I could make out a large dark blob, shrouded in mist. It seemed close-ish, and I could maybe get to it, but it would be risky if my rapidly numbing limbs were any indication. The water lapped against my cheeks, the downpour causing rain to run into my eyes, blurring my vision. I took one or two strokes towards the maybe-land-blob, but something like guilt or fear of future regret gripped me. Maybe this was my opportunity to dosomething good in my life. Maybe I would drown trying to save someone, but I could die regardless; I might as well try to leave a mark.
Turning towards where the voices had come from, I took large smooth strokes, breathing as deep breaths as I possibly could, trying to prepare myself for what awaited me in the water just ahead.
A couple of yards into my swim without seeing anyone, I began to wonder if I had been too late, too slow, and that I was now the lone survivor, when a flash of burgundy caught my eye. I picked up my swimming speed and swiftly arrived at what I quickly learned was part of the railing. Clinging onto the railing was a young man, his red shirt was what had caught my eye. He was still, his pale skin almost blue, and once again, the worry that I had come too late filled me.
“Hello?” I called out stupidly, my voice distorted and quiet to my waterlogged ears. After a long moment of no response, I began to turn around, despair nipping at me, when I heard,
“Hello?”
The man’s eyes were cracked open, and he stared directly at me, lucid, if in bad shape.
I swam closer but not too close; I still didn’t want him to grab me.
“I’m Mina. I think there’s some land over there, do you want to go to it with me?”
Again, stupid! This wasn’t a social engagement, this wasn’t some cordial meeting, this was life and death, and here I was offering invitations!
The man nodded, or kinda half-nodded, his chin hitting the railing of the boat with a clunk that must have been painful.
“Yes, yes, please, but I’m not a strong swimmer.”
He had an international school accent. The accent you got from learning from a jumbled mess of British, American, andAustralian teachers at a bougie boarding school where you had little to no access to the outside world. It seemed out of place.
“Not an issue, I can tow you, and we’ll get there safely, I guarantee it,” I lied.
“Did you see anyone else, my—my fiancé…” he trailed off, and I could feel my eyes tear up. That used to always happen when I was getting yelled at by my boss or when things got too hard. I had pretty much beaten my tendency to tear up into submission after years of practice, but apparently, being in this shit-show of a situation had shaken apart all of my carefully curated self-control.
“Can they swim?” I asked him as I grasped one side of the railing.
“He can swim, but we were both thrown into the air.”
As he spoke, I began to tow him towards the blob, frog-kicking to preserve my energy.
“It’s going to take a lot of effort and energy to make it to land, and in these conditions, it would be super unlikely that we would find him, and we would most likely lose each other. If he can swim, maybe he’ll also head the same way that we are. Okay?”
He nodded again.
It was hard to pull the railing; the wood was slippery, my passenger was heavy, and my legs were starting to ache. The man didn’t seem to be doing well either. I glanced at him as often as I could, and saw his head begin to nod; he was shivering as well, his eyelids fluttering like butterfly wings.
I was honestly surprised that he had been holding on so long in this state. The water was frigid, the air cold, and he didn’t have the benefit of doing vigorous movement like I did. He needed body heat, and I cursed myself and blamed the shock, and well, everything fucking else, for not realizing what I should do sooner.
The wood easily slipped from my numb hands, and in a bit of awkward maneuvering, I was next to him, my sopping wet, but warm side pressed close, one of my arms slipping over his; an extra layer of security just in case he couldn’t hold on anymore.
Bright, too shiny, dark eyes became affixed on me, once again lucid, as if my touch had awoken him. It was a bit odd, but who knew what was normal, and I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
“Hey, you. Looks like we’re going to be snug together for the next however-long-it-takes-to-get-to-the-island. Why don’t we get to know each other a bit?”
The smudge was definitely getting closer, pokey bits distinguishing themselves as tree-like shapes, but it still seemed far too far away.
“So what’s your name? I’ve been calling you ‘Tall, dark, and clinging to a railing’ in my head, and honestly, that name is waaaay too long.”
I was babbling, my feet kicking at the same staccato pace that my words tripped out, but the man kept his eyes on me, and under my arm, his grip on the wood didn’t slip.
“Oh Jin Woo, Jin Woo.”
“Well,” a particularly aggressive wave splashed the side of my face, “that’s a much better name than the one that I gave you. So, tell me more about yourself. As payment for my scintillating company, I must demand one juicy secret, one boring fact, and one interesting fact. Dealer’s choice on where you want to start.”
The man’s arched eyebrows raised slightly, and I thought that there was a whisper of a smile on his face for less than a second.
