Forty-five minutes passed by in a blink of the eyes and most of the members already headed into the cockpit for a quick wink. Sujeong too went inside only to come out moments later since her eyes did not seem to want to work with her. So she decided to stay out on the deck and continued to be amazed with the never ending picturesque scene laid in front. The four staffs too already disappeared maybe to the back deck since Sujeong did not see them around the place. Looking up at the top of the cockpit, Jiae had the boat slowed down since tiredness had taken over and same applied on Yoongi since he was also moving at the same speed.

As they went across the ocean on a slow pace, there was a light tug in the corner of Sujeong’s heart all of the sudden. A frown made its way on her lips as her brows furrowed in worry. There was a feeling of something totally the opposite of the comfortable and she sure hated that kind of feeling because by then, something will happen. “Are you alright down there, Sujeong-ah? You seem troubled.” Jiae’s voice entered her ear canals since she could see everything from her position. Strangely enough, she also felt the same as hers as the boat went forward.

“I thought it was supposed to be sunny today.”

Dark clouds were replaced instead of the used-to-be white cotton candy-like clouds and followed by the sound of thunder not far beyond them. The fact there was no lightning so far gave out a positive sign but that feeling did not last long once they could feel the boat suddenly wavered about on the surface of the ocean. There was still kilometres of unknown to the island and unwanted sea storm decided to greet them.

“Sujeong-ah, head inside the cockpit, now.” She heard Jiae said in a calm tone but behind the tone she knew better the girl was not calm. Her eyes were fixed on the front as her hands tried to steer the wheel. One the other boat, Yoongi seemed to be in the same situation and no one was there to witness his difficulty other than Jiae and Sujeong.

“Sujeong, why are you still-” Before the sentence managed to be finished, an average high wave hit the boat, hard, causing Sujeong who had been sitting on the front deck to stumble about and immediately regretting of not acting fast. Now, she had trouble moving since the boat was wavering too much for her liking as her hands grasped on the railing that she could reach within her sight. She took hold of it as her life depended on it dearly. Jiae though struggled with the wheel which was obviously not under her control by the moment.

Whoosh! Another pair of strong waves hit the side of the boat. Sujeong’s hands slipped off the railing as her body rolled to the cockpit’s window. Pain was immediately registered into her brain as she winced painfully. There was a possibility of spraining her arm due to the strong impact. Her eyes were able to catch the worry eyes of her friends and also the two staffs. Apparently, they had woken up by the harsh waves. They patted the window hard and she could hear them mildly saying phrases like, ‘hang on’ and ‘we’ll help you two’.

No, that was one bad idea.

Their boat was tumbling like a kid playing one of those toy boats in a bathtub whilst the shower pouring on them. It was indeed a miracle that Sujeong’s right hand managed to hold on another railing nearby. She could no longer see Jiae from her current spot but she had a feeling the girl was doing fine up there, knowing that there were more supports up there. Jiyeon, Yein and the two staffs in the cockpit were also at the same chaotic state as worse as the ones outside. Their bags were scattered all over the place and to think to move it back was not an option. Keeping each other save was an option. But sadly, they were not able to get out as the only door was blocked when the emergency boat on the outside slammed the door close, trapping them.

Meanwhile on the boys’ boat, they were also panicking and thinking of a way to safely run away from the unforeseen weather. Just like the girls’, their cockpit was twice as messed up since Jungkook had forgotten to zip his bag once again after taking out his MP3 player. Small objects like pens and other personal belongings rolled around from one side to another, following the boat’s current position.

“Someone have to open the door for Yoongi hyung to get in!” Jimin told them aloud, trying his best to beat the sound of the storm surrounding them and saw Jungkook nodding his head. However, no move was made since he was stuck between bags and it was not an ideal thing to do because it would not make any difference. It was total silence until Taehyung daringly voiced his plan, “I’ll go get him then.” He slowly made his way towards the door.

“Tae hyung, incoming from your ri-” Jungkook was about to say when he saw his baggage rolled by, exactly behind Taehyung’s figure since one managed to slip off his grasp. The youngest one sighed it was a close call and to see his friend being crushed with a traveller’s bag was definitely on his list. Not that he wanted to witness his friend getting injured to begin with. There was more stuff being thrown all over the place as the guys tried their best to dodge them.

Upon reaching the door, with all the strength he could muster, Taehyung pushed the tight door. If it was not because of the intense wind, the door could be open without any problem. The last few things he heard from his group mates and staffs were incoherent as gust of wind burst into the room with water droplets that managed it managed to bring along. He had his right hand covering his face from being constantly slapped by the incoming rain. The air outside was dense and it was hard to even stop out of the cockpit.

“Yoongi hyung, can you hear me?!” Taehyung yelled despite the fact he was still trying to set his feet forward. Looking upwards, he saw the mentioned person was holding the top of the railing firmly. His eyes were squeezed tightly but his ears were wide open. “You need to be inside the cockpit, now!” He said in between his heavy breathing.

“That’s impossible! You guys just stay inside. I’ll find a way.” Yoongi replied as some seawater splurged on his face causing him to wince in slight agony. “Just jump off the upper deck and roll in.” His friend suggested but it was easier said than done. Yoongi knew it was possible if Taehyung himself was in his position since he is not the kind to be afraid in trying crazy stunts.

Their boat continuously swayed franticly again and by then Taehyung was already at the back lower deck. He missed his footing as he moved forward to reach for his group mate before he heard the cockpit door closed with a loud thud. He cursed knowingly as he tried to open the door. They were screwed – he boggled with wide eyes. On the inside, Jimin rushed towards the only entrance to the cockpit with Jungkook after much difficulty and tried to push it together with hope it would budge at least a couple of centimetres. “What should we do?” Jungkook spoke when he saw the older one seemed to give up.

“Let’s just have faith in God.”

“Taehyung and Yoongi hyung are still out there! We need to do something, anything really!” Jungkook reminded him in surprisingly calm and orderly manner but still there was slight urgency in his lines. He had his eyes on the closed door with thought knowing that he could not do anything further to help as his friends were still out in the open storm.

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter