⊰ E I G H T E E N ⊱

FISH

Closing the door behind me, I turned to face Taehyung and the rest of the pirates. Six pairs of eyes took in my appearance approvingly. They'd all seen me in the dress before, but they never could get used to the sight of me in such feminine clothing. I think they enjoyed it a little too much.

"What took you so long?" Jungkook asked. They all awaited my answer, knowing how unusual it was for me to take so long to get dressed.

"Ah, the corset was pretty difficult to tighten on my own, but I finally got it." My cheeks burned as I avoided mentioning Jimin, but I kept my face neutral.

"You could have asked Taehyung to help you like he normally does," Hoseok commented.

"Or I could have helped," Yoongi spoke up, sending me a wink that none of the others saw.

I sent him a glare. "It's fine, really. You were all getting dressed too."

"By the way, where's Jimin?" Taehyung asked, looking around with a slight frown.

"How should I know? Wasn't he with you guys in the bathroom?" I asked, feigning innocence.

"He stayed outside because we didn't have an extra outfit for him. But where would he have gone to?" Namjoon asked what the rest of them were wondering.

I shrugged. "I'm sure he remembers how to get to the restaurant. Let's just go and he'll meet us there." I quickly started making my way out of the inn, hoping to stop them from worrying about Jimin any further.

As we stepped outside, the chilly wind blew my hair across my face, and I brushed it out of my eyes, glancing up at the dark clouds in the distance.

"Think there will be a storm tonight?" Hoseok came up by my side, matching my pace. The others trailed behind us.

"It definitely looks like it. I just hope we can make it out of here before it hits," I said, knowing that trying to get the ship undocked in a big storm would be stressful.

"Yeah, I hope so too," he said.

Glancing over at him, I felt a small smile on my lips. I was relieved to be able to speak to him again, even if it was just small talk. It was nice to not feel so tense around him anymore, though a part of me still ached for what he told me about his sister.

"So what are your thoughts on Jin's greatest wish being to eat at a famous restaurant?" I asked, holding back a laugh.

He chuckled and shook his head. "Honestly, I'm not surprised. The way to that man's heart is through food." He smiled, then wrapped his arm around my shoulder and leaned down to whisper in my ear, "But I'm actually pretty excited to eat there myself." We both laughed as he stood up straight again, keeping his arm around me.

"I missed this," I said, wrapping my own arm around his torso as we continued walking.

"Me too."

* * *

After we got to the restaurant, it was a short wait until they seated us. The waitress brought us through the large main room filled with many people, then led us upstairs and gestured for us to sit at a long, dark oak table that was right beside a big window. I was glad to see that the second floor was empty, giving us privacy. As I sat down at one of the heads of the table, I looked out the window to find a perfect view of the ocean. The black clouds cast a dark shadow over the water and it felt as if the sky was teasing me with the promise of the impending storm.

I turned away from the sight, focusing instead on the six pirates that were taking their seats. I wasn't surprised when Yoongi sat beside me, and I smiled at Taehyung as he took the seat on the other side of me. I realized that the only chair left open was the one on the opposite end of the table, directly across from me.

Just as I was starting to wonder about where he was, I spotted Jimin following a waitress up the stairs. His eyes met mine and I immediately looked away, remembering what had happened only a little while ago.

"You're beautiful," his words replayed in my head and I found myself gripping the material of my dress. He can't just say things like that to me. He's not supposed to be able to care, so it's not fair of him to mess with my emotions like this.

I couldn't help but let my eyes travel back up until they found his again, and I was surprised at how intensely he stared back. They reminded me of the first night I'd met him, how I could see so many different emotions swimming in those eyes yet couldn't decipher what they were. Curiosity? Mischief? Longing? Fear?

But do any of them include care? Does he feel any ounce of whatever this is that I'm feeling towards him? Or am I just the fool that got caught in the siren's spell?

"Jimin, finally. Where were you?" Jin spoke up as Jimin sat at the chair opposite me, the entire length of the table between us.

"Hmm, I just wanted to explore a little. You guys were taking too long and I got bored," he said smoothly, a ghost of a smirk on the corner of his lips as he looked at me. My shoulders relaxed.

"You shouldn't just walk off like that, what if you got lost or something?" Jin scolded, reminding me of a disappointed parent.

"I'm not a lost puppy, I can find my way around," Jimin replied easily. Despite his irritated tone, his face remained expressionless.

"Maybe not a puppy, but you are a fish," Yoongi jabbed without even looking up from the menu he held in his hands. There were a couple of snickers, but I frowned. I kicked Yoongi's shin under the table, then as he glanced up at me, I sent him a disapproving look.

"Not real clever there, but I'll give you pity points for trying," Jimin said, unbothered. I noted how he was starting to address people more directly than he used to. At first he wasn't really able to look anyone in the eyes except for me, but lately he seemed to be more comfortable talking to the others.

"Okay guys, let's just drop it," I interceded before they could continue bickering. The other five crew members eyed Yoongi and Jimin curiously, picking up on the tension between them.

Luckily before anyone could question what was really going on, a waiter came to ask us what we wanted to eat. He looked at us strangely, and I wasn't sure if it was because he could tell we weren't actually high-class folk, or if it was because one woman was with seven men.

"Uh, what would you like, sir?" he hesitantly asked Jimin. I watched as he glanced at the small menu in front of him.

"I'll have the grilled salmon," he finally answered. The waiter nodded and continued to take our orders. Jin excitedly asked for the lobster, along with Yoongi. The rest of us got steak.

"Wait, if you eat salmon, isn't that sort of like cannibalism?" Jungkook asked Jimin with a smirk, clearly thinking he was clever for making a fish joke. I rolled my eyes as most of the pirates looked amused.

"What do you think I ate when I was fully siren? Seaweed?" Jimin's sarcasm made Jungkook's smirk falter, embarrassment crossing his features. I held back a chuckle.

"Speaking of that, why don't you tell us a bit more about what it was like while you were a siren," Namjoon said, his eyes glinting with curious anticipation. He was always excited to learn new things, and legends and mystical topics always piqued his interest more than anything else.

"What do you want to know?" Jimin asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well for starters, how many other sirens are there out there?" Namjoon questioned.

Jimin shrugged, looking bored. "I don't really know. Not very many, but there could be a lot more than what I saw. Sirens don't usually hang out with each other unless they're trying to lure people into the water. Like when you guys caught me, I was with the swarm because we were trying to get one of you."

"So sirens work together to capture people?"

"Well, not exactly... sometimes they work together to attack big ships, but they only do it when they sense a guilty soul that has the potential to break the curse. But even then, they're still competing to see who can get that person into the water to kiss them and swap places with them," Jimin explained, leaving many confused faces staring at him.

"So the curse requires a kiss to break it? And breaking it means that the siren becomes human while the human becomes siren? Then why is Kat still human?" Hoseok furrowed his eyebrows, tilting his head.

Seeing that Jimin was growing annoyed having to answer all these questions, I cut in, doing my best to explain to them what Jimin had told me about the curse recently. I mentioned how a siren can kiss a guilty human in the water and move their curse onto them. I also told them about how Jimin was able to turn human without turning me siren, since we were out of water. I made sure to leave out the part about him nearly putting the curse on me that day when I jumped, knowing that Yoongi and the rest of them would be furious.

"I see. So you and the other sirens targeted our ship back then because you were able to sense our guilty souls?" Taehyung asked, turning back to Jimin.

He nodded. "You're pirates. Most of you have done things you regret or you feel guilty for, so you attracted many sirens. The storm is what really brought us to you, though. Something about storms makes sirens... stronger. Our senses are heightened and it becomes even easier for us to seek out any humans that can take on the curse," Jimin said. The others nodded, finally understanding the whole situation.

"What about repopulating? How did there get to be so many sirens if you become human when you turn someone else into a siren? I guess what I'm asking is how did the first siren ever come into existence if you need a siren to create another siren in the first place?" Namjoon asked.

We all looked at Jimin expectantly, waiting for the answer. It was something I'd never even thought of.

"Sirens can't have intercourse, if that's what you're wondering. The curse is meant to serve as a punishment, and part of that punishment includes solitude and loneliness. We aren't able to form connections with other sirens, which is why none of us would really interact much anyways, unless it was to achieve a common goal. As for where the first siren came from, I don't know. When I became a siren, I instinctively understood how the curse worked. I knew I couldn't escape unless I could find a guilty person. But there is no tangible law or history that we have that explains how everything came to be. The only way I can think of our population growing is that guilty people who are about to die at sea are turned into sirens even without the kiss. That way a new siren would be added to the population without one becoming human again."

"Interesting," Namjoon muttered, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I wonder what determines when a soul is guilty enough to be able to take on the curse. Everyone sins at some point in their life, so where is the line drawn?" he questioned, seemingly thinking out loud.

"I can't really answer that either. The ocean has a way of deciding who it wants to punish and who it wants to set free," Jimin said vaguely. He seemed worn out. It was like talking about all of this made him feel dejected. I frowned slightly, wondering why he was suddenly answering so many questions in the first place. He always seemed so closed off, so what was making him open up so much more now? Sure, the things he answered weren't questions I'd asked him before, but he still was talking about himself way more than he ever had.

"Alright, enough siren talk. Where's our food? I'm hungry," I said, trying to change the topic.

"You're always hungry," Yoongi muttered from beside me.

"And I am unapologetic about that," I replied, sticking my tongue out at him. He chuckled, his eyes sparkling in amusement. I smiled back at him, then lifted my eyes to find Jimin staring at us coldly.

I wondered why he was so against Yoongi and me. Even the smallest interactions between us seemed to put him on edge, and I couldn't understand why. At first I thought maybe it was jealousy, but that wouldn't make sense if he couldn't feel passion of any kind. And it seemed like there was something more to it, like he knew something important that I didn't.

I relaxed as two waiters showed up with our food, releasing me from Jimin's demanding glare. We eagerly dug in, eating as if we hadn't had food in a week. Plenty of satisfied moans and groans filled our table as we consumed our heavenly meals. I understood why the place was legendary. The food practically melted in my mouth, bursting with flavor. It was the best meal I'd had in years, if not my entire life.

"I take back what I said, this was the best place you could have brought us to," I said to Jin as we continued eating. Everyone nodded along, enjoying their luxury dinner.

It wasn't until the waiter told us how much we owed him that we all sobered up.

"I knew it would be expensive, but this is outrageous!" Yoongi hissed as the waiter left with our plates.

"You guys are pirates, why don't you just book it out of here without paying?" Jimin asked.

"At a place like this, it's too risky. And judging from the clouds outside, we're going to be stuck spending the night here. We need to be able to walk around here without worrying about being recognized," Yoongi explained. "It's fine, luckily I brought enough that we can afford it, but we need to make up for this soon." We all nodded, knowing that 'making up for it' meant stealing as much gold and other valuables as we could as soon as possible.

Yoongi begrudgingly paid for our food and then we all made our way outside. Each of us looked up at the sky that was now entirely covered in dark clouds. The cold wind sent shivers down my spine, and as I looked at the ocean in the distance, I could see streaks in the sky that marked rainfall.

"Looks like we'll be staying here after all," Hoseok muttered from beside me.

"Alright, let's head back to the inn. I don't feel like fighting a storm tonight," Yoongi announced, looking from the sky back down to us. He turned around and we followed him to the building. Namjoon and Yoongi went to talk to the woman at the front desk while the rest of us sat on the couches in the lounge room.

"You look cold. Need me to help warm you up, kitten?" Jimin's smooth voice graced my ears as he sat down next to me. I refused to look at him and shook my head.

"I'm not cold, so no thanks," I said, resisting the infuriating pull he had on me. I really was cold, but there was no way I would admit that to him if he was just going to mess with me like he always did. I glanced over at him, seeing him about to speak again, but Namjoon's voice beat him to it.

"We could only afford two rooms. Each can fit four people. How should we split up?" at his words, several eyes fell on me.

"I'll stay with Kat," multiple voices spoke at the same time.

Oh, great.

• • •

Author's Note

Hello beautifuls! This chapter wasn't very eventful, I know, but I had to make sure the boys understood more about sirens and I also wanted to answer questions that some of you may have had. That being said, the next chapter should be more exciting ;)

I also wanted to share this amazing artwork of siren Jimin done by -goldgguk. She is really talented and you guys should definitely check out her stories as well! Please give her a lot of love ♡

I'm completely in love with this :')

If any of you would like to do some fanart, edits, or anything really for this story, please don't be scared to do so! I absolutely love seeing how talented you all are, and it totally makes my day when someone sends me something like this :) You can always send me a message about it if you're thinking of working on something! I'd love to feature your work on one of the chapters here!

Finally, thank you so so much for 6k reads. I have no idea how that happened but I'm very thankful. I love you all <3

-Hoseokiiss

March 12, 2019