“Don’t call me that!” Kris barked, “I refused to see or call a despicable man such as yourself as my father. I have no such father.” His arms remained up and Kris’s eyes burned with fury as if he could really stab the man that stood in front of him.

“Wake up son. This is reality. Your father, me, is a pirate and is also the captain of this ship.” the man confronted.

“I have no such father! I only have one family member and that is Halmoni Hyun-Jae.” Kris barked again.

“Wait! You’re a pirate?”Amber asked Kris as she barged into the room with Key.

“I’m not a pirate. This man is.” Kris growled, letting his hands drop slightly.

“Pirate blood runs through your veins.” the man said.

“It does not. Becoming a pirate is not determined through who your parents are. It’s a choice.” Kris snarled.

“Ah! Just like your mother. You never change.” the man smiled. “Just as stubborn.”

“Oh. So you remember that I ever had a mother? After the many affairs you had with other women? After leaving her to die? After leaving me to get yourself locked up in a prison cell? No doubt your scumbags busted you out of prison too.” Kris spat.

“It’s all true. Everything you say is true. But this is my ship and you must do as I say whether you like to or not.” The man swung his door open and snapped his fingers. Immediately, a couple of his crew came to his side and with a simple tilt of his head, Key, Amber and Kris were held up and unable to do much movement.

“Let me go you !” Kris growled. The man walked up to Kris and stared deeply into his eyes.

“I’ll give you three options. One, stay on this ship and be a good little boy. Two, I can keep you in prison where you can starve. Or three, I’ll have you walking the plank and you won’t be able to find out what I would do you your little friends.” the man bargained.

“Don’t you dare touch Amber you filthy pirates!” Kris thrashed, looking in Amber’s direction.

“Ah, so this one is Amber eh?” the man smirked, making his way over to Amber. He gently glided his hands over her face as Amber jerked back, disgusted by his touch.

“Don’t touch her!” Key growled, disgusted that the man touched his fiancee at all.

“Ah! So this one’s a lass. Very interesting.” the man laughed.

“What do you want us to do Capt’n Wu?” the one holding Amber in check asked.

“Ask my sonny boy.” the man, Captain Wu, sighed and averted his gaze from Amber to Kris.

“Choose to be a good boy, I’ll make sure you have a proper place to rest and that you remain well fed. You will also be able to roam on ship as freely as you please and you will not be forced to do any slave work. Choose any of the other two options- well, I can’t make any promises that you won’t die painfully.” he continued.

“You’re despicable.” Kris spat.

“I’m giving you option number one only because I still respect you as my son. If anyone else were be aboard my ship, these options won’t even be available. It’ll only turn to a one way trip to hell.” Captain Wu responded. “Now choose. One, two or three?”

~

Amber looked out to the darkened sea, her heart aching like mad. She didn’t know how to feel. She felt betrayed yet she didn’t feel betrayed. Was it normal for her to feel this way? She didn’t know the answer. She wanted to cry, but what would crying do for her? Besides allowing her to let out all the stress that she had been feeling and continuous surprises for the last couple of days, it does her absolutely nothing. In fact she might be pitied for crying and she didn’t want to be pitied. She wanted to stay strong. She wanted to retain her memories again and these were the obstacles she saw coming and had to face. There was no other w