Jessica thought about last night with the masked man. She had no idea who he was, but he had gotten to her in a way she had never felt before. Her stomach churned with butterflies, and the slightest intimate thought about him would force a pink blush on her cheeks.

She knew nothing of him, yet she couldn't get the man out of her head. She'd never felt anything like this with any other man.

Maybe she felt the way she had with the masked man because of the way he had acted around her. He was mysterious, and she loved solving a good mystery. She grinned to herself as more thoughts of the man popped into her head.

Bonk.

"Ow!" She scratched her head and watched the red apple that had dropped onto her head roll to her feet.

She needed to snap out of her thoughts and concentrate on picking apples. Most of the townspeople of Northport were on Apple Road joining in on today's activity of apple picking. If she didn't concentrate, all the good ones would be gone, and Elena would be mad with her if she came back to the Hawk's Eye empty-handed.

She grabbed a wooden step ladder and placed it against a tree filled with juicy red apples and started to pick them off one by one and drop them into the basket below. She found herself lost in thought once again, but this time thinking about Paddy and whether or not she would see the cuddly black feline ever again.

She liked that cat; she liked him a lot.

A grin spread across her face, and she soon started to hum one of her favourite sea shanties that she would always sing whenever she was happy. Her father used to sing it to her; the song would always make her laugh and grin.

"Jesse."

Jessica squealed, startled out of her thoughts. She lost her balance, and the wooden step ladder rocked over, and she found herself falling. She scrunched her face, expecting a harsh landing, only to find herself caught in the arms of the one person she'd least expected to see.

"You?" Her eyes widened in horror as she stared up at the Dark Physician, Dr Jude Hunter.

"Good Morning, Jesse." He smirked, having spoken in her native tongue.

She started to squirm in his hold, remembering he was a pirate that could speak her language, which only meant one thing: he knew she was somehow related to the Honey Tribe Kingdom and was here to kidnap her and sell her to a slave house. She knew members of the Honey Tribe were sold at higher prices than regular humans because of their beauty, and she was even rarer because she had red hair.

"I'm not here to hurt you." He gently placed her down onto the ground, but he still kept a hand on her shoulder so she couldn't run off.

Jude noticed she was back to wearing her usual attire: her purple crop top and black shorts. His line of sight automatically drifted down to her midriff. He really needed to stop doing that. He preferred her in the black dress she was wearing last night; it was less distracting.

"Then why are you here? And don't reply in my language!"

Jessica had already noticed the locals giving them odd looks from the strange language they had spoken in. She had hidden herself so well for the past two years, why was this happening to her now?

She looked back at Jude and frowned as she looked into his eyes. The same ones from last night with the same amused look in them. Not only that, but he had the same smirk she hated, and from under his black hood, she could see his unkempt midnight blue hair.

Her cheeks slowly reddened. All those intimate thoughts were about Jude; she couldn't believe she had almost kissed him last night. She felt disgusted with herself and angry at him.

"Masked man?" Jessica prodded his chest. "What do you want with me?"

He merely smirked at her. "Miss Azalea."

Jessica covered his mouth with her hands and glared at him. "Don't say that name out loud in public. My name is Jessica."

Jude gripped tightly onto her wrists and took her hands away from his mouth. His thumb played with her honey gold bracelet, another piece of evidence that indicated she was from the Honey Tribe Kingdom and that she wasn't just a citizen of Hive Island; the bracelet was a sign of her nobility on the island. The girl became more fascinating by the second.

The girl's head darted around her like she was expecting someone to pop out at any second. Jude speculated that she was afraid that someone had overheard him say her name. He wondered why she hated to be called Azalea.

"Fine, Jesse." He still preferred Azalea but did as she wished. "And as to why I'm here, I wanted to see you before I left the island. You intrigue me."

Jesse? Wasn't that a boy's name?

At least it was better than Azalea, so Jessica let it pass, even though she didn't like the nickname he had given her.

"Intrigued by what exactly?"

She attempted to tug her hands away from his tight grip but failed. This action only made him smirk some more. She found him infuriating.

He took his time to answer, finally letting go of her hands and picking an apple from the tree with ease and without the need of a step ladder. He played with the fruit in his hand and bit into it. The juices dribbled down the skin of the apple and down his chin.

Something about the way he bit into the apple followed by slowly licking the juices off his lips made her heat up a degree and brought all sorts of thoughts into her mind.

"Is something the matter, Jesse? You look redder than this apple." He smirked.

"Just answer the damn question!" She felt like she was going to explode like Kirk.

He shrugged. "There is something mysterious about you. It's like you're hiding a dark secret."

Jessica stiffened, and Jude smirked but said no more. In due time, if he ever met the girl again, he would ask about her history with the Honey Tribe Kingdom, but he knew right now wasn't the time. For starters, he needed her to trust him and for him to trust her.

"I also came to give you your stuff back. Paddy insisted." He handed Jessica her brown leather pack. "You left it on the beach after you ran away from me yesterday. I'm afraid to say the crew kept the mussels you picked yesterday; they're going to cook them later."

Jessica scowled at Jude. She'd taken her time collecting those mussels and diving around the rocks to gather them. She'd looked forward to cooking and eating them the way she liked it. Just imagining someone else cooking her mussels made an envious impulse run throughout her body.

How dare they?

"I'll be going now." The dark physician turned around and walked away. "I hope we meet again, Jesse."

She sighed, glad he was leaving the island. She didn't trust him; he pried too much into her background, and already he knew too much, especially about her name. If anybody had overheard their conversation, she would be in danger.

If Jude was leaving the island, didn't that mean Paddy was, too? Just thinking of the cute black cuddly feline made her grin, but it also made her sad that she would never see him again.

"Hold it!" she called after the Physician.

Jude stopped and turned his head over his shoulder to look back at her.

"Is there something wrong, Jesse?"

Jessica groaned; she really hated his calling her that.

"I would like to see Paddy before you leave the island."

Jude carried on walking in the direction of the port town, a smirk playing on his lips. "Oh really? Or is that just an excuse to spend more time with me?"

Jessica scoffed as she swung her leather pack over her shoulder and picked up her basket of apples and caught up with the Physician's long strides. She found him too tall for his own good.

"It's beside me why anyone would like to spend time with you."

"You seemed to enjoy my company last night."

Jessica blushed and struggled to keep ahold of her basket of apples. The comment had caught her off guard.

"I... that was different. I didn't... I didn't know it was you," she stuttered.

"But it was still me, and you enjoyed every second of it, especially when we danced together."

Her face once again reddened. Jude was enjoying this too much. He liked watching her blush; it showed an innocence about her that he didn't see that often. He wondered if she had any experience with the opposite sex. From her reactions to him, he doubted it very much. He watched her carefully. She struggled to keep ahold of her basket of apples, and her blush still graced her cheeks. Jude smirked to himself as he looked ahead once again. The things he could teach her.

"About that, when did someone like you learn how to dance? I bet your crew doesn't know about this soft side of yours."

Jude shot out of his thoughts. Soft? He took such a word as an insult. He was the Dark Physician; he was anything but soft. Jude froze in his tracks, and he glared down.

"Watch what you say or one day, you'll wake up missing a limb." His tone was sharp.

Jessica stepped back, intimidated by the darkness of his aura.

"You don't have the power to take any of my limbs off."

He continued walking, a devilish smirk played on his lips. "I have a second cursed soul, remember? You'd be surprised with what I can do with such a power, Miss Azalea."

"Don't call me that!" Jessica snapped.

Jude didn't like it when someone told him what to do, so he decided to pry further into her background. He knew it would annoy her.

"Why not? It is your name, is it not?" He quirked an eyebrow in interest.

"It was my name. I prefer Jessica."

"If I didn't know any better. I would say you're trying to hide from someone," he speculated, and he was right, based on the reaction he got from her.

She froze mid-step. Her face turned paler than a ghost, her bottom lip trembled in fear, and the usual happy gleam in her eyes turned to that of deep sadness. She looked vulnerable. Her reaction only made Jude more curious about the girl. Who was she hiding from, and why did this person make her look so petrified?

Jude held her chin in his hands and forced her to look at him.

"What has you so scared?" he wondered aloud.

His thumb stroked her bronze skin, and the girl closed her eyes. Her trembling instantly disappeared, and she rubbed her cheek into his warm hand.

Jessica didn't know why, but for some reason, the softness of his touch as he stroked her face sent a tingling sensation throughout her body, and for once in her life, she felt safe, a feeling she thought she would never feel again in her lifetime and a feeling she wanted to last.

Realising what she was doing, Jessica stumbled back from him, her cheeks redder than ever.

Jude chuckled while watching Jessica act all flustered, clearly mortified that she had enjoyed his affectionate touch.

Her hands fumbled about with her basket of apples she was about to drop. Jude effortlessly took the basket from her with one hand and smirked when he leaned over, stroking her red hair behind her ear and whispered to her, "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me. I won't tell anyone who you are, Miss Azalea."

His warm breath against her neck sent pleasant shivers down her back when he rolled her real name off his tongue. She froze, her heart beating unusually fast, and she found herself unable to breathe. What was happening to her? She had never felt this way before.

Jude found his lips edging closer towards her neck when he stopped in his tracks. A frown formed on his face when he noticed her marked neck. Cleverly hidden under her black choker necklace were pink scars.

Was she injured?

His doctor instincts got the better of him, and without permission, he tugged at her choker. The piece of black fabric fell to the floor in a flutter.

Jessica gasped and covered her neck with her hands, but it was too late. Jude had seen them.

He dropped the basket to the floor and forcefully grabbed her chin, lifting her head to get a better angle at the scars on her neck. His thumb traced over the marks. No doubt about it: they were from a rope burn.

"Were you hanged?"

"I... I..." Tears obscured his vision, the memory flashing before her eyes.

All of a sudden, her throat felt tight, pain formed in her chest, and she found it difficult to breathe while reliving that moment when she had almost died.

Her vision became dotted, and everything around her started to spin and turn black. The last thing she heard was Jude calling out her name.

"Azalea!"

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