I Am The Sea || Choi San

ruse

"I-..." Theo looks from San to Treasurer Kang and bristles, unsure of what to do. This isn't in the plan.
San is supposed to be searching for the library right now. He's not supposed to be here.
However, Theo is glad he is.
Treasurer Kang is at least twice her age and his hungry eyes make sowmthing in her coil tightly. Everything about him feels predatory and dangerous. Risky.
"I would love to," Theo quickly responds and places her hand in San's.
His fingers immediately curl around hers, pulling her out of Kang's reach before he could protest or challenge her decision.

San leads Theo to the middle of the dance floor and the two of them position themselves across from each other. It's a slow dance, the music lovely and romantic.
Theo is standing with her back to Treasurer Kang but she can feel his eyes in her back, drilling a hole into the spot between her shoulder blades.
What an embarrassment for Kang, to have a lady he obviously intended to woo snatched away right under his nose.

San smiles at her calmly, as if nothing in the world could upset him, and bows his head as she curtsies with the people around them.
The two of them raise their right hand and hold them between each other, lingering an inch apart.
Theo had almost forgotten the lack of touch within the noble dances, she had gotten used to holding hands, touching fingers to waists or shoulders.
The two of them start turning around each other in a circle.

"What are you doing?" She finally asks under her breath, but San could hear her nevertheless.
He glances at her and smirks.
"For a man like him, there is only one thing more distracting than a beautiful woman," he murmurs back to her as they continue to dance, "And that's a beautiful woman he can't have."
His smirk drops to a more serious expression as he adds, "And I couldn't stand the way he looked at you. I thought you could use a chance to get away from him. Judging by the sour look on his face, it's working. He can't take his eyes off of you."

Theo glances over his shoulder as they turn once more, before sidestepping under his arm and clapping her hands once.
San is right. Even through all the people, Treasurer Kang is still following her every movement.
"You were right," she tells San, "Thank you."
The dance continues and Theo finds herself relaxing.
"I noticed you were distancing yourself from me over the past days," San murmurs then as the two of them stand shoulder to shoulder, turning around in circles, "I am hereby asking for your forgiveness for lashing out at you when I saw you with my belongings that day. I was harsh and rude and you didn't deserve that."
Theo looks at him, surprised. San cocks his head and adds, "I realize that this is the second time already I am asking for your forgiveness, but I intend to make it the last time."

He swallows thickly, glancing away from Theo for a moment.
Theo smiles gently.
"I forgive you," she says and his eyebrows raise slightly, "Under the condition of a favor."
"Anything," he whispers immediately, "Anything to make you forget my horrible words."
He raises his right arm and Theodora twirls beneath it, as she says, "Play the violin for me again."

Theo looks up at San, into his dark, dark eyes, and adds shyly, "Just one more time, please. I can't stop thinking about it."
San smiles then and nods gracefully.
"I will," he answers, "I'll play anything you like."

Then he raises his arm again, but this time, he wraps it around Theo's waist. His hand places itself on her back and he pulls her close. Theo almost stumbles into him, raising her hands to catch herself. Instead, she falls against his chest and into his light embrace.
Around them, whispers erupt even over the orchestra's music, but Theo barely hears them.
San and Theo sway over the dance floor, turning and spinning as a unit rather than two individuals, and her right hand finds his shoulder all by itself. His shoulder is strong beneath the fabric of his jacket, never wavering under her touch. His hand on Theo's back is warm and gentle, and Theo leans into his embrace ever so slightly.

Their faces hover in front of each other, and the lights hit San's eyes just right for Theo to spot the gray freckles in his black eyes, like specks of ash on coal.
She had never seen eyes like his, and the beauty of them takes her breath away for a second.

Then his eyes slowly but surely stray away from hers and over Theo's shoulder, locking onto something away from the dance floor.

"Perhaps I was wrong," San murmurs then, "Looks like Kang is rather easily distracted. By any and all forms of female bodies, it seems."

He spins Theo in his arms until she is in his spot and can lay eyes on Treasurer Kang, deep in conversation with a rather round woman closer to his age, eyeing her very low-cut collar with the same hungry eyes.

"Ugh, men," Theo rolls her eyes and giggles under her breath, "Some of them just don't have any manners."
San chuckles and spins the both of them back around with the slightest pressure of his arm. Their bodies move in sync, perfectly matching each other's steps and movements wordlessly.

"How about we join Seonghwa and Yunho in their search for the library now that our dearest Treasurer is employed elsewhere? I'm pretty sure nothing in the world could pull his attention away from that woman's dress."

When Theo nods, San gently directs her into a series of multiple turns and sidesteps, until they reach the back of the dance floor, from which they fight their way out of the crowds. San's hand slips around Theo's and he pulls her after him trough the people, and Theo marvels at his long fingers and gentle hold around her wrist as she rushes after him. The two of them find the wide opened doors of the ballroom and slip through, entering a long, open hallway. The music is quieter here, and there aren't any people around, all of them too occupied with the festivities. The guards are left at the ballroom's entrance and even the maids and servants can't be seen anywhere.

"I didn't know you could dance noble dances," Theo says into the silence between them, eerily aware of San's fingers on the inside of her wrist. She watches him carefully, but his shoulders tense then and he doesn't look at her when he answers.

"There is a lot you don't know about me," he says, "I told you before, didn't I?"

They find a staircase made from white stone in the entry hall of the house and climb it, finding another hallway and a dozen doors leading away from it.
One of them - a very large double winged example - is made from dark wood, heavy metal hinges holding it in frame.
In front of it, Seonghwa and Yunho stand, their hands already on the heavy wood.
"Shouldn't you be downstairs distracting the Treasurer?"
Seonghwa eyes Theo worriedly, but she just shakes her head.
"Trust me, he's distracted all right. We need to hurry though, it's after ten-thirty already. The sooner we get this done the better."

Yunho stems his entire body against the doors for it to finally swing open with a soft groan.
The four of them slip inside and Yunho closes the door with a soft, slow thud again.
The oil lamps are lit, which unsettles something in Theo. If no one is in here, why should the lights be on?
One look at San and Theo knows he is thinking the same thing, his hands hovering over the knives no doubt hidden in his jacket.
The library's shelves are made from dark wood. There are glass vitrines holding especially old or vulnerable specimen, and the walls that aren't lined with shelves are hung with maps and oil paintings.
Yunho's hand is on the handle of his cutlass, as they carefully set one foot in front of the other, sneaking over the dark wooden floor.

Theo's eyes wander over the book titles.
The Treasurer has a knack for collecting very beautiful versions of seemingly any and all books that had ever been published.
From medicine books, to philosophical essays, to finance, to the scriptures of past kings and queens.
The most represented genre is folklore, though. Folklore and legends, specifically legends of the sea and its various creatures.
Theo raises her hand and traces the back of a leather bound book with golden letters stamped into the binding.
Creatures of the Sea and How To Kill Them
Theo snatches her hand away as if she had burned herself, sudden disgust welling up in her throat.

San, Seonghwa, and Yunho have caught up to her and wait for her to join them again, before they slowly turn the corner around a bookshelf that reaches into the room.

Whatever they had expected to find, however, this was not it.

As they turn the corner, their weapons drawn, their eyes fall onto a young man with curly blonde hair that falls softly around his gentle face, sitting on the ground, a stack of books almost as high as he himself beside him.
When he notices them, his dark eyes snap towards them and widen.
When he speaks, his voice is deeper than Theo had expected it to be.
"Who are you?"