Classless

Chapter 10- History

Chapter Ten- History

Chief Song POV

Chills went through me as I understood what Fedor meant by revenge, they were as embarrassing as Ode’s refusal to clean his beards, somehow her plan had backfired and Ode had been haunting the Ship with his pink beard. “This is your fault,” I said to a chagrined Fedor as Ode passed proudly by us since we were up early and had been lounging in the accommodation area. Every member of the crew except for Carlos, Fedor, and I had a shade of pink even Kora had found his pink nails amusing and had cut it off but left the color on, we were like a circus team.

“How was I supposed to know that he’d think the pink brought out his eyes? I understand why he doesn’t talk much now; he is a complete lunatic.” Fedor whispered and Carlos chortled.

“How come I wasn’t pranked?” Carlos sounded disappointed by that and I could not understand why he wanted to be part of them. I felt like there was a huge rock waiting to hit my head and anytime Fedor looked at me, my mind traveled far and wide wondering what she had in store for me.

Fedor patted Carlos back before sipping her tea, “I like you better than all of them.” The answer satisfied Carlos who relaxed into his chair, Joseph frowned at Fedor for the fifteenth time that morning and sighed. The prank was harmless at best, maybe embarrassing and so I could not punish Fedor for it, he knew that as well and I guessed that was part of what annoyed him. Joseph was a serious man, I doubted that he had any humor in his body; most people disliked him but he was one of the sincerest people I knew. He never played games, his yes was his yes and his no was his no and that was more than enough for me.

“Station Uniforms.” Martha sounded. I stood up with the rest of the crew and went to work, the uniforms on the sea inspection could go from trivial to extensive, and each one was a pain because most of them enjoyed throwing their power around. Tokhe Industries weren’t exactly amongst the top which left us vulnerable to exploitation, usually, there would be no problems entertaining their discretions but Fedor was here, she was a woman and an attractive one at that. This could be a game-changer.

Fedor followed us as the ship slowed, “I take it that we are not fans of the Uniforms.”

Naim mumbled under his breath as we “No one is. They belong to the United Force and so they have too much power.”

“Nah, you’re just mad because they have bigger guns,” Fedor said as the Uniforms came on board with their captain leading them. Usually, it was the normal force that perform the inspection, I wondered what the issue could be. The captain was a lean man, his cap covered half of his face, I was not fooled by his size, while he might be smaller than I was, a man did not become a captain by sitting on his fingers.

“Chief of the crew?” He asked while reading from a tab.

“Chief Song here,” I answered.

He took a long look around the Martha and looked back at his little machine, “Two prisoners escaped the stronghold, have you noticed anything strange?” He did not introduce himself, he did not have to, his red-striped green uniform explained who he was, and there was a hardness in his eyes that wasn’t in any of the other men with him.

“No, nothing so far,” I answered as brusquely as he asked. He was condescending, and that was no surprise, most of them were, maybe they took a class on how to look down on people.

Fedor walked closer until she was directly in front of the captain, it was too late for me to pull her backward, and somewhere in my mind, I thought that she courted death. “Maybe if you look at the people you talk to, it would quicken this process. Kurt”

Kurt, she said with a tone of familiarity that I did not like, when “Kurt” raised his eyes and stared directly at Fedor, I absolutely detested the way his eyes changed from cold steel to warmth, I hated the wry smile Fedor exchanged with him and I loathed how he removed his cap to stare at Fedor.

“Fedor,” Kurt called out.

“Kurt,” Fedor repeated, why was she repeating his name? We knew his name was Kurt. Why? She mentioned it already.

“Still a pain I see.” Kurt sighed like he was tired of her but his eyes brimmed with pleasure.

“Still an arrogant ass I see,” Fedor replied with annoyance and I was sure she was annoyed. I wasn’t sure but anything to belittle whatever relationship they had.

“Do you still want to marry me?” Kurt leaned closer to her.

Fedor chuckled sensually, what was happening? I waited for Fedor to refute his claims, “Still playing hard to get?” Fedor had replied. I heard my heart fall and my mind shatter, I maintained a stone-cold appearance but my insides were a mess.

Kurt sighed again, “Don’t tell me you joined a crew just in case you meet me.”

“Get over yourself, Captain Kurt. You are not the center of my world, like you rightly pointed out the last time, there are many wealthy, eligible men in Kolanpur, why would I waste my time on you? This is my crew and my Chief, believe me, there is more to me than being a wife. Can you imagine?” Fedor answered with disdain, annoyance, and a little pleasure.

Kurt appraised her, “You have lost weight. Since you are keen on marrying up, you should take better care of yourself, men of my standards like women with curves. You shouldn’t allow yourself to go, you are still unmarried, aren’t you?” He smirked. I felt Fedor stiffen and watched her calmly release her breath. He continued, “Can you swim now? You are on sea, surely you would not be so foolish as to join a team of foragers without learning how to swim?”

His men exchanged looks with one another and I assumed they were not used to their captain displaying emotions especially one as petty as this, Fedor hissed, “Careful Kurt, you almost sound like you care.”

“Of course, you are that foolish.” Kurt massaged his temple with his free hand and glared at me before schooling his face to a neutral expression. “Is this how you run your ship? With members who cannot take care of themselves?”

“What I do with my ship and my crew is none of your business. We have not seen anything strange but if you tell us what to look out for and leave your number, I will keep an eye out and reach out to you if we see anything that may be of help to you.” I said in the indifferent tone I use for superiors, I know how annoying they found it to be and I hoped to exact that emotion in him, the slight raise of his chin told me I succeeded.

“I apologize for speaking out of turn, I was surprised to meet an old acquaintance on sea. It is one of the last places she would be caught dead in, she never does a thing without an ulterior motive. You should be careful with her, she is poison but as you said, it is none of my business.” Kurt took the answer right out of my mouth before I could.

Fedor laughed lightly, “Kurt, let it go. It’s been five years already, how long do you intend to hold on to that grudge? How was I supposed to know it was a sore spot for you? I have apologized and apologized, there’s not more I can do anymore.” She said exasperated.

Kurt’s eyes softened again, “I am not big on forgiveness and neither are you.” He took a beat and laughed dryly, I hated to concede but he was a good-looking man; “Maybe that is why we suit each other. I know who you are and you have seen the worse parts of me, ask again.”

Fedor frowned, “What?” I had a sinking suspicion about what he meant but I hoped to the seas that Fedor didn’t take the bait.

“Ask me to marry you again Fedor.” Kurt breathed, Fedor raised her brow and stared at him the same way she did when she thought someone was acting crazy. “

She did not answer but watched him in confusion and wonder. “Have you lost your mind?”

Kurt laughed, this time a sincere one. “Have you found someone else? Or do you finally understand the weight of that question?”

Fedor closed her eyes in comprehension like something clicked for her and her mouth drew into an Oh sound, “I don’t have the time to search for husbands Kurt. You were right then, it was a stupid question and one I would never repeat to you in the future.”

Kurt nodded, pleased for some reason; “If that’s the case, then it would be up to me to ask next time then. Until we meet again Fedor. Chief Song, you’ll know whenever you find what I meant by something strange. Please contact me when you do.” He dropped his card and left Martha with his men.

I stood rigidly and watched as their Ship went farther from us, then slowly turned to Fedor who avoided all of our eyes, I had no right to ask what just happened even though I had heard enough to understand that they had history, I knew that Fedor had a life before me and I don’t understand the possessiveness I felt at this moment. I wanted to drag her to my room and pound her so hard until she spilled all her secrets and all that was left in her mouth was my name, instead I changed our course into a neighboring town.

“You know someone that high up in the United Forces?!” Carlos whistled.

Fedor scoffed, “Know is a heavy word. He would kill me if he could, he hates me with a fierceness that I have never understood.” She sighed and frowned when Martha was making her way to the banks, “Wait, are we at Biga already?”

Naim shook his head discretely at her, “You are in so much trouble, tread lightly.” He whispered to her.

Fedor had managed to avoid eye contact with me, she swallowed and asked softly, “Chief, where are we going?”

“To get some supplies and to teach you how to swim,” I answered without looking at her.

She laughed nervously, “I know I have to learn how to swim but maybe we should do that when you are in a better mood.”

I know what I must have looked like but I did not care, “Fedor, please tell me. What is wrong with my mood at the moment?” I stared at her.

Fedor licked her lips, “Like you want to strangle me. I … I know that some of it is my fault but I had no idea we would run into him, I thought he traveled the world, what were the chances?”

“Some of it?” I mimicked the way she raised her brow.

“Okay, all of it. Please tell me exactly what I did wrong so I can apologize, I do not want to risk my life by learning how to swim unless, of course, I am learning from someone else and not you.” Fedor shifted backward carefully.

“Go and change, we have to start on your lessons Fedor.” I ignored her sneaky request, like I would allow another man touch her, to see her wet and vulnerable, like I would trust someone else with her safety. I knew that I was behaving irrationally, I knew that it was too soon to get sucked into her vortex, Kurt had put it clearly Fedor was poison.

The rest of the men got their cue and left Martha to get supplies, she joined me at the River Delta, she had a carton brown singlet and shorts, her hair was in a ponytail and her green eyes peered carefully at me. I was tempted to get lost in them but I threw her into the river unprepared. I helped her to the surface, she coughed and glared at me in anger. “It’s a faster way to learn,” I mumbled.

I was about to repeat the process when she touched my chest; “Stop, please stop.” She said so softly and gently that I had to look at her, it was evening and the sun was setting; she held on to me tightly, “Look at me Song.” Like a charm, I looked into her eyes, that was all the signal I got when her lips softly meshed on mine.