The moonlight faintly lit up the path where Hongjoong’s leading me.

I trail behind him, holding a small lamp in my hand. Watching his back, my heart pounds in a strange rhythm.

He stops at the same rocky beach where San dragged me this noon. I stand a few steps away from him, feeling insecure of what will happen.

Instead of getting right into conversation, Hongjoong raises his head to look at the moon.

I peer warily at him. His character isn’t the type to beat around the bush. So his quietness doubles my uneasiness.

“Why did you bring me here?” I ask him as I can’t tolerate the suspense anymore.

“Full moon in the next 2 days.” His voice is void of emotion, not answering my question.

I follow his eyesight and look at the glowing moon illuminating the clear night sky. It’s obvious that he didn’t bring me here to appreciate nature but to remind me that they have 1 month left to lift the curse. And I must help them achieve the goal or else...I shudder at the possible scenarios that could end my life.

“You’re worried about the curse?” I glance back at his side profile. Although the moonlight allows me to see a glimpse of his face, I can’t decipher his emotion.

“I have the most powerful seer with me. Why should I be worried?” He says without sparing a glance at me.

My non existing seer power shivers under my skin. Imagine him knowing I don’t possess the power, I’ll be deemed useless and a liar. Although I’m scared less, my mouth says the opposite thing. “Right, nothing to be worried about. I foresee you guys in Wonderland. You will make it, trust me.”

A corner of his mouth lifts up but I’m sure he isn’t smiling. The conversation ends as he doesn’t ask me further and keeps staring at the night sky. The night cool breeze envelops us. Sound of waves lapping against the beach eases my nerves until Hongjoong decides to break the peaceful silence.

“Do you know what else in my mind?”

“Huh?” I think he mistakes my seer power as a mind reader. I shake my head and crane my neck to see that he’s already staring at me.

“You.”

Eh? I’m taken aback by his answer.

“Did I offend you?” I search for my past actions. Today is the first day that I see him after staying on the island, so when did I offend him.

“Yes, you did. And you know what happens to people who offend pirate king?” A sly grin stretches across on his face.

I know I'm in trouble when I see him smiling like a psycho. Anxiously gulping down, I step backward. Seeing I’m backing away, he strides closer to me. Before I managed to sprint away, his hand suddenly caught my waist, yanking me into his embrace.

I yelp and let go of the lamp. It falls to the ground and the light dies down.

The closeness makes my thought jumbles. I froze in his embrace. The sound of the surrounding fade and all I can hear is my own erratic heartbeats. I look downward to avoid his intrigue stare. His hot breath blows at my forehead.

“You scared?” He whispers in a teasing tone.

I shake my head. But honestly, I’m about to pee in my pants.

He chuckles against my ear. “Look at me Star.” His free hand grabs at my chin, raising my face up and meeting his sparkle orbs.

“I love to see fear in people's eyes because it means they grant their lives in my palm.” The wind continues to blow harsher as he speaks. His mullet sways in the wind. He looks so intimidating yet enticing at the same time.

His fingers caress my cheek. I flinch at his touch but he grabs my chin to keep me staying still.

“But I hate to see it in your eyes. I want to see your other emotion...” His seducing tone surprised me. “I’ve been thinking. And I’m not the type to think a lot because when I want something I simply take it.”

“What do you want?” In this dangerous situation, I shouldn’t ask him this question. If he said my life, then I’d plunge myself into the sea right here.

He smirks as if it’s the most silly question he ever heard. “You, my treasure.”

My legs almost give up upon hearing his answer. But because his arm is still holding me, he secure me tighter.

“D..Don’t kidding me.” I let out a shaky breath.

“A pirate king never jokes around.” He narrows his eyes.

“What do you mean?” My mind knows what he is trying to say but I refuse to believe it.

“I’ve made myself clear. Don’t you think so, my little treasure?” He grins.

My mind went blank. So he wasn’t kidding the whole time when he called me treasure. Who knows the outcome of telling him love prediction backfires at me.

“I’m not anyone's treasure. I belong to myself.” My bashfulness acts up as I shout while trying to pry out of his embrace.

He chuckles and hugs me tighter, “I told you. You can never escape from me.”

His playful gaze linger on my face, my soul by his alluring eyes, he trails downward to my nose and stops at my lips. A hand grabs me from behind my neck as he brings his face closer.

I shut my eyes tightly and scream in my throat. My nails dig into my palm.

“You smell like sickbay.” He says out of blue.

My eyes snap open. “What do you expect? Floral scent? I literally bathed in Yeosang's herb for your information.”

Hongjoong let out a hearty laugh at how the girl reacted. “I like it.”

His answer makes me blush madly. I press my lips together to not squeal. He leans in again and I spontaneously shut my eyes.

1 second, 2 second pass but nothing happened. I open my eyes and see a grinning Hongjoong.

“You thought I was going to kiss you?” He scoffs.

“What! Ew! No way!” I fluster, “I closed my eyes because I thought you were gonna spit into my eyes.”

Hongjoong snorts. “You have a weird way to cope with your shyness.” He continues, “But I won’t kiss you. This is your punishment.”

My mouth agape. How is that a punishment? And what did I do wrong?

“If you want a kiss from the pirate king then you have to earn it.” He leaves a snarky comment and lets go of me.

The warmth from his body disappears as well as my sanity.

Hongjoong snickers for one last time and turns around to leave. I watch him saunter away as if nothing happens. A surge of embarrassment crawls on my whole body, making me itch and wanna kick somebody.

“Aren’t you coming back?” He notices the girl didn’t follow him so he turns back.

I huff, grabbing a fallen lamp and stomping after him. When I walk past him, he deliberately grabs my wrist. I wiggle from his grasp but he only holds me tighter. The way back seems longer and painful. I glance at Hongjoong’s face and see that he is wearing a triumphant smirk. I stare down at his grip on my wrist and a strange emotion attacks me. I tug my chin downward to hide a smile that intend to break on my face. 

Once we reached my tent, he let go and turned to me. “Take a good rest.” He says.

“Um,” I nod but shoot glare at him.

He chuckles at my reaction and turns on his heel, walking for several steps, he stops in his tracks.

He froze in a spot for a moment then he abruptly turns around and strides toward me.

In a blink of an eye, he’s right in front of me with an unreadable expression. His hand extends toward my face, both hands cupping my cheek.

Warm lips gently touch my forehead for a brief second.

“Good night. And dream about my lips as your punishment.” He flashes me a sly smirk and leaves.

I stunt in the place for a full minute before regaining consciousness.

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhh! I let out a soundless scream and furiously tug my hair.

That guy! Why did he have to play with my heart!?

My fangirl side soars out of outer space but my pride plummet to the earth’s inner core. I take a long moment kicking the sand to let out my frustration before calming down.

Then a head peek outside my tent gaining my attention.

“Err...Star,” Aurora calls me, “Can I talk to you for a moment?”

I comb my messy hair and clear my throat from mortification. I hope she didn’t witness the earlier scene. “Yeah, sure.” I answer her, a bit out of breath.

Aurora gets out of the tent. “This way.” She saunters toward a dark wood behind our tent.

We walk for a while and stop at a clearing. The moon peeks from the treetops. But the surroundings are still eerily dark. Why did she choose the forest instead of our tent?

“I want to warn you about something.” Because of the darkness, I can’t see her expression but her tone is filled with seriousness and fear. “Don’t get close to the pirates. They’re not who you think they are.”

“I got that. They’re merciless pirates.” The realization makes my heightened mood drop. I got it that they're heartless. But once I know them, they're not that bad. 

“It’s not only that Star.” She continues. “They can’t lift the curse.”

“How do you know?” I scrunch up my face in confusion.

“It doesn’t matter. I think you should be careful around them. Even though they appear nice to you, they can’t hide their true color. When they lose interest in you, you’ll be the one that ends up hurt.”

“Um, but they can change.” She has a point but I’m trying to lead them to be better characters.

She shakes her head in disagreement but doesn’t counter back. “One more thing, beware of the- ahh!!” Aurora suddenly screams and drops to the ground, clutching her heart.

Panic, I quickly plop down next to her. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

Aurora breath heavily, a bead of sweat rolling down from her forehead. “No, I’m fine.”She slowly gets up, “Beware of the water.” Her doe eyes stare into mine. Something tells me that water isn’t what she meant to say. It’s the first time that I feel intense fear radiating from her.

---

We get back to our tent. Aurora already fell asleep but I’m still wide awake.

Thinking of her warning, I understand her good intentions. Based on her character, the reason she never confessed to any of the guys is because she’s scared of their differences; pirates and an heiress of a wealthy family. No matter how much she loves them, they have to part ways at one point.

Doesn't that also apply to my situation? I’ll have to get back home anyway, I shouldn’t have emotions attached to them. Even though home isn’t the right word to call my lonely apartment, I can’t stay in the fiction.

My mind drifts to Hongjoong’s kiss. My cheeks flare up as I touch my forehead. Jittery feeling tickles my body but I don’t dislike it this time. I know what he means by treasure. But I’m confused by his actions, is he really serious about it? Or he’s like what Aurora said? 

I sigh, staring at the dark tent ceiling. I do like him but do I like like him? The answer is I don’t know.

Snap out of it, Star, he doesn't belong to you.

My heart deflates as the reality hits. I need to guard my heart before my fangirling escalates into something else.

---

I wake up from the herbs smell, I sniff the air of my tent and cough.

“Yeosang, you’re here already. What time is it?” Because I stayed awake almost the entire night, thinking of Aurora’s warning and Hongjoong’s lips, I probably woke up late today. The heat and damp air in the tent indicate that morning already passed.

“Noon.” A chill voice enters my ears, apparently not belonging to the sweet Yeosang.

My eyes immediately fly open and see a shadow next to me. My foggy brain gives me high alert as my legs spontaneously kick the intruder.

However, a cold hand grabs my leg.

“Ahhhhh!!!" I scream and thrash around, throwing whatever near me to him. The man let out a low growl and hover above me, his legs pressing between mine and his hands grab my wrists.

Another growl enters my ears. I blink to adjust the light and see the intruder clearly “SANNNN!!”

He greets me with a creepy smirk.

“Why are you here?!” I cry, heart still jumping.

Once he climbs off me, I spring up into a sitting position, not caring that my belly screams in pain.

San doesn’t reply, instead, he glances at the medicine tray, picking one of two cups of ointment. He passes the cup to me as I stare at him confusedly.

Suddenly he takes off his shirt, making me scream once again. A shirt fell on my face, blinding my vision. I grab the shirt and throw it away, San’s back comes into my view.

“You want me to apply the medicine to you?”

“Um.” He hums in his throat.

I sigh. He could have told me nicely. I almost died of a heart attack.

I begin gently brushing the green ointment on his back. The scars on his skin still pain me upon seeing them. But because he scared me, I unintentionally poke on his bruise.

He hisses. I panic and quickly say, “Sorry, sorry. I can’t control my strength in the morning...ugh, noon.”

Of course, he doesn’t buy my bull but he stays still. I smile, not everyday I can poke at the devil and survive.

“Done.” I wipe my hand with my pants.

San turns around and I quickly avert my gaze away from his sculptor upper body.

He picks up another cup left on a tray. “Yours.”

“Oh, thanks.” He’s actually nice for taking medicine for me. I see him in the new light. Those crew are so mean, calling him devil. Oh wait, I called him that too.

I extend my hand to grab the cup but he moves his hand away.

“Lie down.” A raspy voice orders me.

I choke on my saliva. He wants me to lie down and apply the ointment for me!?

“I can apply it for myself!” I shrink. Letting Yeosang see my belly is already embarrassing me to death, I don’t need another member to drown me in shame.

San repeats with lower tone. “Lie down.”

“Noooo, I can apply it. You can leave.” I try to grab the cup.

His eyes glint dangerously. He suddenly pushes me down, making me fall down like a fallen leaf because my stomach still didn’t fully heal. I wail in pain but it turns into a loud squeak as he hovers above me.

His hand reaches for a hem of my shirt but I instantly grip his hand. “Oh my goddd nonono.”

His eyes gleam behind his black and red fringe. My shirt slowly rises higher from his strength but I don’t give up easily cause I gotta protect my stomach's virtue.

While we fight for dominance of my shirt, someone calls me from outside the tent.

“Shooting Star! Are you in there?”

Of all the members, Mingi visits me. If he found San inside my tent, would he spread another weird rumor?

‘Let go!’ I mouth at San while shaking my head vigorously. However, his iron grip is firmly attached to my shirt.

When I don’t answer, Mingi calls again. “Star, are you okay? Oh god, did you faint!?”

I remain silent, thinking should I call him to help me from the devil’s hand or not. I open my mouth to call Mingi but a cold hand covers my mouth. I stare at San wide eyes.

“That’s it, I’m coming in.” The tent curtain part as Mingi crawls inside. He halts when he spots us in an awkward position.

Shirtless San hovers above Star who lies down with panic written on her face. To make it worse San grips on her shirt, revealing a glimpse of her stomach.

Blood rush to Mingi’s face matching his hair color, “What the you do to Star!?”

San blankly stares at Mingi, but a corner of his mouth tugs upward. And that little smirk provokes Mingi’s rage.

“You er!!!” Mingi charges right at San. The two immediately engage in a fight in my small tent.

The crew stops their doing once again as they notice a strange noise coming out of the ladies' tent.

Suddenly, 2 bodies roll out of the tent. They all shock when they see the combatant and the master gunner in a brawl.

Then they see Miss Seeress crawl outside the tent, clutching on her stomach while yelling ‘stop’ at the 2 guys.

However, they don’t listen to her as they exchange blow after blow.

The crew couldn’t stop their thoughts from imagining whatever happened inside the tent and what causes them to fight. This is the most intriguing topic to discuss tonight.

Many crew notice the commotion and surround the 2 men in a big circle, watching them fight. The crew barely crash among themselves because the punishment is harsh. And for the high rank crew to fight each other, they can’t imagine the consequence.

“I bet the devil will win.” A man says. No one best at hand-to-hand combat than San. However, Mingi is also a good fighter as he is able to keep up. Sadly, he’s on the losing side.

“Sir Mingi is quite strong but I bet on the devil too.” Said a gunner mate. He feels conflict seeing his master fight with the devil. The ship has an unspeakable rule which is to not upset the combatant, whoever did that didn’t end up in one piece.

While the crew are having fun watching the scene another person arrives with smoke coming out of his ears.

“What the hell is going on?!” The grim reaper has arrived.

// Damn Author why did you leave with a cliffhanger!?!? ╯°益°)╯彡┻━┻

Don't scold me, I already scolded myself. 

And thank you for the comments!! See you guys next chapter ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)