When Eione was finally let go, she quickly swam away from Póthos. “Stupid humans,” she murmured.  

 

“Mmm, what a delectable smell,” a sea creature that looked like a deformed merman with one pointy tail and brown bumpy exterior halted her movement.

 

“Go away leech,” she said and tried to swim away, but the sea creature circled around her and kept blocking her way.

 

“Not so fast mermaid. You’ve had contact with a power source,” it scrunched its nose and sniffed the mermaid’s hair.

 

“Eww,” she smacked him away, “you wretched thing. Don’t come close to me.”

 

“Where is it?” It hissed. “Where are you hiding the pearl?”

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

 

“Oh, but you do,” the creature coiled its tail around her to keep her from moving. It took in her scent as if it was trying to inhale her whole being. “Strange...you have the essence of different types of power sources all over you.” It got another whiff of her and added, “But one is definitely more valuable than the others. I can’t place the scent, but this must be what a gold pearl smells like.”

 

“Let me go you ugly!”

 

“Not until you tell me where this gold pearl is,” it tightened its hold around her.

 

“No, no let me go this instant,” the mermaid wriggled and struggled to get away.

 

“Give up mermaid, unless you want to turn out like me,” it hissed in her ear.

 

“Ewww,” she recoiled away as far as she could. 

 

“Now tell me where it is before I turn you into another leech,” it used its pointed tail to cut a wound on her arm and darted its slimy tongue out.

 

Before it could her wound, “Stop! STOP! I’ll tell you where it is, but you have to let go of me first.”

 

“I think not mermaid. I will not fall for your deceit. First, you tell me where it is,” it made a show of her arm in order to coax her.

 

“Okay, okay. It’s on an island. Now let me go.”

 

“Not so fast. Which island?”

 

“If you swim the way I came from, you will eventually come across an island. That is where I found the pearl.”

 

The creature, known as a leech, smiled sinisterly and let her go. She didn’t waste a single moment and quickly distanced herself. “Thank you mermaid. You have done me a great deed. Which is why I am sorry for what is about to happen to you.”

 

“What are you talki—“ before she could finish, the creature’s tongue extended a few feet and her wound. “NO!” She desperately tried to wipe the sticky residue away, to no avail. She angrily looked up at it and yelled, “You MONSTER!”

 

“Yes, and when the full moon comes in 13 days you will be one as well.”

 

She got angry and lashed her tail at the creature, unfortunately it dodged. It gave out a sinister laugh and swam away in the direction of Póthos. “No, no, no,” she cried and rubbed at her wound. “I don’t want to turn into a leech. I would rather die,” she continued to sob. 

 

~~~*~~~

 

Jinju shook her hands to get rid of excess water and sighed from exhaustion as she hung up the last of the pots. She walked to the little pantry connected to the kitchen and found a stout middle-aged woman busying herself with inventory. “Madam, I’ve finished the dishes. Is there anything else you need me to do?”

 

“No darlin’ dats it for today. You be careful goin’ home.”

 

“I will, thank you. Have a good night.”

 

“You too darlin’.”

 

Jinju took off the apron and hung it up near the door and left the establishment. A few days ago, in order to give herself a distraction from thinking about Baekhyun, she took up the job of a dishwasher in one of the brothels in town. Although she didn’t really feel comfortable being associated with the place, it was the only job she could do in this place that didn’t require selling her body. Lay told her that she didn’t need to take the job, but she felt bad living off of his hard-earned money. She decided that even if the job paid very little she would do it in order to help Lay out with expenses. That and she needed to save up if she ever wanted to go back to Baram.

 

Another inconvenience of the job was that she was only needed at the end of the day so she ended up going back to Lay’s hut in the evening. She hadn’t had any problems the last two days, but tonight she noticed that there were quite a number of drunk men in blue and white uniforms roaming the alleys. She noticed that after the gibbeting four days ago, the number of naval ships and officers have multiplied. Lay said that the navy was probably cracking down on piracy in the area. 

 

She overheard two women on her way to work earlier talking about the navy celebrating something which would explain the plethora of drunk sailors. She should have agreed when Lay said he was going to come pick her up. As she walked back to the hut she made sure to hide in the shadows whenever a drunk man would pass her by. Unfortunately for her she also couldn’t see well in the shadows so she bumped into someone leaning on the wall before she saw him.

 

“Watch where you’re going,” the man slurred.

 

“I’m sorry,” Jinju squeaked before hurriedly walking away. The sailor didn’t give her a chance to get away by getting a good grip of her wrist. “Ah,” she groaned in pain. “Let go,” she tried to pry his fingers off.

 

The sailor pulled her body flushed against his and refused to let go. “Your sorry ain’t enough. Why don’t you do something for me?” He smirked suggestively at her.

 

Jinju gagged at the strong smell of alcohol that came from his mouth. “No, let me go,” she successfully wriggled out of his grasp.

 

“Hey, where do you think you’re going. You haven’t paid me back,” the sailor made a motion to reach out for her but his hand was slapped away.

 

“I believe the lady wants nothing to do with you.”

 

Jinju looked to the voice’s owner to find a man that was the same height and build as Lay with black hair that covered over his right eye. He had a dark look in his visible eye as he glared at the sailor.

 

“Get going citizen, nothing to see here. This lady owes me an apology,” the sailor shooed the man away and moved toward Jinju but the man got in the way.

 

“I believe she already apologized.”

 

“Mind your own business and find your own woman,” the sailor told him angrily and shoved him aside.

 

The man righted himself and dusted off his shirt. “I believe the lady said no,” his voice strained on the last word as he punched the sailor on the face.

 

 “You really should have minded your own business.” The sailor wiped the side of his mouth and put his fists up. He his fist at the man, but because he was tipsy from alcohol the man easily dodged it. Instead, the sailor was the one who ended up unconscious on the alley floor after a hard punch caused him to hit his head on the wall.

 

Jinju gasped after seeing the sailor fall to the ground. Before she could find her bearings, the man grabbed her by the wrist and ran away. When she finally realized what had happed she stopped abruptly, but the man was too strong and pulled her body forward causing her to lose balance and fall against his back. She quickly righted her posture and apologized.

 

“Hey now, no need for that. It was my fault,” the man patted her on the arm.

 

Jinju felt uncomfortable and put more distance between the two of them. “No, no, it was mine. Thank you for helping me out back there. I don’t know what would have happened to me if you hadn’t arrived.”

 

“It was my pleasure,” he smiled at her. “A pretty lady such as yourself shouldn’t be walking around town at night. My name is Agori.” 

 

He put out his hand for a shake and Jinju obliged. Before she could shake his hand though, he pulled her hand close to his lips and kissed the back of her hand. As he came up Jinju noticed how elated he was, the grin on his face almost reaching from ear to ear.

 

Three days after the incident, Jinju was busy walking around the hut and gathering her things to put in a small rucksack.

 

“Jinju you don’t have to do this,” Lay followed her around and out of his small hut.

 

“I’m sorry Lay, but it needs to be done. Even if we do not share the same bed, it doesn’t look good that we are living under the same roof. People might think we are in a relationship,” she continued to walk away with the small rucksack on her back.

 

Lay gave out a sigh of defeat and said, “Then where will you stay?” 

 

“...” she kept her gaze down and said nothing.

 

Lay felt dread come over him at her reaction. “Jinju, you wouldn’t?” When she continued silent he added, “He put you up to this didn’t he?” 

 

The accusatory tone in his voice made Jinju shrink into herself. When he made to reach out for her she flinched away and said, “Please don’t touch me Lay. He doesn’t like it.”

 

“Jinju it’s only been three days since you met this man. I haven’t even seen him,” Lay reprimanded.

 

“He offered to meet you, but you refused,” Jinju said.

 

“Because—“

 

“Lay, please.”

 

“No, Jinju,” Lay said firmly. “I know you vowed to forget Baekhyun, but I think you’re making a mistake. Someone is bound to get hurt in the end. You need more time to—“

 

“Lay, I know what I’m doing,” she interrupted him and looked at him adamantly. “Agori makes me happy. And at this moment, happiness is what I need.”

 

“But Jinju—“

 

“Please Lay...”

 

Lay heaved a very heavy sigh and said, “Fine, but please take care of yourself. Don’t give in too easily. My door is always open, if you ever need somewhere to go.”

 

“Thank you Lay. Thank you for the hospitality you’ve shown me this whole time. You didn’t even know me, but you gladly took care of me and took me in. I will never forget your generosity. I promise to come by and visit sometime.”

 

Lay stayed behind and sadly waved as Jinju walked away. He really needed to meet this Agori. It was very suspicious that Jinju had easily forgotten about Baekhyun and suddenly became attached to him. Hopefully, his gut feeling was wrong and that there was no danger to Jinju.

 

~~~*~~~

A/N: Wasn’t able to update last week since my brain was fried from six straight hours of training.