A hand smack down toward a soaking wet lieutenant, causing him to tumble down to the floor.

“Incompetent!” Lying on the ground, a foot stomps on his stomach. “Useless! Trash!” Several kicks are sent into his body.

Jongbin lies motionless as he knows the temper of his abuser. The commander of HMS Declaration is known for his ill-tempered and abusive behavior toward his subordinates. If he fights back or beg, it’ll only enrage the commander.

When Chris seems to calm down, Jongbin slowly rises to his feet.

“My apologies, commander. I was incompetent and result in us failing to capture pirate king. I’m willing to accept any punishment.”

Chris scoffs, his injured hand shakes slightly not from the pain but from immense rage. Blood trickles down from the bullet wound and creates a small pool on the floor.

Then he glares at the other high rank officers that stand in line. “You lot left me behind. You all know the consequence, right?”

None dare to meet eyes with their livid commander. And that makes Chris angrier. He raises his good hand to beat another target.

“Commander, what do we do next?” Jongbin interrupts Chris when he sees that the others are cowering in fear.

Chris lower down his hand and curses, glaring at the Revenge that sails further away.

“Follow her.”

The officers’ face went pale after hearing the command. They send subtle glances toward the lieutenant.

“Commander, we’re short on food-” Jongbin states but cut off by Chris’s scornful snort.

“Then throw some useless trash out of my ship.” The icy glare pierce at the subordinates. They all duck their heads down.

“Yessir, we’ll prepare to intercept the Revenge.” Seeing that Chris may beat them up again, Jongbin deliberately dismisses the other officers. They look at Jongbin gratefully and dissipate less than a second.

Chris resumes to glare at the Revenge.

The humiliation he received today, he swore to return it tenfold. 
 

Pirate king, today may be your victory. But you made a mistake by keeping me alive. Next time, you and your ship will drag into the abyss.

Aurora, Alice, wait for me. I’ll avenge him for you!

---

Hongjoong slams the door shut. To my horror, he drags me toward the king sized bed.

My brain immediately recalls those cliche drama scenes where a male lead gets upset with a female lead so he starts to…(censor)… her.

Shaking the impure images away, I wiggle from his iron grip with all my might and run away to stand on a clear space far from any furniture and wall that can use against me.

Hongjoong chuckles in his throat as he saunters closer.

I put my arms in front of my chest and raise my chin. “Okay, talk.”

“I don’t care if you lie.” Hongjoong stops right in front of me, too close for me to breath.

“I don’t care whether your name is Star or Alice. I don’t mind if you’re his sister.” He leans in and whispers into my ears. I turn my head the other way, trying to suppress goosebumps that begin rising on my arms.

“But you can’t betray me. Your brother will never see you again cause you can never escape from me.” His fingers grab on my chin, forcing me to meet his dark eyes.

My eyes widen. Don’t tell me he’s planning to lock Aurora and me to revenge Chris. If I’m the real Alice, then I’d be in so much pain. The person she loves will use her to avenge her brother.

But since I’m not Alice, what should I do? His feeling for me may be genuine from the start but after this incident will it be the same?

“B-but you said you’ll let me decide after Wonderland.” I blink rapidly when a strange feeling rises in my chest.

He snickers. “That was no longer valid when I found out you’re his sister.”

What the heck! He just said he doesn’t mind me being Chris' sister to my face.

“You can’t do that.” I protest. I’ll be fine (lie) cause I’m going home but Aurora will be stuck here. I can’t let her suffer here alone.

“Oh, yes, I can, little treasure.” His other arm circles around my back, bringing me closer to him. My hands rest on his chest, trying to push him away but he only grins at my futile attempt.

“Shall we continue?” His dark velvet voice lull me like a siren lulling sailor.

I unconsciously stare at his lips. The taste of bittersweet wine returns to the tip of my tongue.

He leans closer, his hot breath fan on my face.

Our lips lightly touch...

Ack!

Hongjoong’s head jerks backward as I pull his mullet with both hands. He lets go of me to grab his hair.

“You-” His eyes glow dangerously.

“If you wanna kiss this powerful seeress, you have to earn it which obviously, you don’t.” I smile evilly although I'm scared less on the inside. When he’s in a shock state due to my bold comment, I push him away and dart toward the door.

I almost collide with San on the way out, but he reaches out to balance me. I jump away from him as if I get electric shock. Then I notice two pairs of eyes staring at me.

Their glance shifts between me and the person behind my back. Feeling a dark entity coming for my , I dash behind Wooyoung’s back. I peak from behind his back to see Hongjoong with a scowl coming out of the room.

“What?” Wooyoung is confused when Hongjoong glares at him. He turns around to ask me but I give him an innocent look.

“Hongjoong.” Seonghwa calls for the captain's attention.

Hongjoong drops his scowl and peers at Seonghwa.

“What did you talk to her about?” Seonghwa asks.

“That’s not for you to be concerned about.” Hongjoong nonchalantly answers the quartermaster.

Seonghwa knits his brows at the response then he turns to glare at me.

I feel like a victim here. Hongjoong doesn’t answer you but why are you accusing me?

“Miss Alice, you can’t hide from me forever. We’ll continue our business later.” Hongjoong smirks as my eyes connect with him. So I continue hiding behind the poor first mate.

His remark sparks a curiosity in Wooyoun’s mind as he turns around again and gives me a questioning look. I shake my head in return.

Hongjoong caught our interaction so he clears his throat loudly.

“Seonghwa, summon the others. We’ll have a quick meeting.” He turns to order the grumpy quartermaster.

“Wooyoung, accompany this powerful seeress back to her cabin before she starts attacking someone’s hair.”

I glare at his sly grin and wanna cough blood. If he wanna throw shade at me why doesn’t he tell everyone that I pull his majestic mullet?

“Hair?” Wooyoung mumbles, touching his own hair. While the devil twin stare at Hongjoong’s disheveled hair.

Hongjoong shot me a suggestive look one last time as he disappear inside his cabin. Then Seonghwa leads the group out of the room.

“Should’ve locked her in the brig.” He mumbles loud enough for me to hear.

“Lock yourself then.” I scoff once he walks far away. Call me a coward, but if he heard that I’d be rotten in the brig for real.

“Aren’t you scared of us?” Wooyoung asks out of blue.

Heck yeah!

“Why should I? I didn't do anything wrong. I have nothing to fear.” I shrug coolly.

“You’re the weirdest girl I've ever known. But let me warn you, don’t get too comfortable with us, or you’ll get hurt.” An unexplainable expression written on his face.

I swallow hard and nod my head wearily. Seonghwa used to warn me that too.

“Good,” Satisfy with my answer, he turns to San. “Mate, send her back to her room. I have...some work to do.”

I roll my eyes as I know he plans to ditch his work again.

“Woo!” I call him before he starts walking away.

“Woo?” Stop on his tracks, Wooyoung raises his brow.

Don’t leave me with the devil. I communicate with him through telepathy.

“I know you love me but we can’t be together all the time.” He fakely sighs, “If you miss me that much, I’ll see you tonight then.” 

I give him a disgusted look. Wooyoung let out a dolphin laugh. A mischievous glint flashes across his eyes as he leans in to whisper into San’s ear.

Although San may appear stoic, I can see his eyes flicker slightly. His dark eyes find me staring at him and his smirk gradually emerges.

I quickly turn away, gulp down anxiously. Should I run away?

To my dismay, Wooyoung finishes feeding San bad stuff, he mouths at me ‘Good luck’ and happily skips away.

Sighing inwardly, I lost count how many times he left me with his devil friend. Even though San never hurt me, the earlier incident still creep me out. A feeling of cold metal against my cheek and his low chuckle will haunt me for a long time.

“Erm...” San and I stand in silence. My eyes look anywhere except him.

A minute pass, but we still root at the same spot. My muscle seems to freeze under his intense gaze. Cold sweat trickles down my forehead.

Taking a deep breath, I find my courage to look at him.

“San?” His smirk no longer present on his face. But the way he looks at me remind me of the encounter where he caught me kissed with Hongjoong.

He stares deep into my eyes while striding close to me.

“San?” I call him again but he doesn’t respond to me. When will he stop acting strange around me? Is it because of Wooyoung's influence?

“Whatever Wooyoung told you, don’t listen to him. He's a bad influence.”

A corner of his mouth tug upward, but he remains silent.

“Well, you don’t have to me, I can walk back alon- eek!” The last word came out like a squeak as he pulled me by my wrist.

.:*☆.:*☆.:*☆.:*☆.:*☆.:*☆.:*☆.:*☆

Sorry for short chapter. I want to post because I won't have time until next week.

And I also wanna congratulate Ateez on their debut 2nd anniversary. °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

I'm soooo proud being their Atiny. Their performance always exceed my expectation. Their concert was so lit. I wish to see them in real life once (╯︵╰,)

Btw, thank you for 1k views <33