After clarifying things with Aurora, I passed out right away.

The next day, we're confined inside our small room. There's even a guard in front of the room.

These pirates surely are too strict with their rules.

It's a good thing that they still feed us. Yea, the same salty food but at least they give us water instead of grog. How generous.

After eating breakfast and not knowing what to do, I've been lying down on my bed while staring into the ceiling absentmindedly for hours.

I'm so bored. There's nothing to do.

The room is too small to walk around and the porthole is too small to see anything outside.
The hot air in the room makes me sweat and suffocate. Plus, I'm getting dizzy and nauseous from the ship rocking.

I crane my neck to look at Aurora. She has been absorbing in a book that she finds inside a drawer. Beads of sweat on her angelic face don't bother her at all as she looks strangely calm.

After the small conversation last night, we barely talked today. I feel like she avoids talking to me. She gives off a different aura from the original book. I decide to watch after her in case she plans to do something out of expectation.

Then I recall the same scene in the fiction. The female lead was locked in the room until reaching Port Royal. But that takes 3 days. Day 1 hasn't ended, I already felt like a deflated balloon.

That's it. I can't take this anymore!!

Being a 21th century girl, I need to protect my own right!!

They can't lock me in a room without my consent!!

An eye for an eye!!!

Instantly getting up off the bed, I shake away dizziness and banging on the door, "Open the door! I need to speak to your captain. Quick! It's an important matter."

Aurora looks up from her book. She stares at me confusedly.

"What's the matter, Miss?" The guard asks me from the other side of the door.

"Bring me to your captain. I need to talk to him over the matter of life and death." I try to sound panic to make him believe me.

The wooden door opens, revealing an older version of Jack.

The man sees my confused face so he introduces himself, "I'm Jim, Jack's brother."

"Oh, I see." I nod, "Well, Jim, I request you to take me to your captain. Now!"

---

Jim escorts me toward the quarterdeck where I see Hongjoong steers the helm. He looks peaceful and harmless, unlike the usual cunning expression. Soft wind blows his majestic mullet on his shoulder makes me internally sigh in admiration. No one would believe that this is the ruthless pirate king that haunts the mind of people.

But once he notices me, his signature sly grin appears on his handsome face. He signals a nearby crew to take over the helm. Then he saunters toward my direction.

"Miss.Star what bring you here?" He says cordially which really surprises me.

Jim whispers into Hongjoong's ears. Seriousness flickers on his face when he listens to Jim's report.

"Oh, you have an important matter to tell me, what's it?"

Crap, he's so intimidating that my anger and courage vanish into thin air. If I bring up the confinement right now, will he be fed up?

"Umm, you see...the map, yes, the map! How is the plan going?" I decided to distract him by the other topic before getting into the main point.

"That's not something you should be worried about, unless you didn't tell us everything."His hazel eyes glint suspiciously.

Shoot

"No, no, I told you everything I know. I seriously told you everything." I stutter. Feeling it's a bad idea to offer myself to a lion.

"Then, nothing else that we need to talk about. Jim takes her back to her cabin." Hongjoong orders Jim.

I haven't been here for 5 minutes and I have to go back to suffocate in that room!? No way!

"Wait...I, um, have something else to say." Racking my brain for an excuse to not go back to the room, my eyes lit from a crazy idea.

"You know that I'm the seer right? I can see the future, so perhaps, do you want to know about your...future love life?"

Surprise plaster on Hongjoong's face as well as the crew around him. They subtly crane their ears to secretly eavesdrop our conversation.

Hongjoong clear his throat to recompose himself and smirk, "My future love life-"

"Our captain doesn't have time for that." A cold voice cut off Hongjoong, revealing all-black Seonghwa. His presence makes the temperature drop -8 °C.

"Jim, why's Miss Star here? Take her back to the room." His dark cold eyes set on me.

I grimace at him. He's someone I call party pooper. Even though he looks so damn hot now, he'll never lose a spot on my nerve wrecker list.

"Good to see you too quartermaster." I force out a smile. Dealing with Hongjoong is hard but with Seonghwa, I don't stand a chance.

Jim walks toward me and gestures to me to follow him but I stand my ground.

"I won't go until I get my answer. I'll get to the point." I pause, gathering my composure, "I do not understand your way of punishment. Being locked in a room for 3 days, isn't it too much? Didn't Aurora say she didn't intend to escape? And why do I have to be locked in the room too?"

"You have no say in this matter." Seonghwa's face darkened.

Jim tugs on my arms but I ward off his hands.

"Noo, I won't go back!" I protest. "You have to revoke your punishment."

"This is our way of doing things. You are just a guest on our ship. Now, be a good guest and go back to your room." Seonghwa growls.

The way he pronounces Guest sounds like we are a captive.

Raising my chin up, I'm gonna fight with them for my freedom.

"Pleeeease, I don't want to suffocate inside that small room. It's too small, there's no space to walk, my little finger keeps hitting on bed legs. And the air is way too hot, I'm getting seasick. Oh my god, I actually want to vomit right now." I fake throwing up but the duo just stare pathetically at me.

Jim, who's standing behind me, let out a giggle at my outstanding performance.

"You're spouting nonsense." Seonghwa says. Her rant somewhat reminded him of the master gunner.

"You know what, this is not making sense. We don't plan to escape. There're hundred of you on the ship and we're just 2 fragile women. We can't fight you off. Plus, do you think it's fun to row a boat in the middle of nowhere? I don't even know how to row a boat! " I angry-yelling at them. Anger rises back which makes me forget how scary they are.

"You have no choice, Miss Star. Go back to your room when we're still nice." Seonghwa threatens me. He looks like he'll throw me overboard by himself.

"But did you listen to what I was saying? It's not fair to apply your rules to us-"

"Miss Star, go back to your room as Seonghwa said. This is my ship, my rules." Hongjoong's expression becomes serious, "San, her back." 

I flinch at the name.

Looking behind my back, San stands close to me. My heart drops to the ground.

When did he stand here?

Arghh!!! This is so frustrating.

They know that San is my weakness. If I still refuse to leave, maybe I'll never be able to leave this spot ever after.

I defeatedly walk back with San who trails closely behind me. But I don't forget to scowl at the captain and quartermaster duo before leaving.