Chapter Text
When Jumin Han got the fishing web out of the sea he wasn’t expecting to find what he did.
“I beg your pardon,” he politely said after staring at her for some seconds and put her back in the water.
He expected the mermaid to swim away, but she put her hands on the side of the boat and spoke up.
“Thank you,” she said, and then she went away.
Jumin brought a hand to his heart, feeling that had been the first time someone had thanked him wholeheartedly, and he knew returning the beautiful mermaid to the water had been worth it. What he didn’t know is that the mermaid had stared back at him, her fears washed away by those black calm eyes, and that when he put her back in the sea she had almost felt disappointed. He didn’t also know that she had recognised him as the child she had saved some years ago, when he was playing alone in the beach and a wave almost drowned him.
But the mermaid did know all this and when she saw that child had grown into such a kind-hearted adult, she felt some kind of warmth in her chest she couldn’t define. Besides, those eyes.
Jumin was lying on the couch, thinking about the mermaid. He wanted to know more of her. He needed to see her again. How could he find out something about mermaids? Maybe there was a way to take her home? She seemed to know English, so probably he could talk to her, get to an agreement and take her home with him. She would love Elizabeth 3rd and it was probable that she hadn’t seen a cat in her life, which was certainly awful. He thought about people in which he could rely to ask about mermaids. Who would be strange enough to have some knowledge on that field? He took his phone with an idea.
“God 707 speaking!” Luciel’s voice was heard at the other side of the phone. “If you need some help with cats, say ‘Elly’. If you need some help with your garden, say ‘Pricklepoe’. If you need some help with mermaids, say ‘Luciel is a genius’.”
“Luciel is a genius,” he replied, too confused about what ‘pricklepoe’ meant as to really pay attention to what he was saying.
“You’ve selected ‘help with mermaids.’ To confirm the option, please say ‘wish I could be part of that world.’ To go back to the menu, please say ‘I was kidding, I’m not interested in mermaids. Luciel, how was your day?’.”
“Wish I could be part of that world,” Jumin said, noting down on a notebook to tell Jaehee to research about pricklepoes.
“You’ve selected ‘the little mermaid’ option. Wait some minutes and someone will attend you.”
Some music he couldn’t recognise started to play. It said something about a ‘gangnam style.’
“Luciel, I don’t have time for this,” Jumin suddenly realised with a sigh.
“Ok, sorry,” he laughed. “What do you need to know about mermaids?”
“I found one this morning and I wanted to know whether I could keep her or not.”
Seven nodded, even though Jumin couldn’t see it, and caressed his invisible, and actually inexistent, beard.
“I see, I see,” Luciel proceeded. “Well, I don’t know if the mermaid will agree to this –she probably will, though, for this story needs to be more than one chapter long –but if she agrees to go with you, you should keep her in water from the sea. There should be some sand and shells if possible too.”
“I see, thank you, Luciel.”
“What can I say except you’re welcome?”
He hung up, never asking Seven about his day, which somehow bothered him (nah, just kidding), and called Assistant Kang to ask her to contact the maintenance service as soon as possible to go to his house. He would fill the swimming pool with water, sand and rocks, if necessary, from the sea after filtering it so it was as clean as possible, and would try to find the mermaid himself to try to convince her to go to his house. He would also prepare a kind of big fish tank with wheels to carry her all the way home, which he would do himself just in case the mermaid wasn’t comfortable around humans.
The next day, the mermaid ventured to go to the same place where he had met that man the day before. She ventured closer to the shore, carefully, for she didn’t want to be discovered by any other human, and there she saw him. She startled, blushing, and hid part of her face under the water, leaving only her green eyes out to watch him. Apparently, the human had seen her, for he advanced with his boat towards her.
“Good morning,” he politely greeted her. The mermaid nodded. “Would you like to come with me?” he said, giving her his hand. The mermaid looked at him in disbelief. “I promise I won’t hurt you. I’ve already prepared a convenient place for you to stay and there won’t be more humans than I if that disturbs you. Moreover, I will let you return to the sea the moment you wish so,” he said, as if he were writing a contract.
The mermaid took his hand, more than willing to go with him after what he said, and he tenderly helped her on the boat, taking her in his arms and putting her in the tank. He smiled at her and she smiled back.
“Thank you,” he said.
She shook her head.
“It’s the less I can do for you after what you did yesterday,” the mermaid shyly replied.
“I didn’t mean you to feel obliged to come with me,” he told her, worried.
“Oh, no,” she exclaimed. “I’m really happy you came to look for me.”
An embarrassing silence formed between them and the mermaid felt like dying from the embarrassment after saying those words until she heard the human chuckling.
“I’m glad that is the case.”
The mermaid’s heart started to beat faster and she understood she had fallen in love.