Tasha wiped her tears, throwing her phone onto the seat next to her. She felt so low and depressed at the moment. How could her fiancé sleep with her best friend two days before the wedding?! Granted that he was drunk, but she was drunk two days ago too and as far as she could remember, she didn't wake up the following day next to someone else! Without waiting another second, she called the wedding off immediately and locked herself in her honeymoon villa, the balcony overlooking a part of the Pacific Ocean. It was supposed to be romantic and beautiful, but now every time she so much as glanced at the water, the feeling of betrayal would return and she would basically just collapse from the sheer impact. That feeling of betrayal intensified on the day of their supposed wedding, and Tasha suddenly found herself calculating the distance from the railing to the surface of the water. To commit suicide just because of a man was pathetic, Tasha knew that much, but he was the only man she ever loved, the only man she thought she had a future with. Now that future was gone, and she figured there was no point in living anymore.

***

Zhang Yixing watched from behind the thick pillar, biting his lip to prevent himself from screaming at her. She was standing on top of the railing, and he didn't need a genius telling him that she was about to kill herself. What was so bad in her life that she had to resort to death? Except he would never let her do that if it ever came to that of course. He just wasn't sure how to save her without exposing himself.

When he went home after that first time he saw her, he headed straight to their library. There must be stories of encounters with such creatures before. He couldn't have been the first merman to have met one. He searched from one book to the other, he surrounded himself with all kinds of books, before he drained himself completely out of energy. How could this be? How could there not be stories of such creatures at all?!

"Lil bro, you missed dinner." A voice spoke up from over his shoulder.

Yixing didn't even bother turning around. "Just a little bit more Suho hyung. I'll go and eat after this."

Suho chuckled, placing himself next to his little brother. His tail was the color of deep purple, and being the firstborn, it was more magnificent, grander that any of his brothers', a fact that didn't sit well with the second born, Kris. "Don't bother. Sehun and Tao fought for your share of food but it was Kyungsoo who ate it all in the end. You're gonna have to sleep hungry tonight."

"Ok." Yixing replied distractedly. Being hungry was the least of his problems right now.

"Hey, what exactly are you looking for? I think you practically emptied all of our bookshelves already."

Yixing stopped looking, and he briefly wondered if he should share what he found with his brother. Suho never approved of his wandering habit, always reminding him that he may swim too far one day and might not remember the way home which to Yixing, was completely ridiculous. Mermen were born with a sense of direction and supersonic hearing, and having Baekhyun as a brother, Yixing was positive he could hear his brother's loud boice and boisterous laugh all the way from Antartica, which he knew was completely possible with Baekhyun. So really, Suho's worry was totally unjustified.

He shut the book close and turned to face Suho. Maybe his brother could provide him with answers the books couldn't. Except, how much should he share with him?

"Hyung..." Yixing started nervously. "Today, I went closer to the shore."

Suho's smile slipped, and a frown settled on his face. "What?"

Yixing winced at the sharpness of his tone, already starting to regret his decision of telling him. But he was a curious merman, the curious of them all, so he wasn't about to let this opportunity go to waste. If Suho had answers, he was damn well going to dig them out of him.

"I went closer to the shore." Yixing repeated, clearer this time. "I went there, and I... saw something."

"What did you see?" Suho was looking at him disapprovingly, but Yixing heard the underlying curiosity laced in his voice.

Taking a deep breath, Yixing closed his eyes and imagined the creature with the stick looking things. He had deduced that they weren't tails, but then, what were they? "I saw, a female creature. Except she didn't have any tail. She had these stick looking things-"

"Human." Suho muttered under his breath.

"What?" Yixing's ears pricked up. "Human? What's that?"

Suho shook his head, closing shut the book on Yixing's lap. "Nothing. Go to bed Yixing. Don't go near the shore anymore. And you'll do well to listen to me this time."

It was a warning, and coming from Suho, Yixing knew better than to go against his words. Duly, he kept his head down and followed after Suho, swimming towards their shared bedroom. "Yes hyung."

"And not a word to any of your brothers." Suho said in hushed tone.

"Yes hyung."

Of course once he slept on it, he made up his mind to go back. He was never one to go against his brother's instructions, but there was just something about the way the female looked that moved him, something that he couldn't get out of his head. He had to find out why she looked so sad and if there was anything he could do to help her, though he highly doubted it.

So now there he was, hiding behind the pillar, watching her as her eyes strayed from the horizon to the water beneath her. He would be there as quick as lightning to catch her if she ever decided to jump, but he hoped it would never reached to that, even if he wanted to wrap his arms around her.

 ***

It was so easy. All Tasha had to do was close her eyes and let her foot slip off the railing. Then she would crash into the water under her, and never have to breathe another day, never have to constantly be reminded of her fiancé cheating on her.

Her eyes glanced longingly at the horizon, wondering if her dead body would ever float that far. She shrugged inwardly. Oh well, she would never know would she? She'd be dead anyway...

A loud banging on the door startled her out of her reverie, and the familiar shrill voice snapped her out of her trance. "Park Tasha! I know you're in there! You come out right now before I break down this door and don't you dare do anything stupid! Park Tasha! Yah!"

She shouldn't smile, she was supposed to be sad and depressed, but she couldn't help the small smile from decorating her face. All of a sudden she realised that killing herself wasn't worth it at all. What would become of her little sister who had no one else but her to depend on?

Turning around, she jumped off the railing and landed safely on the balcony, heaving an obviously relieved sigh in the process. Right, there was so much more to live for. She wasn't about to let one man have total control of her life. There would be others, but right now, her little sister needed her. And Tasha needed her too.

Just as she was about to walk away, she got this strange feeling of someone watching her. She turned around, her eyes scanning the water again. She half expected to see a pair of eyes right by that big pillar, but she saw none.

***

Zhang Yixing leaned his head against the thick pillar, heaving a sigh much like the female creature did. One, she didn't jump so thank goodness for that. If he ever got the chance to meet that female with the shrill voice, he would make sure to thank her. Two, did she see him? He was hiding behind the big pillar, so there was no way she could’ve seen him. If only he was more certain. He waited for a couple more minutes before deciding to swim away, promising himself that he would come back the next day. He had to.

“Where’ve you been?” He heard as soon as he reached the front door.

He spun around, anxiously wiping the back of his neck. Kris was leaning lazily against the fence, his arms crossed against his chest. To be quite completely honest, Yixing was slightly scared of the second born. He was funny when he wanted to be, but most of the time, he was just plain scary. Right now though, he was terrifying. Because Yixing knew he had done something wrong, so his tail had every right to quiver nervously.

“Kris hyung! Didn’t see you there!” He forced out.

Kris raised his eyebrow at him. “Really Yixing? My tail is electric blue. You could see me all the way from Antartica.”

“Right.” Yixing chuckled, his anxiety mounting. “I must not be paying attention then.”

“Something’s bothering you, and I know just what it is.” Kris said as he swam towards his little brother. “I heard you last night talking to Suho.”

“Kris hyung, I-“

“Suho warned you not to wander off didn’t he? But you just came from the shore didn't you?”

“Shh! Kris hyung. Please! I won’t wander off again. Please don’t tell Suho hyung. He’ll kill me if he finds out.” Yixing said worriedly.

“Oh little brother. He won’t be the only one that’ll kill you. Father will too.” Kris said as he draped his arm around Yixing’s shoulder. “And do I look like Baekhyun to you? Do you honestly think I’ll rat you out? That is so not my style man. Sneaking out is my style.”

“Oh. Then... do you want to come with me next time?”

Kris’s face broke into a grin and he thumped Yixing’s back excitedly. “Thought you’d never ask! I’d love to come! Except maybe I should tell you a little story first... about humans.”

Chapter Posted on: Aug 24 2015

This was supposed to be a one shot! But it got longer than I expected so I'll be posting it in parts instead. Hope you guys like it so far! =D Do tell me what you think!