[I'm here to drop a short? chapter]

The sun sets below the horizon, warmth leaves the surface and chilly night envelops the island.

After a long day of hard work, the fatigue Revenge crew are taking a rest. Some take a nap, some eat, and some gather into groups. There’s this one particular group that is in heated discussion.

“Couldn’t believe me two eyes...the combatant dragged the pretty seeress into the wilderness!” A witness reports an unbelievable scene to his mates.

Oh and Ah sound echo around the group.

“Ye be surprised, she came back in one piece.” He continues.

“The devil couldn’t lay a hand on her cause she’s a powerful seer.” Another man comments.

The others quickly shoo at the speaker. “Ye be quiet, he might be lurkin’ here.” They’re scanning the area and are relieved when they don’t see the devil.

“What was cap’n doin’? Why he let his girl be draggin’ around?” Another pirate asks in a gravelly tone.

“What ye sayin’!? She with our master gunner Mingi!” A man, apparently a gunner mate, roars in protest.

“Surgeon Yeosang also close with her.” Said a patient who was recently dismissed from sickbay. Whenever Yeosang comes back from seeing the girl, he always has a smile on his face.

“Nah, it’s boatswain Jongho. She saved him once.” Said a carpenter mate who works under Jongho.

“But navigator Yunho also looks after her.” Said a helmsman. He often listens to Yunho talking about the girl.

“What ‘bout quartermaster Seonghwa?”

Everybody quieted down, finding who was the one that spoke that sentence.

“How could ye forget first mate Wooyoung.” At the name of Wooyoung the crew all have sour expressions. Because he always snatched girls away from them.

“He comes after Miss Aurora though.”

A man scoffs bitterly, “Ye know how he is. He gotta have both.”

“No! Leave Miss Aurora out of this mess. She be me goddess.” One man passionately protests and the others nod in agreement.

As Aurora helped the cook serving food, she became their goddess who lightened up their day. The crew have a sickly in love smile display on their faces.

“Then Miss Seeress be with who?” A new voice asks which belongs to no other than the sassiest cabin boy, Jack.

“Lad, why don’t ye find out.”

Jack points at himself and the other nods.

---

Ateez invited Aurora and me to dinner. I’m excited to see them since it’s been a while to see some members. At the same time I’m also nervous to see them. Although some of them are friendly , some still appear intimidating.

The dinner takes place inside a large outdoor tent. We sit at a large table, waiting for food to be served.

The atmosphere fills with uncomfortable silence as no one speaks. I peer around the table, noticing how try they look. My eyes meet with a person sitting at the opposite side whose twinkle eyes gaze at me intently. Hongjoong lips spread into a grin, he lift up his wine glass and sips casually. I quickly avert my glance from him. My heart picks up its pace as I remember the last conversation with him, he misunderstood that I was his future lover. Judging from the way he looks at me, does he still have the wrong notion? Oh no, that was so embarrassing, I can drown in my own tears of mortification.

Then my eyes move to the person on Hongjoong’s right side, the stoic quartermaster sits with his back straight, tuning out of the world. He somehow feels my stare so he returns me with a scowl. No matter how nice he looks with that ugly scowl on his face, he remains at the top of my nerve wrecking list.

Sitting next to him is my angel Yeosang, he softly smiles at me which I beam back at him. He appears less stressed than the last time I saw him.

Beside him is Yunho, he grins at me like a puppy and I can’t help but mouth ‘Puppy’ at him. His grin immediately falters, making me giggle. He pouts and shakes his head.

Sitting next to him is Aurora. She sits quietly, staring down at the table. Her body language indicates that she hates gathering around Ateez. I open my mouth to start a conversation with her but a cough caught my ears.

I turn and look at Wooyoung who wiggles his brow at me. His mischievous stare glance between me and a man beside him. San sends death glare to Wooyoung but the latter guy doesn’t stop from being annoying.

Then San turns to stare at me, his mouth spread into a creepy smirk. I can’t believe I survive after mocking him. An image of his bare top resurface, blush threat to crawl on my face. As if he knows what I think, his smirk gets wider. I shiver in my seat and divert my gaze to a man next to him.

Jongho already dozed off into dreamland. From what I heard, he’s the head of the repair team so he works extra hard than the others.

Jongho startles when a man next to him poke him in the cheek. He opens his eyes and gives Mingi a mean glare. Mingi pouts at Jongho and turns to look at his other mates.

“Why y'all so quiet?” Breaking the silence has become Mingi’s full time job.

The others ignore him, making Mingi sulks in his seat. But he doesn’t mind because he finally sees his best friend.

“Shooting Star, you must be missing me right?”

Several people cough loudly at Mingi's bold question.

I dryly laugh at Mingi whose eyes sparkle waiting for my answer.

“Whoever she misses, it obviously is not you.” Wooyoung says, start picking a fight with Mingi.

Mingi glowers at Wooyoung. Luckily, the cabin boys arrive and begin serving our dinner. Else, we have to listen to these 2 bickering.

Among the cabin boys, Jack holds 2 big plates, standing between Aurora and my seat.

“Miss Star, Miss Aurora before I serve your food. Can you answer my question first?”

I raise an eyebrow at him. What does this boy plan to do?

Hongjoong sees Jack being rude to his guests and about to scold him. However, he shut up when he heard the question.

“Among the crew, who do you think is the most handsome?”

The whole table flabbergasted at Jack’s question.

What is this? The Revenge hot boys ranking?

“Jack, the answer is obvious, it’s me.” Wooyoung confidently says, running his hand through his hair.

“First mate Wooyoung, I asked the ladies’ opinion not yours.” Jack answered innocently.

The others snicker at Jack's sharp tongue.

“You little shi-” Wooyoung scoffs but gets kicked under the table by someone, making him stop mid sentence.

“Impressive Jack!” Mingi gives the young lad a thumbs up.

“If it’s not me, then who could it be?” Wooyoung mutters grumpily. “Don’t you think so, mi ladies?” He peers at Aurora and me.

“Outer appearance isn’t important, it’s about the goodness in his heart.” Aurora answers. I want to applaud her. However, Wooyoung scoffs at her answer.

“I agree with her.” I nod, adding after her. But somehow my answer doesn’t satisfy someone.

“Jack, if Miss Star does not answer properly, don’t give her food.” Hongjoong speaks up, grinning evilly toward my way.

I grimace at him. How am I going to answer? It’s a tricky question. No matter how ethereal they are, I can’t admit that they look good. I can’t reveal my fangirl here. And if I answer someone, the others might be upset.

I scan around the table and meet eyes with the narcissist type while the shy type avoids looking at me.

“Judging from her taste, whoever that person is, he must be hideous.” Seonghwa snickers.

“Oh, but I’m about to answer you, Seonghwa.” I say, acting surprise.

The whole table burst into laughter leaving Seonghwa grit his teeth.

“Seonghwa, she said you’re hideous.” Mingi rubs salt on Seonghwa’s wound, making his face plaster in darker shade.

“Mingi!” He growls at the fiery red hair boy.

I ignore them and turn to Jack. “I’m hungry. Jack, put down my food.”

“Your answer is the quartermaster?” Jack tilts his head, furrowing his brow. It wasn’t the answer he expected, how is he going to answer to his crew?

“Well yeah.” I shrug. I mean Seonghwa slay with that side bang look and undercut. It’s not a lie to answer him. I was thinking to answer a kind member but since he offered himself as a victim, I chose him.

Jack nods, reluctantly placing down my plate and leaves.

We start eating but I shift uncomfortably in my seat because it seems like some members aren’t pleased with my response, especially Seonghwa who still shoots a dagger at me.

“Well, I’m not interested in who is the most handsome. I wanna know who they like the most?” Wooyoung speaks, stirring up commotion once again.

Some people cough or choke on their food, including me.

“The question should be who I hate the most, don’t you think so?” Aurora surprisingly taunts him.

I want to applaud her again.

Wooyoung face twists. He glares at Aurora and turns to me. “You?”

“I’m her best friend. Of course, she likes me the most.” Mingi proudly states.

Wooyoung rolls his eyes. “No idiot, not as a friend.”

“OH!” Mingi exclaims and quiets down. He stares at his food and refuses to look at me.

The whole table fell into silence again.

I glare at Wooyoung for making my life difficult. Okay, it’s a fact that I like all of them but I can’t answer that, I’d sound like a h**.

“No one.” I answer and continue digging my food to hide my blush.

“Really, I saw you crawl into my mate’s tent.” Wooyoung chuckles.

I choke on my food. “I said it was nothing!” I knew it he's gonna spread false rumor. I really wanna wipe that smug grin from his face.

“Star where did you go?” Yeosang asks, knitting his brows.

“Err...” Oops he didn’t know that I sneaked out today. I can only smile at him in return.

Wooyoung places his arm on San’s shoulder and winks at me.

“Mate, was there really nothing happening?” Wooyoung asks San but San throws Wooyoung’s arm away and gives him another death glare.

But Wooyoung doesn’t give up easily. “Star so what’s your answer? These guys are waiting.” He teases his bashful crew.

San shoves a big piece of meat into Wooyoung’s mouth to shut him up. He gag and spits the meat onto his plate. But Wooyoung doesn’t dare to provoke the devil anymore.

We manage to get back the peace. But the damage is already done, some of them have thoughts bubbling up in their heads.

“Was there…” Unexpectedly, San turns to me with his creepy smirk, “...really nothing?” He slowly repeats Wooyoung’s earlier sentence.

My head instantly exploded as well as his crew. They froze with their mouths hanging open.

Wooyoung is the first one to gain consciousness, he hollers in laughter. “Woah mate! I know you have it in you!”

However, he's the only one laughing while the others exude dark aura.

My mind goes blank, staring at San in disbelief. Even though I sit far away from him, somehow I can hear his low chuckles ring in my ears.

Suddenly a glass slammed into the wooden table. We turn our head to see Hongjoong’s fuming expression.

“Stop with the bull Wooyoung. We have 2 days left before heading off. No more chit chatting and quickly go back to work.” Hongjoong glares at Wooyoung and sweeps through his crew. They immediately resume eating.

“Star, see me after this.” Hongjoong suddenly calls me, appearing serious.

I jolt in my seat but nod nervously while trying to rack my brain to find what and when did I offend him. 

Am I in deep trouble? 

// Even the crew also confused, it's ok if you're confused too XD