Misunderstandings

The words spoken by the warden kept ringing in her ears. Kuina was staggered with the realization of how little she knew of Fein.

She wasn't trying to protect anyone but wanted to grab onto someone to keep herself alive.

She discovered about herself that she desperately grasped onto a hand, trying to crawl out from the depth of her terrorizing past.

Absorbed so into herself that she left no time to even recognize someone.

"I'm just a huge fool!" She mumbled to herself.

I convinced myself that I'm alive for the sake of protecting people. Who was I fooling when I knew I only wanted to cleanse these dirty hands of mine!

Kuina glanced down at the dagger laid on her hands. Her face reflected on the shiny surface of its sheath, depicting her scornful sight.

I don't want to lose that only hand that I clung on. Even though it might sound selfish… I want to know more about him. Just like how I'm relying on him…. I want him to rely on me too.

"Will you… entrust me with your sorrow, Fein?"

The seed of doubt planted by Yulia bloomed as a mesmerizing flower of determination in Kuina. Regardless, her motive has been met. The closer Kuina and Fein grew, the more his past will come out on the surface.

Her eyes ablaze with the newfound determination, she raised her chin only to find two men rushing by in a hurry.

Their voices cracked with panic, faces expressively concerned.

Driven by her desire to know more, Kuina followed the men.

They arrived at the front desk of the ship surrounded by the crowd.

"It was found near the charcoal burner..."

"The identity has been found…"

"Time of death, unknown.."

"What the hell…"

Kuina found herself amid a storm of chatter. People sounded frightful and worried to her. She pushed through the crowd to discover Fein along with Ludic, towering near an unsightly body. Their faces dressed with stress and contemplation.

Her eyes lowered from their faces to the floor.

There laid a half eaten man..

His brain particles scattered on his face..

The only eye remaining rolled upwards..

Shoulder bone peeking out from his flesh..

His trachea, visible..

Mouth stretched open..

His body was wrapped with a white apron.

"He was the doctor that treated us! The only doctor on the ship!"

Kuina clenched her mouth. She had seen many such sights before. But now she couldn't help but recall…

"Ru…fel.." her voice trembled, eyes widened. She couldn't hold the sights of her own hand which was tainted with blood. Her deepest regret emerged from her memories.

"Kyyyyyaaaaaa!"

Startling the rest with her shriek, Kuina rushed out of the scene.

Though uninterested and sceptical, Fein glanced up from the dead body to the girl that just rushed outside shrieking. It was the first shriek they heard in the ship which was rather uncommon, since most of the passengers were DOR members and they are used to such sights.

His unamused eyes roll down to the dead doctor.

"Looks like I'll have to unpatch myself."

"That's what worries you?!" Spoke a man, with an eccentric navy blue hair matching his waist belt, behind Fein. Looking over his shoulder Fein replied. "Then would you please remove the patches on my back. Its getting harder to shower with those."

Ludic, who had been kneeling close to the dead body and staring at Fein, chose to stand up after releasing a huge sigh. His hands hung on his hips as he spoke.

"Now is not the time to worry about those. It appears like there's an undead boarding the ship."

"No." Fein disapproved. "Even though he was a doctor, as one of the DOR, he must've been trained to protect himself in the face of undeads. Or so I've heard. He could've easily killed them unless he faced a stronger foe."

"Then. Do you mean…"

Ludic was taken aback. An expression of surprise and terror shadowed his face.

"Yes. There might be a beast on the ship."

Clamour arose. People murmured, plagued with fear. Their faces grim, future still uncertain.

Just when they thought they were finally escaping safely from that hellhole, they stumbled upon another trial. This time there was not even a place they could escape to because the ship had arrived in the middle of the Pacific ocean and Indian ocean.

You either die inside the ship or drown in the sea. What laid beyond the options was only death.

As an immediate measure, the authority passed the isolation protocol for the 3 days until they arrived to the land.

The later evening, as Fein undressed himself, he struggled to tear off the patches from his back. Though he could touch them, grasping them was another thing. His upper body, starting from the diaphragm upwards, had spots of claw marks. Still fresh, those wounds doubtfully may leave his white skin. His body was still skinny but bore hints of hard work. His arm muscles grew larger thanks to his continuous swinging of blades. However his strength didn't help him take off the bandages from his back and he continued to struggle.

At that moment, someone waltz into his room, without any permission as usual. Perceiving the noise, Fein spoke,

"Give me some privacy, will you?"

Yulia narrowed her eyes, grinning slyly.

"You know it is me even though your back is turned at me."

She walked closer.

"There's only one person on this ship who can pass through the locked doors."

"What are you saying? Haha. It isn't like I'm the one walking around with keys to every room."

Fein stopped in his attempt and averted his sights at the woman.

She wasn't in her uniform, rather a casual dress, on top of which she wore a robe. Her silky hair brushed her neck and caressed her face. The wound on her neck appeared like a permanent bright red choker, adorning her beauty.

He figured that Yulia wasn't there for professional reasons. He stretched out his arm, trying to grab his sweatshirt.

"Don't.." Yulia stopped him. She raised one of her feet and climbed onto the bed, just behind Fein.

"What are you trying to do, Ms Yulia Orks?"

"Just calling me Yulia is fine." She softly glanced down at his patches.

Her slender fingers glided down his back, gently and affectionately. Fein couldn't help but feel a little excited. His ears turned red, throat felt constricted. He never had this much close contact with a woman before. But the excitement vanquished before his feelings could take another step ahead.

He soon started to feel nothing of her finger gently sliding on his skin. He discovered it was just a temporary sensation of a deprived man having close contact for the first time with a woman. What else, the woman was 8 years older than himself. There's no way! No!

"I've heard about the self isolation announcement." Fein began to talk to get rid of the awkward feeling in silence. "But i think it wasn't a good idea."

"There's supposedly a calamity in the ship. No one wants to die after going through all the troubles." Replied Yulia as she began to gently pluck off his patches.

"I'm certain it is a beast."

"And your reasoning."

"Undeads aren't capable of hiding or camouflage. Once they've caught on human scent, they are bound to draw close to us."

"But beasts are plenty impulsive as well, even though they can strategize like humans. That's where your theory doesn't match up."

Fein hummed, immersed in thought. "What if the beast is intellectual?"

"Intellectual?"

"What if it was a mutated beast, capable of controlling their impulse and blend itself into human beings?"

Yulia poured some ointment cream in her pointer and started to tap them on Fein's wound. "That's an amusing theory."

Fein could feel her soft fingers tapping his skin. It made him wonder how she possessed such soft hands despite being a gunslinger. "Though I don't possess enough evidence to support my theory, i have a sheer doubt." He completely ignored his own thoughts.

"We're still uncertain of the matter.." said the woman. "..that led us to commence self isolation until the three days of time when we reach the Blessed City."

"It will take us three more days?"

"Yes. I'm worried that more people may die until then."

"How very sad."

It was without a question, Fein felt the least interested in the matter. As long as it won't appear as a potential threat on his own life, Fein wouldn't investigate the matter for the sake of others.

Realizing the fact that Fein didn't plan to move out of his room and play along with it for the rest of the three days, Yulia shifted closer to his ear. Her breasts pressed against his back, sharp eyes glaring at his reddened ears, she whispered.

"Your sister might be in the Watchers island or even in the Blessed City. Don't you want to meet her?"

Fein winced his brows. He knew he was being manipulated, but insisted on hearing more anyway.

"Why bring that up?"

"Watchers island may not let us enter if there's a beast on board."

Yulia could feel Fein twitching a little upon hearing that.

Abruptly someone opened the door. The excitement and glimmer in her eyes quickly wore off upon witnessing the sight of Yulia leaning so close on Fein's shirtless back.

"I… I'm so.. sorry!" Their intimate setting staggered Kuina. She felt her chest tighten. An unknown feeling that caused her acute pain. Her brows winced as she stammered. "Pl.. please. Excuse me."

Slowly she closed the door, excusing herself from their sights.

Yulia straightened her spine and stood up. She understood that a misunderstanding had been created between Fein and Kuina.

Though it was interesting, she didn't want it to happen. She thought,

Fein wouldn't open up to me. Kuina could make him open up. But if they drift apart.. some things will remain hidden behind the cloud.

"Won't you go and stop her?" She asked.

"Why should i?" he replied while putting on his sweatshirt.

"She misunderstands you now."

"She's been. From the very start."

"It is like your name. You like to feign, don't you Fein?"

Yulia arrived at the conclusion that if she wanted to unveil more info about the boy, she must clear out their misunderstandings by any means possible.