A/n: This chap follows what happens right after  chap 2

“It is about time we got serious, these Pirates are turning out to become more than simple nuisances and that concerns our nation’s security.” The Chief's voice boomed within the vast meeting room, from junior to senior, all officers were present, faces grim “From now on we are to pluck out this crew known to call themselves The Liberators, from every corner of Boala and the Boala sea, no leniency is to be shown, they have proved themselves to be beastly, hence we shall not show them the least bit of human kindness. You are to shoot on the slightest hint of resistance, it is ideal to apprehend the leading crew members alive, so as to investigate further and have their crimes accounted for.

I have been reported that Hyukjae-ssi is looking after this case” Hyukjae straightened up, seeing heads turning to him “From now on Sungmin-ssi’s teams along with four others are ordered to join Hyukjae-ssi and make it  a priority to bring down this crew within a month. From today on forth they are our staunch enemies.”

Enemies

The word just won’t stop echoing in Hyukjae’s mind as he made his way to the mess hall for some breakfast. Soldiers and officers were parting like the red sea as they witnessed Hyukjae practically marching in, face grave and eyes dulled.

How was he supposed to protect Donghae now? The Chief had practically declared war, all that was lacking was bringing out the ship-fighter jets and canons.

Where was that Pirate anyway?? He had not heard of the pirates being spotted anywhere on the Boalan land by any of his patrol teams and that was driving him crazy. It was as if The Black Widow had sailed off for good.

“Hey, wait up!” a pair of arms attacked him and he nearly toppled over, not able to cover his grave expressions in time, and the ‘attacker’s eyes dimmed once he got a look at Hyukjae “Hyuk-ah, you’re stressing again aren’t you? Look, when I say everything will be fine, I mean it because I’m going to make it that way. Believe in me, okay?”

Hyukjae knew Sungmin was one of those people he didn’t need to pretend in front of, besides pretense was of no use in front of Sungmin, this guy had x-ray vision that could see through into the heart.

So Hyukjae let his shoulders slump as Sungmin directed him to a table that some juniors happily vacated for the two. Hyukjae managed a small smile “I don’t know what to do…how did a crew of Pirates become something so big, they are just mere hooligans waiting to be taught a lesson.”

“Hyuk, I know that is not what’s actually bothering you, so I’m going to wait till you can finally find me worthy enough to let me know the truth.”

Hyukjae’s eyes widened as he watched Sungmin’s faltering smile “So I was right, there is something else.” Sungmin muttered, leaning forward he rested his forearms onto the table, his gaze earnest “Hyuk, I know how there are some things we don’t dare talk about, not even with our own self but, a time comes when you need extra help.”

Hyukjae didn’t manage a word after that, feeling all sorts of guilty and wrong, here he was sitting with this amazing man who was obviously hurt by Hyukjae’s lack of confidence in him, yet said man was offering to remain by his side and help him with anything at all.

“God, Hyukjae please, don’t look like that” Sungmin coaxed the increasingly depressed officer, Hyukjae managed to glance at him, feeling heavily humiliated by his own mind and that’s when he saw Sungmin’s dark eyes sparkle as the guy snapped his fingers “I know! I know someone that you will find really truly helpful, come on! Let’s go get a half-day leave; we’ll say we are both going out patrolling.”

“But sungmin-“

“hush now boy, that’s an order.” Sungmin grinned and Hyukjae knew that when Sungmin said it’s an order, he meant it. So out of curiosity and not wanting to hurt his possibly only true friend anymore he followed Sungmin all the way to the stables, getting their horses brought out, Sungmin told Hyukjae to keep up. The horses broke into a full-on sprint, going as fast as they could, Hyukjae realized they were heading towards the Boala’s hilly area, the ground got uneven and they began to travel up a thin path on a slope.

“Here we are” Sungmin whistled lowly and his horse stopped instantly. Hyukjae looked around, they had redirected to a small path, travelling under a canopy of tree branches till it had led them to a small garden, noticing how they were now on top of the hill they were travelling up.

“Where are we?”

“Come, I’ll show you” Sungmin had already dismounted, saying the horses could just roam around and graze he took hold of hyukjae’s forearm and led him through a small tunnel, revealing a small but neat hut, painted red and white with small pillars that had several symbols painted onto them.

“Isn’t it just refreshing, the silence?”

“It’s a bit too silent Ming, you sure this area’s safe?”

He felt a tug on his arm when Sungmin abruptly stopped, Hyukjae turned to him with an inquisitive gaze and Sungmin appeared to be readying himself. Sungmin took a deep breathe, forcing his eyes shut he exhaled slowly, feeling his mind calm down a bit, that’s when he allowed his eye to open again. He could not help the chuckles as he saw the nearly bewildered look on Hyukjae’s face “don’t fret Hyuk, well,atleast not right now.” A sigh “remember how I said, there are some things we don’t dare talk about, even to our selves?”

Hyukjae could not rationalize why his heart began to beat fast but he stood there and only nodded.

“That’s because..” Sungmin trailed off and ducked his head “Hyuk we all have a past, I’ve known about yours…but you never knew mine, did you?”

Hyukjae stiffened, Sungmin’s hand slowly slid down his arm to give a aqueeze to his hand “I used to be a raider once, my…boss was a close associate with some Pirates…one of them used to be the Captain of The black Widow, yes hyuk, the same Black Widow crew we are after and guess what? I’m still associated with them.”

Words failed Hyukjae, he felt himself step away, way too shocked

“Hyukjae please, hear me out. I’m not saying I’ve been playing as a double-agent. I’ve told them nothing about The Force’s plans, heck they don’t even know I’m part of The Force. All I’m saying is that I’m in touch with them but they don’t know that I’m also in the Force. For them I’m still a lone raider who used to work under a landlord the previous Captain was friends with” Sungmin shrugged, a wary, weak smile lingering on his lips “And now only one person on the Force knows about my whole reality: you.”

“Why tell me? Why tell me such a thing when I could not tell you ?!”

Sungmin heard the enraged tone, Hyukjae was more angry at himself right now “Well if it helps, I never told you this uptill now, because I didn’t find it in me, the courage to say this to you, but today when I saw just how torn and tired you looked, that ignited something in me. I just had to.” Sungmin’s expressions had grown serious, not lacking in sincerity he motioned for Hyukjae to keep moving “I actually recognized Donghae when I found you two all snuggled up inside the cave that day”

“Oh”

“Yeah, I was the first to spot you two, before anyone else saw I dragged you off of him so that no one got the wrong idea…were you two…?”

“No, not back then, back then we decided that was the only way to keep our bodies warm, by sharing body heat.”

Sungmin nodded “When you say back then, do you mean now it’s a different case?”

“We’re together” Hyukjae spoke simply, glancing up to observes Sungmin’s expressions as he took in the information, a triumph little smirk appeared “ I knew it! I so knew it! Everytime you would come back after an encounter with that specific Pirate something would be different about you.”

Surprised Hyukjae raised a brow, feeling the corners of his mouth turn up he averted his gaze to the ground.

Sungmin stopped Hyujae right outside the hut, asking him to take his shoes off “ But Ming who are we here for?”

“Ah yes, well, everyone refers to him as Sensei, he’s an elderly man with small eyes but a large mind and heart. A very wise man, he can practically feel the radiations of a  troubled soul, which is exactly what your soul is my friend.”

“And yours too Ming, yours too.” Sungmin shrugged with a small grin “not as much as you pal, you’re in love with a Pirate, while I’m simply an associate who is slowly growing distant from them.”

Slipping their boots off they entered a large room, a soothing sweet scent floated through the air, the calming rush of water flowing and the soft tweets of brids flying freely within the room grabbed Hyukjae’s attention immediately. Sungmin poked him gently to redirect his attention to an elderly man sitting on a mat in them idle of the room. Wrinkly skin, white hair and a welcoming smile, but what had Hyukjae double taking was a very familiar Ginger-head sitting by his side.

“Hyukjae?” Donghae blinked in surprise as Hyukjae quickly neared them. Hyukjae observed how donghae was dressed in a lose white button up shirt that was hardly buttoned up, he sat next to the old man, legs crossed and looking bewildered as his eyes darted to Sungmin.

“Well, what a coincidence, Donghae’s here too.” Sungmin bowed to the elderly man, meanwhile Hyukjae sat by Donghae’s side, automatically smiling more.

“hi babe” he whispered, meaning to lean in for a greeting kiss but Sungmin cleared his throat loudly, effectively making Hyukjae and Donghae straighten up. Donghae nodded a silent greeting to Sungmin who smiled back.

“Sensei, I bring my friend Hyukjae, though I’m sure Donghae here has spoken a lot about him already.”

“Ah yes.” His voice was gruff, turning his head to Hyukjae who smiled back awkwardly the old man nodded “Yes indeed you have been very much talked of, donghae absolutely adores and cherishes you” Hyukjae flashed Donghae a grin while donghae tried to get the Sensei to not mention such things, the Pirate huffed when the Sensei deliberately began to mention how donghae would just go on and on about Hyukjae and how Donghae’s heart was pretty much married to hyukjae.

Hyukjae raised a brow at donghae who palmed at his face that was heating up

“Son” Hyukjae flinched when Sensei abruptly took hold of his hand, expression serious “do not fear tomorrow, nor try to assume would it would be like. Where it is true the human mind is a great tool to judge forthcoming events, it is also true just how presumption the human mind is. Your tomorrow will be the way you make it, so be clear in your mind about your present, do not get entangled into fears and doubts for the tomorrow. Your present is what you feel on the inside, if you feel that something is wrong, ask why, ask yourself.”

Hyukjae didn’t realize how nearly an hour went by, the three just sat there, listening to Sensei talk. They were in awe, it felt as if Sensei was talking about their own issues, one by one, they had not even stated their worries, at least Hyukjae had not, yet Sensei knew, as if he could tell.

Sungmin had wanted to speak to Sensei in private, hence Donghae and Hyukjae stepped out, only then did Hyukjae notice how Donghae seemed to have hastily dressed himself. Plus the ginger-head didn’t have the characteristic smile lingering on his lips, something was up. Taking hold of his hand Hyukjae made for a nearby tree and sat under its shade, pulling donghae down so to let him fall in his lap. Donghae chuckled, though the brightness of his eyes was nowhere to be seen.

“What’s wrong?” Hyukjae whispered against his nape, having pressed Donghae’s back to his chest “You’re worrying me.”

Donghae remained silent for a while “Hyuk all this while, all this while I’ve been misled, it’s as if I can’t trust anyone anymore, aside from you of course.”

“Hae-“

“Remember the visions I mentioned, they are not dreams because they suddenly hit in me accompanied by severe headache, after which uncle would soon give me a medicine for it, which would leave me dazed for a while and uncle would pass it as a little side effect.” Donghae snorted and Hyukjae could feel the bitterness radiating through.

“Well turns out he used some voodoo , used magic and blocked my memories, those visions that slowly increased were simply the weakening of the block and that ‘medicine’? Huh, that’s simply a potion to help keep the block there.”

Donghae turned around, the despair and anger swirling in his eyes causing panic in Hyukjae’s heart “They want me gone Hyuk, they want me dead!”

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