TREASURE || ATEEZ

15- abandon ship

ep. fifteen
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Your feet feel light once they take their first step on land since forever.

Your eyes take in the lively town before as your lips spread into a side grin. The sun is set ablaze above in the sky, the wind gliding in the air with the scent of the ocean. The sound of chatter makes your heart race in excitement as everything around you reminds you of home.

Jongho and Mingi watch you from a distance while keeping an eye on you, allowing you to enjoy the environment around you. Every once in a while, they will call your name to bring you near them just in case you get lost in the crowded area. You don't mind surprisingly as you return to them at every sound of your name being called out.

With the scene before you, you can't help but feel the urge to cry due to being homesick. You miss you island, your town, your house...

And your sister.

You don't let a single tear escape your eyes, however, as you don't want to show any signs of emotions to the men behind you. Who knows, maybe they'll leave on this island to fend for yourself if you prove that you're not worth useful.

"Here's the medicine shop," Jongho points at once you arrive at the final destination, opening the door for you and Mingi to go through. "Pick out what Seonghwa told you that he's out of."

With a content hum, you travel to the shelves and inspect many of the glass bottles in front of you. Your hands reach out to the herbs either out of curiosity or to purchase for the ship's medicine storage. It can be seen that the vast amount of medicine excites you through the sparkles in your eyes, and Jongho can't help but smile at the sight.

Catching a moment of weakness, Mingi nudges him lightly with his elbow.

"Jongho," Mingi whispers, "There is no time for that right now. You need to be on alert."

The said pirate's lips return to a flat line almost immediately after being reminded by his partner. "My apologies."

You turn your head after hearing mumbling from behind you, but the pirates quickly smile and urge her to continue her search along the shelves.

Eventually, you pick out everything that the ship needs and Mingi pays the clerk before the three of you exit the building. Everyone simply wanders around town to allow you to get familiar with it as the pirates attend to their chores. When they are having a conversation about a deal, you would go to the vendor close by and observe the trinkets that are laid out on the table.

While they were bargaining with the butcher, your feet for some reason bring you to a table full of jewelry. The polished metals glimmer in your eyes as you look at each piece one by one. Subconsciously, you touch the necklace that's draped around your neck and fiddle with it as you observe the jewelry in front of you. You don't notice a hand appear over your shoulder as it grabs one of the necklaces from the table until you hear a voice right beside your ear. 

"How much is this one?" Jongho asked the vendor.

The pirate discusses a deal with the seller before purchasing the string of beauty and smiles to you. "It seemed like you wanted one, so I got the prettiest one."

Was I really looking at the jewelry for that long?  you wonder. It felt like you were there for 2 seconds.

Nonetheless, the male comes from behind and switches out the necklace on your neck for the one he bought you to see if it suited you. You cannot see it, but Jongho seems to be in awe when he looked at you with the new piece of jewelry. 

"You look beautiful."

You smile at the compliment, feeling your cheeks flush red. 

The moment quickly ends when Mingi clears his throat and the both of you look away flustered. The boatswain rolls his eyes as he places an arm around your shoulder and  brings you to a bench, informing you that they needed to visit a couple more vendors and that you should rest on the bench. Hearing the reasonable plan, you nod your head and entertain yourself with the crowd of people pass you and the chattering from near by shops. 

As time goes by, however, you notice that the pirates have taken a while to come retrieve you to head back to the ship. Less people are roaming the streets of the town, the shops are closing, the sky is darkening, and you are still sitting on the bench as you were told to do. Once the sun is setting into the horizon, you decide to get up from your seat and to roam around town in hope that you can find your escorts.

You call out their name to see if any heads turn in response to those names, and your feet quicken as less and less people walk down the streets. Your eyes frantically look for anything that strikes familiarity within as you look at every person you pass. You shiver in the cold when you feel the wind travel along your skin, but you don't stop your search in fear of being left behind. Eventually you are brought to the harbor where the life boat that you arrived in with should be stationed and search for two men awaiting for you.

But there is no one around.

When you look up from the harbor, you look for the pirates' ship and see its light travel along the ocean. 

You touch your necklace in preparation to use its power to travel along the water to make it to the ship; however, you realize that you had your necklace switched out by Jongho. You think then that they may have forgotten to retrieve you, or they couldn't find you on their way back to the harbor. They would never do that to you, especially Jongho, who you trusted so much. 

Yet as the ship travels further away from the island, reality slowly settles in.

You've been deceived.