The Night I Found Home (The Forever Pirates) #1

023

A/N: I'm waving the white flag, truce? Hwapunzel

Seonghwa

I was losing all sense of time. The journey was absolutely cruel, and I could tell it was the harshest on Yeosang. I hated it, and I hated putting him through such misery for my benefit.

He was adamant about joining me and seeing this through, and I knew no matter how hard it was on him, it was better to be fed than starve back at the caves.

We decided it was better for us to skip water entirely unless absolutely needed. After a couple more encounters with humans on our journey after getting out of the water, Yeosang's appearance made them react violently first and think later.

I didn't give a chance to think later after the second attempt.

It was difficult in general for both of us at this point. I knew I had changed, but I had no idea how much. I knew it was enough to stop men in their tracks and rip away any lasting moral compass they might've carried.

It got to the point that I needed to have a hold on Yeosang at all times unless I was not confident. While we tracked on foot, I kept an iron grip with his hand, holding him strong enough that if he fell, I went with him. Whenever I rode the horse I stole, I'd keep my hand on his side or thigh while I rode, making sure his arms didn't leave my waist.

Even while I slept. I learned quickly that similarly to how I was when I first got on that ship, he didn't particularly like affection because he had never been shown any besides his mystery sailor. But I could not sleep unless I had him in my hold. I could not sleep thinking he could be grabbed or wounded, and I wasn't there to protect him. Even a few feet away was too far.

He wasn't particularly fond of the lack of space I awarded him, and even at this point, I felt slightly fed up with it, but he understood the severity of the situation more than most.

I became truly overbearing when I decided to leave only for a few minutes just so I could use the bathroom, and when I came back, he was pinned by three men we had seen days prior on our journey, and had not noticed that they chose to follow us after.

Every protective instinct I had ever carried had been pushed to overdrive as I stayed with Yeosang. As kind and strong as he was, he was pure. More than I ever could be. It's like he didn't have a hateful or angry bone in his body.

Even as I got on his nerves or life in general was testing his patience, he kept his well-mannered temper. He never raised his voice once. He kept his soft-spoken tone. And he stayed positive.

It was nice, if I was being honest. To be around someone as soft-spoken and relaxed as I was. I got emotional and ill-tempered when things didn't go as planned or someone tried to harm him, but when it was just us, it was comfortable. Even if we didn't speak for days or even weeks, it was comfortable, and we knew each other so well at this point that it didn't matter.

When we were bored, we occasionally shared stories, but we preferred our encouraged silence instead. It was hard enough to be around each other constantly, almost always touching, let alone striking up conversation often.

We knew each other's boundaries, and we learned each other without speaking. We knew each other through looks or shared touches through body language or the slightest shift in behavior. We had learned to spot it. We had to in order to bear what was happening.