Looking For Love(ATEEZ)

3.4

The land feels like home. I just want to run away. Hongjoong already covered his face with a black studded cloth. I see, a man with a thing for shiny stuff.

Lily, gotta focus!

I pitifully glare at the man beside me, whose eyes stare ahead at the tavern. Just like they said, pirates are drunkards. I roll my eyes at him.

He glanced at me, his brown eyes searching my soul. I just look at him weirdly. Surely enough, he laughs at my reaction.

What is he? A parrot? Why does he laugh so much? Isn't he like supposed to be a cold blooded killer?

I seriously want to smack his ego off.

"Do you drink?"

I have never drunk in my life. How do I tell him that? Well, I have to or he might feed me to the sharks. "No, I don't."

He smirks and I immediately know he's planning something. I panick and back away from him but his warning gaze scares me and doesn't let me go. I whimper.

"Then let it be your first time."

He tells me to follow and I do so. No matter how bold I am, I can't risk anything anymore. The shops around us sell decorative articles and all sorts of good stuff- good stuff meaning food. Yeah, that's all I want in life. Good food.

He notices my gaze, but unlike the male leads in fanfics, he doesn't stop and buy all the stuff that my eyes set on. Not that it disappoints me. (Okay, maybe just a teeny tiny bit).

My eyes catch a hat at the corner. It was beautiful. Carved with wings and brown in colour. It was a masterpiece. I look at it continuously. But, he doesn't notice. Maybe he does, but he chooses to ignore.

I pout and we enter the tavern. It is large. Inside, there are fifteen tables exactly. Five people on each. The scene inside makes me awkward. A man holds a knife to a woman's neck and also grabs her hair from behind. She shockingly smiles and the man looks hesitant. The next moment, they are full-blown making out and my cheeks tint red, but the pirate king pays no heed to it.

All he cares about his wine. He sits at a table far away from the attention of others.

I hesitantly ask, "Where are we?"

He beams at me, making my heart flutter.

"Milady, we're in Nassau, a pirate stronghold." Ah, I've heard of that once when I was reading something on pirates.

He seems to be in a good mood. Our tankards arrive. That's seriously so big. I haven't even drunk that much of water since I have been on this darned ship. Seeing my wide eyes, he says, "Drink as much as you can."

I can't let anything go to waste. Even if it's wine. I do a small cheers with his tankard. And then I begin gulping. It has a burning sensation, but it feels like it warms my stomach. So, bottoms up.

I finished it as he looks at me, judging me.

Five minutes pass. He drinks two tankards. And I am surprised that Lily's alcohol tolerance is off the charts. I don't even feel slightly light-headed.

Hongjoong also looks at me. He's probably done too.

As we walk out, he pays for both of us. As much reluctant I am, I mutter out, "Thank you, for treating me."

He smiles at me, this time it's a genuine toothy grin as he pulls down his mask. "You're welcome, Lily." For the first time, I smile back at him too. I spot a stall selling some pearls. I excitedly point at it and he walks ahead, not bothering to listen.

My shoulders slump as I look at him. That was the least he could do for girl-napping me.

He stops at a place and says to me, "Just buy whatever you want with the money you have. What would the others think if they recognise me, not that they can? That the pirate king likes collecting pearls like an old hag?"

I look at him, quite understanding his point of view. I remember that Lily always kept five silvers in each of the pieces of clothing she had.

Thank lord for Lily's memories. I excitedly go there and buy a white and a multicolored pearl along with a violet hairpin. The good thing was that all that costed me only one silver.

As I look back, he's already long gone. Why am I surprised? He's not my friend or my boyfriend anyway. Why would he wait!

I see the sun still in the sky, indicating that it is noon time. I proceed towards the hotel nearby. I freshened up and exited, paying the woman half a quarter. Everything is cheap here. Even if I brought out my initial savings back in my world, they would be enough here to last me a month.

Seeing the sun nearly down, I go back to the ship. Thank the lord that no one recognised me as Lily. She probably doesn't trade here, it's a pirate stronghold anyway.

I sigh as the wind pricks my soft and delicate skin. The land breeze starts to blow and I climb on the rail to the ship. I look at the horizon as the sun disappears.

Suddenly, I see a ship appear from far away. It appeared on the horizon, from far away it seemed nearly as big as Pirate King's.

I gulped lightly. This made me curious.

I searched Lily's memories as to know what they were. Turns out it was another pirate ship, Reef. What an absurd name though. But who am I to judge? I myself named all female leads Y/N because I ran out of names.

I quickly climb the rigging and went up the crow's nest. The ship was almost empty as the others were out merrymaking. No one was guarding it. For the best interest of these people, I will do my part.

I seem to climb really well. Lily must have been on ships a lot to be this good at it. She's truly inspiring.

I pick up the binoculars. Yup, definitely them. I search Lily's memories even further. The Reef were mortal enemies of Pirate King. They used to be the pirate king till Hongjoong and his crew wrecked them.

So, they weren't here for a good reason. Possibly a very bad one. I shudder and bite my tongue.

I'm gonna die. To save myself from my sad fate again, I must do something. So, I run.

I run to Hongjoong's cabin. I don't care of he grounds me again. I have to live this time.

I push open the door. He sits on the red covered bed, looking out the window and sipping his wine. Is he a wine tank or something? How can he hold that much wine in his system? Does his urinary bladder not blast?

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