Heechul could barely comprehend what just happened.

Taeyeon, his very first friend, was not a man but a woman? Dressed up as a man? How could that be possible?

“You’re a very weird man, Taeyeon.”

“Weird?”

“How come you don’t like women?”

“That’s not true. I like women. My best friends are women. They saved me from many dangers and took good care of me. Women are a very important part of my upbringing.”

“How come you don’t like warming beds of brothels then?”

“The less dangers I put myself into, the more chances I have to survive.”

Heechul gulped, his eyes shifting its gaze to a small rock near his feet. All this time? All this time Taeyeon had been a woman?

“What we’re gonna do now?” Shindong asked the group. They all stood on top of the mount, in a circle, trying to even grasp what Taeyeon had just told them.

“We can’t just be back to what the Abandoned was.” Donghae replied. “Taeyeon being a woman makes the dynamic of our group completely changed. We can’t just pretend it is the same, it isn’t!”

It isn’t? Why must it be so different?

“And now what? What are we gonna do?” Shindong questioned again. “Stay here in Mokpo?”

“We can’t stay here in Mokpo!” Minho came forward. “This is a ing island! This is not our hometown. This is not our final spot. We can’t just stay here and call it a day!”

“So what can we do?”

“I don’t know.” He answered.

“Leeteuk… what do we do?”

“Why you asking me this, man? How am I even supposed to know?”

“You are the second in command. You gotta think of something!”

“I’m not second in command!” Leeteuk left out. “Heechul is!”

Shindong quickly moved his feet to reach Heechul. “What do we do, Heechul?”

Heechul was feeling like a migraine was just growing bigger and bigger in his head. When Shindong shook him up, Heechul angrily bursted him away. “Just gef off me!” He complained, pushing Shindong back. He realized everyone was looking at him, waiting for his answer. “I don’t know! I don’t know what to do!” He said, looking downwards. His heart beating at higher speeds.

“Didn’t you guys hear Taeyeon? The band is broken! We’re all free to go!” Leeteuk came forward.

“Go where?” Shindong insisted.

“Well, we’re all by ourselves now.... We can still be part of a band.” Donghae tried. “Only us. Real men.”

“Real men?” Heechul frowned, looking back at Donghae. A sudden burst of anger was filling him up completely. “What kind of men are we, Donghae? When all this time, the only one doing something remotely manly and heroic had been Taeyeon?”

That made Donghae lower his head.

Heechul clenched his jaw. “Everything we do here is just crack a joke and eat and drink and run! Taeyeon has done things we wouldn’t even consider in a million years!” He stated firmly. “Taeyeon had been lying about her gender, true. But we can’t just forget what Taeyeon has just done for each and all of us!” He spoke up loudly. And each second he spent talking, more he convinced himself that sticking with Taeyeon would always be the best thing to do. “Cap is still Cap at the end of the day, and if we manage to get here so far, why can’t we just keep going like we’ve always been?”

“There is no Cap Taeyeon anymore, Heechul.” Leeteuk said.

Heechul shook his head. His mind was bombarded with scenes and memories he and the group shared with Taeyeon. All the moments Taeyeon refused to go to the sauna together. All the moments Taeyeon spent avoiding fights and confrontation. All the moments they laughed.

“It doesn’t change a thing, does it?” He walked forward. “Taeyeon was the captain of the band. And all the things that happened to us, happened with her being in the group! Her decisions led us till here! We can now choose what to do and where our stand will be. Why can’t we stand by her?”

”You knew about that, didn’t you? About Taeyeon!” Leeteuk raised the question once again.

“No, I didn’t!” Heechul said it back, firmly. “I didn’t know it.”

“Nonsense, you were joined at the hips, together all the freaking time. You’ve got to know at some point!”

“I didn’t!” He repeated once again. “Taeyeon never told me anything. She kept that hidden from me as well, I’m telling you!”

“Heechul has a point though...” Jonghyun started saying. He had always been the quiet one of the group, so everytime Jonghyun dared to even speak, all the boys used to listen to him. “We are all here…Because of Taeyeon! We were following him all this time without doubting an inch of his intuition and reasoning. And now that it is revealed Taeyeon had been a woman all this time, suddenly, our cap loses all the credibility he once had? How does that make any sense?” He questioned. “Woman or man, Taeyeon is still Taeyeon. And what she said is true as well. She is still a bastard child from Ironstow that knows how to swordfight…. And take Taeyeon away from us, what is left?” He asked and all the boys lowered their heads. Heechul didn’t. Heechul kept staring at Jonghyun. “What difference does it really make? Taeyeon being a woman amongst us?” He called for their reaction. “When Taeyeon was being hunt by Master Shin, and became an enemy of the Red Mountains, she gave us her horse. And her belongings. And she sacrificed her life there so we could pass the gate and be free from that city...”

Heechul felt his chest swollen up, and his eyes filled up with tears when the very memory of Taeyeon being hanged up by Master Shim traced back to him. She would’ve died there. If it was revealed that Taeyeon was indeed a woman back then, she would’ve died. And no law would’ve protected her from that.

“Despite her lie… Taeyeon has sacrificed a lot to keep us all alive.” Jonghyun continued. “And we were only able to even get here to Mokpo because of her. Because her father was a friend of the captain of the ship, wasn’t that true?”

Heechul just gave him a silent nod.

“Taeyeon trusted us.” He said, nodding his head. “Despite our genders, she trusted our company and friendship. And if she is able to do that when we are all males, why can’t we do the same with her? What difference is really there between us?” He asked them. “Our birthclasse is the same, our age is almost all the same. So what is there… to make us not trust our friend anymore?”

The minute in silence made Heechul sigh, proud that at least one of them was actually sharing his same feelings.

“Hear, hear, Jonghyun is right!” Minho agreed with his best friend. “We can’t just pretend Taeyeon isn’t important to us anymore just because she is a woman. She still cares about us. So much so, even after we denied her, she is still giving us a second chance to join her tomorrow.”

“So...what do we do?” Shindong asked once again. “Do we all go to the harbor tomorrow?”

“Why do we have to decide for you?” Heechul asked him. “You’re a free man, you can choose what you wanna do!” He replied. “If you don’t share our feelings, and don’t see a point by sticking with Taeyeon, just stay out.” Heechul said firmly, walking forward to stay in the center of the circle. “No one is forcing you to join our decision or what not.”

“But isn't it better if we all stay together?” He tried.

“All together is not the right word when Cap Taeyeon isn’t here in the first place.” Minho walked up, staying beside Heechul. “I will stand by Taeyeon.”

Jonghyun followed him. “The group is broken and so each one of us can have their own decision. I will support Taeyeon as well.”

“So do I.” Heechul stood firmly. “And if the rest of you aren’t on board of supporting her, that’s fine. We’ll split apart. There is no point in sticking together when our trusts won’t be the same.”

“What do we do, Leeteuk?” Shindong asked his best friend once again.

“I don’t know!” Leeteuk replied, a little angry, Shindong has asked that question so many times.

“Donghae?”

Donghae gulped, his eyes still looking at the floor beneath their feet. “I don’t know either.”

“If you don’t know…” Heechul straightened his back. “It means you’ve already got your answer.” The three boys clenched their fists. “Taeyeon doesn’t need half-supports. Either you go full with it, or you won’t. There is no middle-ground.” He finished.

“Heechul is right.” Minho stepped forward. “Every time we approach a new city, more challenges and troubles come in our way and if you’re not comfortable at following Taeyeon anymore, it’s better to stay out. We don’t need half-trusts.”

“We’ll go to the harbor tomorrow. And just come together if you are fully into supporting that. 100%.” And with that being said, Heechul, Minho and Jonghyun climbed down the hill, leaving Leeteuk, Shindong and Donghae behind.

~~*~~

Heechul got a little turvy on the stomach when he got inside his room. Million thoughts and emotions were running through his head. There was much to absorb in such a small time frame, he felt he was on the verge of getting mad.

“Those gisaeng girls there dead… it could’ve been me.”

“Nonsense, Taeyeon! You are not a wo-”

“It could’ve been me.”

Heechul closed his eyes, his hand shaking up a little.

“You can’t do that, Cap. You can’t just leave it like that. You have to show ‘em your strength. You have to show ‘em you’re a man!”

“I’m okay not trying to prove an irrelevant point.”

Taeyeon had been giving hints all those times and no one ever dared to pick them up. The thought of Taeyeon not being a man never really crossed their minds and it’s just absurd that they never suspected a thing. Even with all those clues.

“You’re a little delicate sometimes, Cap. Are you trying to win over ladies’s hearts by being a Bastard Flower Prince?”

“No. I’m just being me.”

“Flower Prince.”

“Don’t call me that, I’m not a prince!”

“I’m not a son. I’m not a ing prince. I’m a girl, born at a brothel house that needs to go to Hanyang! To find Park Minshik! And that will always be part of me! And you were my best friends, and I felt like you needed to know about that too.”

“Why didn't you tell me that sooner, Taeyeon?” He wondered himself, recalling all the moments he shared with Taeyeon. Truth to be told, Heechul didn’t really mind Taeyeon being a woman. If anything, it just made him more relieved. Because there were moments where he felt Taeyeon was somehow stirring up his feelings and now, being aware of that fact, it is so much more understandable and forgiving. “So is it okay? Is it okay for me to feel these things for you, isn’t it?”

Heechul closed his eyes, his hand shaking up a little in relief. When a couple of knocks were hit on the door, Heechul slid the door of his room open, welcoming Minho and Jonghyun inside.

“We’ve finished arranging our bags. We’re good to go!” Jonghyun said. “Once morning arrives, we’ll go to the Harbor and meet Captain Taeyeon there!”

“Okay!” Heechul nodded. “If we get up early, we’ll get there in time!”

“Right!” Jonghyun agreed.

“I’m gonna call Lady Miyoung and the others!” Minho spoke up.

“Lady Miyoung?” Heechul frowned. For a second, Heechul completely forgot about the existence of Lady Miyoung and her group of friends. He has been seeing them so sparsely those past days, he actually got surprised how far it took him to remember those women were also part of the band.

“Hmm… they surely will go too, right?” Minho reasoned. “No way Taeyeon would leave them as well. They might be packing their stuff already!”

Jonghyun seconded. “Do they even know though?” He asked his best friend. “About Taeyeon’s true gender?”

Heechul thought about that. It’s been weeks since he’s seen Taeyeon ever spending some time with Lady Miyoung. Considering how close those two used to be, the only thing that could potentially make them be so apart like that wouldn’t be anything other than Taeyeon’s real identity.

“They know.” Heechul said, firmly. “I’m sure of it.” He nodded. “Taeyeon wouldn’t let Lady Miyoung and her friends out of the loop. Pretty sure Taeyeon had told them already!”

“Alright, I’ll call them.” Minho continued, rushing himself to climb another round of stairs and get to the floor up above. Jonghyun and Heechul followed him.

"They moved themselves to another room?" Heechul asked, curiously.

"Yes! It's been a week or so now. Don't really know ther reason." Minho explained it. He knocked on the door twice.

The time it took for one of the girls to open the door made the boys frown their brows, finding it oddly enough. “Who is it?” They heard Sooyoung asking.

“Minho!”

When Sooyoung slid the door open, but only till a certain frame, as she used her body to block the view of what was inside the room, Heechul raised tall in suspicion.

“We’re just here to tell you we’re ready.” Minho said. “And we want to know if you guys got everything already packed…”

“Ready? Ready for what?”

Minho blinked. “To go to the harbor tomorrow?”

“The harbor?”

“Yes! To leave Mokpo Island! And continue our journey with Taeyeon!”

Sooyoung blinked, completely oblivious to that information. “Are you guys leaving Mokpo?”

Jonghyun and Minho exchanged looks. “What happened? Why are you acting up like you didn’t know a thing?”

Sooyoung bit her lower lip. “I’m not acting up anything. We-uh....” She looked backwards, inside the room. When she sighed, she pushed the door to the side, wide open completely, allowing the boys to enter the room and finally see what was going on.

Lady Miyoung was on top of the bed, her whole face was in a lit red-ish color due to the rising of her fever. There was a wet cloth on her forehead as a tool to coolen her body temperature. Seohyun was sitting on the bed just beside Lady Miyoung, holding her hand very tightly, giving her comfort. Yuri was on the other side of the room, sitting on the floor, brewing some tea.