to hug her, she let down her guard, wrapping her arms around my neck to me back before she buried her face on the crook of my neck as more tears trickled down her cheeks. “I’m not the one you love…” She cried, sobbing.

My heart ached so much after she said that. I can’t believe how hard my words pierced her heart.

I hugged her even tighter, smelling her hair before kissing her ear softly, saying, “Forget my words…forget my words, Tiffany. I didn’t mean them…I just…I was too focused on the battle…and we’re still trying to work this out. Don’t ever believe those words…I love you, Fany-ah…I love you and only you.” I whispered, meaning every word with my whole heart. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. You know that…I didn’t want to hurt you. Never wanted to and will never want to. I’m sorry, Tiffany…I’m so sorry. I promise that this won’t ever happen again. I’ll learn how to be a captain with you. I swear that I won’t involve our relationship with our roles ever again.” I continued and planted a kiss on her head.

The Korean-American person in my arms sniffled, pulling away to look at me. I couldn’t help but smile, seeing that she looked so adorable at this moment. Her red nose and cheeks and pouting lips made her so cute, despite the tears flowing out of her eyes. “Hi.” I smiled widely, hoping that it’ll cheer her up.

But it only made her face to crumple: gritting her teeth and closing her eyes to push the tears out. “You’re stupid, Taeyeon! Pabo! Idiot! Jerk!” She shouted, beating my shoulders with her fists. I didn’t mind the pain, I deserved it. I was even chuckling at the person who was unleashing a tantrum on me.

Finally, she stopped, returning back to her original position, leaning on me.

“…say you love me one more time, Taengoo…” She whispered, her voice still wavering.

I stepped away and cupped her face with my hands, lifting her head to meet with my eyes. “I, Kim Taeyeon, is truly, deeply, madly, passionately, completely, and hopelessly in love with Tiffany Hwang, eternally forever until I stop reincarnating.” I said with a smile. And slowly, an eye-smile finally formed on my lover’s face, allowing me to lean and kiss her gently.

~~~

(Yuri’s POV)

I continuously panted, never seeming to catch my breath. Especially with these heavy wet clothes on me, I could barely breathe properly. I think I was dying. Really. I was so exhausted and it’s like my whole life was all sapped away just because of one person.

“You’re still just sitting there?” Jessica asked, stepping in front of me and looking down at where I was sitting which was against a wooden crate on our main deck. I continued to pant, looking up at her.

“It’s your fault for rushing me to board their ship and killing their captain! I may be a fast and strong swimmer but you have no idea how much stamina that cost me!” I complained, dropping on the floor to just lie down.

“Well you’re the only one capable of that.” She said plainly and started to walk away slowly. “I admire you for that.” She whispered, as if she didn’t want me to hear. I furrowed my eyebrows.

“What did you say?” I asked, sitting up and forcing myself to get back on my feet.

Jessica turned around with slightly widened eyes as she shook her head immediately. “I didn’t say anything.” I half-smirked.

“Is Jessica Jung falling for me?” I teased. She doesn’t know how much I want my sentence to be true.

“G-Get over yourself, Yul.” She rolled her eyes and dashed away to the prow. I chuckled at the icy exterior she tried to put up.

I went to my quarters to quickly change out of my soaked clothes and just put on a breezy outfit of a white puffy polo shirt and brown leather shorts. Of course I still had both my scabbard that held my sword and my gun holster for my gun around my waist just in case.

I rushed to the prow, where Jessica was leaning against the wooden fence just like earlier. I put on my best smile and ran beside her. “You like looking over the ocean too?”

She laughed at my question. “If you’re a pirate and you don’t like looking at the ocean, you’re better off to never be a pirate at all.”

“R-Right.” I replied and hid my red embarrassed face. “ But.” I continued, trying to win back. “Every pirate has a different reason. Like Taeyeon, she looks over the ocean whenever she feels troubled or when she needs a place to think. What about you?”

Jessica smiled lightly, not taking her eyes off the crystal waves as she answered. “I look over the ocean when I reminisce. Every bit of these waters give me a memory to relive in my mind.”

I stared at her in amazement, finding out that we had the same reason. “…what memories do you think about?”

She smiled wider…but it wasn’t happy anymore. It looked like she was in pain. “My ex-lover.”

I gripped the wood under my right hand, trying to not burst. “O-Oh.”

“The day I last saw him…was when he boarded his own ship to leave me…with his arm around another woman which he announced to be his lover from now on.” She said in a tone of voice that was neither upset nor calm.

I was surprised that she was opening up to me about this. I didn’t even know that she was already this comfortable with me. But I’m not wasting her trust with me. I’m listening intently.

“I heard that he’s circling the Indian Ocean. Still involved with the woman he left me for.” She said, turning to me with another sad smile but only for a brief moment before she looked back at the deep blue ocean. “I lost my belief in love and vowed to never fall in love with another person again.”

At that moment, I heard a pang hit my heart. Does that mean that I can never make her fall for me?

“But…it seems like…there’s someone on this ship that makes my heart pound with just one touch. I don’t know how or when did it start but…” She suddenly chuckled. “I think I’m already crazy in love with this person.” She stated with a grin, facing me.

I was just standing there, having an indifferent expression because I didn’t know how to react. Should I be jealous that she’s in love with somebody else? Or should I hope and scream for joy because that person might be me?

“You have any idea who this person is?” I just continued to stare at her with a stoic face, trying to figure things out. “She’s…tall. Tan. A great swimmer and a great swordsman. And I know that because she beat me in a battle.”

Tall?

Tan?

Great swimmer?

Great Swordsman?

Is that me?

I almost lost my balance after realizing all those classifications were qualified towards me. It suddenly gave me courage and I felt a burst of strength inside me. So I woke up from my trance and stepped closer to her.

“Y’know, I think I know what you’re talking about.” I started. “My ex-girlfriend left me for someone else. And I found out because I actually saw her in bed in the arms of another.” I whispered, feeling the scar she left in my heart. “After that, I wasn’t able to trust anyone new so I was never able to fall in love with somebody. Until…I met someone recently.” I mumbled, already feeling the blush on my cheeks. “She’s…pretty…has auburn hair and even though she can be so cold sometimes, I don’t mind because she makes up for it afterwards by being so adorable.”

“H-Huh?” Jessica said to me with a surprised face. I laughed.

“Just like what you’re doing right now.” I blurted out with a grin forming on my face.

She blushed, looking back at the water.

Everything was silent for a while. But the silence was there in a good way.

Because the reason for the silence is because we’re trying to digest everything we just indirectly confessed. Even I couldn’t accept everything yet.

The person that I’ve loved this whole time has been having the same feelings as me. It’s been so long since I felt it. And I’m confident that nothing bad will happen with it at this moment.

When I finally calmed my mind and heart down, I took a leap of faith and leaned towards her, kissing her cheek. “Hi pretty girl that can be cold yet adorable and has auburn hair.” I grinned.

She blushed even harder, looking at me with a shy smile.

---

Conflict “Sunny, steer hard and circle around the enemy as our swordsmen drop down. We need to launch cannons all around their ship. Our men will just have to capture the captain as we distract them.”

“Aye aye, Captain.” And a forceful turn of the wheel followed.

“Taeyeon, how’s our strategy?”

I smirked at her, running to the edge of our ship. “We’re about to find out.”

We watched our best people swim from our ship to the challenger’s. They were too occupied by our ship’s sudden movement that they can barely noticed our crew climbing up the ship.

My smirk grew wider as did the person beside me.

Within minutes, the captain from the opposing ship gave up and retreated.

Our ship was suddenly filled with deafening cheer and shouts of victory.

Another win for the undefeatable ship of the Atlantic Ocean, Fallen Angel.

I turned to Tiffany and pulled her closer, sharing an Eskimo kiss with her, whispering. “I should thank my genius girlfriend for that brilliant strategy.”

She chuckled and leaned closer until our lips for just centimeters away. “Well thank you for giving me the idea for it.” She smiled and pecked my lips.

“Then we both get a special thank you.” I grinned and enveloped her lips fully with my own, leading into a soft passionate kiss. Pulling Tiffany to me closer, I couldn’t help but smile since no one is getting in our way and I could completely kiss her without any refrain.

Once we had our fill with each other’s lips, we pulled away with a never-ending smile. “Hm…” Tiffany hummed, biting an edge of her bottom lip.

“Hm?”

“I wonder where are the two that were supposed to stop us minutes ago?”

I groaned, shaking my head. “Who cares, let’s just savor this moment.” I mumbled, intending the selfishness and leaned to kiss her again even though she was giggling.

~~~

(Jessica’s POV)

I saw Yuri placing her gun down on a wooden box before pulling out her sword and wiping it down with a rag as soon as I stepped down onto the main deck. My lips bent into a smile and I found myself to be immediately walking over to the person I had feelings for.

Ever since Yuri and I indirectly confessed to her, I felt my attitude shifting into something less cold and something…more sweet and affectionate. It felt

extraordinary to feel this way after a long time. Especially since I’d never thought I would feel like this towards somebody ever again.

I hopped my very last step towards her, putting on my sweetest smile. “Hi.” I greeted.

Yuri turned to me, matching my gaze as she smiled back. “Annyeong, Jessica.”

“Your swordsmanship is still intact in this battle, I see.” I did my best to not just like a fool and say anything that sounds so awkward but I couldn’t avoid it. My heart was racing just standing next to her. I was going crazy by the thought that my feelings about her were known in her head.

My patience about us is slowly seeping onto wafer thin ice.

“If I lose my skill with a sword, Taeyeon’s going to drop off on an island and make me train until I can kill someone with my eyes closed.” She chuckled. I giggled, even though I didn’t find it that funny, making me sound a bit flirty.

I cursed myself silently since I made myself look like a weirdo before looking away. “Are you okay?” Yuri asked me, putting down her sword and fully turning to me.

“Yeah, I’m okay.” I quickly recovered, looking directly at her. “Since we’re back on calm waters, wanna be with me for the day?” I smiled warmly.

She smiled back widely and nodded.

I happily took her wrist and we ran to my quarter’s, which were coincidentally close with Taeyeon and Fany’s yet also with Yuri’s. I think those two designed really designed our ship’s berth this way. It really is easier for the essential members of the crew to be near each other. Just for the sake of emergencies and immediacy. [Berth = where the mess, sick bay, living/sleeping quarters were found.]

Maybe I didn’t know what am I doing by having us together—alone—in my own room but I just wanted to be with her. Just talk. And open her up since I already did.

Once we entered my room, I casually walked to my bed and dropped myself down for a sit. Yuri was still glued to the entrance so I stood up once more and pulled her to my bed, closing the door. “You’re awfully tamed for the Yuri I used to bicker with.” I laughed.

She laughed along and scratched her head. “’Cause I’ve never been in your room.”

“You don’t have to be so uncomfortable about it.”

“When it’s Jessica Jung, you have to be uncomfortable.” She mumbled, not looking at me.

“Why?”

“’Cause how can I be easy when the person I’m in love with is right in front of me while we’re alone in a room…?” She whispered, hanging her head low, hiding her eyes with her hair so I could only see her blushing cheeks.

I instantly rearranged the way I was sitting since a tingly sensation went up my back. Her sentence suddenly made me feel concerned with myself. I sat up straight

and pressed my legs together, placing my abruptly sweaty hands on my lap. “Yuriah…” I called on a whim.

“Y-Yeah?”

“…you…really love me, don’t you?”

“M-Mhm…” She replied, nodding her head. “Do you love me back?”

“I…” Why did I even hesitate? There shouldn’t be any delay with my reply. “I definitely do.”

We both turned to each other, gaping in our eyes. The room’s atmosphere suddenly became intense and passionate, sending my heart pounding.

Yuri moved in closer, grabbing my hand tightly before leaning towards me.

I held my breath. My mind went blank.

It’s like was falling into this spiral abyss and I couldn’t do anything about it. I could just hope that there’s someone there at the end to catch me…to calm my heart and to soothe my mind. Someone that can finally and completely get rid of the emotional scars given to me long ago.

Softness and warmth landed on my lips, making everything in me clench up in various feelings.

Once Yuri’s hand gently caressed me as our kiss grew deeper, I just knew…nothing is ever going to be the same for me anymore.

~~~

(Taeyeon’s POV) “Ah! Mmhmm, TaeTae…” Tiffany moaned, gasping for air as I kissed her neck, leaving a trail of wet kisses. “What’s gotten into you…” She whispered, still sounding a bit breathless.

I used my arms to support myself while I pulled away to gaze upon the person I loved so much. I took a minute to realize how lucky I was to be able to caress her face…stroke her hair…and kiss her luscious red lips.

I gently stroked her bottom lip, not doing anything else but smile.

“What are you smiling at…?” Tiffany smiled back, tightening her arms that were around my waist.

“Fany…” I called with a light voice. “I just…” I couldn’t even rearrange my thoughts to be able to make a sensible sentence so I ended up sighing in contentment.

She just gave a look of confusion at me in return.

I chuckled and leaned, placing my forehead against hers. “I love you…I love you so much. I don’t know where I would be right now if it weren’t for you. Wonderful…amazing…you.”

“…I don’t know where would I be either.” Tiffany whispered back as we looked deep in each other’s eyes.

I smiled and leaned a bit more to capture her soft lips.

“Ready to take the next step?” I whispered, caressing her thigh.

She blushed madly, not even being able to look at me yet she nodded lightly. I chuckled at the cute expression she gave me and buried my face on the crook of her neck, kissing it as I slid my hand in her shirt.

Tiffany pulled me closer.

~~~

(Jessica’s POV)

I pushed myself closer to Yuri’s hold, heaving in a full breath of her scent. I smiled with content because of the fragrance she gave off. Yuri has become my

comfort person. Like a teddy bear I’ve had since I was five. But it’s different right now. The reason why she gave me warmth and comfort just by her touch or scent is the whirlpool of emotions she caused within me.

Yuri laughed as I helped myself to cuddle her. “Getting comfy, hm?” She joked before hugging me tighter and pulling the pillow above us closer to her head.

I nodded, not caring if I looked like a biggest weirdo on the planet.

“I could get used to this. I haven’t had a clingy girlfriend before.” She grinned and kissed the top of my head.

I stopped helping myself to being spoiled and pulled away to look at her face, alarming Yuri. “What?” She asked, still surprised at my sudden movement.

“You haven’t told me everything about your previous girlfriend yet.” I said, hinting that I wanted to know about her past.

Her smile suddenly felt forced and uneasy and her eyes moved towards the mattress. “Do I really have to talk about it…?”

“I told you about mine so to be fair, I think you should.”

“Hmm.” She still didn’t choose to meet eyes with me. Was she this still this uncomfortable with me? “Oh hey, I didn’t know you love reading books.” She said abruptly, turning to the table filled with my novels.

I frowned at her attempt to change the subject.

“Yuri-ah.”

“What’s your favorite genre?” She continued to hide from our real topic.

I sighed, gripping her arm tightly and called her name one more time. “Yuri.” She finally turned back to me.

“What?”

“You can tell me anything, Yuri…” I whispered, hoping that she’ll be able to hear me out completely.

“…I can’t tell you.” She whispered and sat up, putting down her feet back on the floorboard too.

I sat up as well quickly. I’m not letting her get away with this easily. Why can’t she tell me? “Have you told Taeyeon?”

“Of course. She’s my best friend.” She answered and got out of bed, putting on her shoes and fixing her hair.

“Then why can’t you tell me? Don’t you love me?” I dared to question, looking up at her sadly, wanting to know right now.

She turned to look at me, not saying anything but instead, she bent her knees to my eye-level and leaned, kissing me for a few seconds. “Of course I do.” She whispered as soon as she pulled away.

“Then why can’t you tell me?”

She walked towards the door, looking at me and said, “I just…can’t.”, before leaving me alone in my room.

~~~

(Taeyeon’s POV)

“Can I ask something?”

“Go ahead.”

“Am I your first?”

“Do you need to ask that question every time we take another step in our relationship?”

“Well, I may not be your first relationship and kiss but I should have a shot at being the first person you’ve been with in bed.”

“Hmm…I won’t say.”

Tiffany turned around, revealing her flawless back to me.

I whined and pushed myself up with my left arm before moving towards her. “Tell me~” I poked her waist for an answer, making her jump and turn back to me.

She giggled and pushed me away. “It’s none of your business~”

I bounced back right away. “It’s my business as your girlfriend and the person you just did it with.” I pouted, hoping she’ll give in to my plea.

“Fine.” She sighed. I immediately moved closer to make sure that I heard her answer. “…you were my first.” She whispered.

I almost screamed for joy when I finally became one of Tiffany Hwang’s firsts. I started bouncing on the bed, cheering as if I won a battle.

Tiffany couldn’t stop laughing to the point that she was gasping for air. “Gawd, I hope our child won’t get all of the dorky personality you carry with you.” She managed to say, still laughing.

I stopped my doings and turned to my girlfriend, not believing what she just said. “Child?”

She sat up with me, compressing her giggles with a smile glued to her face. “Yeah, after we get married.”

“Married?” I wondered about another word she mentioned. Children and Marriage weren’t in my future. All I know is that my future consisted of this ship and Tiffany.

“Yeah...” Tiffany’s smile disappeared since she finally felt the atmosphere I just dropped on us. “…we are going to end up together, right, Taeyeon?”

“I want us to be together forever but not…married. Marriage is only equal to one thing: A ball and a chain connected to my foot.” I said bluntly.

Tiffany looked like she was completely appalled by what I said that she argued back with furrowed eyebrows. “Marriage is a celebration of your love for another. It’s not something to imprison you. I’ve imagined myself being proposed to by you and there is not one time that I said no.” She said all in one breath. “Don’t you see me walking down the aisle, willing to commit myself to you forever?”

“Whoa, what’s all this pressure you’re suddenly dropping on me?” I replied, shocked to see that she’s practically asking me to be married to her. “I want to be with you eternally but we don’t need a title of being a married couple for that, don’t we?”

“Omigawd! Are you saying that our relationship is going nowhere?!” She slightly screamed out, getting out of bed and started getting dressed. “Do you really not see us settling down? I thought you love me, Taeyeon!”

“I do love you! But isn’t what we have already great? Why do we need to change anything? I’m happy! Aren’t you happy?!” I asked her, dressing up as well.

“Happy? Is that what I’m supposed to be right now? I just realized that I’m in a dead-end relationship, how am I supposed to be happy?!”

“Because you’re with me! We love each other and that’s all that matters!”

“Well if you really do love me as much as I love you, you would be planning the future with me right now instead of fighting with me like this and after all I’ve heard, I’m pretty sure that I love you more than you love me!” She shouted at me, storming out of our room.

I groaned in frustration, kicking the bed in front of me. “Dammit!” I hate it when we argue. But this isn’t just an argument, it’s a fight. A fight big enough to jeopardize our relationship.

My body acted on its own after my mind sent signals to not let Tiffany go this easily. I didn’t want our first night together to be ending like this so I sprinted to chase her. Out of the quarters and onto the main deck, she was leaning against the mast, covering her face so I couldn’t read her well enough how to approach her. I felt kind of scared of what’s going to happen now. I don’t want anything to happen between us that’ll ruin everything. [mast = the large wooden pole that connects all sails together.]

My heart was scared to death. I just took a few steps towards her, ignoring the freezing wind of the late night blowing hard against me.

“Taeyeon…” She mumbled. I stopped in my tracks, watching the figure that was lowering her hands slowly.

“Tiffany, please listen…I didn’t mean to hurt you. I had no idea that marriage was so important to you—“ I couldn’t even finish my sentence since my heart felt a big blow. Tiffany revealed her face, covered with tears.

My body suddenly felt so vulnerable along with my mind turning completely useless at the moment.

I made the person that I love the most cry. Again.

“You don’t get it, Tae…” She continued, uttering a bitter chuckle. “Our relationship has no future…you leave me no choice but to reset all my thoughts about you. All my fantasies and hopes—everything. Just—everything about our

relationship.” I couldn’t do anything but watch her every word. Even if more tears slid down her cheek as she continued with a sarcastic smile on her face, I had to stay put. “It just made me think…am I not enough for you? Or am I not the person you’re supposed to spend your life with forever?” Her smile faded.

A bullet went straight to my heart.

Say something. Please say something, Taeyeon. Do it for yourself. You will regret this for the rest of your life if you don’t.

“Tae-Tae…” She whispered, not letting herself meet my eyes. “…should we break up…?”

I stood there, just a meter away from her, frozen. I couldn’t believe the question she just asked me. After all we’ve been through, all that we’ve given up for each other and all the love we have for one another, did she just ask me if we should end everything?

I looked in her eyes as she did too with teary eyes. No words were exchanged, just thousands of thoughts spiraling in each of our minds while our facial expressions just said everything that we couldn’t convert into words.

(No POV – Third person POV)

Miles away from Taeyeon and Tiffany’s Fallen Angel, stood The Elven Beast on calm waters and anchored. The strong wooden fiend had 9 widely known people who have committed their whole body to the ship for over 2 years already.

The first one stood on the bridge, skillfully handling the ship’s smooth yet efficient speed and agility.

The second and third were in the special swordsmanship training deck, having an intense sparring against each other even if they knew that both of them already have the title of being a master at wielding a sword.

The fourth was in his quarters in silence, polishing up one of his many guns with his hands that were said to possess perfect marksmanship.

The fifth walked around his quarters, surrounded by shelves about medical information.

The sixth frantically ran around, checking to see if every bit of the infamous treader was in tact and up to his Captain’s high standards.

Coming back from the scouting he was tasked to do, he fixed himself up to look proper after quickly pulling up the boat then heading over to report, was the seventh.

All in all, this ship was known to be deadly. Every ship knows that once they come across this beast, nothing is ever left when they leave. Their title of being the master of the Indian Ocean has been rightfully claimed.

But aside from the seven members that have been mentioned, the final two were discussing important matters.

In the captain’s quarters, the captain and first mate discussed about their next motive. The tall captain paced in his quarters, thinking of a powerful strategy. “Our scouts say that they hold bountiful supplies and weapons.” His first mate stated, keeping a strong figure.

“Then I feel obliged to take their ship down.” The ill-minded captain replied with a smirk.

“But they also say that their ship is also very powerful. Even though they’ve only appeared on the Atlantic Ocean a month ago, they’ve won countless battles. Apparently, they are the joined forces of The Atlantic Compass and Poseidon’s Gem.” The almighty leader of The Elven Beast stopped in his tracks, turning to the first mate.

“The most powerful ships of the Atlantic?” He nodded. “This is going to be interesting.” The smirk just grew wider on the confident chief, already thinking of strategies to take down this interesting ship. “Who are its crew members?”

Right then, the scout popped in, announcing, “Captain, we have collected new information about their ship.”

“Come in.” He said, letting him step in and continue.

“Their two captains are The Atlantic Compass’ Kim Taeyeon and Poseidon’s Gem’s Tiffany Hwang. First mates are Kwon Yuri and Jessica Jung. Pilots are Lee Sunkyu and Im Yoona. Quartermasters are Choi Sooyoung and Kim Hyoyeon. Medical crew is guided by Seo Juhyun.”

“J-Jessica…Jung…” The suddenly nerve-racked first mate uttered.

The captain raised his eyebrow at Donghae, who seemed to be suddenly startled. “Somebody you know?”

“She’s my…ex-girlfriend, captain.” He mumbled.

The man across Donghae laughed loudly, walking towards him and placing a hand on his shoulder. “How coincidental. Tiffany Hwang is my ex.”

Other Half The next day, we didn’t dare to even look at each other. Not one glance, contact or words were shown. We pretended that nothing happened last night even though it clearly scarred our relationship forever. Neither of us said anything to any of our crew members but it was as if they already knew that we didn’t want to be bothered right now and it’d be best if they just do their job.

It was a depressing day for our Fallen Angel.

There was nothing but heavy atmosphere as we sailed around mindlessly. I just kept walking around the deck, allowing myself to be shrouded with my thoughts, alone.

My heart was so heavy. And my body felt like it was dead since I was so numb to my surroundings. I wasn’t hungry, tired or anything at all during the day.

I finally felt what everyone was talking about when you get heartache. The feeling of wanting to disappear from the world just to escape the pain for even just a bit or wanting to go back in time and fix everything. You won’t care if you’re going to place all the blame on yourself or you’re going to risk your life as long as you fix everything.

But mostly, the part where you replay every moment you had together in your head over and over again. You look for signs of trouble, uneasiness…and uncertainty.

And because of that, I’m throwing words at myself for being so stupid.

“Tae-Tae…” She whispered, not letting herself meet my eyes. “…should we break up…?”

“…F-Fany…”

“I think we should since this is leading nowhere…” She mumbled, letting a tear fall from her right eye.

“N-No, I won’t let you go. I love you, Tiffany, I love you so much. Please don’t let this happen.” I said with all my breath, feeling my heart starting to implode within me as I rushed to her side, caressing her arms.

“Taeyeon—“

“Tiffany, please.” I begged.

“…I…” When I looked into her eyes, it wasn’t even the Tiffany I knew anymore, it was filled with pain, sadness and loneliness.

I didn’t even know what to do anymore, so I tried to lean and kiss her, hoping it’ll work as an apology but she just pushed me away and cried, running inside the ship.

“Tch.” I slapped myself mentally for being such an idiot while kicking the mast near me.

At that moment, a hand was placed on my shoulder, making me turn back and see that Yuri was looking at me in worry.

I just glared back at her. I wanted to be alone right now and didn’t need anybody to tell what I should do or how stupid I am. I can do that by myself.

“Leave me alone, Yuri.” I uttered bitterly and started to walk away from her hand’s touch.

“You don’t have to act like such a jerk, friend.” She replied, meaning no spite in her tone of voice. “What happened between you and Tiffany?”

I stopped walking since her question made my mind replay last night’s events and it just drove my self-control to almost completely vanish. “It’s none of your business.” I said with a tone that was all too coldly to Yuri, with my back turned to her.

“…So that’s all I am to you? After all we’ve been through? Just because Tiffany and you are breaking up, you’re disregarding our friendship like that too?!” I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth. My blood was boiling with every word Yuri said. My rage was reaching its limit. “If you’re gonna do that to us then I think Tiffany will make a right decision in leaving someone as pathetic as you!!” She shouted at me.

That does it.

I sprinted towards her and lifted my fist to punch her in the face as hard as I could. It sent her to the ground, causing a loud noise and for our crew to direct their full attention to us.

Two pairs of feet suddenly came from the upper deck. I just stared at Yuri groan in pain for a few more seconds since I already knew who those two were. And I won’t even dare to set my eyes on one of them after the way I hurt her.

“Yuri—Yul…are you okay?” Jessica soon came to my first mate’s aid, caressing her face gently. The sight made me suddenly sick and bitter, especially be filled with jealousy. I just rolled my eyes and turned to the right, wanting to head to my quarters but instead, Tiffany and I met eyes.

It was the most contact we had all day.

I was just frozen in front of her, she was just staring at me with the same sad eyes last night and I still didn’t know what to do. I wanted to say sorry and I really do want to end up with her. I wanted to pull her in my arms and tell her that I love her so much and didn’t those words. I’ll give her anything she wants if that’s what it takes to get this over.

But nothing came out of me. Not one move or word.

“Yuri, don’t!” Jessica shouted. I turned to look at what was happening but instead, I get a fist on my face, sending me to the floor.

I hissed in pain. Yuri has always had a good punch. Regret filled my mind about punching her.

Yuri even looked like she wanted to continue beating the hell out of me but Jessica held her down by the waist and other crew members did their best to stop her as well.

Tiffany just stood there, looking at me with so much hesitation in her eyes. Probably thinking if she should aid the person who broke her heart or not.

I just kept lying down on the floor, groaning in pain. Even my nose started bleeding.

And by some miracle, a familiar touch cupped my face and a pink handkerchief was wiping away the blood from my nose. “F-Fany…” I whispered, not believing that she’s actually doing this.

“Ssh.” She hushed shortly and continued to wipe my nose.

I stared at the face hovering on top of me, ignoring Yuri who had finally calmed down and just started to walk away with Jessica chasing behind her. I started to think hard, wondering how I could win this angel in front of me back.

And I just figured…what else is better than just say what’s in your heart.

“Tiffany.” I started.

“I told you to keep quiet.” She replied, having a straight face.

“I want to talk to you about last night—“

“Tae—“

“Listen to me.” She finally looked in my eyes, signaling that she’ll take me seriously now. “I know that we want different things but…if what you want is to be married, I’ll give you that. I’ll do it if I have to. I’ll raise kids with you—and I’ll make sure to raise them with all I have; I’ll do the 4 o’clock feeding, I’ll change diapers.” I was saying all these things that she’s been asking for but…it only seemed like her expression was growing darker. “I’ll grow old with you, Tiffany…you’ll be my first and last. I’ll love you infinitely eternal. And if I have to get married to you and have kids I’ll do it. We retire from this pirate life and get a wonderful house. I’ll do that if I have to just—just don’t leave me, Fany…” I begged.

I waited for a response—any response that would signify everything’s alright.

But…she faced me with a sad smile and caressed my face lightly. “…you’re…a wonderful, amazing person, Taengoo-yah…but…if you’re being forced into this, everything you said doesn’t even matter to me.” She mumbled sadly. “You said ‘I have to’ a million times…and that just means you don’t really want to do this. And I can’t live the rest of life with someone that didn’t even want this life from the start…it’s not fair. It’s not fair to both of us.”

She stood up, dropping a tear on my face as she did.

I sat up quickly and rose from the ground, wanting to face her properly. “What are you saying then?” I dared to ask.

She looked at me, crying again just like last night. “It means…we were wrong. We aren’t the ones we’re supposed to spend the rest of our life with...” She cried and walked away.

“But Fany—“ I tried to reach out for her, but she just kept walking.

---

I was sitting in the galley, resting my upper body on the table as I had my arms as my cushion. I’m alone once again, thinking about my constant horrible decisions. I don’t even know what to do with myself anymore…I feel like the worst person to ever live. Even I started to hate myself for doing all these things.

Everything used to be perfect. But now, I somehow managed to destroy everything. Even my friendship with Yuri.

We promised to never let anything like a relationship to get in the way of our friendship and just a few hours ago, I did just that.

“You still pack quite a lousy punch.” I quickly lifted my head to the voice of my best friend even though I thought it was just my imagination. But Yuri really was sitting across the table, drinking a pint of wine. She was just looking at me with a straight face. I wasn’t surprised…I doubt she’ll forgive me that easily even if I kneeled in a pile of salt.

I decided to play cool and not just start blabbering ‘cause we both knew Yuri hated people who begged for forgiveness because it’s all words—not actions. “…you were always the fighter between us.” I managed to reply while fixing my sitting position.

A light laugh came from her nose before she sipped the mug in front of her. “Listen, Taeng.”

I placed all my attention on her as her mouth opened to say, “I know that you and Tiffany had a rough patch last night, I’m even okay with the fact that you didn’t talk to me about but…for you to say that it’s none of my business…” She looked away. “…does 15 years of friendship mean nothing to you?”

I sighed, feeling the disappointment within myself. “I was blinded that time.”

“Because of heartache?” Her hand clenched the wooden handle of her drink. “I never did that to you, Taeyeon. Not even after I discovered Victoria was cheating on me.”

“I know…” I couldn’t even look at her anymore. I’m so ashamed of myself. “…I know that there’s no excuse to what I did but it’s my first time falling in love and for me to lose the person I’d want to spend the rest of my life with because of my stupidity is just—“

“It was my first time falling in love too and what happened to me was probably equal to your situation right now. Or even more.” Yuri glared.

I just chuckled bitterly and set my sight on the table. “…But you’re a lot stronger than me, Yuri…I easily breakdown. You’re always calm and collected; always knowing how to handle your feelings and when to act. And I’m definitely not you. If…If Tiffany cheated me, I would’ve lost it all. Living with a memory like that is practically my ticket to suicide.” I mumbled just above a whisper.

I heard Yuri exhale deeply right before silence filled our atmosphere.

All words were said and now…there’s nothing left to do but wait for her to talk or wait for my heart’s courage to speak.

But then again, Yuri’s always been the fastest.

“So your father was wrong. We aren’t twins…just life-long mates.” I looked up, seeing her to be smiling at me already. My face instantly lit up and I reached over the table, hugging her tightly. “Whoa, wait! My drink!!”

I went back to my chair, feeling my tears to be forming since a one of the huge stones were removed from my heart. “Since when did you start crying about things like this?!” Yuri laughed.

“It’s just been crazy recently, friend.” I mumbled, wiping away my tears.

She smiled, waiting for me to calm down. “…what happened between you and Tiffany, anyway?”

I sighed, looking away for a brief moment before I said, “What usually happens. Me.” I chuckled. “I’m so stupid, Yuri.” My lip started to quiver. My tears came back. “How could I tell Tiffany that I didn’t want to marry her?” I cried. “Ever since I fell for her, my life has been just a complete bliss, why did I say that I didn’t want the title of being her other-half…?” My heart could finally vent out all my pain just because of my lousy mistakes. “I hate myself, Yuri. I can never do anything right when it comes to these things. And now, I’m going to lose the best thing that’s ever happened to me just because of it.”

“…why don’t you say that you were wrong about yourself? That you really do want to be with her?”

“I tried. But she said that…she doesn’t want to be with someone that’s just forcing themselves. She probably doesn’t even want to look at me anymore.” My voice wavered, imagining her face and voice as she said that to me.

“Friend.” I looked at Yuri, finding her to be looking back at me with determination in her eyes. “Fight for her. Make her believe that you two belong together.”

“But I—“

“No. You haven’t fought for her yet, at least not hard enough.” I sighed.

“I don’t know, Yuri…”

“If you’re gonna fight for her, you’ll get married to her. You’ll forever have your other half—your soulmate. Tiffany will always be with you in mind, body, spirit and heart and you two will never ever let each other go. I imagine you guys to be so incredibly happy…and I see you two with kids and raising them up to be exactly like you guys: two strong, smart and wonderful people. Don’t you want that, Taeyeon?”

I looked at her, thinking about everything that she just said.

Unfortunately, Tiffany was already asleep at this time.

---

(Yuri’s POV)

Taeng and I decided to return to our own quarters. But since I decided to finish my drink first, Taeyeon went ahead and I’m just walking out of the galley now. I yawned as I grabbed my nape, feeling tired after this emotional day. So many things have happened today that Jessica and I have barely even done anything similar to last night.

I stopped abruptly in my tracks, surprised to see the person sitting in front of my door. The sight of it just made me smile as I slowly walked towards her. She was already on the brink of falling asleep.

I crouched quietly in front of her and leaned, kissing her forehead tenderly. “Wake up, love.”

The blonde girl’s eyes opened slightly and furrowed her eyebrows, trying to wake up for my sake. “Yuri…” She mumbled and started rubbing her eyes awake. “I need to talk to you.”

“I guess you do since you actually waited for me outside.” I chuckled before helping her up and entered my room. “So what did you want to talk about?” I asked Jessica after we sat down on my bed. She still constantly yawned since she

just woke up, making me chuckle and took it as an opportunity to intertwine our fingers.

“First…are you okay, now? Did you and Taeyeon fix things?” She asked, looking at me almost fully awake.

“Yeah, we’re alright. That girl is just being crazy as usual.” I smiled.

“What about that spot where she punched you?” She poked my cheekbone.

My eye twitched out of pain. “A-Ah…Sica, there’s a light bruise there.” I mumbled, gently pulling her hand down.

“Sorry…” She smiled apologetically.

“Alright, so...what did you want to talk about?” I looked at her, smiling with a good expectation.

But it doesn’t look like it’ll be fulfilled. She bit her lip, avoiding my eyes and just tightened her hand around mine. And the next four words completely turned my mood around. “Tell me about Victoria.”

At first, I didn’t believe what she just said. I wasn’t prepared to do what she just told me and I don’t think I’ll ever be. It sent my heart into a state of panic and I just became completely upset. “I already told you, Jessica. I can’t talk about her—“

“…I can’t let you love me until you do.”

It was the ultimate threat.

And I’m not someone who would be stupid enough to let go of Jessica just because of my past. As I stared in her determined eyes, I knew that I had no choice. “I feel that the reason you can’t tell me is that you’re still not over her…and for me to forget that feeling, you have to tell me what exactly happened between you two.” She continued and looked away.

I breathed deeply, staying in the silence between us for a few more seconds just to prepare my heart from reminiscing old scars. And finally…

“…when I was 17, my father’s friend came over our house right when Taeyeon and I were dueling in our courtyard. He had a daughter, named Song Victoria. She hid behind the tree as she watched us fight and when we met eyes, she smiled so sweetly that I lost focus—making Taeyeon win a fight between us for the first time.” Jessica turned to me, instantly listening to me. I smiled lightly. “We started to spend more and more time together, always meeting up whenever we had free time. Soon enough, I confessed to her after a few months. She looked so happy about it…And I was even happier when she said that she reciprocated my feelings. We dated for about 2 years. Everything was just going so well…I loved her with all my heart so I couldn’t imagine what could go wrong and I already considered her as the person who I’ll love and live with forever.” Those words tasted so bitter in my mouth now.

My heart started to feel pain with the memory I recalled—the image of it. My lip quivered and tears threatened to fall as I continued. “…when Taeyeon and I were finally given a ship of our own, I hurried to Victoria’s place…I wanted to propose to her so that we could go on the amazing journey together as a married couple. But instead, I overheard a conversation.” I breathed in and out, wanting to get through this without crying. “Yuri’s just my puppy to follow me around and adore me. I don’t really love her. It’s just fun having someone to be so desperate to keep you in your life. I think she’s just a weird freak.” I gritted my teeth, feeling all my feelings to come back as I repeated her words. “…but still, I was in love with her and just ran away, deciding to disregard everything. When I came back to her house and entered her room…I found her half-naked with another person hovering

on top of her.” I bit my lip, stopping it from quivering. “She never cared. She never loved me and I was just a toy. After that incident, she just threw me aside. Even if I begged for her to keep dating me—even if I said that I didn’t care what ever she did with another person as long as she stayed with me…I was still trash to her. I vowed to never love again.”

My tears finally flowed out. But instead of letting the bitterness take over me, I received a light squeeze around my hand, when I looked down…I found Jessica’s hand to be holding mind so lovingly. I turned to her with a smile, despite my tears. “But you entered my life. And I’m never gonna let you leave it.”

Jessica smiled slowly and released my hand, reaching over to hug me tightly. “…Yuri-ah…thank you for telling me…” She whispered. My tears just kept falling as I buried my face in the crook of her neck, taking in her scent to calm my heart. “…I promise that you will never get hurt like that again…and I’ll love you eternally, as long as my heart beats…until my last breath.”

And with those words, my heart was renewed.

I hugged Jessica tightly, whispering, “Jessica Jung, I surrender myself to you.”

---

(Taeyeon’s POV)

Even though I told Yuri that I’ll just go back to my quarters, I knew that I couldn’t do that since Tiffany’s sleeping there…and I can’t handle that atmosphere of being around her unless I’m already going to say what I have to say. For now, I’m walking around the bridge, thinking of what I’ll say to my lover.

But I didn’t get the peace I wanted.

I saw something from afar. An enemy ship.

I got out my spy glass and looked through it, wanting to see through the thick fog.

My mind became even more chaotic when I realized what ship it was: The Elven Beast.

I put my spy glass back in my coat and slowly backed away before finally getting a hold of my senses and ran to the quarters. “YURI!! JESSICA!! TIFFANY!! WAKE UP!!”

---

It All Ends --“Yuri! Yuri!! Jessica!! Jump to your feet, dammit!!” I screamed and yelled while I ran to the hall of the officers’ quarters. My heart was pumping so fast with adrenaline and along that came the rising of my anxiety and panic—and a great deal of sweating. My mind wasn’t even thinking all too well anymore from the shock of seeing the infamous ship that I lost control of myself. “IF YOU TWO ARE DOING IT RIGHT NOW, I SWEAR BY MY RIGHT HAND THAT I’M GOING TO BREAK THE DOOR DOWN AND PUSH YOU OFF OF JESSICA!!”

The door slammed open, hitting my nose with it. “WHAT IN HEAVEN’S NAME IS WRONG WITH YOU, KIM!!” Yuri shouted back at me.

I stared at her blankly, holding my nose to aid it as much as possible from that blow. “We’re about to be attacked.” I said with a boring voice and expression. I

looked at her up and down as well as Jessica behind her that looked as drowsy as Yuri was.

“By?” Yuri yawned and pulled Jessica closer to her.

“Oh no one much. Just The Elven Beast.”

“Oh.” She stretched for a few seconds…before widening her eyes and shouting, “THE ELVEN BEAST? THE ELVEN BEAST?”

“YES DAMMIT!!” I shouted back.

“WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?!?!”

“I HAVE NO IDEA! THAT’S WHY I INTERRUPTED YOU GUYS!!”

“I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO EITHER. A WHILE AGO, ME AND JESSICA WERE JUST—“

“AH!” I interrupted her.” AHHH!! NO! NO DETAILS! DON’T YOU DARE!!”

“BUT WE WERE JUST—“

“SILENCE, KWON!”

“TAEYEO—“

“NO!”

“BUT—“

“AH!!”

“FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WILL YOU TWO PLEASE CALM DOWN AND STOP ACTING LIKE TWO IMMATURE BIPOLAR MONKEYS?!?!?!” Jessica cut in our conversation, pushing Yuri and herself outside.

We both piped down immediately since we just got pierced by the iciest voice in this whole ship. The glare she was giving me was worse. If I didn’t choose to look down, I would probably be paralyzed by now.

“Now what do you mean by ‘being attacked’?” Jessica asked, still looking slightly annoyed with her folded arms and tapping foot.

I avoided eye contact and mumbled, “We may be facing the biggest battle of our lives, Jessica.”

---

“Tch.” I bit my lip as I held the spyglass against my right eye. The Elven Beast was getting close.

“What’s the situation, Captain?” Sooyoung asked me while she stood behind me. I put my spy glass away and turned to my crew with an anxious face.

“Prepare for battle.” On my word, everybody ran across the deck, preparing the cannons and other weaponry. Seohyun went to prepare her supplies and Yoona and Sunny were deciding who gets to sail. Then the quartermasters, Sooyoung and Hyoyeon, headed off to the main deck to keep the crew in check.

I was left standing with Yuri and Jessica. It was then that I realized that Tiffany’s oblivious to the situation. “Jessica, can you call—“

“I’m on it.” She quickly said and dashed to our quarters.

I nodded, turning around and grabbed the back of my neck. Everything felt nervewrecking.

Just when I was about to explode with the sea of tension, a warm hand was placed on my shoulder. I turned around, having my best friend to be smiling at me, giving a bit of strength in me. “We can do this, Taeng.”

I wanted to let those words encourage me. I really did. But with my troubled heart and distracted mind, can we really do this?

“We—I…I-I’m not strong enough to lead this battle.” I admitted reluctantly, suddenly not feeling worthy to be the captain of the ship I’m standing on.

Yuri sighed heavily. “I know that you and Tiffany are going through a rough patch but don’t let that get to you right now. If you don’t get your head straight, we can die along with this ship. You and I both know that, that ship is never merciful.” I looked straight at my first mate’s eyes. As I listened to her, I knew she was right. I couldn’t let mine and Fany’s ship down now. “Besides, you’re going to fight for her anyway, right? So there’s something to look forward to after this.”

“Let’s go.” I stated with a firm voice.

Yuri and I started to head to the stairs but heavy and fast footsteps tracked up them, revealing Jessica, at the top of the staircase where we were, with her hand around Tiffany’s wrist. I held my breath as I saw Tiffany’s drowsy yet red eyes, it made me feel blank and useless.

“F-Fany…” I mouthed out. My voice was suddenly absent. I’ve lost control of it.

We stared at each other, not knowing what to say, do or think.

“Sica, let’s think of a strategy.” Yuri ran away from the scene, pulling Jessica with her. “We’ll be in the command room, Captain!” She shouted, already on the main deck.

I couldn’t care less what they did. I just focused on the person in front of me. The one person that could make my own body alone move mountains for her or could make my heart pump harder to the point of my body turning red. The one person that I would follow into hell. And I’m not giving up on her even if the anticipated battle will kill me.

I know that I’ve always felt this way from the start of our relationship; since I saved her from that drunken bum. But it’s the truth. It’s redundantly the truth.

The truth is that I can never think straight around her. I either turn into this lovesick fool or this stupid clueless idiot.

And I think I’m going to be both right now.

I approached Tiffany slowly, reaching out to cup her cheek. “…I’m not worthy of your tears.” I said softly and lined under her swollen eye with my thumb.

“…how can you not be when you own half of my whole being?” She countered, avoiding my gaze and just stared at the wooden deck.

“Tiffany.” I called her gently. “Please…please believe me when I say that I want you to be in my life forever. I’m not being forced. I want to do this. I don’t ever want to lose you. I don’t want to lose the sensation of touching your face—your lips—everything.” I saw her lip quiver as I tried to fight for her again. Tears were already forming in her eyes. “I’ve given you the key to my heart, the ability to be my whole life and my future, everything I have and will have, I’ll give them to you. Am I really that hard to believe to the point you won’t even realize what I’m saying to you right now?” Through my speech, I felt my tears already dropping since this was my last stand. If I don’t win her over now—I don’t know what will happen. I caressed her arms lovingly before grabbing them to force her to look in my crying eyes. “Fany…please…” I begged. She was crying so much…it was breaking my heart.

Tiffany managed to meet my gaze with her own red eyes. She was biting her lip to keep it from quivering, and I was on my brink of desperation. “T-Taeyeon…” She cried out, shaking her head lightly.

“What…what? What is it?” I was starting to be devastated. What did that head shake mean? Is she removing me from her life?

Even though I asked her to explain her actions, she just kept crying and shaking her head, mumbling inaudible words. My impulsive mind pulled her to me, wrapping my arms around her as a last resort.

“F-Fany…” My eyes were crying out river. “I’m sorry for being so stupid all the time, I’m sorry for not loving you enough, everything is my mistake. I’ll be responsible for everything that’s wrong in our relationship. I’ll make up for everything, I swear. Just please…please…” I buried my head on her neck before whispering in her ear. “Tteonajima.”

I hugged her as tightly as I could, wanting to get her heart to beat against mine, hoping it’ll turn her pained heart warm.

For a moment, nothing else was heard except for our sobs and whimpers. But Tiffany pulled away, looking at me determinedly.

Her mouth opened, her lip still quivering, and whispered, “Please tell me that you love me…say that you’ll love me more than anyone else in this world and never go back on your words.” Tears rolled down her cheeks.

I stared at her, surprised and confused.

How could she ask me this?

Isn’t my answer obvious to her plea?

In fact, I would’ve said more than that.

If only time permitted it. “Taeyeon!” Yuri shouted. “That ship is coming close and we need a plan right now!”

Our moment was broken as I looked back, finding The Elven Beast to be less than 20 minutes away to being close enough for an encounter. “Tch.” Now I’m pissed.

I pulled away from Tiffany, grabbing her hand. “We need to go. Now.” The captain in me has awakened. Our reconciliation had to wait—unfortunately.

“But Taeyeon—“ I turned to her tear-streaked face.

“I’m sorry.” I quickly mumbled, continuing to pull us to where Yuri and Jessica were as I wiped my face dry of my tears.

---

(Tiffany’s POV)

“We should divide up the team and have one attack their ship.”

“Maybe another strategy is better considering our manpower against theirs.”

A sigh flew across the room. “Right.”

I sat down in the command room mindlessly around the same table everyone was. I couldn’t pay attention to what’s around me no matter how much I tried or put in my mind that we’re about to be attacked. I’m too distracted about what just happened a few moments ago.

Does...Does Taeyeon not love me anymore?

I know she said all those words but…when she had that hesitating expression after I told her to say she loves me, it gave me a big reason to start doubting her.

“I’m sorry.”

What did that even mean?

…

Was that a response to what I asked from her? She’s sorry because she can’t say it?

No. It can’t be. Taeyeon loves me, I know it. Stop doing this to yourself, Tiffany. You both love each other. She’s giving her whole life to you; you should know better to start doubting her.

“Tiffany, are you listening?” My older sister called for my attention from across the table. I shifted my eyes to her, nodding instantly and fixing myself on the chair. “Then do you get our strategy?”

I turned my head to Taeyeon, who was looking at me expectantly. I just couldn’t afford to embarrass myself right now. Not in this situation. I nodded again.

“Great. Let’s get up there and wait for this battle to start then.” Yuri clapped her hands together.

We all stood up, heading for the door. Taeyeon went outside first and I followed, but I paused in the middle of pushing the door, hearing Yuri and Jessica talking in a low voice.

“What if this plan won’t work?” Jessica mumbled.

“Then…” I looked back, seeing Yuri pull Sica closer, leaning towards her face. “…I’m forgetting the ship and the crew, my priority at that moment will be only you.” She said with such gravity in her voice. “Up to my last breath, I’ll protect you.”

My heart ached.

Why can’t I have that same look from Taeyeon? I’d hate to be selfish right now but I want her to just grab me and say that she loves me, and she’ll be with me to the very end. Can’t I have that? This battle is extremely difficult to win. If I don’t get one word of affection from Taeyeon, I’m afraid that I’ll be held at gunpoint soon.

“…” I glanced at Yuri and Jessica once more before leaving the room silently, letting them be alone.

When I went up on the main deck, I bit my lip as I saw Taeyeon talking to our pilots. My heart was aching again. And right now, there’s probably nothing that can soothe it. I can’t think properly. Everything’s piling up.

Her expression of uncertainty.

“I’m sorry.”

The Elven Beast coming in our way.

Our relationship is hanging by a thread.

“Taeyeon, just say that you love me so I can finally calm this storm of pain within me.” My heart begged.

My lip is quivering again.

“Tiffany, come up here now!!” Taeyeon shouted at me. I shot up to her call, running up to the bridge where she was. But before I could reach the top of the staircase, a loud boom rung in my ears followed by a powerful shake to our ship, making me tumble on the staircase.

As soon as the quake stopped, I ran to Taeyeon, panicked at what just happened. “That bastard almost blew our bow out.” Taeyeon grumbled and glared at what was in front of her.

I turned to where she was looking at, finding the humongous enemy ship just about to meet our ship face-to-face.

From my fright, I impulsively grabbed Taeyeon’s hand that was just hanging out there, holding it tightly as I waited to meet our enemy.

After Yuri and Jessica finally came to the bridge with us, I held my breath as I saw the coat of a captain from afar, along with a blurry image of a person behind him.

The atmosphere was so tense, I felt like I was choking.

And when I saw that familiar grin, I knew that this battle might be harder than I ever expected. “How’ve you been, Fany-ah?” Siwon greeted me.

I felt my whole body go weak.

Taeyeon turned to me, surprised that I actually knew our enemy. I couldn’t help but just look back helplessly at her, not knowing where to start. How could I tell Taeyeon that he’s my ex-boyfriend if our own relationship is…like this.

“D-Donghae…” Jessica mumbled behind me. I turned back to the opposite ship, finding the person behind him to become clearer—revealing my unnie’s exboyfriend. I stepped back in shock.

“Annyeong, Jessica.” He greeted with a small smile.

“Don’t even look at her.” Yuri defended Jessica and stood in front of her.

What have done to be in a situation like this? Choi Siwon is right here and Taeyeon has no idea who he is to me, since I’ve never told her any details about my past relationship. No good can come of this—especially since our relationship is currently dented.

I was hyperventilating. I didn’t know what to do.

“What’s wrong, Fany-ah? Did you forget who your ex-boyfriend is?” He shouted, putting emphasis on ‘ex-boyfriend’

I wanted him to just shut up and die.

But he wasn’t my priority right now, it was Taeyeon. She was the one that’s in the state of shock, and the look on her face had a hint of betrayal. I felt my eyes starting to get worked up again.

“Taeyeon…” I mumbled. She turned to me, still shocked and silent. “Please listen to me.” I begged. “Whatever he will say to you, don’t believe anything unless it came from my own mouth. Just please don’t. He might say enough to distract you and I swear, he won’t be staying still with a sword in his hand.” I tried to say calmly but with so much going on, I can only say it with so little stability in my voice.

“Just…answer me one thing.” She mumbled, not wanting to meet my eyes.

“Anything.”

“Is he really your ex-boyfriend?” I just stared at her for a moment…before biting my lip and nodding. “Okay then.” She pressed her lips together.

I kept my eyes on her, trying to read her but she was so blank towards the situation that it was ridiculous.

“Get out of the way of Jessica! I wanna see her!” Donghae said. Yuri was still covering the cowering girl behind her.

“For what?!” Yuri shouted back. “Scum like you shouldn’t even be able to have eyes to see someone so beautiful!”

“You little!!—“

“Enough talking!” Siwon announced. “Our battle needs to start. I can’t wait to get my hands on that pretty flag of yours.”

I ignored all the noise and still waited patiently for any response from Taeyeon. But none was given to me.

My hands cupped her face, forcing her to look at me. “You shouldn’t be affected by this, Taeyeon. He doesn’t mean anything to me and neither should he mean anything to you either. I pushed him out of my life a long time ago. You’re what I have right now. And I couldn’t ask for anything more.” I mumbled, desperate for any response. “I love you…I love you so much, Taeyeon. I’m sorry for not telling you anything about him but don’t take that as to mean something. It’s just that you’ve swept off my feet so incredibly that I forgot to.” She was just staring at me blankly.

“…I believe your words Taeyeon. Will you please believe me now?” I breathed in and out. “Don’t you love me?”

“I…” Taeyeon was about to reply. And with every second that passed, my heart raced. “…do I?” She asked me, sounding confused and unsure about her answer.

It broke my heart.

“…Taeyeon…” I stepped away slowly, not believing what she just said.

“Guys, I think you should grab your weapons now.” Yuri said, taking out a sword from her scabbard before heading down the main deck with a slightly shaky Jessica behind her.

I still couldn’t believe what Taeyeon had just said. The person that I love with all my heart is not sure if she loves me. All I could was stare at her, stare at the floor as she pondered at the thought that tore my heart apart.

“…” I swallowed air, trying to get a grip of myself. “Y-You heard what Yuri said.” I managed to mumble and followed our first mates.

“Wait! Fany, don’t go!” I ignored her calls. I couldn’t feel anything with my heart broken like this. It felt like I was falling in an endless pit and with it, had pain that would never end.

All I could do right now was grab a sword and hope for the best in this battle.

Even though I’m practically saying that I have a death wish.

---

It’s been hours since the battle started. So far, everything’s been equal. Each ship is damaged with cannons in an equal amount. We’ve killed a slightly bit more men then them. Yet…my heart’s still aching. Even if Taeyeon asked the heartbreaking question to herself hours ago, the wound is still fresh.

We haven’t made one single contact since.

We were both too busy in our own parts in this battle. Each of us had to fight off the enemies trying to infiltrate our ship or else.

Yuri and Jessica fought off the men on one side of the ship, while Taeyeon and I fought others on the other.

It’s amazing that I’m still alive considering on how much of my soul is dead right now. I was swinging my sword around almost fully lifeless.

All I’ve done was fight back my tears and don’t show any weakness to anybody as I plunged each sword in another’s body.

Taeyeon let go of my hand, heading over to an insignificant bush in the shadows. When she returned, I was surprised to see her holding my favorite flower in her hand instantly—just like magic.

Before I could even ask about it, she started to speak. “They say that…flowers are the sweetest things God ever made…and forgot to put a soul into.” My heart skipped a beat and I held my breath as she tucked the flower behind my ear. “But…you know, you’re the sweetest person God ever gave me.” She whispered with a grin. Is it possible to fall for someone so hard—and it happens over and over again? Like what I’m feeling right now…”Saranghae.”

“ARGH!!” I screamed, feeling the pain rise in my chest from remembering that moment. It made me feel so pained, angry and lost to the point that I was having frenzy, flurrying my sword around as my tears trickled down.

Taeyeon doesn’t even notice.

I kept screaming and crying out, thrusting my sword through any enemy I find.

I was only stopped when someone deflected my sword away. I stopped moving, looking up at the enemy I was about to face. “Heartbroken?” Siwon smirked.

I retracted my sword, stepping back. My mind may be going insane but I know well enough that Siwon knows his way around me.

I looked around, finding somebody to help me. But not one officer was around, not even Yuri and Jessica—or Taeyeon. Everyone was too busy with their own fight.

“No one’s here to help you, Tippany.” He cackled. “Now…why don’t you tell me what’s wrong? Who are you wasting those tears on?” I gripped my sword, raising my defenses.

“You don’t need to know.”

“Why not? Does it hurt too much for you to talk?” He smirked, stepping closer. “Did they cheat on you too?” I gritted my teeth.

“My girlfriend is better than a two-timer like you. She’ll never cheat on me.” As he stepped closer and closer, I stepped back and sideways until we were walking in a circle with each other.

“So, it’s a girlfriend. I’ll just take a leap here and guess, it’s Taeyeon.” I became tensed at the mention of her name. He laughed lightly. “You two go together. I wonder what’s wrong.”

“Like I said, you don’t need to know!” I shouted, lunging at him with my sword, but he just parried it with his own weapon and sent me to the floor.

Siwon stood still in front of me, smirking. “Did she say that she doesn’t love you?” At that sentence, I felt myself grow more unfocused and weak. I was starting to become blind with heartache.

I didn’t even think, I just grabbed my sword, running towards him and trying to place a hit. He just blocked it, leaving me to be in close quarters with him, trying to push his sword away as our swords were clashed. “Or has she fallen out of love with you?” My strong expression grew weak, making him smirk with my obvious hint.

With just one move, he pushed my sword away and I stepped back, glaring at him. “You don’t need to act so tough with me, Miyoung. I don’t need to tell you that your own girlfriend doesn’t love you back and never will just to show your true colors.” The grip on my sword grew weak. “She doesn’t love you. She’s getting over you, right?” He continued.

My heart was bursting.

“STOP IT!!” I screamed, trying to attack him again but Siwon simply kicked me away.

“She wants another person in her life. Not someone like you. Why would Taeyeon want someone like you? She’s fallen out of love with you.” I was helpless on the floor, imagining exactly what Siwon was telling me. “She’s forgotten all about your promises, love, touch…kisses.”

“I…” My mind was completely clouded. I was lost. I’m done for.

My body moved on its own as an instinct, standing up once more and getting my sword. I just approached him slowly, swinging my sword—but we just came back to the position before, with our swords clashing against in each other.

His smirking face met mine so closely. “Maybe she’s fallen in love with another person.”

“No…” I grew weak.

“Someone better than you.”

“No!—Taeyeon!!” I cried out her name, desperate for her to save me from this heartache.

“Imagine them, kissing, holding, laughing with each other. And she’s happier. Happier than she ever was with you.”

“NO! PLEASE!!” I was begging for mercy already.

He pushed my sword away, letting it slide from a place too far for me to reach. Siwon easily grabbed my clothes, lifting me from the ground with ease as I just cried helplessly in his hold.

He laughed with so much glee at me. “Look at you. You’re so head over heels for this girl, aren’t you?” I just stayed silent, paralyzed with all I’ve imagined because of him. “Take a look at her. She’s looking back at you.” He whispered.

I turned my head to where Taeyeon was fighting others. And I was fooled when she was still oblivious to what was happening to me.

I’m definitely a fool.

Before I could even turn my head back, cold metal pierced through me.

I screamed as the unbearable pain overwhelmed me.

Siwon just dropped me on the floor, not caring about the blood flowing out of me.

I didn’t even have the strength to keep my eyes open because of the excruciating feeling.

Such a bitter end.

---

(Taeyeon’s POV)

Stabbing through the last two swordsmen on my side, a fatal scream pierced my ears. My heart had a twinge for a second—even though I didn’t know why. As soon as my heartache and shock subsided, I hurried to where Tiffany was fighting.

My chest was tightening with pain. Why do I feel like this when I don’t even know what’s going on? Cold sweat started to run down my face and my mind couldn’t think properly, as if something horrible has happened.

I only understood everything when I saw my lover lying faced-down on the wooden deck, next to Siwon with a blood-stained sword.

My heart stopped and I couldn’t breath. I didn’t know what to do except just to stare in denial at the scene. It was a nightmare that has come to life.

Memories flashed in my eyes. Our important ones. It was only then that I was able to push through the fact that Tiffany didn’t tell me about her past—or how I was

having such a hard time in gaining her back. I didn’t care about those anymore. Nothing else mattered except that I just realized what love really meant and what it could do to me.

It could make me incredibly happy. It could destroy me. It could encourage me. It could blind me. It could control my whole being. It could be the end of you. It could change your whole life.

But once you’re in love, you don’t care about that. You didn’t care about whatever you did as long as you’re with the person you love and that person is happy. It’s one of the ultimate sacrifices.

I’m standing by my words to Tiffany—my words of marriage, commitment and love.

My epiphany gave me a boost of strength, gripping my sword tightly as I jumped from the upper deck and down to where my whole world was.

I rushed to Tiffany, gently facing her towards me. “Tiffany…Fany-ah…” I called softly with my heart beating hard against my chest.

“…Tae..Tae…?” Her eyes only opened slightly, showing how weak she is at the moment.

“Yes—Your TaeTae is here.” I felt my eyes getting watery at the sight of my lover’s vulnerability. “Listen to me, please don’t go. Hang on for me, okay? Don’t leave me like this…” I cried out, holding her cold hand. “I love you, Tiffany…I didn’t mean my words earlier, of course I love you.” I continued, intertwining my fingers with her.

I saw a weak smile slowly form on her lips before she whispered faintly, “I love you too…”

“Tch, stupid lovesick fools.” Siwon’s deep husky voice muttered before I heard a sword being lift hastily in the air.

“If you even try to land a hit on my best friend on a moment like this, you’re definitely inviting yourself to a lovely death.” I lifted my head, seeing Yuri point her sword on the Siwon and Jessica pointing a gun to him.

I thanked them silently before I turned back to Tiffany, finding her to be on the way of closing her eyes. “No! Tiffany, please don’t. Hold on.” I wiped my tears away and gently dug my hands under her body—being careful not to touch her wound and lifted her from the ground. “Stay with me.” I whispered, walking to Seohyun for medical attention.

I kept my eye on Tiffany’s eyes the whole time, thinking how beautiful they were. “Promise me that after you recover, we’ll get married.” I whispered.

She became silent for a few seconds. “…I don’t even think I’m going to…make it, Tae…” She whispered back, blinking slowly.

“What are you saying…of course you will.” I pushed all of the possibilities of losing her—thinking that it’ll come true. Even if it sounds so absurd, I just don’t want my whole life to disappear.

“But what if—“

“You won’t.” I cut her off, keeping my hopes up. “You’ll get better, and we’ll have that future you’ve always dreamed of. The future of us.” I forced a smile.

“…” She looked at me sadly. “Taeng…”

I entered Seohyun’s clinic, finding a lot of people injured and passed out. And some of them were too still to be alive—my heart ached at the thought of Tiffany being like that.

Seohyun came over to us, surprised to see her captain in a weak state. She called over one of her helpers and asked me to hand Tiffany over. I looked at her one more time, trying to send her my strength for her recovery.

She kept looking at me, with the same eyes of when we first said our love for one another—sincerely and lovingly. I pressed my lips together, giving her to her assistant.

But before I let her go, I kissed her forehead tenderly and whispered. “I love you…”

She was about to reply but I just stopped her by saying, “Please live.”

---

I left Seohyun to do what’s best of her ability and went back to the main deck. A battle was still ongoing—as long as their captain is still alive.

The thought of Siwon just made me grit my teeth.

I grabbed a sword from a fallen swordsman and held it tightly, running over to where Yuri and Jessica were fighting against Siwon and Donghae.

“So you’ve improved.” Donghae teased Jessica with a smirk on his face as they clashed swords.

“So you’re still pathetic.” Jessica countered and lunged forward towards him, landing a scratch on his face. I didn’t think she needed help in defeating her enemy—he wasn’t even worth a target to me.

“Yuri. I can take it from here.” I stopped my first mate from swinging her sword again at the enemy captain. She nodded firmly and went to help her Jessica.

I faced Siwon with a strong expression, letting him know that I’m not here to play.

He just laughed it off. “You look even more pathetic than Tiffany.” He swung his sword around playfully. I glared at him.

“Enough talk.” I said quickly and attacked him before he can even react. I flipped my hair with satisfaction as I saw a slice across his chest. He hissed in pain.

“You’re gonna regret that.” He leaped at me with his sword, officially starting our fight.

All I had to think of was Tiffany in this fight. I was determined to fight for her.

She’s fighting for her life right now in agonizing pain just because of the person I’m battling with—so I’m not going to let him off easily.

I just kept my eyes on the future. Tiffany and I will get married and get a house…we’ll have children and I could teach them how to man a ship and sword

fighting just like how we were raised. When they were off to sail on their ship, Tiffany and I will go home, look at their room that was empty for the first time as I held her close to prevent too many tears from falling out. We’ll grow old together…never having our love flicker out or weaken.

And right now, the only thing standing in my way is Siwon, and his ship.

I summoned all my strength and skill to push his sword away from his hand, and point my sword at his neck.

I panted with sweat coming down my temples. “Now…” I started. “I should kill you for hurting my Tiffany…” I glared at his shaking body—he was definitely afraid. “But even you’re not worth the privilege of being executed by my hand.” I lowered my sword.

He sighed in relief.

I smirked. “But then again, I don’t care.” I got out my gun and pointed it at him.

The loud gunshot halted the battle, letting everyone know that Fallen Angel has won.

---

I left everyone else to get rid of the rest of The Elven Beast’s crew as I rushed to my quarters and left my captain’s coat and weapons before heading over to Seohyun’s clinic. My heart was racing to know how Tiffany was doing.

When I barged in the clinic, Seohyun was just nowhere to be seen, just the resting injured people on the cots. I hurried to find her, selfishly bothering the pained crew members. I finally stopped when Seohyun just went out of the operating room.

I stared at her, waiting for at least one fact about Tiffany’s well-being.

Seohyun was just looking at me with a serious face, never turning into a sign that she’s okay.

“She-She’s…” I was suddenly so lost with denial. Tiffany’s gone?

“Captain…” Seohyun reached over and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.

“I can’t believe she’s gone.” I mumbled, starting to cry.

Seohyun suddenly chuckled. “She’s alright.” I looked at her, surprised at what she did to me—reducing me into this state of tears. “I’m sorry that I did this, Captain Tiffany requested for me to see how you would react if I did so.”

I was too happy that Tiffany’s alive and well, I didn’t even care about this mean prank anymore. I just laughed along with her and asked, “Can I see her?”

“She’s resting right now but you can.” She smiled and led me to the room.

As soon as I stepped in, I saw that Tiffany was just lying down on the table under the sheets. Her chest was rising up and down, signifying that was definitely alive. Seohyun closed the door and I approached her slowly. Her eyes opened bit by bit, turning to me.

“From your tear-streaked face, I can tell that Seohyun’s report later will be satisfactory.” She grinned. I chuckled and reached her hand under the sheets, holding it tightly.

“…hi.” I whispered.

“Hi.” She replied, squeezing my hand lightly.

To my surprise, a tear drop fell on Tiffany’s cheek from my own eye. I didn’t even realize that I was still crying.

Tiffany looked at me, surprised. “Why are you still crying…? I’m here now. Don’t cry anymore…” She comforted me, intertwining our fingers.

I shook my head, letting her know I was okay. “I-It’s nothing…I’m—I’m just so happy that you’re still alive.” My voice quivered as tears continued to pile in my eyes. I leaned and kissed her forehead. “I don’t know what I would ever do without you…”

“You won’t ever have to imagine.” She smiled. I smiled back. I wanted to hug her at that moment but her wound was still recovering…if she was already fully healed, I would have hugged her to the point of carrying her around in circles.

I took a few seconds just to take this moment in. How thankful I was that I’m not heartbroken, that our ship is still in one piece…that my life is finally in complete bliss.

I looked at Tiffany with a special gaze—something that said how important she really is in my life.

“…I love you.” I whispered.

“I love you too.” Her hand gave another light squeeze to mine.

I couldn’t help but smile instantly. “…Now that our ship is clear of enemies…and ex-boyfriends,” Tiffany chuckled. “…and you’re okay now. I think I have to say something.” I bit my lip.

“Huh? What is that then?”

I smiled widely as I said, “Tiffany Hwang…from enemies to lovers, we’ve snuck away to meet each other, did life-changing decisions together, connected emotionally, spiritually, mentally and physically, I think I can finally ask you now.” I breathed in and out. “Will you please marry me?”

Silence followed for a few seconds, making me nervous for a few seconds.

Then she giggled and said with the biggest smile on her face, “Yes.”

---

Epilogue “Sshh…she’s sleeping.”

I closed the door behind me, approaching my wife. “I’ll be quiet.” I whispered before wrapping my arms around her waist and looking over her shoulder to see the bundle of joy in her arms. “She’s so beautiful.” I couldn’t help but smile as I gazed upon my daughter’s face. “Just like you.”

Tiffany couldn’t help but smile at me as I said that. “You say that now but I bet she’ll act just like you in the future.” She joked, chuckling as quietly as possible.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I furrowed my eyebrows at her in confusion.

I turned back to child in Tiffany’s arms, watching her fingers play with the significantly smaller ones gently. “I mean, I bet she’s going to a dorky, childish but a great, sweet, humble, smart, wonderful leader.”

I chuckled. “Definitely.”

For a few seconds, there was only silence—but a good one. The silence was for cherishing this moment and realizing how lucky we are to have a future like this. Our life could just have easily been a lot more different than right now and I can’t even begin to explain how grateful about having this exact life.

What if I hadn’t saved Tiffany? My heart would’ve been untouched forever.

What if I never had that fight which almost ended our relationship? Our love wouldn’t have been as strong.

What if Tiffany had died? …I’ll go with her.

Everything I did had a significant reason.

And I’m so happy that throughout all those hardships and adversities, I got this in return.

“I’ll put her down now.” Tiffany mumbled, moving to the crib, placing our daughter down gently on her bed and tucked her in.

When she turned back to me, I pulled her close, planting a soft kiss on her warm lips. “I love you.” I whispered with my whole heart.

“I love you too.” Tiffany showed a beautiful eye-smile towards me while I tightened my grasp on her arms.

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I pulled my wife out of the nursery before closing the door silently and heading to the living room with my hand around hers. “UMMMAAA!!” A high-pitched voice screamed along with fast footsteps coming from upstairs. Tiffany let go of my hand, turning to the source of the voice and soon, our 4-year-old daughter, ran down the stairs and jumped in her arms. “Umma…” She cried in her arms.

“What’s wrong?” Fany asked with a soft voice while stroking her hair.

“Monsters…” She mumbled, digging her face deeper in the hold of her mom.

I laughed lightly, patting her head. “Monsters aren’t real, Miyeon-ah.”

“They are!” She whined back, starting to cry.

“Alright, alright. Let’s go upstairs and deal with the monsters.” With Miyeon in Tiffany’s arms, we both went up to the second floor and in her room. She whimpered when we turned on the lights, yet it revealed nothing.

“There’s nothing here, sweetie.” Fany giggled, planting a soft kiss on the top of our daughter’s head.

“There is!” She continued to argue and pointed at the far wall.

We both walked closer to the wall, trying to find where she was trying to point to. “Where?” I asked. Miyeon continued to quiver but she pointed up.

Fany and I slowly looked up…finding a nonchalantly crawling cockroach on the ceiling.

A high-pitched scream erupted in my ears, along with a lot of shouting. “Bulaebulaebulaebulae!!” Tiffany quickly ran outside of the room, taking Miyeon with her. “TaeTae!! All hands on deck! Prepare for battle! Man the cannons!!” She screamed mindlessly, forgetting that we’re not a ship anymore.

I laughed hard. She’s always acting like this if there’s a bug around. Even if we stopped sailing 2 years ago after we got married, once there’s even a ladybug, she forgets that we’re not on a ship. But to load a cannon for a cockroach? Hilarious.

“Yah! Stop laughing, just kill it! Your daughter is scared too you know!!” Tiffany continued to squeal.

“Fine fine!” I stood on a stool nearby, holding a shoe in my hand and quickly got rid of it.

“Why is it so lively here?” A recognizable voice asked, I turned my head to the doorway, finding Fany to be greeting Yuri and Jessica.

“Aunt Sica!!” Miyeon exclaimed, holding her hands out to Jessica with an eager smile. I chuckled, running to my best friend and sister-in-law.

“She’s taken a liking to you, sis.” Tiffany smiled lightly as Jessica received a big hug from her niece.

I hugged my former first mate, receiving a big hearty hug from her as well. We haven’t seen each other in a year. “How’s the Atlantic, friend?” I asked Yuri, eyeing her captain’s coat with a proud smile.

“No one even dares to battle us after we defeated The Elven Beast anymore, Taeng. No action bores me to death.” Yuri sighed. “But on the brighter news, Fallen Angel is still the same as when you last saw it.”

“Wait! Yah!!” We both turned to Jessica, who had Miyeon upside down in her hold. Tiffany quickly took action, taking back our daughter. “I think both of your adventure instincts piled up on this one.” Jessica sighed in relief to see Miyeon unharmed and was now giggling in Fany’s arms.

I laughed, patting the little troublemaker’s head. “Then maybe she can take over Fallen Angel once you guys start to settle down.”

It was suddenly silent. When I turned back to both of them, they were just staring at each other with shy smiles. “Did I say something?” I mumbled, finding the situation to be a bit heavy.

“N-No…it’s just that…” Jessica lifted her left hand, showing a beautiful ring. “Yuri proposed to me last night before we docked to your town’s port.”

I widened my eyes, staring at the big gem on her finger. I turned to Yuri, hitting her arm. “Why didn’t you tell me about this in your letters!?” I scolded her. She just smiled apologetically.

“Omaigawd~ I can’t believe you guys are getting married!” Tiffany said, still in denial, checking out the ring on Jessica’s hand with the toddler in her hand.

“Married! Married!” Miyeon cheered, clapping.

I just smiled at the feel-good moment.

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The four of us sat around the fireplace, chatting away after we put Miyeon to sleep and had dinner, there was nothing left to do but catch up on each other.

“You know, Miyeon reminds me very much of Taeyeon…but she completely acts like Fany.” Jessica commented, following it with laughter.

“I totally agree!” I stood up, showing how much I go along with that sentence.

“What? She does not, she’s 100% Taeyeon.” Tiffany denied.

I sat back down, turning to Tiffany. “Are you kidding? If she didn’t have my resemblance, I’d think she’d be a ghost of your past.” Yuri laughed hard with my remark. “She screams whenever there’s a bug around, she loves to pout and everything else about you.”

“Fine.” My mushroom gave up, pouting.

“See!” I tapped her lips with my finger lightly.

The night was just such a fresh breath of air. It was lively and light, filled with smiles, laughter and hundreds of memories relived.

The life I led as of this moment in my life is complete bliss. Sure, there are problems and the unknown waiting for me in the future but…I know I can handle them. I won’t let anything ruin this life I currently have.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my life on the water, is that…you can’t just wait for something to happen. You have to work hard for what you want…and what you deserve.

Decisions have to be made.

Mistakes are meant to be done.

Sacrifices are always necessary.

And if you think you did the right thing, you’ll get a life with the least regrets and problems.

“Right, TaeTae?” Tiffany showed her wonderful eye-smile to me. I smiled at back at her, saying,

“Right.” Even though I had no idea what was going on anymore.

I decided to love Tiffany. I made the mistake of almost letting Tiffany go. I sacrificed my original dream…and in return, I got a better dream. One where I felt contented in my life.

To be able to make your life to be at its fullest is hard work. But it’s worth it.

The person who can give you that is…

Yourself, right?

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