You were an only child.

Your mother died when you were 5, barely understanding what was going on around you. It was suddenly just you and your father, who raised you despite the vast poverty you were living in, that much was for sure, but never really seemed to care about you. Maybe, if your name had started with some famous - and thoroughly cheap - alcohol he yearned for, he would have loved you more, small wonder he often called you by those stupid drinks’ names he currently consumed.

It didn’t matter you had no money to pay for them, he always found a way to get what he wanted, the lack of food on your plate didn’t bother him as long as he had his beloved bottles of poisoning liquids. You had to grow up at a quite early age to be responsible for yourself if your one living parent wasn’t willing to do that, it made you strong though, stronger than anyone would’ve been in this situation.

You were no stranger to starving, endless humiliation from the malevolent people as they saw you as your father’s daughter and nothing more, beatings - sometimes just a light slap to the face compared to the worst you’ve ever gotten -, sometimes hard pushes, kicks and harsh words the man never seemed to run out of. Days at the house were a living hell, yet, you stayed.

You stayed, because where could you go? And with what money? If someone was kind enough to give you a job, your father always found out and always took the money. If you resisted, it got worse for you. You had no living relatives, none that you knew about, thus there was no chance of a gracious aunt, grandparent or a cousin helping you out. You were on your own, you had always been after your mother’s tragic death.

Sometimes you missed her dearly, barely remembering what she was like. The only memory you were able to keep was her warm smile whenever she looked at you and the affectionate way she used to say your name; you kept these old pictures of your mind closed in your heart, and reminisced them in your dreams, the only place where the world couldn’t harm you.

One day, you were walking home from the market with a basket of bread and milk, you got it as your payment after you helped to teach one of the vendor’s kid to read - you yourself learned it from your mother’s old books -; it was not much, but enough for two people for a few days.

You found the rusty iron gate to your house wide open, which made your steps halt for a moment as you definitely remembered to close it before you took off to collect your pay. After a second of thinking, you hurried up the stairs, pushed the front door without hesitation. “Dad!” Your shout echoed in the house, but there was no response, so you tried it again. “Dad!” When there was nothing, but silence to meet you, you gulped down all the nervous feelings that were quick to bottle up inside you, and moved your legs, slowly and carefully, towards the kitchen. The stamping ground of your father.

You tried to catch any noise that would tell you about possible intruders or your father being in some kind of trouble and unable to answer; you were prepared for all. To come across cold-blooded burglars that decided to take your father down after they found nothing to steal, to find his body lying helplessly - or lifelessly - around somewhere, or the worst: shallow emptiness. Despite your father being a monster, it was your biggest fear to come home to an empty house one day, as he decided to leave you just like your mother did.

You took a shaky breath as you reached the end of the small hallway leading to the kitchen, you gathered all your strength to be able to move further away from the threshold and the safe coverage of the wall next to you. However, a muffled sound could be heard through the room that startled you with its suddenness, your instinctively put your free hand on your chest to calm your rapidly beating heart down.

Then, you decided it was enough of this foolish spooked-girl behaviour. If there were people in this household waiting to strike down, they would have already done it without tiptoeing around you. Right? So it was more likely that your father just fell asleep over a bottle of god knows what this time, and it fell out his hands as he was calmly taking a drunken nap. That’s all.

“Dad?” You still called, just to be sure, however, when you stepped into the kitchen, it wasn’t a kind sight that welcomed you. Your breath hitched as your brain was quick to realize the identity of the three, tall men surrounding your father leisurely sitting at the table. Two on each side, one behind him.

Pirates.

Tall, illegally handsome, smug and deadly-looking pirates.

In your house. And your father was seemingly unbothered by their presence.

The basket fell from your weakened grasp, bread scattering on the floor, rolling towards the men, milk bottles instantly breaking and spilling the tasty liquid at your feet, straining the hem of your skirt with the splashing drops.

“Ah, good, you’re home,” The head of the house finally addressed you, tone flat and lips forming an annoying smile that disgusted you every time he showed it. “Be a good girl and greet my friends here, will you?”

You stayed silent, frozen in your place, and the man’s smile morphed into a fully annoyed expression, but before he could yell at you for not being the obedient girl he wanted you to be in front of others, the… boy standing on his left waved smugly. “Hello, cupcake.” You completely ignored him, holding your chin up high and daring him to talk to you in that manner again. You didn’t know where did you find the will to do that in midst of your inner meltdown, but now you had to go on with it.

While you were playing mute, you quickly observed the newcomers who didn’t seem familiar at all. They were just as young as you, maybe one or two years older, you realized when you took a better look at them. What kind of messed up live would drive anyone into joining a pirate crew? You wanted to laugh at your naivety, because you exactly knew the answer for that, but still, no, you would’ve rather lived the rest of your life enduring your father’s unpredictable behaviour than terrorizing people just out of fun.

The silence stretched further, and unsurprisingly, it started to get awkward, like there was this big elephant in the room no one cared to shed light on, so you waited, mostly because you didn’t know what to say. What could have possibly expressed what you were feeling in those moments?

You were utterly confused and the fear didn’t help either, you had never encountered pirates before, of course, you saw them remotely, but luckily, never had to be the unlucky person who got caught up in the mess they intentionally created. Rumor had it that no one lived the day to tell tales about them, because they didn’t leave witnesses behind.

You gulped as you involuntarily managed to recall the legends the traders used to scare the children with, you weren’t a child anymore to let it affect you, yet you didn’t doubt that there were indeed good reasons to be afraid of pirates.

“Well, then,” your father coughed, voice raspy and irritating, “a deal is a deal. Sorry, my daughter, but I had no choice.” His tone clearly indicated that he wasn’t sorry regardless of what he was talking about.

You knitted your eyebrows in confusion. You had no clue what your father meant by a deal. And no choice? For him? He talked himself out of every dangerous situation one could get into, making things only favor to him despite being an alcoholic, so he always had a choice. The choice he wanted to accept.

“What are you talking about?” You tried to appear bold in front of the pirates, though the long forgotten and now completely useless food spread on the floor told otherwise. Brave people didn’t make such mistakes to appear vulnerable and weak, they didn’t let their guard down even if they got scared for a moment.

The significant cheshire grin you got goosebumps from all the time was back on your father’s face, you felt the pure need to vomit just by looking at it. Although, what bothered you more was the pirates standing still and staying out of the conversation totally wrapped in silence. Their faces were unreadable, except for one, the tall man who sassily greeted you before. Shivers ran down your spine seeing his eerie and knowing-it-all smile.

“You, my daughter,” he said, grabbing the half empty green bottle on the table. You hated how he pronounced this world that should have sounded gentle from a loving father, but it was nothing more than a cold brush of fingers dancing on your skin. “You’re going to stay with them from now on. Serve them, cook for them, or whatever they ask you to do, you’re going to be a good girl and do it all.”

The blood turned cold in your veins, the world seemed to stop, only spinning with you as the words left his mouth and were now ringing in your head on repeat. The temperature has appeared to drop down despite the early hot summer rampaging outside, the men’s reaction didn’t help either, you could’ve sworn one was even laughing at your miserable state. You had to grab your skirt with both hands to hold onto something else as the wall was too far away to be available for this sole purpose.

“W-what?” You croaked out, sounding pathetic and desperate, but damn it, you were! This just had to be a cruel joke your father found funny to play on you for something you must have committed during the years of loyally serving him like a servant. It had to be. He couldn’t be that heartless.

Except that he was. One look was enough to tell that, his eyes shined with annoyance and some kind of wicked satisfaction your reaction brought out of him. “You heard it right!” He snapped, and you winced, but maintained the eye contact with the man that you found no suitable word for. He wasn’t a father, that was for sure. “They offered me two boxes full of wine for you! Two! And it’s not the cheap one like those vendors sell. It is from Italy! Italy! Can you imagine?” He coughed a bit again, gulping down a huge amount of… something that was in that bottle.

The tall one that has already spoken to you nodded along your father’s incoherent speech with a condescending look on his face. You wanted to punch him so badly.

“Apparently,” your father continued, not really knowing when to shut up, “their captain was looking for someone to pass time with… if you know what I mean.” He took another sip, ready to speak some more, but the one standing behind him interrupted.

“Enough of this foolery already! We don’t have time for some family drama. Junhoe, Chanwoo, grab her and let’s go! I’d like to go home.” He said, barking out orders to the other two surrounding your father. They immediately started moving towards you, the one with the totally punchable face, Junhoe, even impressively turning his blade in his hands to maybe scare you, or just to show off, you couldn’t quite tell.

You knew there was no point in crying and begging to your father to change his mind, you didn’t think the pirates would even let him to do it if he ever took pity on you. So you did the only rational thing that’s left.

You ran.

You didn’t bother to rush out of the front door, what good would have that led to? To involve more people in this mess you suddenly fell into? No, you couldn’t let that happen. Thus you ran up the creaky stairs, towards your room to search something, anything that could help you fight back against them.

You were smart and tried everything, but they were pirates, tall, masculine and lethal men that weren’t afraid to cut anyone’s throat if they didn’t obey. Of course they caught you, your skinny body’s physical strength was no match to theirs.

“Easy there, wildcat, there’s no need to be so furious,” Junhoe dodged your mother’s precious books you sent flying their way, simply because you didn’t have anything else to protect yourself with. It was a cheap method, but you couldn’t give up without a fight, your life, your future depended on it after all.

You were helplessly looking around for more objects to protest with, this gave enough time for him to come closer and lift you off the ground by throwing your body onto his shoulder like you were some kind of baggage he had to carry.

You immediately let out a frustrated yell, but this didn’t seem to touch any of their cold hearts, Junhoe walked steadily despite you screaming and shouting things at him, repeatedly hitting his back, or just begging him, them to stop. They didn’t care about your pathetic fiasco and they didn’t care about the citizens either.

That was when you realized why there were three of them. They didn’t think that it would be hard to deal with you, oh no, one carried you around on his shoulder and two stood by to scare away the locals if they dared to interfere. But they knew better than that, the pirates had a really big - and bad - reputation, so they just watched you, maybe felt sorry for you, nevertheless, did nothing to help you.

The strut lasted long, too long, but time stopped after you left house, so it could be only minutes until you reached the destination: the scary ship stationing at the dock. If the enormous height didn’t, the black flag on the mast sure gave away the identity of the ship’s true owners.

Whistles could be heard as you neared the ship, and by the time you arrived, pirates gathered around you from all directions that you got slightly dizzy from looking at their spiraling forms that came closer and closer. Junhoe tried to put you down instead of dropping you, but because of your ongoing protest, it didn’t happen how he wanted to, so he pulled his arms back and let you care about the landing just like that. Thus, now you were on the ground, aching and men laughing at you unstoppably.

“Enough!” A shout broke through the air and everyone became quiet like they were programmed to do so, but you barely heard anything over your loud heartbeat that seemed to quicken its pace with each passing second.

Footsteps neared the crowd and it parted, making a way to someone you couldn’t see from your lowered head and disheveled hair falling over your face. You tried to make yourself as small as possible, to the level where you wished it was impossible to see you anymore.

“What is this ruckus? Don’t you people have things to do?” The same voice talked again, not shouting this time, but oh, how you wished he was! His words were sharp like a knife smoothly cutting a bread to pieces, his tone had a deadly calm ringing that was anything but peaceful. Wise men recognized the danger when it headed their way, thus the pirates flee the scene to get back to whatever their work was.

Only a few remained, the three who brought you here and the one you haven’t dared to look at yet, but felt his presence since he stepped up to chase the crowd away.

“Captain,” the one who might have been some kind of leader of the three spoke, “we delivered the boxes as part of our deal and brought you the girl in exchange.”

“Very good, Bobby,” the captain patted the man’s back, whom now you could put a name to.

One of them snorted. “I was the one who carried her through the whole freaking town, and Bobby gets all the glory for only bossing around, unbelievable.” Junhoe scoffed. Of course it was him. You could tell quite easily that he had a big mouth.

“What do you want, Junhoe?” The captain raised an eyebrow. He didn’t take the trouble to comment on things, he knew Junhoe was just doing this to get himself something he normally wouldn’t ask for without having the leverage.

“I want full access to Yunhyeong”s kitchen after the devil’s spawn banned me from it!”

Huh? He was that easy? When he could asked for gold, jewelries, expensive treasures, he asked for food? You glanced up at him under your locks and saw that he was serious, even grinning when his captain agreed to fulfill his ridiculous request.

“Fine, I’ll talk to Yunhyeong about it, but one more explosion down there and you’re out not only of the kitchen, but of this ship too, for good!”

“Great, thanks, captain!” Junhoe smirked, already thinking of ways he could annoy the hell out of their chef with for banning him to come down and invade their food stash after that little accident he caused that wasn’t even worth to mention.

The other two, Bobby and Chanwoo, just rolled their eyes, because they saw this coming as Junhoe was predictable as hell. He knew he couldn’t bribe their captain into vetoing Yunhyeong’s orders without doing something the man appreciated. And now, he really appreciated bringing you to him, even though he didn’t say it.

“What’s your name?” The captain talked again, to you, this time. You stayed silent, glued to the floor as it became a favoured place until the attention was back on you. “Hm? You can’t talk or something? I asked you a question you know, it’s rude not to answer.” He squat down before you, cold fingers touching your hair to brush it away to see your eyes.

You almost backed away, but the sight knocked the breath out of you. The man was… beautiful. He had delicate features, deep brown eyes that shone with light full of mystery and so ready to let people fall into the greatest mists of it, voice soothing, a bit silky, completely changing from earlier when he spoke to his crew with rigor.

Is he really the captain? You pondered, because he didn’t look threatening at all at first sight, but the sword attached to his left side and the voice he used just minutes ago clearly told otherwise.

When you still wasn’t able to talk, or actually willing to, for that matter, Junhoe thought it was time to pester you again. “Come on, wildcat, answer the man’s question. If I were you, I wouldn’t keep Kim Jinhwan waiting for so long.”

Kim Jinhwan? The Kim Jinhwan? You gulped, because this wasn’t the first time you heard this name, oh no, all kinds of gossips, legends and stories of the infamous captain of the Red Hook had been flying around town since forever.

However, you didn’t wish to stay on this ship, coming here wasn’t your choice to begin with, so you wanted to do everything to prevent that from happening. If that meant you had to be brave and act irritating to get on their nerves, then you would do just that, hoping that they would eventually get bored of it and sent you back to the town.

So you held your chin up high, shooting daggers with your eyes at everyone who stood around you, pouring all the hate that rampaged inside you into the stares. You were mad at your father, at the pirates, at the world, but most of all, you were tired. Like dead tired, when the point of living wasn’t so clear anymore.

Why did you keep fighting when you fell every time? What if this time you weren’t willing to stand up?

Jinhwan had enough of your stubborn behaviour, he was a patient man, but also a captain, so he wouldn’t just repeat the question like a fool until you answered them, he had better things to do than dealing with an unruly girl. He wasn’t one to despise violence, but only applied it in necessary situations, and this wasn’t one in terms of being threatening to them. You’ll come around, he thought.

“Alright, then,” He stood up, not looking back at you, but you still felt the burden of his gaze on you. “Ask Soyeon to give her clothes, then we’ll think about what to do with her after that.”

“Uuuuh, monkey cupcake will be thrilled about that.” Junhoe remarked, and you couldn’t care less about who’s going to do what. The only thing on your mind was that new clothes meant getting a small piece of them, and having pirate accessories meant more permanent things, things you couldn’t allow to happen.

“No!” You shrieked in despair, making your limbs to move before anyone could react. You wasn’t thinking clearly, or at all, you just saw the opportunity and grabbed it. You hastily looked around the ship, and quickly made up your mind, previous thoughts crawling back.

You ran towards the other end of the ship, climbing up on the taffrail with the help of a well-situated pillar, balancing your body on the narrow surface. The cold breeze hit you up there, and you tried your best to swallow down the tears that kept piling up in your eyes.

“Wow, wow, wow, what are you doing? Get down here!” Jinhwan ordered immediately, the men running towards you, but unable to catch you before you managed to climb up.

“Stop! Come closer, and I’ll jump!” You yelled at everyone who tried to get near you, and you liked what you saw. The anger and inertia in Jinhwan’s eyes as he had no choice but to comply if he wanted to keep you on his ship.

Every fiber of your being wished he didn’t. Wished he’d laugh at you, don’t take you seriously and come closer, giving you the needed push to take a step forward and dive into the ocean surrounding you.

But unfortunately, everyone halted as he put his hands up to stop them. For some reason, Jinhwan listened to your ridiculous terms and stayed back.

“Are we serious?! Since when do we let crazy chicks dictate us? Go ahead and jump if you really have the guts to do so!” Junhoe exclaimed, maybe exaggerating a bit, but deep down in their hearts, everyone agreed with him. However, Jinhwan was the captain, so if Jinhwan decided no one should move closer, then no one did.

You looked at Junhoe, his eyes were challenging, daring you to be true to your own words, and yet again, you could have punched that annoyingly handsome face of his as he underestimated you. You moved your leg a bit, it made your body seemingly unsteady, and that was when Jinhwan decided to step up.

“Shut up, Junhoe!” He scolded his man, but never turning his head away or looking away from you. You kind of wanted to test him, to see how far he’d go to keep you there, but you had no intention to change your mind. Your bed would be the ocean tonight, you were certain about that. “What do you want? Huh? Money? Jewelries? What is it?”

You laughed at him. It wasn’t out of fun, nor happiness. It was purely bitter. “No,” You shook your head. Even as a poor girl, you wouldn’t want to take what belonged to others, let alone pirates. “I want to go home. Or everywhere, I just won’t stay here. This isn’t my deal, and I’m not a property my father can just give away as he pleases,” You stated and the first teardrop rolled down your cheek. Despite not being close to him, it hurt you that your father was willing to tread you so easily for a couple of fancy bottles of alcohol.

You weren’t going to beg him to let you go, but at least you tried to reason with him. Though you knew that no rational side excited when it was about pirates. They took what they wanted and it looked like they wanted you now, for whatever reason you couldn’t comprehend.

“I’m afraid that’s the only thing I can’t give to you, darling.” There, you really saw who lay beneath the smirking guy. A cocky and mighty pirate that spoke with such dignity you were surprised his huge pride had enough space to exist inside him, he was clearly used to getting what he wanted.

Well, you had to be the exception. You had no malice in you, so you truly hoped that if your death did some good at all, it would teach these arrogant men a lesson. It would have been sad if you were just another body they killed, or rather drove into death, to bury.

“Alright then, so be it.” You nodded, closing your eyes and accepting your fate. You actually looked forward to the eternal darkness. The last thing you thought of was the man who raised you, the man, who involuntarily pushed you into the arms of death.

Goodbye, father, you put your hand around where your mother’s necklace should have been if your father haven’t sold it a long time ago, and leaned backwards, ready to feel the ice-cold water engulfing your body.

But that never happened as a pair of strong hands grabbed you by the waist, pulled you back and put you onto the ground where the floor was steady under you and unable to drop you down to the ocean. You couldn’t open your eyes as tears started flowing without a stop, your shoulders shook and the muffled sound of your cries were absorbed by the man’s body who kept you close, not letting your legs to give out.

“If you try something like this ever again… I’m going to find your father and put his head on my mast, so the pathetic citizens could see it.” Jinhwan whispered angrily into your ears, hot breath burning your skin, his body stiff yet his grip gentle.

This made you cry even more, because you knew it wasn’t just an empty threat, and you still cared about your father enough to try everything to keep him alive. He was your only living relative after all.

And somehow, Jinhwan seemed to catch up on that, so he cold-heartedly used it against you.

You grudgingly looked at the clothes laid out before you, eyeing the pieces like they were some kind of tools the devil created. Maybe they really were, given the fact that nothing connected to pirates was normal.

You were doing this since Junhoe pushed you into the room saying your new clothes will be on the bed, and left you alone to dwell in self-pity.

“Are you going to finally get dressed or you planning on standing here all day to stare at my clothes?” A cold voice asked, making you jump a little as you didn’t expect to have someone else in the room other than you. You wouldn’t have put past the pirates to come and watch you change like the filthy people they were, but fortunately, there was a girl standing at the door.

She was beautiful, long black hair hugging her body like a shiny satin coat, upper shirt a bit baggy at the sleeves, fitting tight to her chest, connecting to the long skirt with a big black belt. Her high heel boots were an interesting to sight, you have never seen heels that high in your life. How could she walk in those?

She was petite, but looked like she could burn empires down at any moment with all the men kneeling at her feet. However, she didn’t necessarily look mean, just… powerful. Fearless with the fierce glint in her eyes.

She quirked an eyebrow when the silence stretched far too long and you just stared too noticeably at her. “Cat got your tongue?”

“No, it’s just…” you glanced back at the clothes, desperately searching for a lie that sounded believable. “I think they’re too big for me.” You said, and well, that wasn’t a complete lie. If the clothes were really hers, then they wouldn’t fit you properly. Despite being around the same height, her body was more curvy and healthy-looking next to your overly thin features.

She rolled her eyes. “That’s what the strings are for, silly thing.” She walked over to you, and it was the most graceful walk you’ve ever seen. Not even the dames at the town were this dainty, it thoroughly surprised you to see a pirate carry herself with such grace.

You remained silent while she picked up the long-sleeved shirt, familiar to the one she was wearing, a bit stronger in colors and hers didn’t have strings at the back.

“You are the only girl on this ship?” You suddenly blurted out without thinking.

“No, now you’re here too,” she said matter-of-factly, “turn around and clothes off.” She ordered, and because of her serious tone, you complied.

She helped you dress up, and somehow, you didn’t feel shy in front of her. She didn’t look at your body any more than necessary, and worked on the strings that, you were convinced, were too tight. You almost couldn’t breathe, and when you tried, your whole chest ached.

“No, I’m not going out there like this!” You protested loudly, turning away from the mirror, because its reflection made you sick. This was not you. Your decolletage was too big, almost showing everything there was to show in this pretty tight dress, the boots you got hurt your feet, so Soyeon - as you learned her name - let you keep yours, a bit torn, but flat and comfortable.

“Look,” Soyeon sighed, clearly annoyed with you. “Jinhwan treats his people with the utmost patience one could have, but he hates nothing more than whiny brats.” She poked at your bare shoulder with the knife she pulled out under her skirt earlier to destroy your own clothes, so you would have no choice. You couldn’t tell what kind of knife it was as you’ve never seen something like that before - it must have been a pirate tool.

Despite your dirty clothes being ripped into shreds and the remains scattered around the floor, you couldn’t be convinced to go out. Not dressed like a , but you also couldn’t say that out loud, because then Soyeon might have cut something else to pieces other than the clothes. And you did not wish to end up cut open on a pirate ship. You’d rather the ocean have your body than let pirates disgrace it.

“I’m not afraid of him,” You stated stubbornly, but in reality, part of the reason why you wouldn’t want to go out was to avoid meeting the captain or any of his vicious crew as you feared what might they do to you.

Soyeon rolled her eyes, clearly catching your lie, but she went on with it, much to your surprise. “You should be,” was all she said before she walked to the desk place below the small, round window. “Now get out of my room or I’ll have Junhoe remove you.” She didn’t yell or snapp angrily, but her tone was very much warning. Hearing his name made your heart skip a beat, because you’ve experienced what the man was capable of. What all of them were capable of, as Jinhwan’s threat was still ringing in your ears.

But you ran out of excuses, and Soyeon looked like she wasn’t kidding, she clearly didn’t want your presence anymore, and angering the only female member of this crew didn’t seem to be a good idea. You thought she’d be more likely to understand you, even if she wasn’t going to be your friend.

The chilly breeze hit you once again as you stepped out of her private chamber, it wasn’t too cold, but it would have been much warmer on the ground, you realized just now, because you’ve never been on a ship before.

You anxiously looked around the huge deck, everyone seemed to mind their own businesses, you even saw Junhoe pass by you without glancing in your direction, so your tense body immediately loosened a bit.

Your eyes caught the captain standing at the helm, looking right back at you, but since it was a big distance separating the two of you, you weren’t so sure about that. It was awkward, staring at him without knowing he noticed it or not, so you tried to look immersed in your surroundings, when you suddenly understood why Jinhwan was standing up there when you were still at the docks.

Because you weren’t. You didn’t notice the time of the departure while you were so worried about your clothes, and now you were on high seas, your old town looking like a small puzzle piece in the distance.

You sighed, breathing in the fresh air, trying to accept the fact that it was the start of your new life. But it was hard to do so.

After a very interesting conversation with the captain himself, you were assigned to help out the kitchen staff, you finally got to meet Yunhyeong you heard so much about through Junhoe’s whinings. A part of you liked him just because he sabotaged the man who personally brought to this ship, but you knew it was foolish to feel sympathy based on that; Junhoe was only the puppet others used. It wasn’t right to blame everything on him for following orders, if not him, Chanwoo or even Bobby would have done the same thing. But you stayed out of his way, and he didn’t try to talk to you, which was a good sign.

You were indirectly introduced to every crew member, but you couldn’t possible remember all of their names, truth to be told, you didn’t really put the effort in. You thought it was better not to know them more than you had to, and cooking, then serving foods for them at dinner was enough.

They had weird respect for girls in sense of harassing, no one said filthy things to you, or tried to coax you into something you didn’t want, nobody raised their voice at you, and touched you on inappropriate places. You expected them to be animals wanting to jump on you as soon as Jinhwan left the room, but so far nothing like that happened.

You got to meet Hanbin too, the captain’s brother and first mate. It caught you by surprise, because you initially thought that Bobby had that role among the pirates as he was always at Jinhwan’s side and the crew seemed to respect him as much as they respected their captain.

A thing bothered you about Hanbin, something you saw the other day and couldn’t just anyone of it, so you waited, trying to figure things out on your own, until you had the courage to ask Yunhyeong. The two of you stayed overnight to clean the dining area and wash the dishes. The others were already sleeping or patrolling around the deck.

“Alright, out with it, you clearly have something to tell,” Today was your lucky day, Yunhyeong initiated the conversation after he got tired of watching you open your mouth only to close it right back, because you didn’t know how to bring up the topic.

You sighed, looking at the dishes in your hands. “It’s not a big deal… I mean… It’s just something I saw,” You glanced at the chef, who stopped what he was currently doing and motioned you to go on. But it wasn’t enough for you to continue.

“Okay? What was it?” He started getting curious too, he was certain that there were plenty of things to see on this huge ship during a day, but he understood why you were so cautious with your words. Here, even the walls had ears.

“Hanbin,” You blurted out abruptly, that led to the man raising his eyebrows in surprise, because the captain’s brother had to be a careful topic around here, and well, he couldn’t possibly imagine what could you see as Hanbin wasn’t the world’s weirdest or most interesting creature. If it was Junhoe, Yunhyeong would have waved you off simply saying nothing the man did was ordinary. “I saw him go into Soyeon’s private chamber.” There, now it was out, you said it, and anxiously anticipated the reaction.

“So?” Yunhyeong questioned, not understanding the point of your concern. Then his face lit up. “Wait a minute, you said Soyeon’s private chamber?”

“Yeah?” You asked back, voice small and unsure. Now you were the one who didn’t get the reason why he started laughing at you.

“That’s not her chamber. It’s theirs. Well, originally it was Hanbin’s, but now they share it together. I thought you already knew about them.”

“Umm, no?!” You waved around with your hand, making a comical scene Yunhyeong had to laugh at again. “No one bothered to tell me.”

“I thought it was pretty obvious. Girl, they are the token couple of this ship!” He shook his head in disbelief, but then a stray thought hit him, thus he frowned. “I hope this expression doesn’t mean that you have a crush on Hanbin, because then you might as well start to make yourself invisible to escape Soyeon’s wrath if she ever finds out.”

“What? Are you out of your mind?! Ew, no, I don’t have a crush on Hanbin, or anyone, for that matter!” You shivered, even the mere thought of you falling for a pirate made your stomach churn. Of course, you couldn’t share this with Yunhyeong, but at least your honest reaction was enough to convince him you didn’t plan to steal anyone’s boyfriend.

“Alright, don’t get so worked up about it. I just wanted to make sure that’s not the case.”

Typical Yunhyeong. Always so kind and friendly with you. You wouldn’t have been able to tell he was a pirate if you have met him outside of this ship. He was just so… human. With a big heart and delighted mood that seemed to infect you these days. He was the only one you talked to, but you still haven’t gotten to the stage where you dared to call him your friend, or ask him why he chose to be a pirate.

It was mid afternoon when you were lazing around the crew’s quarters, alone in your hammock that you still haven’t got used to, you tried to get some sleep anyway, because the nights were awful with a bunch of men snoring beside you, and you woke up quite often. Bad dreams were usual since you arrived here, centering your father, sometimes even your mother. The fear of someone jumping on you to cut your throat or force you into things was permanent, so your mind could barely have proper rest.

The thought of death was still more appealing than spending the rest of your life on this freaking ship, but you were a human being, the fear of being harmed was only natural.

“Hey, kitchen girl!” You grunted and your other side as Soyeon appeared in the room. You hated when people called you nicknames, and apparently, it wasn’t only Junhoe’s thing to give ridiculous nicknames to others. “Get up, lazy , we have things to do!” She slapped your teasingly, being in a quite good mood that was rare to see.

“What things?” You looked at her above your shoulder, eyes narrowing suspiciously. Your only duty was to help out Yunhyeong in the kitchen, and he gave you a day off today for whatever reason he didn’t share with you.

“We have to find a pretty dress for you and do something with your hair,” She grimaced as she took a lock between her fingers.

“What for?” You blinked rapidly, thinking of an event you might have forgotten, but nope, there wasn’t any they mentioned to you, besides, it’s not like there were big parties in the middle of the sea.

“You really have to ask back every time I tell you something?” She rolled her eyes. “You’re going to have dinner with Jinhwan in his private chamber, so hurry up, we don’t have so much time to make you look… presentable.” She cocked her head to the side after looking up and down your body, clearly wanting to say something else.

But at that moment, other parts of what she had said got your attention. Dinner? With Kim Jinhwan? In his private chamber on top of that? What kind of sick joke was that?

Your protests died on your lips as Soyeon pulled you up and dragged you through the whole ship towards her room, where she immediately started to rummage in her rather large cabinet.

You just stood behind her dumbfounded, close enough to the door to start running anywhere, away from this mess, but your legs couldn’t move.

You were going to have dinner with Kim Jinhwan, the feared captain you hated with all your might for keeping you here for nothing, and no one was going to save you.

END OF PART ONE