I have this really irritating habit of expanding certain parts of the original chapter and then I’m left with no other choice but to chop the original one into pieces  >_<   this chapter was a part of the previous one which, since then, had grown into its own chapter. And the ending in this one was not what I originally had but then this chapter got too long and I had to chop it into pieces as well. GAWDDD… this is so annoying  >:o

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There was an unnatural stillness in the air as Eric righted himself on the stool. And from the corner of his eye he saw Minwoo doing the same. The other man was looking around the room frantically, trying to find the source of the disturbance.

Minwoo was shaken. That much was obvious. Eric was too; although he tried hard to not let it show.

“What do you thin-“ Minwoo didn’t even get to finish his sentence.

Small tremors started to course through the boat; the light vibrations travelled through the surface of the counter, making the bowls of food- that had somehow surprisingly managed to survive that initial jolt- and the metal cutlery to vibrate.

Minwoo was gripping the edges of the counter tightly as his eyes fixed on the vibrating cutlery. Eric on the other hand, was not that affected.

They’re just light vibrations. Nothing to be scared of…

But his moment of respite was short lived.

The light vibrations quickly developed into violent tremors. They wracked through the fragile frame of the boat tilting it from side to side. The cupboard doors flew open causing its contents to rain all around the two shell-shocked people in the room.  

By now both of them were holding onto the counter top for dear life; their knuckles slowly starting to turn white with the death grip they had on the table as the boat spiraled out of control.

Looking around the growing mess around him, Eric’s eyes finally took in Minwoo’s trembling form. The man was staring back at him with his mouth opened in a surprised ‘O’. His eyes were wide and packed with fear. For the first time during their little trip Eric saw raw panic painted all over his features.

And for some unfathomable reason he so badly wanted to reach out to the other man; to wrap his arms around him and promise him that everything would be alright. And he would’ve done so, were it not for the counter separating the two of them.

Well, that and the fact that he didn’t know if such actions would be welcomed by the man. The last thing he wanted was a black eye to top everything off.

Then everything stopped. And the unnatural silence from before settled over the room once again.

Both of them looked around quizzically, holding their breaths, cocking their heads to the sides listening for further disturbances and waiting for the tremors to come back.

But there was nothing.

They looked at each other quietly, not even moving a finger to disturb the stillness. Almost as if fearing it- whatever it was- would kick off again if they even moved wrong.

But everything was still.

Finally after staring at each other for a long period of time Minwoo found the courage to peel his hands off the edges of the table. He stood up on trembling feet and slowly edged towards the glass porthole to look outside. Eric was not far behind him.

It was hard to get a good look out of the window with the way both of them were crowding against the small glass. Their heads kept bumping together and Minwoo’s hair kept tickling his nostrils. And it was almost impossible to see anything significant in the thick veil of darkness outside.

Eric couldn’t pinpoint it exactly but there was something missing.

After a couple of good solid minutes of staring he finally realized what was amiss. Both of them realized it at the same time but it was Minwoo who found the courage to voice his thoughts.

“Why are we not moving???”

               ~~~~~~

They both moved at the same time; rushing and almost stumbling over each other in their haste to get outside.

Minwoo, having the smaller body build out of the two, darted ahead of him taking the steps two at a time and quickly disappearing from Eric’s line of sight. He cursed loudly as he barreled into the small man who was standing stock-still in the doorway blocking the path, almost sending both of them hurtling over the edge of the boat and into the ocean.

Finally after steadying themselves they stepped out into the freezing pacific breeze.

Eric immediately rushed over to the railing, leaning over it as he tried to see whether or not they had hit something. But there was little he could see in the blinding darkness.

“Can you see anything?” Minwoo’s voice was small and hushed and Eric almost chuckled.

It would be a miracle if he saw anything in this darkness.

He shook his head lightly and continued to stare into the murky ocean in silence. Minwoo soon joined him, leaning against his shoulder and they spent the next half an hour in companionable silence.

It was when his body started to react to the cold wind and began to shiver that Eric finally gave up his search. It felt like the temperature was dropping by the minute and they could almost see their own exhaling breaths. There was no chance to see anything in the dark. And it was stupid to waste their time freezing their bodies off when they could gain nothing in return.

He eased off the railing, dislodging the warm lump resting against his shoulder in the process.

“Come on, let’s go inside” he said as he lightly tugged on the smaller man’s t-shirt.

Minwoo didn’t budge though. He still stood there leaning over the railing with his head cocked to the side- a thoughtful look on his face.

“Come on Minwoo. There’s nothing we can do in this darkness.”

Still nothing.

He gritted his teeth against the irrational anger bubbling inside.

It was so cold… Damn this stubborn idiot.

“hey, we can’t do anything now. We’ll have to wait till morning to find out what’s wrong”

“…”

“Come inside… it’s freezing out here.” With that he dragged the reluctant Minwoo into the much warmer interior.

               ~~~~~~

“Do you think we hit something?” Minwoo’s voice sounded extra loud in the uneasy atmosphere.

“I don’t think so. I mean, if we did… then we’d be dealing with a sinking boat right now, right?”

“But it could’ve been a small crack or something. We could be down in the bottom of the ocean by tomorrow morning you know...” Minwoo’s voice kept gaining an octave with every single word.

Eric rubbed his palms over his face. This ‘distressed Minwoo’ was way worse than the ‘hostile Minwoo’. And dealing with him called for far more energy than he could muster up at the moment.

“I don’t know Minwoo-yah. We’ll have to wait till morning.”

“But what if- “

“If there’s a hole in the boat…” he cut through the complaining.

“...then I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

His voice was tense, authoritative; warning the other man to brook no argument. The silence that followed meant that Minwoo had taken the hint... or so he thought.

“Why do you think we stopped???”

Eric mentally banged his head against the imaginary wall.

God… doesn’t this man know how to take a hint???

The whole evening he had tried time and time again to get one positive word out of the man only to fail miserably. But now suddenly it seemed as if Lee Minwoo didn’t want to shut up.

“I don’t know…” his voice was close to a whine, he knew. But with the way the other man was bombarding him with questions he’d already said he had no answers for, Eric was surprised he hadn’t already punched him.

“Look…” he said, standing up. “…you stay here and whine all you want…”

And yes, he was cruel enough to find some satisfaction in the way Minwoo’s face scrunched up in annoyance.

“…but I really need some sleep.”

He left the scowling Minwoo on the sofa and went into his ‘newly acquired’ cabin and slammed the door shut.