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Yunjin watched as the ocean waves glittered underneath the sunset, pinpricks of light dancing in her eyes as she idly plucked at her guitar. These late afternoons by the shore were a little escape, something she would spend the entire day looking forward to. It was tricky to get to this part of the beach, but it was secluded—a little cove that only she and her parents knew about, something hidden from the tourists who flocked to their seaside town in the summer.
Her fingers moved up and down the fretboard without much thought. Instead, her mind was drifting out to the sea, to the lazy curl of the waves and the spray of white seafoam she could practically taste on her tongue. It was the taste of summer break, a taste that Yunjin normally looked forward to, but this summer had already begun a bit off-kilter. Sakura and Kazuha, who both normally stuck around until at least mid-July before going back to Japan for the summer, had left early to visit their respective families. Yunjin’s father, who had gone out to sea in the spring for a fishing job, wouldn’t be back for another month. And then, three days into summer break, Yunjin’s mother had gotten a phone call from her sister who lived in the city.
“I’ll only be gone for a week, I promise,” her mother had said as she stuffed a haphazard pile of clothes into a small suitcase. “She's just been having such a tough time since the divorce—”
“I’ll be fine!” Yunjin had said. Even though Yunjin hated to be alone, there was no point in her going with. There wasn’t much she could do for her aunt that her mother couldn’t.
The afternoon trips to cove did help with the loneliness. Now, Yunjin found herself singing a soft sea shanty her father had taught her when she was a child. She kept the rhythm of the crashing waves as she sang and strummed her guitar, closing her eyes and letting the music fill her like it always did—a warm, comforting embrace.
When she opened her eyes once again, Yunjin noticed something moving in the water near the shoreline; then, a small splash.
She paused, squinting at the waves, trying to spot whatever it was. It was likely just a fish, but the part of Yunjin that had never grown too old for the stories of mermaids and sea serpents she had heard growing up always looked for something a bit more magical than a fish.
A head poked up out of the water. Yunjin squealed in delight when she recognized the creature for what it was—a little white seal.
“You’re so cute!” She cried. Yunjin wanted to move closer, but she knew that the moment she stood up from the driftwood she was sitting on, the seal would swim away.
The seal watched her, unblinking. Yunjin’s smile faltered a little, confused, as it continued to stare at her. Not threatening, but curious. Like it was waiting for something.
On some kind of instinct, Yunjin began to play her guitar again. At this, the seal began to bob up and down.
“Oh, you like my music?” It was strange—Yunjin knew seals were not quite this intelligent. But at her question, the seal let out a soft little bark. It was almost musical itself, and Yunjin laughed in delight at the sound.
She played and sang until the sun finally slipped behind the horizon, when she could barely see her fingers along the fretboard. When Yunjin stood and slung her guitar over her shoulder, she heard a splash and wondered if the little seal had a home to return to as well.
~*~
Sometime in the middle of the night, Yunjin awoke to the sound of thunder crashing. She shot up awake in bed, clutching at her blankets, just in time to see a flash of lightning light up her bedroom. Then, another boom of thunder that seemed to shake the walls of her house, followed by low, rapid pounding noise.
Yunjin frowned as the pounding noise didn’t subside; her eyes widened in shock as she realized the sound was someone knocking on the front door.
She hesitated, panic beginning to bubble inside her chest. Who on earth would be knocking on their door at this time of night? But given the storm, perhaps someone was in trouble? Was it safe? As the thoughts whirled through Yunjin’s mind, the knocking continued.
Yunjin grit her teeth. She reached into the drawer of her nightstand, where she kept a heavy-duty flashlight, and slipped out of bed.
“Hello?” Yunjin called out when she reached the front door. “Who’s there?”
“Please,” came a faint voice, “Please, help me.”
Yunjin inhaled and opened the door.
On the doorstep stood a girl about Yunjin’s age, with black chin-length hair plastered flat against her face. She was drenched in the rain, shivering, and had a desolate expression on her face.
When the girl saw Yunjin, though, her expression brightened.
“Oh, thank you!” She said. Her voice was still faint, and hoarse, like it had been unused for quite a long time. “Please, may I come inside? My coat has been torn, and I need your help fixing it. I don’t know who else to ask.”
“Your…coat?” It was only that Yunjin took in what the girl was wearing: a long, white fur coat.
“Yes, I…this has never happened before, and I don’t know how to fix it.” The girl looked like she was about to cry. “I got caught in a fishing net when I was swimming back from the shore, and there was something sharp in the net, and I…I…”
“C-Come inside!” Yunjin hurried to pull the girl into the house, in case she did start crying. Yunjin’s hand brushed along the coat as she did so—it was softer than anything she had ever touched.
“I’ll get you a towel,” Yunjin said after shutting the front door. Her hand twitched. The coat…Something tickled the back of Yunjin’s brain, a particular story her mother once told her. As she pulled the towel out of the linen closet and ducked into her room to gather up some dry clothes, the story began to take shape in her mind. A story of women who could turn into seals with the aid of a magical coat.
Surely Yunjin was just reading into the situation, wanting to see something fantastical, as always. Surely this girl just really cared about her coat, and Yunjin misheard what she said about swimming and a…fishing net?
“Here, I got you something to change into,” Yunjin said as she returned to where the girl was still standing near the front door, dripping water onto the wooden floor. Her parents would be dismayed if she wasn’t the daughter of a fisherman.
“Thank you,” said the girl. In one swift motion, she slid her coat off her arms and dropped it to the floor.
Yunjin shrieked, her face immediately flushing red as she realized the girl was naked and barefoot underneath her coat.
“I’ll just, um…I’ll just wait for you in the kitchen—”
Yunjin turned and fled.
There were only two possibilities. Either there was something mentally unwell about this girl, or she was a selkie.
After a few moments of taking in deep breaths, willing her heart rate to go down, Yunjin put on the tea kettle. While she waited for the water to boil, she heard the girl step into the kitchen as well.
Yunjin turned and saw that the girl was clutching her white coat to her chest with a dismayed expression on her face.
Clearing her throat, Yunjin asked, “It’s…torn? Can you tell me what happened again?”
The girl nodded. “Like I said, I got caught in a fishing net when I was swimming back from the cove. There was something sharp in the net along with me and it cut into my coat. I managed to get myself out, but with it torn…I can’t go back to my family like this.”
“Ok,” Yunjin said slowly. The tea kettle began to rattle on the stove. Yunjin took her time turning off the burner, then rummaging in one of the cabinets for mugs and a box of tea. Part of her wondered if she was dreaming, but when she turned around once again, the girl was still there.
“Here, drink this,” Yunjin said. She gestured to the small table by the window in the kitchen, encouraging the girl to take a seat. Lightning flashed outside, thunder rumbled overhead. The girl shivered again.
“It’ll help warm you up,” Yunjin continued. “What’s your name?”
“Chaewon,” the girl said softly. As she took a sip of the tea, she smiled. “This is really good.”
“Thanks,” Yunjin said distantly, although she wasn’t quite sure why. The tea came from a box. There was a selkie in her house.
“I’m Yunjin, by the way,” she added.
“I know.”
“You know?”
“Yes. I’ve heard your parents call out to you several times before. And those two girls you came to the cove with last summer, too.”
Yunjin blinked rapidly, trying to take it all in.
“That was you in the water earlier,” she said slowly, “you were watching me play?”
Chaewon smiled again, though more shyly this time.
“Yes,” she said, “it wasn’t the first time but…it was the first time I came that close. I couldn’t help it! Your voice is so lovely, but this time…you sounded so sad.”
“Oh,” Yunjin flushed again with embarrassment. “I just miss my friends, and my family. That’s all. I’m not good at being alone.”
Chaewon hummed in agreement. Her hands were wrapped around the mug of tea, and it was only then that Yunjin realized just how tiny she was. Her hair was beginning to curl a bit as it dried, and her cheeks were rosy from the tea. It was surreal to see someone—not just anyone, a cute magical girl—wearing Yunjin’s old basketball jersey and sweatpants.
Yunjin looked over to where Chaewon had draped her coat over another chair at the table. She could see the long, ragged tear just underneath one of the arms. Yunjin winced, wondering if it had hurt, but Chaewon didn’t appear injured or in pain.
“How can I help you?” Yunjin asked. “Is there a way to repair your coat?”
Chaewon immediately brightened.
“Can you sew?”
“Er,” Yunjin began. It wasn’t that she couldn’t sew, but she wasn’t that good at it. If the lumpy pillow she made in the sixth grade was anything to go by.
But Chaewon looked so hopeful.
“Yes,” Yunjin said. “I can sew, but…will just any kind of sewing thread work? It doesn’t need to be magical, too?”
“Oh, I don’t know about that, actually.” Chaewon started to look worried again, and Yunjin immediately kicked herself internally for making the other girl upset.
“I’ll give it my best shot!” Yunjin said quickly. “Don’t worry, I’ll use the best thread my mother has, and I’ll—”
Chaewon reached out to take Yunjin’s hand into hers. Yunjin squeaked.
“I believe in you, Yunjin,” Chaewon said. “I have a feeling that if anyone could help me, you can.”
Yunjin made sure Chaewon was comfortable on the couch and underneath at least three layers of blankets before she went to rummage around through her mother's sewing boxes. Eventually, she found a kind of thread that looked sturdier than the regular thread that Yunjin knew went with the sewing machine. Luckily, the thread was white, too.
"Please work," Yunjin whispered quietly to herself, clutching the thread to her chest like Chaewon had with her coat.
When she returned, Chaewon looked as if she were able to doze off. Yunjin smiled at how cute the girl's soft expression looked on her face.
"Did you find what you needed?" Chaewon murmured, voice leaden with exhaustion.
"Yes, I think so," Yunjin said. "It's ok, if you want to sleep."
"Could you..." Chaewon's voice trailed off to barely a whisper. "Could you sing me to sleep?"
Yunjin smiled, and as she began to hand-stitch the coat back together as best she could, she sang one of her favorite lullabies.
The hours slipped past quickly as Yunjin worked. She kept singing even after Chaewon fell asleep, lowering her voice to a quiet hum, sneaking glances at Chaewon's peaceful face as she sewed. Eventually, as dawn began to peek in through the window and she was nearly finished, Yunjin realized that the storm had stopped a while ago.
Once she was done, Yunjin tugged on her stitches to see how well they would hold. They felt strong, and Yunjin felt a surge of pride inside herself.
"Please work," she whispered again to the coat. She wanted Chaewon to be happy and to be able to return to her family, even if it meant Chaewon would leave. Yunjin was hopeful that she might see the other girl again, if she also frequented the cove. But would Chaewon ever appear to her again as a girl, or just a seal?
As if she could hear Yunjin's thoughts, Chaewon began to stir awake.
"Did you finish?"
"Yes, take a look."
Yunjin handed Chaewon her coat. Chaewon ran her hands along the fur, tracing her finger down to where the tear had been. She made a satisfied noise as she examined Yunjin's stitches, and despite the sudden pang of loneliness in her chest, Yunjin smiled.
"I can feel where you asked the thread to work," Chaewon said. Yunjin made a noise in surprise.
Chaewon laughed. "Humans are often more magical than they realize." She looked up at Yunjin from where she was still sprawled out on the couch, a thoughtful expression crossing her face.
Yunjin waited for the other girl to say something more, but Chaewon remained silent. Even as she stood and slid on her coat, wrapping her arms around herself to hug the fur garment close to her skin.
Awkwardly, Yunjin fiddled with her hands in her lap.
"Well, I'll...I'll walk you to the door, then?" Yunjin couldn't quite look at Chaewon as she stood as well, brushing past the other girl to shuffle across the wood floor. She heard Chaewon trailing behind.
"It's stopped raining at least," Yunjin continued, cracking open the front door. She turned to face Chaewon, but still couldn't meet the other girl's gaze. Instead, she looked down again at her hands. "Although, I guess, does the rain actually bother you? I'm sure you're used to being wet—"
Yunjin's voice broke off as Chaewon reached out to grab her arm, tugging her closer. Before Yunjin could say anything, before she could do more than inhale sharply in surprise, Chaewon pulled Yunjin down to bring their lips together in a brief, sweet kiss.
"Thank you, Yunjin," Chaewon whispered. Her breath tickled Yunjin's nose. "I won't forget this. Or you. I'll come back to see you, I promise."
Yunjin swallowed thickly. Her lips buzzed from where they had touched Chaewon's. Chaewon's face was still close; Yunjin could see her eyelashes speckled with the dawn light.
"Okay," Yunjin said, reaching out to squeeze Chaewon's hand, "I'll be waiting for you."
~*~
For the rest of the summer, Yunjin returned to the cove every afternoon, guitar in hand. Her mind wandered as she played, as it always did, but she kept her gaze steady on the waves, searching for that familiar movement or little splash, to see if her visitor had returned. Every day, she would leave without seeing Chaewon again. Although it was hard to keep the disappointment at bay, her hope never faltered. Chaewon promised, after all.
Then, on the final day of summer break, there was a figure waiting for Yunjin by the piece of driftwood. A figure in a long, white fur coat.
"Chaewon!" Yunjin broke into a sprint at the sight of the other girl.
Chaewon smiled, reaching out her arms to embrace Yunjin as the two came together.
"I'm sorry I was away for so long," she said, "but it took a while to get you this."
Looking down, Yunjin realized that Chaewon was holding a second coat.
"Is this...?" Chaewon handed Yunjin the coat. It felt the same as Chaewon's—impossibly soft and smooth, and warm to the touch.
"I had it made for you," Chaewon said. Her cheeks were dusted a light pink. "I want...there are so many things I want to show you. And I think it's only fair if I can come see you, that you can come see me, too."
Yunjin couldn't help the grin from breaking out across her face. She rested her guitar against the driftwood before pulling on the coat. It felt so natural, like slipping on a second skin.
"It's beautiful," she said. "Will I...will I change, like you?"
Chaewon returned the grin and grabbed Yunjin's hand, guiding them both toward the open waters of the sea.
"There's only one way to find out."