A young man woke up from the sand where he laid down for who knows how long.He groggily dragged himself up and yawned. Taking a look at his surrounding, he watched an endless length of sea looming before him.
He finally remembered what happened to him and shook off the horror he felt when he almost lost his life.
Last night, he had been on a ship with his crew wandering from one place to another without a single destination in mind.
Unfortunately ,they experienced a storm that not only wrecked their ship but almost tethered them to the bottoms of the sea.
Remembering the horrible incident, he looked around to know if there are other survivors other than him.There, he saw two of his guards cum crew dragging themselves towards him.
He happily walked towards them. They bowed before him and apologized for not keeping him safe.
"Hey ! you morons... storms are natural disasters not man-made" he genuinely smiled at them.
They counted their losses but no humans were lost as they already connected with the other crews scattered in different islands via their courier bird that always fly above the ship when onboard.
He released a sigh he didn't know he has been holding and closed his eyes to inhale the fresh breeze of the sea.
When he opened his eyes, his mind flashed back to the incident that made him a fugitive. That quarrel with his brother still hurts him.
During the shipwreck, when water had filled his lungs almost suffocating and snuffing the life out of him, the last thing he remembered was that his last conversation with his brother was very sad especially the hurtful words he hauled at him.
He pushed the thought away and walked towards the remaining part of what used to be their ship to know if there is anything to save.
In the dim twilight, as he approached the wreck ,he could see that nothing was left as all their things has been washed away.
What must it be like to be cooped up in a desolate looking land with no supplies? He felt like he is being incarcerated in a hellhole.
In that hopeless moment of decision,he saw her. The goddess that has haunted his dreams for this past few months.
She quietly raced towards the sea. Something must have gotten her attention as she stooped low to pick up and caress something in her hands.
He was dumbstruck as she looked like something out of a painting. Beautiful as ever , cuter than before and fragile like seashell.
His legs seemed to have a mind of it's own as he found himself half-walking half-running toward her looking like a lovestruck fool.
His people trotted behind him obviously confused on the turn of events. Their master who looked exhausted earlier, now looked like someone surging with pumps of adrenaline in his body.
She looked up when she noticed that someone is running towards her . His heart skipped a beat when their eyes met and he skidded to a stop.
She became alert and looked back towards the place she came from, to know if someone was nearby to rescue her if she calls for help.
Seeing her suspicion gaze, he approached cautiously to avoid scaring the girl.
"Hi, we meet again beautiful stranger" ...(My love) in his mind.
"You... who are you?" she moved 2 steps back still glancing back.
Nervous that the girl he has been searching for is right before him and might disappear if he said the wrong thing,he raised his hand up and walked 3 steps towards her . She experienced real panic and screamed for his brother.
"Orabeoni!!!"
Jae-hyuk who was busy retying their fishnet dropped it down and ran towards the voice of his sister immediately he heard her call. His gut clenched as he shouted profanity under his breath while calling her name.
He finally ran to where she was and saw 3 men standing near his sister while she is looking at them suspiciously backing away slowly.
Protectively, he stood before his sister while grabbing her hand and volleying glances at the strangers looking at him. They looked harmless but due to the call of sister laced with fear and vulnerability he didn't want to take any chances.
"Who are you?" he growled while observing them looking for signs of hostility.
The one that appeared to be their leader smiled and waved at him.
"A loving and protective brother, oh... I like you already" The brother and sister together with his guards looked at the man who didn't look perturbed that they are about to be beaten up as if he was a maniac with astonishment.
"Girl , don't you recognize me? At the capital? The young master looking suave that promised to buy things for you?" He gesticulated while searching her eyes for any sense of familiarity.
She stepped up a little from her brother's back and scrutinized him from head to toe and went back mouthing "I don't remember you"
She sized him up and humphed.
"Pft... Suave? you sure are cocky if you think you look suave"
He heard what she said and bent his head to look at the goddess hiding behind her brother's back but she shrank further away from his line of vision.
"Beautiful, were you talking to me?" he wanted more glimpse of her to feast his eyes with after being deprived of the opportunity to know her before.
Jae-hyuk who turned spectator suddenly spoke up and shooed them away from them.
But the man refused to go and opened his mouth to say something but he stopped short, held his head and fainted before him.
The two guards screamed and rushed towards their master.One of them put his hands on his nose to ascertain whether he is still breathing. Finding a shallow breath, they panicked and asked the girl's brother to help them.
Jae-hyuk looked at them and then at his sister who nodded indicating that he should go ahead.
He told them to back him and follow him home.
They all practically ran home with the young master where a doctor was summoned to take a look at him.
The doctor used his acupuncture needles to work while burning a herb on his body to circulate blood flow and decrease pressure.
He is suffering from hemorrhage due to a log that fell on him during the accident. It was supposed to stop bleeding on it's own but worsened due to the ingestion of sea water.
He prescribed a hemostatic herbs to be spooned into his mouth to stop the bleeding and for rejuvenation.
Confident that his patient will wake up soon , the doctor excused himself and with one final instruction left to his home where people were waiting for him.