Soohyun was a few steps behind Baekhyun as they made their way to the port. Baekhyun was too fast. He was swiftly making his way through the thick crowd on the port while Soohyun barely managed to keep her eyes on him. The distance between them started to get bigger as they squeezed their way through the crowd. Soohyun tried to keep her pace so that she wouldn’t lose sight of Baekhyun. She tried to look back to see if the guards were still running after them but she can’t see any of them through the thick crowd. She was about to follow Baekhyun back when she felt herself being abruptly stopped as she was stuck in the middle of men who were carrying sacks on their shoulders. Soohyun tried squeezed her way out. If she stayed longer, she’d definitely lose Baekhyun. She struggled a bit until she was about to get out when she felt someone grabbed her hand and pulled her away from those men. Her initial reaction was to try to yank the hand away from her, fearing that it might be one of the palace guards.

“Stop struggling. It’s me,” Soohyun heard Baekhyun’s voice spoke. She looked up at him and wasn’t sure how to exactly feel but nonetheless she felt thankful at the moment because it was him who grabbed her hand and not a palace guard.

“Walk fast and stay close. We’re almost near,” Baekhyun said. Soohyun quietly followed until they reached the end of the port. There she saw a ship docked. It wasn’t her first time seeing a ship, but one that is owned by pirates, this is definitely the first. She noticed some differences from the ones they’ve used before and a noticeable one was that their ships were designed for luxury travel while this one was designed for long stays on the seas and probably for any conflicts that might happen anytime. Soohyun saw several men at the deck who immediately moved when they saw Baekhyun making his way to board the ship. Baekhyun was quick to bring Soohyun forward and hand her over to his one of his men.

“Take her to the cell. We’re leaving,” he instructed.

“Who’s she?” the man who took Soohyun from Baekhyun asked.

“Later. We’re being followed by palace guards so we need to leave as soon as possible,” Baekhyun said as he quickly walked his way through the deck. He didn’t spare anyone a glance as he started giving commands here and there. His crew seemed to be quite shocked by the fact that they were being followed but was quick enough to act so that they could leave right away.

Soohyun was held by a man who was way taller than Baekhyun is. He kept a tight grip on her arm as he took her to where Baekhyun has told him to—to the cell. They took a few flight of stairs down the deck until they reached what seemed like the bottom of the ship. Soohyun immediately noticed that it was relatively dark in there compared to the outside and she can already feel the slight fear crawling up to her. She held on tightly on the sleeves of her coat as she tried to find some comfort in it. The man then placed her inside and she reluctantly went in. He then closed the bars and locked it. He was about to leave when Soohyun spoke.

“I-“ her breath hitched as soon as she tried to speak. She was suddenly reminded of how dry feels right now. The man stood and looked at her, waiting for her next words. Soohyun tried so hard to say what she wanted even though it felt like she used every last ounce of energy left on her for just barely trying to speak.

“Water. I’m th-irsty,” Soohyun managed to speak. She felt her knees have finally given up on her when they roughly landed on the hard ground. She looked up and saw that the man was nowhere in sight. He must’ve already left. Soohyun could only hope that he would bring some water or else she could swear she’d die out of thirst.

Soohyun took the time to relax herself and give herself some time to sort the thoughts that were running on her mind. First of all, she succeeded in finding the pirate the seer talked about. Second, even if she was almost killed by that pirate, who turned out to be Byun Baekhyun, he ended up taking her with him. She can’t help but congratulate herself for what happened. She didn’t thought she would even be successful to accomplish it all. Soohyun felt happy that she was slowly ticking off the things she must do. Of course the thought of dying in the process of it all lingered in her mind as she did everything but Soohyun was more than happy that she got to board the ship at all. It was a big feat to her—this was her first time doing something on her own. It felt great. It felt wonderful. It felt rewarding, to be honest. Finally, she was doing something she felt right. All she did back at the palace was to obey everything the King orders even if it felt wrong most of the times. The fear of failing the King scared her more than anything. Soohyun knew how ruthless he can be and his own children weren’t an exception.

Right now, it just felt good that she was doing something on her own and something she knew was the right thing to do.

Soohyun heard footsteps coming down from the stairs near her cell. Her eyes immediately lit up, hoping that it was the same guy who brought her in with the glass of water she asked. Soohyun never felt this kind of happiness when she saw the glass of water in his hands. It almost felt like she saw a precious gem in his hands that she felt like tearing up at the sight of it. The guy stopped in front of her cell and handed her the glass of water. Soohyun might have grabbed it way too hard because there was an obvious shock written on the guy’s face as soon as she took the glass of water from him.

“Who are you? Why did Baekhyun took you with him? Did he perhaps kidnapped you?” Soohyun wasn’t even finished gulping down her water when she heard the guy ask questions non-stop. He looked away, as if thinking of what to ask next when Soohyun didn’t answer. “But he never mentioned anyt