The next day, I am called to the captain's cabin in the early morning. I groggily leave the room with my new wooden cane. Those guys clearly know my condition but still order the sick girl to walk around. I’ll take note to report to Yeosang.

Last night, I had a hard time falling asleep because yesterday's gruesome scene was haunting me. I realized after I got here, there’s no single day I live peacefully. No matter how much I like seeing Ateez, my sanity slip away because of them.

Reaching captain’s quarter, Jim, the cabin boy, prepares to knock on the door but I stop him. I need to recompose myself. Because of yesterday's incident, I understand how terrifying Ateez are. All the notorious reputations are true. I can’t believe I survive until now after I challenged them many times.

Taking a long deep breath, I put on a calm composure and nod to Jim. He gently knocks the door 3 times and opens it for me.

Hongjoong sits on the head of the long table, sipping on his wine leisurely while conversing with Seonghwa who sits at his right side. They both look like a normal young adult which is totally different from yesterday.

They turn their head when they feel my presence. Hongjoong’s mouth spreads into a wide grin, in contrast to Seongwha who gives me a bored look.

“Hello miss Star, come sit here.” Hongjoong gesture to vacant seat on his left side. I slowly walk to the seat, feeling wary at his overly friendliness.

I settle down and see a silver plate with delicious looking food on it.

“I ordered a special menu for you, try it.” Hongjoong smiles, encouraging me to try the food.

The food indeed looks special, a large piece of steak placed in the middle of the plate, surrounded with fresh vegetables. And variety of tropical fruits bowl places at the side.

I smell something fishy. Why does he suddenly turn from a heartless man into a caring person? He definitely wants something from me.

Pressuring from his stares, I lift a fork and knife, cutting a small piece of meat and pop it in my mouth.

“How is it?” Hongjoong asks.

“Good.” No, it’s actually the best. But I gotta keep calm.

“Only good?”

“What to expect? She has no taste.” Seonghwa says, eating elegantly on the opposite side of me.

I shoot daggers at him but dare not to retaliate.

“If you don’t like it, I’ll order you new one.” Hongjoong still not give up.

“No need. I like it.”

Hongjoong nods while Seonghwa scoffs but I pay him no mind.

We eat quietly and the atmosphere is so awkward. While eating, I observe the two men, but I see nothing suspicious from them as they act casually. Whenever I meet eyes with Hongjoong, he gives me a tiny smirk. On the other hand, Seonghwa openly pierce his glares at me.

How could I enjoy eating breakfast in this circumstance? I can’t withstand it anymore so I speak up.“You’re not eating breakfast?” I ask Hongjoong as I see that he only sips on his wine.

“This is my breakfast.” He lifts his wine glass.

“It’s not healthy.” I mumble.

“Do you care for me?” Hongjoong flashes me a sly grin.

I choke, “What! No!” My voice gets a pitch higher. I can’t believe this guy. He made me lose my cool.

Hongjoong laugh at my reaction while Seonghwa secretly rolls his eyes at his captain.

“Why’re you calling for me?” I change the topic, recomposing myself.

“I’ll wait until you finish your breakfast.”

“I’m done, you can start.” To be honest, I’m not full but I want this breakfast session to be over.

Hongjoong looks at my barely touched food and shrugs.

“Wooyoung reported me. He said you saved him. I’d like to thank you for saving my precious crew’s life.”

I suddenly remember Wooyoung dragging Hongjoong for his insincere attitude and cringe at Hongjoong sweet smile.

“And apologize for yesterday’s incident. Those lousy pirates must’ve scared you. But please not be worried, we’ve got rid of them. They could never hurt you.” Hongjoong still smiles but his hawk-like eyes make me shudder. And I think he must misunderstand something. I’m not worried about those pirates but I’m actually worried about his brutality.

Hongjoong continues his speech, “You might not be familiar with how we do things around here. But you’ll get used to it.”

I think now I know why they got cursed. I wanna cry. Why is our Ateez are so cruel in this story?!

“And I won’t ask you if you were trying to escape-”

“I didn’t” I instantly cut him off.

“Even if you try, you can’t get away from us.” He’s sipping his wine casually as if he didn’t threaten me with that sentence.

My smile stiffen, “That sounds like a threat.”

“It’s a threat.” Seonghwa responded to me instead.

“Wow, it’s so nice of you to say it in my face.” I smile bitterly at Seonghwa. Mentally slap myself, I promised myself not to fight with him.

Feeling stressed by his cold stares, I pick up the fruit bowl and eat to calm my nerves.

“By the way, where’s Aurora?” I suddenly remember the female lead. She’s probably got into trouble for trying to escape and call out Ateez for their cruelty.

“What do you think?” Seonghwa asks me in a challenging tone.

I gasp.

“Did you do anything to her?! You can’t touch her, hurt her or anything.”

Both men are surprised at the seer sudden outburst. Just like Wooyoung said, she freaks out when mentioning Aurora.

“She’s such a nuisance, we already got the dagger’s location. She no longer needed here.” Seonghwa answers nonchalantly.

“Oh my god, don’t tell me you really threw her overboard.” I start to panic. If we lost her, how are we going to go to Wonderland?

“Give me a valid reason why we should keep her?” Hongjoong turns to ask. He wants to know why Star is so determined to protect the girl.

I was a bit relieved when I heard Hongjoong’s question. That means she is still on the ship.

“Because she’s the only person who can take you to Wonderland.”

I look between the blank face Seonghwa and Hongjoong. But they only knit their eyebrows at my response. So I continue, “Because I see her in Wonderland with you guys.” My answer made the duo drop their cold demeanor.

“See us in Wonderland?” Seonghwa asks in disbelief.

“Yes.”

There’s a short pause and then Hongjoong bursts out laughing and Seonghwa reveals a small smile for the first time but it quickly fades away.

“I’m still not used to your seer power. But to know that we make it there. That’s wonderful,” Hongjoong smiles. “Sure. We can keep her.”

“And do no harm to her,” I add.

“We won’t lay a finger on her, if everything you said is true.”

“Then you shall keep your promise.”

“You have my word.”

I try to find any tricks in the pair of hazel brown eyes that stare intently into my eyes but found none. He seems sincere.

“I recall I never asked you why you are here, helping us. What do you really want?” Hongjoong asks me directly.

“I just want to tag along to Wonderland, that’s all.”

“You also have a wish to make?” Hongjoong raises an eyebrow in curiosity.

“Something like that.” I answer, not saying anything further.

Hongjoong nods and I’m glad that he doesn’t intrude for more answers. Because I honestly don't know how am I going to answer him. My only wish is to go to Wonderland in order to complete this story and get back to my real world.

“I’m glad you’re here, Star.” He suddenly says out of blue which caught me off guard. My heart skips a beat and I have to avert my gaze from his intense stare.

“Do you need anything during your stay?” Hongjoong gleefully asks, changing from being serious to playful in milliseconds.

He definitely trying to buy me. Although he appears to be nice now, I still have to put my guard up. But since the pirate king offers his generosity, I won’t be polite.

“How about food like this everyday?” I test him.

“Easy.” He smiles, leaning back in his chair.

“New clothes.”

“Sure.”

“Aurora and I won’t be confined in our room.”

Hongjoong glances at his quartermaster and nods. “Fine. just don’t create more ruckus. We won’t be nice all the time.”

I nod, taking note to watch after Aurora carefully.

“We can roam around the ship without being guard 24 hours.”

“Ok.”

“And we want a bigger room with a toilet inside.”

“Aren’t you asking too much?” Seonghwa speaks up, his face scrunched up in annoyance.

“Oh, why is the quartermaster of the mighty Pirate King’s Revenge so stingy?” I subconsciously challenge him and feel regret later.

Before Seonghwa taunted me back, Hongjoong cut him off, “Fine. When we get the dagger, we’ll move you in.”

“Then I’ll have to prepare to move in very soon.” I smile cockily to mock the quartermaster that also shoots me daggers with his eyes.

Hongjoong chuckles at the two. “Anything else?”

“Umm, a mirror.”

“What kind of mirror?”

“Just any mirror.”

“What for?” Hongjoong curious why Star suddenly ask for a simple mirror.

“For my personal usage. I haven’t seen my face in like a week already. I kinda miss seeing my face.”

Hongjoong chokes on his wine while Seonghwa drops a fork making it clanks on a plate.

I press my lips from laughing at their reaction. But it’s true though. I only see my new face one time. I already forgot what I look like.

Hongjoong shakes his head in amusement. If it was other people, they would ask for money, treasure or something of high value from him but this girl asked him for a mirror. She really is something.

After getting what I want, I happily eat the fruit. But I can feel the lingering stare of Hongjoong.

“Uh why are you staring at me?”

“Hmm,” He moves his face closer to me. “ I wanna see your face in case I miss seeing you.”

A piece of pineapple fell out of my mouth. Heat spreads across my face but the culprit just laughs at my embarrassment. But the stoic quartermaster has it worse as he chokes on his food and coughs until his face turns red.

Danm it Hongjoong you activate my fangirl mode.

Before I start rolling down on the floor, I coolly laugh it off, “Haha, captain you’re so funny.” I unintentionally hit his arm.

Hongjoong raises his eyebrow, looking where I hit him.

“Did you just hit captain?” Seonghwa eyes flash dangerously even though his face is still red from choking.

Oh . My habit got myself in trouble.

“Noo, I actually pat his arm.” I use the same hand that hit him to pat his arm softly and laugh awkwardly. Seonghwa sneers, not buying my excuse.

I continue patting Hongjoong arm. Oh my gawd I could feel his tone muscles under his linen sleeve.

“You sure you’re not taking advantage of me?” Hongjoong raise his eyebrow when the girl pat his arm for too long.

“What! no way!!” I quickly detached my hand, too forcefully that I almost fell from my seat.

Hongjoong laugh out loud again, “You’re cute.”

My mouth is left hanging. My brain errors from the second powerful attack. Did anyone also hear what I just heard?

Suddenly the quartermaster gets up from his seat. “I lost appetite.” he walks toward the exit while muttering ‘disgusting’.

I snap back to reality and shoot daggers at Seonghwa back. “Your quartermaster is so grumpy.” I mumble to Hongjoong. Surprisingly he replies back. “I think so too, why don’t you help him?”

“Me? No way. He’s beyond repair.”

“I agree.”

“You two know that I'm still here, right?” Seonghwa spat for the last time and left the room.

We laugh for a while and gradually stop.

The room returns to its awkward silence. I get anxious when I am left alone with Hongjoong. His eyes still sparkle while staring at me. He’s acting weird today.

“I’ll be leaving too I guess.” I quickly get up. I could feel his burning gaze on my back as I walk toward the door and exit.

After the girl leaves, Hongjoong can’t stop smiling to himself. “That girl totally heads over heels for me.” Can’t blame his attractiveness.

The reason why he invited Star to join breakfast with him was because of Yeosang.

Yesterday, the surgeon came barging into his cabin and scolded him and Seonghwa for hours. Their ears almost bleed. He even cancelled Seognhwa’s order to confine those 2 girls. His surgeon became too powerful. What would the world think of him, the ruthless pirate king, if they knew he feared his own surgeon? That would taint his pride. So he made a plan. The brilliant plan to bring the seer to be on his good side so that Yeosang wouldn’t find any excuse to scold him.

Hongjoong smile falters when he feel foreign emotion bubbling on his conscious.

Guilt

It’s the feeling that only good people feel when they regret their wrongdoings. But he has no regrets nor a good person. There’s no reason for him to feel guilty. He was always merciless in front of his enemies and he never felt a tad bit sorry toward them. Perhaps he really is a monster. 

But why would he feel guilty toward the fainted girl?

Hongjoong glance at his wine glass and come to conclusion. Star was right. He shouldn’t have wine in the morning. It must’ve affected his brain.

//This chapter took all day to write. I don't know why but feel something missing. Anyway I hope you enjoy it. See you next time ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ