sea's dilemma

chapter -1

It's pretty easy to predict how a day will go when the sun rises. The sun  smiles high, waves form and crash and the birds chirp. Seokjin would still take out his longboat and end up in the middle of the sea, with a fish net and his cartoonishly big sun hat. It was too much of a cliche.

With a desolate sigh he dipped his hand into the water. "Mother Ocean" was how he was taught to address the sea growing up. In a tight knit group of fishermen, there wasn't much to do in life but to fish, sell fish and float in the vast expanse, feeling insignificant.

The sea had given him everything, and it also took everything from him. 

The navy depths had claimed the lives of both his father and elder brother, in Her inexplicable rage. He still remembers, the waves fell and crashed angrily, as it rained like the last day of earth. 

He remembers the tight embrace of his mother as both of them shivered under the cold storm, nothing but hope lighting their tiny mud house, which was starting to melt away.  Ironically, that was the least of their concern. 

"Mother, please be merciful..." His mother prayed and prayed to the ocean for her child and her husband. The next morning, there wasn't much on the sea except dead fish and swarms of jellyfish. Mother Ocean was rarely merciful.

Seokjin dipped his hand further into the water. "I wonder, if I could be one with the water, I would be near my lost loves." This was a routine, memories so deep and heartwrenching, it was seokjin's ocean of emotions that spiller out into the endless body of water. 

Mother Ocean, just how many lives have you claimed?

Navy, dark with sorrow, just how many do you swallow?

Seokjin closed his eyes, in am instance, he was dreaming of being a boy, in his father's lap. A memory, now distant. The memory tugged at him, pulling him down.

Pulling him down?

Seokjin's eyes jolted open as he felt an inexplicable force tugging him inyo the depth. His life flashed before his eyes as he opens his mouth to scream. But it was too late, water gushed into his mouth, down his throat killing his scream. In a moment of panic, he forgot how to swim. The dark blue depth, he was lost. 

The next second, he violently kicked up into the surface, gasping. What the hell had just happened? He could see the strong rays of the sun in his face as he gasped for air. On his boat, instead of him sat a man- who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. With rippling strong muscles and stark black hair- he indeed was a presence. 

Seokjiin caught on to the edge of the boat "Hey, excuse me? You're on my boat". The other man was nonchalant, he stared at Seokjin quizzically, examining him.  He blew air out of his mouth before his eyes widened , as in late realisation, and he let out a cough. 

"Hello." The man finally spoke, although his tone was tentative- as if testing the word on his tongue."Hello, it's indeed a pleasure to meet you, good sir. Are you planning to hang off this boat the entire day, though?"

To be honest, in that second, Seokjin was more mesmerised by the man's audacity. He pushed him off his own boat, claimed it like his ancestral property and was now taking a dig at Seokjin. He let go of the boat to properly  teach this man a lesson, before falling right into the open water.

He did know how to swim, sure. But it wasn't everyday he was falling out of his boat, thank you very much. He was a capable fisherman very much able to maintain his stability on a boat.

The man looked over at him and sneered "And I thought human beings were smart." This man was exuding a confidence unlike any person Seokjin had known, it was almost foreboding how sure this man was of himself. He stared at Seokjin with his, ocean like, eyes and caught hold of his arm, right where it connected to his shoulders. It didn't hurt, but he was in awe when he found himself on the boat, facing a now stark naked man.

"My name is Jungkook, of the sea. It's your lucky day. Now fair maiden, what's your name?" Seokjin was taken aback. This man, Jungkook didn't- even at the very least seem embarrassed or even slightly phased by his own nudity. It was quite the opposite- he was revelling in it. And Seokjin was a poor, poor guy. Jungkook's presence shone like the silver moonlight reflecting off the sea. He was a presence, his presence alone a force to be reckoned with.

"J-Jungkook?" Seokjin sounded it out, the word rolled off his tongue like silk. To his surprise, the man's brows arched, he seemed annoyed.

"It's Prince Jungkook to you, human peasant."