“What happened to you?” Yuri asked, appearing out of nowhere with a handful of grapes she probably got from a basket that Sooyoung harvested. I shook my head as a reply, not knowing what to actually say as I constantly touch my lips to remember the sensation of the kiss. “So…6 hours of disappearing on the island and nothing happened.” She stated, putting a grape in . “Huh.”

 

I sighed, having a hopeless-looking smile.

 

“Oh. Wait wait…” She paused for a second, having a grape between her fingers. “That’s right. I remember now, you were hanging out with Tiffany~”

 

I turned to her in shock, slamming the wooden railing in the process. “H-H-How did you know that?” I stammered.

 

She smirked, swallowing the food in . “After you were gone longer than expected, I went off to check on you.” My knees weakened and I hung my head low, hitting my arm that was on the railing while sighing heavily. I was too focused on Tiffany to notice any people watching. I cursed myself silently.

 

“What did you reach…?” I reluctantly asked.

 

“Hmm…I just saw you two talking and left. I figured you’d be pissed if you caught me watching and that would ruin the moment.” She chuckled.

 

I lifted my head, relieved that she didn’t see anything else. “You bet I would.”

 

“So did anything happen? Yuri asked, popping in another grape in .

 

“U-Uhm…” I looked over at the reflection of the moon on the surface of the dark ocean, biting my lip and closing my eyes as I reminisced.

 

Her vanilla scent…the softness of her lips…her warm hands caressing my cheeks…

 

“Yuri…” I whispered, slowly opening my eyes again. “I love her. I really do.” I clutched the wood in my hands, feeling the words roll on my tongue for the first time.

 

She slowly turned to me, having a smile forming on her lips.

 

~~~

 

            Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to see Tiffany the following days. Even though I kept my eye open on every part of the ocean we sailed on, there was no sign of her ship. I was getting desperate, I almost told Yoona to keep sailing until midnight…but that wouldn’t be fair to anyone on my crew. I wasn’t the kind of captain that would boss everyone around as long as it was for my benefit. They’ve done well this past week and they don’t deserve any abuse. And I didn’t want anyone but Yuri to know that I was in love with my greatest enemy.

 

I sighed heavily while the crew dropped the anchor to another day of not sighting Tiffany. “C’mon, cheer up, Taeyeon. You’re turning into an obsessive lover.” She joked. I threw back a half-hearted smile before reluctantly heading to my sleeping quarters.

 

The sensation of her lips against mine never wavered. It was still burning…the warmth and the gentleness. I can never forget any detail of it. I touched my lips lightly as the taste of her lips still lingered on mine. “Being in love is hard work.” I muttered to myself before turning and falling asleep.

 

~~~

 

            I stood at the bridge, having my arms thrown over the wooden barrier as I looked out over the deep blue ocean and felt the afternoon sun blazing down on the Atlantic Compass. I felt hopeless after looking for her these past 3 days, turning up to no avail. “Tiffany…” I sighed, resting my head on my shoulder and puffed my cheeks in devastation.

 

Behind me, I heard Yuri and Yoona having a chat while we continued to sail. Day by day, we just sail every inch of the ocean we can until the sun sets, making sure that there is no unknown trespassing pirate ship or if we see something of value, we halt and collect it; much like food or a sunken ship that may hold treasure.

 

“Excuse me for a bit, Yoong.” I heard Yuri say before I felt her palm pushing my back, almost feeling like I was gonna go overboard.

 

“K-Kwon!” I exclaimed, regaining my balance and turned to her. “What are you trying to do?!” I yelled. She laughed and hit my arm.

 

“Pull yourself together. Everyone has been wondering why you’ve been acting aloof.”  I stomped my foot, looking away as I puffed my cheeks again.

 

“Where’s Tiffany~” I quietly whined, making sure Yoona won’t hear me.

 

“She’ll turn up soon. Two massive ships circling the Atlantic Ocean shouldn’t be hard to meet.” She grinned. “Besides, you’ll meet either way. The next battle is 4 days away.” I blinked at her. I forgot about our battle…I haven’t thought up of a strategy yet. Will we still even fight…? After that kiss and these feelings in me, I don’t even know if I could land a scratch on her. “In the meantime, you should get a grip before everybody finds out.” She whispered and turned back to Yoona.

 

I sighed, fixing my coat. Yuri was right. If anyone knew my feelings for Tiffany, they might lose their respect for me…because I fell in love with the enemy.

 

I walked down to the main deck where everybody was hard at working in maintaining the movement of this ship, observing everybody tie up loose knots, polishing cannons and scrubbing the floor.

 

Putting my arms behind my back and breathing deeply, I walked towards Sooyoung to get updated on everything I missed and started gaining back my control as a captain.

 

~~~

 

            I watched my crew drop the anchor and tie the sails back to its original state to another day of not seeing Tiffany. I sighed before pressing my lips together. “You’ll see her soon enough…” I mumbled to myself, standing alone on the stern.

 

I saw Yuri dismissing everyone except the couple of members who were assigned to keep watch tonight. Afterwards, she turned to me, saluting. “I’ll be in my quarters, friend!” She called out. I nodded.

 

“Goodnight!” I replied.

 

So as of 9pm, here I stand on the stern…alone with the exception of my watchmen on the main deck.

 

I took a deep breath, turning around to look at the dark night. And right then, at the distant island, I saw another ship that was illuminating with torches. But one specific thing caught my eye: a pink flag. “Tiffany?” I whispered under my breath and started searching for the spy glass hidden in my coat.

 

Looking through it, I searched carefully for any bit of her. Every moment my heart started receiving hope, it started jumping and my body seemed to become overactive. I got a continuous adrenaline rush that made me want to jump and run around out of excitement.

 

There she is.My heart whispered.

 

I felt blood rush to my head just by seeing her face. She was standing on the bridge with her first mate, Jessica. They looked like they were talking about something serious. But I didn’t care about any of that. I immediately put back my spy glass and ran to my quarters, quickly writing up a note about Yuri being in charge for the time being until I’m back and slipped it under her door before running to the small boat attached to the ship.

 

I rowed as fast as I could to her ship before I arrive too late and she’s already sleeping.

 

My heart pounded by the thought of seeing her again…to hear her voice again, to feel her touch and…to replay the moment of her lips against mine.

 

I rowed to the side of her ship, where the ladder to get on board was placed and left it there as I climbed the ladder. Little beads of sweat trickled down my temples as I got on board. That rowing was really tiring, I couldn’t even lift my arms that high…I just hope this was all worth it.

 

I saw Tiffany and Jessica enter the quarters together, making me walk want to follow after but the watchmen were on guard. I bit my lip, waiting for a moment I could walk past them.

 

When all guards turned their back, I quickly sneaked past them, running down the stairs that lead to her quarters while holding my breath. I didn’t want to ‘cause a misunderstanding of attacking. It’s going to be a confusing night for everyone on my and her ship.

 

As I stood in front of her door, I tried to make myself as presentable as possible. I fixed my hair and wiped all the sweat I could from my face before making sure my clothes were in order. I’ve waited for 3 days…and I’m finally going to see her again.

 

I held my breath, pushing in the door. “Who’s there?!” I heard Jessica’s voice exclaim as soon as I opened the door half-way.

 

I stepped in, revealing my face and quickly analyzing my surroundings. Tiffany was sitting on her desk while Jessica stood beside her, pointing a gun at me. “W-What…our battle is not due for a few more days! Are you trying to kill Captain Tiffany?!” She accused, loading her gun.

 

I didn’t even pay attention to anything she said…as soon as I stepped in that room, Tiffany and I had deep eye-contact. It was the same stare we had after we kissed. “Taeyeon…” She whispered.

 

A smile slowly crept on my face. My heart was finally relieved of missing her all this time. “Tiffany.”

 

“Captain?” Jessica said out of confusion and astonishment to the situation and atmosphere that was surrounding her.

 

I turned to her after walking inside the room, pushing the door back to its original place. “I’m not here to fight, Jessica. Please put the gun down. Even I don’t have any weapons with me.” I explained, standing still. She still eyed me suspiciously, not trusting my words.

 

“Then if you don’t mind, I’m going to check your pockets.” She smirked and handed the gun to Tiffany. She walked towards me and started patting down my pants and coat then ran her hand on my inner shirt until she reached a sensitive area, making me cringe a bit.

 

“J-Jessica, that enough!” Tiffany shouted. I looked at her and found her glaring at the person whose hands were getting a bit too touchy. Jealousy type?

 

Jessica stepped away from me, still looking at me suspiciously. “Well you really don’t have any weapons…” Then she turned to Tiffany. “What do you say, Captain?”

 

“I think she’s clear.” She smiled at me. “You can leave us alone now, Sica.”

 

“But what if—“

 

“It’ll be fine. I’ll talk to you later.”

 

“…yes, captain.” Jessica agreed reluctantly and left but not without giving me a cold glare, sending shiver down my spine. It was only when she left that I could finally feel like I could breathe properly. The aura she carries around her is enough to freeze a shark.

 

We both turned to each other, finally getting a moment of peace just for us, we slowly smiled. “What are you doing here?” Tiffany asked as I approached her.

 

I forced to break my gaze at her and swallow the excess saliva in my mouth before saying, “I just had to see you again. And not in the circumstances of you trying to blow up my ship.” I grinned sheepishly. She giggled. “I wanted to talk to you about that…kiss.” I mumbled, keeping a short distance between us.

 

I refused to meet her eyes and blushed, remembering the moment again. I was surprised when she did the same thing. “W…what about it?”

 

“I wanted to know how you felt about it…does it change anything between us or…”

 

Before I could even finish my sentence, she answered. “I thought…it was wonderful. It felt like a dream come to life.” She whispered. When I turned back to her, I found her looking down with red cheeks while smiling slightly. My heart skipped a bit.

 

I couldn’t help but smile. “Tiffany…” I mumbled, stepping closer and closer. “We’re enemies but…I think that kiss said something else.” I stated and reached out, grabbing her hand and holding it tightly. She averted her gaze from the floor to my eyes. We stared at each other for a second before I continued to ask…”Don’t you agree?”

 

She smiled sweetly and hopped off her desk, grabbing my other hand and intertwined all our fingers together. “…you don’t know how much I agree with you, Kim Taeyeon.” She whispered. “Ever since you saved my life, I couldn’t help but to keep thinking about you…until it came to a point where my heart started beating irregularly and my mind was constantly confused because of you.” She admitted, chuckling at her own words. “I was falling for you before I knew it.” And at that sentence, my own heart pounded as I gaze at her blushing face. “And that kiss gave me a little…push.” She whispered and started leaning…until our lips were centimeters away. I could feel her breath gently brush against mine as we stayed in this position.

 

I couldn’t take it anymore.

 

I leaned and captured her lips, finally feeling that sensation I’ve been longing to feel again. I let go of her hands, wrapping them instead around her waist to pull her closer as I deepen the kiss. She kissed me back, wrapping her arms around my neck.

 

We pulled away, staring at each other’s eyes. “…I love you.” I whispered.

 

She smiled lightly, looking at me happily. “I love you too, Captain Taengoo.” She giggled and leaned to kiss me again.

 

~~~

 

            3 hours later and I’m still in Tiffany’s quarters…after we confessed to each other, we couldn’t bear to separate. We just wanted to stay in each other’s arms and talk about ourselves…and our love.

 

“Are you going to tell your sister?” I asked while we were seated on the couch in her quarters as my hand held hers tightly.

 

“Jessica? Hmm…I don’t think so.” She answered, almost looking like she was ashamed.

 

“Why? She’s your sister.”

 

“…she’s overprotective of me. And if she found out that I’m in a relationship with an enemy, she’ll just explode.” She sighed.

 

“Oh.” I nodded, seeing the reason. “Then nobody can know about us.” I mumbled, feeling a bit down about that fact.

 

“I’m afraid so.”

 

“Though…my First Mate will know the moment I get back on my ship.” I whispered, suddenly hoping that she won’t hear.

 

Tiffany turned to me in shock. “How so?”

 

“She uhm…” I scratched my cheek. “She’s…observant. And found out that I was falling for you before I could even realize myself.”

 

Tiffany nodded. “You must’ve fallen for me hard to be quickly caught like that.” She giggled. I laughed and nudged her shoulder with mine.

 

“Don’t be too cocky now.” I grinned. 

 

It took us a few seconds to stop laughing but afterwards, we became very silent as I felt us both realize one thing.

 

Our relationship has to be kept secret from every person on our crew.
 

---

 

I'm sorry if this was kinda short ^^;;