On the Sea

"As you wish," Jon begins to tell her all these stories that he had read and encountered before from the other worlds.

He stopped when he noticed that she had already fallen asleep in his arms with her eyes closed tightly.

Her mouth seemed to be muttering quietly, but he could still hear her calling his name in an attractive manner from her sleep.

"Don't abandon me," she whispers from her sleep in a cute way that makes Jon holds onto her tighter.

She seems like a small endearing animal that appears to lack any support in the world, as she still hangs onto his shirt, not willing to let go of her grasp even in sleep.

Since they were young, they had always been together in many activities, and at one point, he remembered those memories when she told him that she was in love with him.

In that memory, he remembered her bringing him into the forest when she was still only in her teens and under that particular tree in the woods by the manor of their family estate as she told him that she was deeply in love with him.

But, the original owner of the identity in this world only identifies himself as a servant to the girl he had with him.

She said to him she was willing to elope with him if that meant that they could be together since she knew her parents might not support her decision to be with a servant of the household.

He rejected this decision, and since then, she had tried her best to withdraw her heart away.

At the same time, she couldn't cope with being without him as she still loves him so much that she is willing to give herself entirely to him to show him that.

Through the years, the original owner of the identity, Jon, remained cold toward her and refused her advances, pushing her away as she felt more isolated from him.

"As you wish." Whispering into her ears with affection before brushing her hair behind, "I won't. Never will I leave you, Miss Julia. I will always be by your side."

Seeing that she had fallen asleep already, Jon puts her down on the boat as he continues to paddle the ship away to the destination that Death told him about in a warmer climate in the northern direction.

When she woke up, she discovered a certain warmth that was shooting down from the sky that made her more comfortable than before in that freezing climate.

She sits up from the boat as she sees Jon in front of her paddling the lifeboat, and thinking to herself inside that he must have been doing this all night, feeling a certain warmth in her heart, seeing how much he cares about her safety.

She wraps herself from behind him endearingly, putting her head behind his warm back.

Noticing that she had woken up, Jon said to her sweetly, "Good morning, Miss Julia; I had already prepared some food for you on that plate by your side."

That was always how he was so used to calling her; it became quite a habit for him already as the memories united to become one.

What he doesn't understand, though, was why the original owner rejected her and pushed her away so coldly when he was so obviously in love with her too and felt deep pain abandoning her.

"No, I won't eat," she said to him with her tiny voice, "I want you to feed me."

He touches her soft hand on his waist and turns to her with a focus on her eyes unwaveringly and a simple smile, "As you wish, Miss Julia."

She shyly bows her head and feeling a little obsessed with him as her cheeks turn a deep blush seeing the way his eyes look at her with such a longing in them.

Last night she found it difficult to sleep, as the thought of losing her parents occupied her mind.

She knows that she will probably never see her parents again, especially after that shipwreck that killed most passengers.

And even the passengers that might survive the shipwreck, she didn't think most would be able to survive long enough on the lifeboats without food or water, unlike them.

But she feels reassured about their future with her beloved by her side, and listening to those entertaining stories yesterday at night helped her take her mind off those images of death that she bore witnessed before they managed to escape.

Putting a spoonful of peas and minced chicken meat in front of her, she opened her mouth cutely as she took a bit, chewing the food while she looked at him attentively in an unblinking way.

Once she is finished with the large food dish, she sits there on the lifeboat and observes her surroundings.

She watched the small waves of ocean water coming up and down on the surface and saw the sun close to them, breathing the air with warmth.

Still, she feels a little lost seeing the vast ocean in every direction; she doesn't know when they would be able to sail afar from this nowhere at sea.

She also feels like life is going against her right now, and she doesn't know how she can ever stand up knowing that she has lost so much in her life.

Jon was paddling the boat when he noticed that she had a sad expression on her little face; turning his head slightly titled towards her direction, he asked her with a warm smile, "How about I tell you an interesting story?"

She looks up at him with those prominent blues eyes and nods her head as she waits for him to tell her something to occupy her mind away from those distressing thoughts inside.

So throughout the day, while he was paddling the boat at a world-record-breaking speed, he also continued to tell her and recount the exciting stories that fascinated her, books that he read once when he was a kid, like Harry Potter.

Having a near-photographic memory of the minor details, to even the coffee stain on the pages, makes it easy for him to recount the words and pauses perfectly to her, like having the book right in front of him.