TREASURE || ATEEZ

03- welcome aboard

ep. three
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The first thing you see when you wake up is a wooden ceiling.

You sit up from the mattress that you are laying on and stretch your arms, a satisfied grunt leaving your lips as you stretch the rest of your body. You look around the room that you are in as a feeling of unfamiliarity washes over you, taking noting of the strange features that surround you.

This isn't what your room looks like.

From there, you quickly recall the memories from yesterday and jump out of bed, only to silently scream in pain when your weight is distributed to your right foot. You fall to the floor to hold onto your ankle, tears threatening to fall out.

It seems that the sound of you getting out of bed attracts some attention because you hear multiple footsteps approaching the room, the door opening to reveal a cluster of men standing in front of the entrance. Sitting there like a sitting duck, you don't move from your position as your eyes widen in fear.

Pirates.

You and the group of pirates look at each other in silence, not knowing what to say to break the silence. Although you know that you're going to be thrown into the sea soon, you take a good look at each of them since you're too scared to speak.

Where's that one man? You ponder, as you recall seeing him from the last time you were conscious.

The light brunette then approaches you slowly, so you flinch when he takes one step to you. You scoot yourself away from him, afraid that he may inflict pain onto you.

Taking in your reaction, he softly sighs before turning around to his crew mates, a glare present in his gaze. "Hey, can you guys leave us alone? I need to check on my patient here."

A chorus of complaints erupt from the group, but the man manages to push all of them out and closes the door behind him. Bringing his focus back onto you, he softly smiles at you to make himself less intimidating. "I'm not going to hurt you."

You slightly doubt his words, backing up once more with fear in your eyes. You have absolutely no idea what he is going to do to you, and you know not to trust people like them.

A slight frown appears on his lips when he sees you react like that, which is something you do not expect him doing. You soften at the sight a little, but you quickly catch yourself from falling further into his trap. Pirates are notorious for being merciless, for being aggressive, so why is he frowning?

"Can I... check your injury at least?" He points at your ankle. "I need to see if it has made any improvements in recovering."

Your gaze looks down at your foot when you see him point at it, seeing the joint wrapped in white bandages.

Did he do this?

Bringing your attention back to the male in front of you, you notice how he patiently waits for your answer instead of forcefully making you show your injury. He crouches down to your level with a gentle smile, which puts you at ease a little.

Maybe you can trust him this once, you think to yourself before you hesitantly settle yourself on the bed. You lift up your right leg, your gaze focused to the side to avoid his gaze.

He notices your willingness to cooperate with him, and he smiles at the sight. Slowly, he makes his way toward you, crouching again to observe the swelling around your ankle. His hands swiftly remove the bandages from your foot joint and holds you limb for a moment. His delicate touches slightly hurt you, but you hide your pain by biting you bottom lip.

"Looks like the swelling reduced a little." He grabs a thick stick and the roll of white fabric from his pants pocket and aligns the splint along the back of your ankle before bandaging your injury. "You're lucky that it's a light sprain or else you wouldn't be able to walk for at least six weeks. I'm assuming that you have never sprained your ankle before because you act like you broke it."

Hearing that causes you to sheepishly nod your head as a confirmation of his assumption, the feeling of embarrassment flaring your cheeks. Nonetheless, a sigh of relief leaves your mouth when you hear that it is a small injury. You feel a little more comfortable with him now that he has proven that he isn't going to hurt you. Finally mustering the courage, you look at the pirate and slightly smile at him. "Thank you for tending my injury... uh-"

"Seonghwa, I'm the surgeon of this ship."

You do a small bow with your head. "Thank you, Seonghwa."

"Glad to be of help." He hands you a cup filled with murky water, and you eye it with disgust. "It's lavender tea. It will help ease the pain from your sprained ankle."

You stare at it for a few more seconds, abhorred by the sight of the liquid. He did say that it will help relieve the aching pain in your foot though, so you take a sip of it. The floral taste of the drink is too overpowering to you liking and you can feel the bile rising up your throat, but you decide to gulp down the whole thing to get it over with.

After you chug down the medicine, you receive a round of applause from the surgeon. "You're the first person who hasn't said any bad remarks while drinking my medicine! You're my favorite patient!"

An awkward smile makes its way to your lips, saying nothing about your thoughts on what you just drank.

Now being in a good mood, the light brunette skips his way to the door and looks over his shoulder with a cheeky grin. "My job here is done, so I'll be going now-"

Before he can can finish his statement, the door suddenly opens. The both of you look to the entrance to see a fairly frail boy standing outside, his chest quickly rising up and down as he tries to catch his breath. "Sir, the captain requested you to escort the girl to his cabin."

You bring your focus back to the surgeon, who is pinching his nose bridge out of frustration. He mumbles something under his breath while taking a second to calm himself down. He thanks the boy and scavenges for an object before retrieving a pair crutches. Assisting you to stand up,  he takes your left arm and wraps it around his shoulder as you balance yourself with one of the crutches.

You can't help but wonder, is something bad going to happen to you?

The two of you silently walk to your designated location, being comfortable with the silence. It doesn't take long until you arrive at the cabin, and you start getting nervous as Seonghwa knocks and opens the door to the captain's room. You freeze at the entrance, not wanting to enter the area; however, the surgeon hands you the other crutch and gently pushes you in.

The door closes behind you and you want to curse at the pirate for betraying you like that, but what's done is done.

There you stand, with crutches under your arms, in front of a large table where the captain sits. Papers are scattered across the platform and a dagger pierced right through the wood, behind the furniture being the familiar white 'ATEEZ' flag hanging on the wall.

A deep rumble from the throat brings your attention back to the man sitting behind the table, his arms folded together as he leans back onto his chair. A smirk pulls on his lips and his chocolate eyes stare into your soul; you can feel shivers travel down your spine.

"Welcome aboard, my little treasure."