“Sunny, steer hard and circle around the enemy as our swordsmen drop down. We need to launch cannons all around their ship. Our men will just have to capture the captain as we distract them.”

 

“Aye aye, Captain.” And a forceful turn of the wheel followed.

 

“Taeyeon, how’s our strategy?”

 

I smirked at her, running to the edge of our ship. “We’re about to find out.”

 

We watched our best people swim from our ship to the challenger’s. They were too occupied by our ship’s sudden movement that they can barely noticed our crew climbing up the ship.

 

My smirk grew wider as did the person beside me.

 

Within minutes, the captain from the opposing ship gave up and retreated.

 

Our ship was suddenly filled with deafening cheer and shouts of victory.

 

Another win for the undefeatable ship of the Atlantic Ocean, Fallen Angel.

 

I turned to Tiffany and pulled her closer, sharing an Eskimo kiss with her, whispering. “I should thank my genius girlfriend for that brilliant strategy.”

 

She chuckled and leaned closer until our lips for just centimeters away. “Well thank you for giving me the idea for it.” She smiled and pecked my lips.

 

“Then we both get a special thank you.” I grinned and enveloped her lips fully with my own, leading into a soft passionate kiss. Pulling Tiffany to me closer, I couldn’t help but smile since no one is getting in our way and I could completely kiss her without any refrain.

 

Once we had our fill with each other’s lips, we pulled away with a never-ending smile. “Hm…” Tiffany hummed, biting an edge of her bottom lip.

 

“Hm?”

 

“I wonder where are the two that were supposed to stop us minutes ago?”

 

I groaned, shaking my head. “Who cares, let’s just savor this moment.” I mumbled, intending the selfishness and leaned to kiss her again even though she was giggling.

 

~~~

 

            (Jessica’s POV)

 

            I saw Yuri placing her gun down on a wooden box before pulling out her sword and wiping it down with a rag as soon as I stepped down onto the main deck. My lips bent into a smile and I found myself to be immediately walking over to the person I had feelings for.

 

Ever since Yuri and I indirectly confessed to her, I felt my attitude shifting into something less cold and something…more sweet and affectionate. It felt extraordinary to feel this way after a long time. Especially since I’d never thought I would feel like this towards somebody ever again.

 

I hopped my very last step towards her, putting on my sweetest smile. “Hi.” I greeted.

 

Yuri turned to me, matching my gaze as she smiled back. “Annyeong, Jessica.”

 

“Your swordsmanship is still intact in this battle, I see.” I did my best to not just like a fool and say anything that sounds so awkward but I couldn’t avoid it. My heart was racing just standing next to her. I was going crazy by the thought that my feelings about her were known in her head.

 

My patience about us is slowly seeping onto wafer thin ice.

 

“If I lose my skill with a sword, Taeyeon’s going to drop off on an island and make me train until I can kill someone with my eyes closed.” She chuckled. I giggled, even though I didn’t find it that funny, making me sound a bit flirty.

 

I cursed myself silently since I made myself look like a weirdo before looking away. “Are you okay?” Yuri asked me, putting down her sword and fully turning to me.

 

“Yeah, I’m okay.” I quickly recovered, looking directly at her. “Since we’re back on calm waters, wanna be with me for the day?” I smiled warmly.

 

She smiled back widely and nodded.

 

I happily took her wrist and we ran to my quarter’s, which were coincidentally close with Taeyeon and Fany’s yet also with Yuri’s. I think those two designed really designed our ship’s berth this way. It really is easier for the essential members of the crew to be near each other. Just for the sake of emergencies and immediacy. [Berth = where the mess, sick bay, living/sleeping quarters were found.]

 

 Maybe I didn’t know what am I doing by having us together—alone—in my own room but I just wanted to be with her. Just talk. And open her up since I already did.

 

Once we entered my room, I casually walked to my bed and dropped myself down for a sit. Yuri was still glued to the entrance so I stood up once more and pulled her to my bed, closing the door. “You’re awfully tamed for the Yuri I used to bicker with.” I laughed.

 

She laughed along and scratched her head. “’Cause I’ve never been in your room.”

 

“You don’t have to be so uncomfortable about it.”

 

“When it’s Jessica Jung, you have to be uncomfortable.” She mumbled, not looking at me.

 

“Why?”

 

“’Cause how can I be easy when the person I’m in love with is right in front of me while we’re alone in a room…?” She whispered, hanging her head low, hiding her eyes with her hair so I could only see her blushing cheeks.

 

I instantly rearranged the way I was sitting since a tingly sensation went up my back. Her sentence suddenly made me feel concerned with myself. I sat up straight and pressed my legs together, placing my abruptly sweaty hands on my lap. “Yuri-ah…” I called on a whim.

 

“Y-Yeah?”

 

“…you…really love me, don’t you?”

 

“M-Mhm…” She replied, nodding her head. “Do you love me back?”

 

“I…” Why did I even hesitate? There shouldn’t be any delay with my reply. “I definitely do.”

 

We both turned to each other, gaping in our eyes. The room’s atmosphere suddenly became intense and passionate, sending my heart pounding.

 

Yuri moved in closer, grabbing my hand tightly before leaning towards me.

 

I held my breath. My mind went blank.

 

It’s like was falling into this spiral abyss and I couldn’t do anything about it. I could just hope that there’s someone there at the end to catch me…to calm my heart and to soothe my mind. Someone that can finally and completely get rid of the emotional scars given to me long ago.

 

Softness and warmth landed on my lips, making everything in me clench up in various feelings.

 

Once Yuri’s hand gently caressed me as our kiss grew deeper, I just knew…nothing is ever going to be the same for me anymore.

 

~~~

 

            (Taeyeon’s POV)

            “Ah! Mmhmm, TaeTae…” Tiffany moaned, gasping for air as I kissed her neck, leaving a trail of wet kisses. “What’s gotten into you…” She whispered, still sounding a bit breathless.

 

I used my arms to support myself while I pulled away to gaze upon the person I loved so much. I took a minute to realize how lucky I was to be able to caress her face… her hair…and kiss her luscious red lips.

 

I gently her bottom lip, not doing anything else but smile.

 

“What are you smiling at…?” Tiffany smiled back, tightening her arms that were around my waist.

 

“Fany…” I called with a light voice. “I just…” I couldn’t even rearrange my thoughts to be able to make a sensible sentence so I ended up sighing in contentment.

 

She just gave a look of confusion at me in return.

 

I chuckled and leaned, placing my forehead against hers. “I love you…I love you so much. I don’t know where I would be right now if it weren’t for you. Wonderful…amazing…you.”

 

“…I don’t know where would I be either.” Tiffany whispered back as we looked deep in each other’s eyes.

 

I smiled and leaned a bit more to capture her soft lips.

 

“Ready to take the next step?” I whispered, caressing her thigh.

 

She blushed madly, not even being able to look at me yet she nodded lightly. I chuckled at the cute expression she gave me and buried my face on the crook of her neck, kissing it as I slid my hand in her shirt.

 

Tiffany pulled me closer.

 

~~~

 

            (Jessica’s POV)

 

            I pushed myself closer to Yuri’s hold, heaving in a full breath of her scent. I smiled with content because of the fragrance she gave off. Yuri has become my comfort person. Like a teddy bear I’ve had since I was five. But it’s different right now. The reason why she gave me warmth and comfort just by her touch or scent is the whirlpool of emotions she caused within me.

 

Yuri laughed as I helped myself to cuddle her. “Getting comfy, hm?” She joked before hugging me tighter and pulling the pillow above us closer to her head.

 

I nodded, not caring if I looked like a biggest weirdo on the planet.

 

“I could get used to this. I haven’t had a clingy girlfriend before.” She grinned and kissed the top of my head.

 

I stopped helping myself to being spoiled and pulled away to look at her face, alarming Yuri. “What?” She asked, still surprised at my sudden movement.

 

“You haven’t told me everything about your previous girlfriend yet.” I said, hinting that I wanted to know about her past.

 

Her smile suddenly felt forced and uneasy and her eyes moved towards the mattress. “Do I really have to talk about it…?”

 

“I told you about mine so to be fair, I think you should.”

 

“Hmm.” She still didn’t choose to meet eyes with me. Was she this still this uncomfortable with me? “Oh hey, I didn’t know you love reading books.” She said abruptly, turning to the table filled with my novels.

 

I frowned at her attempt to change the subject.

 

“Yuri-ah.”

 

“What’s your favorite genre?” She continued to hide from our real topic.

 

I sighed, gripping her arm tightly and called her name one more time. “Yuri.” She finally turned back to me.

 

“What?”

 

“You can tell me anything, Yuri…” I whispered, hoping that she’ll be able to hear me out completely.

 

“…I can’t tell you.” She whispered and sat up, putting down her feet back on the floorboard too.

 

I sat up as well quickly. I’m not letting her get away with this easily. Why can’t she tell me? “Have you told Taeyeon?”

 

“Of course. She’s my best friend.” She answered and got out of bed, putting on her shoes and fixing her hair.

 

“Then why can’t you tell me? Don’t you love me?” I dared to question, looking up at her sadly, wanting to know right now.

 

She turned to look at me, not saying anything but instead, she bent her knees to my eye-level and leaned, kissing me for a few seconds. “Of course I do.” She whispered as soon as she pulled away.

 

“Then why can’t you tell me?”

 

She walked towards the door, looking at me and said, “I just…can’t.”, before leaving me alone in my room.

 

~~~

 

            (Taeyeon’s POV)

 

            “Can I ask something?”

 

“Go ahead.”

 

“Am I your first?”

 

 “Do you need to ask that question every time we take another step in our relationship?”

 

“Well, I may not be your first relationship and kiss but I should have a shot at being the first person you’ve been with in bed.”

 

“Hmm…I won’t say.”

 

Tiffany turned around, revealing her flawless back to me.

 

I whined and pushed myself up with my left arm before moving towards her. “Tell me~” I poked her waist for an answer, making her jump and turn back to me.

 

She giggled and pushed me away. “It’s none of your business~”

 

I bounced back right away. “It’s my business as your girlfriend and the person you just did it with.” I pouted, hoping she’ll give in to my plea.

 

“Fine.” She sighed. I immediately moved closer to make sure that I heard her answer. “…you were my first.” She whispered.

 

I almost screamed for joy when I finally became one of Tiffany Hwang’s firsts. I started bouncing on the bed, cheering as if I won a battle.

 

Tiffany couldn’t stop laughing to the point that she was gasping for air. “Gawd, I hope our child won’t get all of the dorky personality you carry with you.” She managed to say, still laughing.

 

I stopped my doings and turned to my girlfriend, not believing what she just said. “Child?”

 

She sat up with me, compressing her giggles with a smile glued to her face. “Yeah, after we get married.”

 

“Married?” I wondered about another word she mentioned. Children and Marriage weren’t in my future. All I know is that my future consisted of this ship and Tiffany.

 

“Yeah...” Tiffany’s smile disappeared since she finally felt the atmosphere I just dropped on us. “…we are going to end up together, right, Taeyeon?”

 

“I want us to be together forever but not…married. Marriage is only equal to one thing: A ball and a chain connected to my foot.” I said bluntly.

 

Tiffany looked like she was completely appalled by what I said that she argued back with furrowed eyebrows. “Marriage is a celebration of your love for another. It’s not something to imprison you. I’ve imagined myself being proposed to by you and there is not one time that I said no.” She said all in one breath. “Don’t you see me walking down the aisle, willing to commit myself to you forever?”

 

“Whoa, what’s all this pressure you’re suddenly dropping on me?” I replied, shocked to see that she’s practically asking me to be married to her. “I want to be with you eternally but we don’t need a title of being a married couple for that, don’t we?”

 

“Omigawd! Are you saying that our relationship is going nowhere?!” She slightly screamed out, getting out of bed and started getting dressed. “Do you really not see us settling down? I thought you love me, Taeyeon!”

 

“I do love you! But isn’t what we have already great? Why do we need to change anything? I’m happy! Aren’t you happy?!” I asked her, dressing up as well.

 

“Happy? Is that what I’m supposed to be right now? I just realized that I’m in a dead-end relationship, how am I supposed to be happy?!”

 

“Because you’re with me! We love each other and that’s all that matters!”

 

“Well if you really do love me as much as I love you, you would be planning the future with me right now instead of fighting with me like this and after all I’ve heard, I’m pretty sure that I love you more than you love me!” She shouted at me, storming out of our room.

 

I groaned in frustration, kicking the bed in front of me. “Dammit!” I hate it when we argue. But this isn’t just an argument, it’s a fight. A fight big enough to jeopardize our relationship.

 

My body acted on its own after my mind sent signals to not let Tiffany go this easily. I didn’t want our first night together to be ending like this so I sprinted to chase her. Out of the quarters and onto the main deck, she was leaning against the mast, covering her face so I couldn’t read her well enough how to approach her. I felt kind of scared of what’s going to happen now. I don’t want anything to happen between us that’ll ruin everything. [mast = the large wooden pole that connects all sails together.]

 

My heart was scared to death.

I just took a few steps towards her, ignoring the freezing wind of the late night blowing hard against me.

 

“Taeyeon…” She mumbled. I stopped in my tracks, watching the figure that was lowering her hands slowly.

 

“Tiffany, please listen…I didn’t mean to hurt you. I had no idea that marriage was so important to you—“ I couldn’t even finish my sentence since my heart felt a big blow. Tiffany revealed her face, covered with tears.

 

My body suddenly felt so vulnerable along with my mind turning completely useless at the moment.

 

I made the person that I love the most cry. Again.

 

“You don’t get it, Tae…” She continued, uttering a bitter chuckle. “Our relationship has no future…you leave me no choice but to reset all my thoughts about you. All my fantasies and hopes—everything. Just—everything about our relationship.” I couldn’t do anything but watch her every word. Even if more tears slid down her cheek as she continued with a sarcastic smile on her face, I had to stay put. “It just made me think…am I not enough for you? Or am I not the person you’re supposed to spend your life with forever?” Her smile faded.

 

A bullet went straight to my heart.

 

Say something. Please say something, Taeyeon. Do it for yourself. You will regret this for the rest of your life if you don’t.

 

“Tae-Tae…” She whispered, not letting herself meet my eyes. “…should we break up…?”

 

I stood there, just a meter away from her, frozen. I couldn’t believe the question she just asked me. After all we’ve been through, all that we’ve given up for each other and all the love we have for one another, did she just ask me if we should end everything?

 

I looked in her eyes as she did too with teary eyes. No words were exchanged, just thousands of thoughts spiraling in each of our minds while our facial expressions just said everything that we couldn’t convert into words.

 

            (No POV – Third person POV)

 

            Miles away from Taeyeon and Tiffany’s Fallen Angel, stood The Elven Beast on calm waters and anchored. The strong wooden fiend had 9 widely known people who have committed their whole body to the ship for over 2 years already.

 

The first one stood on the bridge, skillfully handling the ship’s smooth yet efficient speed and agility.

 

The second and third were in the special swordsmanship training deck, having an intense sparring against each other even if they knew that both of them already have the title of being a master at wielding a sword.

 

The fourth was in his quarters in silence, polishing up one of his many guns with his hands that were said to possess perfect marksmanship.

 

The fifth walked around his quarters, surrounded by shelves about medical information.

 

The sixth frantically ran around, checking to see if every bit of the infamous treader was in tact and up to his Captain’s high standards.

 

Coming back from the scouting he was tasked to do, he fixed himself up to look proper after quickly pulling up the boat then heading over to report, was the seventh.

 

All in all, this ship was known to be deadly. Every ship knows that once they come across this beast, nothing is ever left when they leave. Their title of being the master of the Indian Ocean has been rightfully claimed.

 

But aside from the seven members that have been mentioned, the final two were discussing important matters.

 

In the captain’s quarters, the captain and first mate discussed about their next motive. The tall captain paced in his quarters, thinking of a powerful strategy. “Our scouts say that they hold bountiful supplies and weapons.” His first mate stated, keeping a strong figure.

 

“Then I feel obliged to take their ship down.” The ill-minded captain replied with a smirk.

 

“But they also say that their ship is also very powerful. Even though they’ve only appeared on the Atlantic Ocean a month ago, they’ve won countless battles. Apparently, they are the joined forces of The Atlantic Compass and Poseidon’s Gem.” The almighty leader of The Elven Beast stopped in his tracks, turning to the first mate.

 

“The most powerful ships of the Atlantic?” He nodded. “This is going to be interesting.” The smirk just grew wider on the confident chief, already thinking of strategies to take down this interesting ship. “Who are its crew members?”

 

Right then, the scout popped in, announcing, “Captain, we have collected new information about their ship.”

 

“Come in.” He said, letting him step in and continue.

 

“Their two captains are The Atlantic Compass’ Kim Taeyeon and Poseidon’s Gem’s Tiffany Hwang. First mates are Kwon Yuri and Jessica Jung. Pilots are Lee Sunkyu and Im Yoona. Quartermasters are Choi Sooyoung and Kim Hyoyeon. Medical crew is guided by Seo Juhyun.”

 

“J-Jessica…Jung…” The suddenly nerve-racked first mate uttered.

 

The captain raised his eyebrow at Donghae, who seemed to be suddenly startled. “Somebody you know?”

 

“She’s my…ex-girlfriend, captain.” He mumbled.

 

The man across Donghae laughed loudly, walking towards him and placing a hand on his shoulder. “How coincidental. Tiffany Hwang is my ex.”

 

---

 

Getting so close to the ending. :)