Chapter Text
Jun
One of the first things Jun had learned as a child, was to not interfere in human lives and he should have followed that rule. However back then, when it had happened on a cold, stormy winter day, he had still been a child; naive and unable to stand seeing the human boy, who couldn't have been much older than himself, drown after he had fallen out of one of the boats that tried to conquer the huge waves.
Before thinking about it twice, Jun had grabbed the unconscious boy’s arms and with all strength, he could summon up, he had dragged him through the uneasy water and into safety, consisting of a small lagoon, hidden between some huge rocks. It hardly ever got discovered by humans and therefore Jun went there often, when he wanted to feel the full heat of the sun on his skin, the fact that it was really sensitive towards UV radiation for which reason he got sunburns easily not stopping him.
It took the boy some time, to regain consciousness and show any signs of live at all, but Jun had no doubt that he would eventually wake up again. He had saved him fast enough, at least he hoped so. While he waited, Jun couldn't take his eyes of the boy’s face for even a second. Mermaids did look similar to humans, just like his parents had told him, but while Jun's and his swarm’s faces were sharp, the child in front of him had a big round face, with soft, puffy cheeks and big pouty lips. It was so different to what Jun knew till now and he thought that it looked beautiful. Out of curiosity he slowly stretched out a hand, to carefully poke the boy’s cheek, followed by him quickly pulling it away with a happy squeal. The skin had felt so soft under his fingertips, just like the body of an octopus.
"What... happened?" A hoarse voice suddenly spoke up and Jun startled looked at the boy who was blinking into the slowly fading light, while staring back at him.
Jun wanted to answer him, he really did, but the only sounds he could get out outside of water where squeaks similar to the one he had made some seconds ago and therefore he just stayed silent and stared at the human with huge, curious eyes. This was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to him, expect the one time his father had taken him to see one of the big cities, further in the east of their ocean.
"What happened to my parents? Are they...are they okay?!" This time the voice of the boy sounded different. More uneasy? Jun wasn't sure, he had never heard someone speak in this way, but it was obvious that the thought of his parents being in danger made the human unhappy, so Jun just smiled reassuringly and nodded. He hadn't seen any other, older humans in the water so they should be on a boat somewhere. At least he hoped so...once again.
The boy immediately relaxed and sighed in relieve, before a sudden frown grew on his face and his eyes slowly trailed down Jun's body, from his naked chest to the magnificent, blue-green gleaming tail fin which were the compensation for his missing legs, and was currently half covered by the water behind him, so that Jun wouldn't dry out since that could happen way too quickly.
The eyes of the boy widened and he could see a mix between fear and curiosity in them.
"What...are you a mermaid?" He asked and Jun smiled again as confirmation.
"Wow...I always wanted to meet one..."
In that moment quiet voices sounded from behind Jun, seemingly shouting something over the water. The boy looked up, relive flashing over his face once more.
"That are my parents! They are searching for me!" He exclaimed happily, before he shakily got up and started waving like crazy.
"Mum! Dad! I'm here! I'm here!" He shouted back, while Jun observed his behavior interested. Humans were so much more emotional than mermaids, but he liked it.
"My parents will be so grateful that you saved me. I can't wait to tell them that mermaids are really real. Don't worry, they will love you..." But when the boy turned back around, Jun had already disappeared back into the water of the wide ocean.
Jun didn't notice he had fallen in love until the boy’s face started showing up in his dreams, night after night. He tried to forgot about the incident, especially since he had broken way too many rules, but he just couldn't. Instead he caught himself swimming to the small lagoon more often than he had, before meeting the boy, in the hope to maybe even see him again.
And he should be lucky. One sunny afternoon, a couple of months later, the boy did show up at the lagoon again, to sit there for hours and just stare into the wide ocean. Then, when the sun started setting, he got up and walked away, looking somehow disappointed and sad.
Jun imagined the boy had been looking for him, especially after he came again and again every couple of months, but Jun still didn't show himself. Showing himself would mean getting his family and swarm in danger and he couldn't be that selfish, even though his heart was longing to meet the boy again.
But watching him from afar was already good enough for Jun, at least, until the other suddenly stopped visiting the lagoon.
By now years had passed and both of them had grown from boys into men. Jun's family expected him to also act like a grown up now; to stop repeatedly going to the surface and instead marrying a mermaid, so that together they could make sure that their race wouldn't become extinct. But Jun just couldn't. Every day, his head was still full of his thoughts of the boy and his imaginations of how his life outside of the water looked like and after over a year had passed without him showing up at their lagoon, everything got even worse.
Suddenly Jun wasn't able to sleep, plagued by doubts and worries and the question about what had happened, what had changed.
While his parents were trying to set him up with seemingly every of the still unmarried girls, Jun's heart yearned even more for the boys presence, he still didn't know the name of, and the temptation to just leave the water and try to search for him was greater than ever before. The only thing that kept him back was the thought of his parents and what they had always told him,
"Never leave the water Jun. Whenever you touch the water, your feet will turn back into your original form but without water you won't be able to speak. Just imagine someone sees you…"
"And don't forget the most horrible thing; after not even a month your air savings will be used up and you'll suffocate painfully, except you make it back to the ocean in time." His mother had added and his father had laughed.
"You call that the most horrible? I think we both agree that the worst thing are the humans. As soon as they find out what you are, they'll lock you up like an animal or even worse; kill and eat you. It's just how they are…all of them." Back then Jun had listened to their horror stories with wide eyes and an open mouth, while feeling the goosebumps crawl up his skin, but after he had saved the human boy from drowning and saw how different he had seemed compared to everything he had heard about humans, he decided not to believe those stories too easily. Still, he was afraid to leave behind everything he was familiar with, to enter a world that seemed to be so completely different.
"Jun, are you listening to me?" Chan, his best friend, asked and Jun looked at him surprised. He wasn't. The other observed him with a frown. "You've always been kinda distracted, but these past couple weeks it got even worse. Is everything okay?" Jun nodded, lazily beating his fin, while they passed colorful reefs full of sea animals and others of their swarm. He loved it here, he really did, so why did he feel like there was still something missing?
"Jun...you did it again…"
"Huh? What?"
"You didn't answer and instead you just stared into the distance and it looked creepy." Chan said, before placing himself on one of the rock at the side.
Jun sighed, followed by bubbles rising up into the light of the sun that was shining on them through the water.
"It's nothing, I'm fine. My parents just want me to meet one of the girls from the East swarm...you know, since they are visiting our village tomorrow..." At this Chan's expression changed to a sympathetic one.
"Oh...that sucks. Why don’t you just tell them that you feel uncomfortable with them doing it."
“I did but they just can’t help themselves but still try it… You’ll understand, when you reach my age. Most of the guys my age are getting married soon and here I am, still without a bride and children.” At this Chan started frowning.
“Do you want to marry?” Jun thought about it for some second, before he answered,
“I want my parents to be happy instead of having to worry…”
“Okay…but what is it that you want?” I don’t want to marry…I want to see him again, it shot through Jun’s head but he didn’t say that.
“I…don’t know.” He replied instead and looked at his fin. It was true…he didn’t know what he should do.
“Do you want to get a piece of advice from me?” Chan asked, eyeing Jun with an observing stare and the latter nodded. “I think you should just follow your heart. You are still young, you’ll still be able to marry and get children, when you are older and until then you should do whatever you are dreaming of the whole time, whenever I’m talking to you. Seriously, whatever it is, go for it and then come back and finally listen to me, so that you can answer, when I ask you something.”
Jun stared at him with an open mouth, his thoughts driving wild.
“Do you…do you really think I should do it?”
“When you are asking me a question like that I feel, like it would be better to reply with no…” Chan stated, worry clearly showing on his face now. “However, I said what I said and I meant what I meant so…yes…whatever it is, just do it or else you’ll always regret it. You are not dumb, you will get through it.” The feeling of gratefulness rose in Jun and he couldn’t help but smile, before he pulled his friend into a tight hug.
“Thanks, that’s exactly what I needed to hear.”
“Uhh…you’re welcome, I guess…” the other mumbled, surprised by the sudden cuddle attack. However, his surprised turned into confusion and then shock, when Jun suddenly turned around and started swimming into the opposite direction of their village. “Jun? Where are you going?!” He called after him.
“Doing what you told me to; following my heart! Tell my parents I love them and that they don’t have to worry, I’ll be back in three weeks if not even sooner.” These were his last words, before Jun disappeared from Chan’s view, a bright smile on his face.
Donghun
„Do you really want to take this book with you to school? Don’t you think you are getting a bit too old for fairy tales?” Donghun asked with a disapproving glance at the thick book, his daughter was holding onto like her life depended on it. Ava nodded profusely.
“The teacher told us to bring our favorite books and this one is my favorite.” She exclaimed and hugged the book even tighter. “Mum loved to read it together with me. When can I visit her again?” Immediately Donghun’s mood darkened and he avoided his daughters questioning eyes.
“Soon, sweetie…What about her helping you with your homework?” Ava shrugged her shoulders, not noticing her father’s tense expression.
“She said I can still do that at home, because you know more about school stuff anyways.” At this Donghun chuckled without any amusement in it.
“Sure, I do…” He muttered to himself, before turning into the parking lot of Ava’s elementary school and stopping in front of the entrance. “All right darling, we’re here. Don’t forget to show your teacher my signature for your last test and to eat your lunch!” He reminded her.
“Yeeees, Dad…” Ava replied annoyed and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
“I’ll pick you up later and only me, okay? If someone else tries to get you into his or her car, you run into the other direction, okay? And work hard today!” But his daughter was already out of the car, joining other students on their way to the entrance. “I love you!” Donghun couldn’t help but shout after her for what he got an embarrassed look from his daughter.
“DAD! I’m in second grade, you are embarrassing!” She shouted back, but not without laughing, before she quickly entered the building and disappeared from Donghun’s view. The latter sighed. Why did it hurt every time, he had to leave her, even though it was only for a couple of hours? In the past he would have never thought that he would become such a clingy father but here he was; a divorced single dad who tried everything to not fuck up his daughter’s life like he seemingly had his own one.
With a sudden beeping sound his phone signalized him that he had gotten a new message and he fished it out of his pocket to see who had texted him. Amelia, just what he needed right now. The message consisted of only two words; Call me!
Donghun closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before he clicked on the calling symbol. It didn’t take Amelia even five seconds to pick up and that was a new record, even for her.
“Honey?!”
“Yes? What is it?” He asked, while watching how some birds started fighting over some bread next to a trash can.
“It’s a disaster! I think we should just cancel the wedding!” Donghun had to force himself to not sigh annoyed into the microphone. Amelia had thought it would be the best to cancel the wedding six times by now and after a while it had just stopped being…well, shocking…
“Why, what happened?” He wanted to now instead of just ending the call and tried to sound as sympathetic as possible this early in the morning.
“I told the florist that I wanted pink flowers, but he just sent me the pictures of the example bouquets and they are blue! Blue, Donghun!” She screamed into his ear and he held his phone a bit further away from his head.
“Well…that’s not too bad. We can just have blue flowers—”
“No, we can’t just have blue ones! They do not fit in with the other decoration and my dress!”
“But your dress is completely white…”
“Donghun please, I don’t have enough time for your jokes right now. Could you please just drive over there and kindly tell them to use pink flowers!” Donghun glanced at his watch. It was a quarter past eight. No, he actually didn’t have enough time to go there and still be at work on time.
“Can’t you just call them or something? I need to—”
“Donghun…” Amelia said with a warning undertone and this time he couldn’t suppress his defeated sigh.
“Okay, okay, I’ll go.” He gave in and ended the call. His eyes fell on the now empty and closed school entrance. “The things we do, to make sure our children are happy…” Donghun mumbled, before driving out of the parking lot.