Yixing thought, that after years and years of attending a private school and wearing the uniform, that he’d have learned how to tie a tie by now. Yet there he stood in front of the bathroom mirror, struggling with the grey silk and twisting it into unrecognizable knots. After another 30 seconds of wrestling with the damned tie, he finally gave up. He groaned aloud and pressed his fists against the sink.

“Mom!” he called out in desperation. In a few seconds, his mother had finally come out of her bedroom and went to the bathroom to help him with it.

“You still don’t know how to tie one of these?” his mother asked, her experienced hands expertly twisting the silk into a proper tie. Yixing shrugged.

“That’s what mothers are for,” he joked. Mrs. Zhang lightly slapped his shoulder.

“Aren’t you just so proud of Victoria?” his mother said. “Can you believe it? Our Victoria nominated for the Best Newcomer award at the Institute of Science. I always knew she would accomplish great things, right from the day she walked in our door. You must have been about… oh, ten or eleven when she started interning for us.”

Yixing smiled and his mother smoothed out his tie when she gave it a final tug to tighten it. She brushed off his lapels and then held him at an arm’s length away. She laughed a little noticing that she had to smile up at him now. Mrs. Zhang used to dream that Yixing would follow in his parents’ footsteps and fall in love with science the way they had. When he had told them that he was deferring his university education to see about a career in music, they’d been appalled. But she couldn’t deny that when she looked at her son that she wasn’t proud of the young man he’d become: kind, honest, passionate, and infinitely talented. 

After the prelude with the tie, Yixing went into the kitchen to get a glass of water. He found the stiff cardstock invitation to the awards ceremony that Victoria had sent them on the kitchen counter. Yixing smirked a little. These last 7 months, Victoria had left his parents facility to take on a job at the marine biology department at the Institute of Science. Lee Sung Hwan’s arrest had left a big opening in terms of available jobs. Out of the hundreds of participants that applied, Victoria had been selected. And she was nominated for the award for her research regarding the revival of coral reefs. 

He smiled at the invitation. Of course, Victoria was smart. Victoria deserved it. 

Yixing still felt bad about Nichkhun, sometimes, though. The trouble was only meant to be between him and Jinyu. Yet somehow, Victoria and Nichkhun and their happiness got tossed into the mix. And he didn’t know how to fix it. 

Putting down the invitation, Yixing walked over to his room and looked down at the little goldfish in the bowl next to his bed, the one Mei had won for him at a fair. He tilted his head, watching it swim around in the water. 

Seven months had been long enough, he thought to himself with a sad realization. It was time to let go of impossible dreams and face reality. So with a heavy heart, he walked forward, picked up the goldfish bowl and walked out of his room. He stopped in front of a door some paces away and knocked.

Ater a few seconds, Mei opened the door. She was wearing a purple dress; she’d been invited to the ceremony at the Institute, too.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“Uh, can I come in?”

Mei looked up at him questioningly at first and tried to reason that she was still in the middle of choosing the purple dress or the green one. But seeing that he had no intention of moving from that spot except to come inside, she sighed and opened the door wider for him. Yixing sat on her bed and placed the goldfish on the nightstand.

“What are you doing?” she asked, confused.

“I’m giving the fish back,” he said. “It was… nice of you and all, but I think – ”

He paused for a split-second, and in that split-second, his mind galloped back one year and seven months, back to the day he and his friends had showed up to the beach to clean up an oil spill, back to spilled glasses of water and discovering chopsticks, back to Kyungsoo’s Sea World, back to the Summer’s End Turn-up, back to playing Guitar Hero and fooling around in the ball pit, back to the Benefit Gala, and back to the very last night. And he was trying to fight back the memory of her face. If he did, he’d never be able to do what he was going to do.

“What?” Mei asked, more corned this time. Yixing tried to smile at her.

“I think it’s best that you keep it,” he said, referring back to the fish. “I… I’ve got that deal with the producer and another commission and this music career thing is finally taking off. I just think that… I should move on, you know. I mean, life isn’t all about one thing ending and spending the rest of the time thinking about the thing that ended.”

Mei watched his face as he spoke. He was trying to be confident about this whole thing. She could see that he was trying to smile throughout his little speech. And she admired his courage. She looked back at the goldfish she’d given him and she sighed. Mei supposed that it was probably time to let go. They couldn’t let this one thing suffocate them their whole lives.

Yixing swallowed, remembering that he used to promise Jinyu that he’d never give up on her… never give up on them. But what else could he do?

“I don’t think you broke your promise,” Mei said, as though reading his mind. “Letting go and giving up don’t have to be the same thing.”

Yixing stared at her for a while before smiling in reassurance. Mei took the bowl and moved it to her desk instead. 

“Did you hear about Nichkhun?” she suddenly asked. Yixing’s smile faded.

“What about him?” he asked.

“He had his mother moved to the hospital just a few miles from Central,” Mei said. “They live in town, now. He’s back.”

Yixing kept his hands in his pockets, deciding how he wanted to reply. 

“Oh,” he said simply. “How did you hear about that?”

“My friend, Yidan, said she ran into him at the hospital when she got her flu shot,” Mei answered. “His mom has been responding better to the treatments, but her doctor got transferred here, so they followed him. He brought the whole family, apparently. Yidan said his sister was there, too.”

Yixing raised his brows. “Well, I suppose that’s good that his mom’s getting better,” he responded. Despite how much time passed, he was still bitter about Nichkhun’s betrayal. He wondered if Victoria had gotten word his being back in town. 

“Did you say he brought his sister?” he asked. Mei nodded and he shrugged. “I didn’t know he had one.”

“Well, there are a lot of things we didn’t know about Nichkhun,” Mei said. “Yidan said she didn’t talk to him for that long since they were already on their way out. I think they have a house by the docks, about a mile from the Institute. I just… thought I’d tell you. So you could avoid him if you wanted to.”

“…has shown this Institute the true meaning of being a fearless pioneer in the field of neuroscience – ” said the speaker on the microphone at the podium. He was presenting the department award for Neuroscience, and it was probably the 11^th or 12^th award being presented that evening, and the man’s speech was well into its 6^th minute of length. 

Luhan was slouching in his seat, playing with his cufflinks while Yixing sloshed the ice around in his glass of water, both of them bored out of their minds. The man’s speech seemed like it would be interesting, but it was saturated with so much neuroscientific jargon that neither of them could understand a word of what was being said. 

The ceremony was being held in a hall at a five star hotel some miles downtown. There were red linens on the tables, expensive cutlery and high-class cuisine. Doctors, researchers, writers, lawyers, and other scientific practitioners were stationed all about the room. 

Another hour or two passed before Victoria finally went up to receive her award, and she came down from the stage to receive hugs from everyone at the table, which included Yixing’s family, Luhan, Kyungsoo, and Chanyeol. Another hour passed before the closing speech was finally over, and the reception started.

Yixing stood at the refreshments table with Luhan.

“I guess the good thing about this ceremony was that it got me out of classes for the weekend,” Luhan said. “But after the four-hour snooze-fest I’m wondering if it was worth it.”

“You should have just gone to class,” Yixing answered. “You’re paying for a very expensive education, might as well get your money’s worth.”

“It’s a public college, Yixing,” Luhan reminded him. “The only things that are worth any money are the books.”

“Well, thank God you love to read, right?”

“Is there an award for that?”

Luhan looked around the hall and was reminded of the Benefit Gala that was annually held at his house. Essentially, the theme and nature of the reception party was the same except there were more geeks in the room than usual. The gilded panels in the walls reminded him of the house in The Sound of Music, vaguely. Aside Yixing and his family and Victoria, he didn’t know anyone there. 

If his father or mother were with him, no doubt that would have dragged him from one posse of people to the next, introducing him to them and forcing him to make the most awkward small talk of his life. But thankfully, he was there with friends and he didn’t have to be forced to converse with strangers. But scanning his eyes across the ballroom, a girl in a magenta dress caught his attention. And when he zoomed in on her face, his cheeks went pale.

“Oh ,” he whispered.

“What?” Yixing asked.

Luhan motioned toward the girl in the magenta dress. Yixing shrugged. “Who is that?” Yixing asked.

“I don’t know her name,” Luhan confessed. “But she was on the yacht during my birthday party and – I just started calling her Margarita because she was drinking one even though she’s clearly underaged and – long story-short, let’s go to the lobby. I don’t want her to see me.”

“Why not?” Yixig asked. “She seems nice.”

“You don’t know her like I do,” Luhan said. Yixing scoffed.

“What are you talking about, I don’t know her like you do? You don’t even know her name.”

Luhan grabbed Yixing by the sleeve and began walking him to the exit. Yixing had to pick up his steps faster in order to keep up with Luhan’s pace, but eventually the two of them were in the lobby, safe from the magenta-clad girl. 

The boys stayed in the lobby for what felt like perhaps an hour, and even after they were sure that the girl was gone, they didn’t return to the main party room, primarily because neither of them really enjoyed these types of gatherings in the first place, and because they were waiting for the next hour, at which the concierge was going to announce the winner would be of a brand new Italian sports car via random drawing. Luhan had put Kyungsoo’s name into the drawing about thirty minutes ago. 

I need the bathroom, Luhan said, about ten minutes before the drawing. He handed the ticket to Yixing and excused himself. Yixing had shed his suit jacket and was sitting on one of the couches in the lounge. He looked at the ticket Luhan bought and laughed; there looked to be at least 500 names in that glass bowl from which the names were drawn. His friend had probably just wasted his money in an attempt to get Kyungsoo a better-looking car. 

There was a grandfather clock in the lobby that began to strike and clang when the hour struck, and the concierge stuck his handed into the bowl and decisively pulled out a stub. Yixing listened:

“Ticket number 9-2-1-0-0-7!” the concierge said. There was a short silence that fell over the small group of people that had gathered to hear the drawing. They looked around and waited for someone to collect the ticket. And Yixing decided to humor himself by checking Luhan’s ticket… 921007. 

Yixing jumped out of the chair and ran to the concierge’s desk.

“I got it!” he yelled. “I have the ticket!” 

“Were you the one who purchased this ticket, sir?” the concierge asked.

“Yes! Well, no… my friend bought it,” Yixing confessed.

“Well, then your friend must claim it himself,” the concierge said. “Preferably in the next five minutes, or I’ll have to draw another name.”

Yixing groaned and turned around. In frenzy, he ran to the nearest hallway and hoped that it would be the hallway where the restrooms were. He ran around to another corridor and found the women’s restroom, but not the men’s. He searched high and low for where in God’s name the men’s restroom could be. But when the five minutes were up, he looked back at the concierge’s desk and swore; the concierge had drawn another name. 

Yixing let out a defeated sigh and tossed the ticket into the pot of a small tree that stood in the corner of an entrance to an abandoned cabaret bar. A few janitors were mopping the floors, and the lights were dim. Yixing scratched his head; of the 500 plus tickets in the bowl, theirs had won. And Luhan wasn’t around to collect his prize. What a joke, he thought. 

He was about to walk back to the lobby when he noticed something in the cabaret lounge: a white grand piano. 

The fact alone that there was a piano in that room was enough to draw Yixing’s interest. But he was even more intrigued that it was a white piano since he’d never seen one. Following his feet, Yixing soon found himself standing over it, admiring the glossy shine of the ivories. Tentatively, he reached out and pushed a key and single note rung out.

Yixing frowned a little. He pushed some keys and realized that the sound was off. Peering into the soundboard, he sighed. Just as he suspected, the piano wasn’t tuned. And probably hadn’t been tuned in quite a long time. Laughing a little, he sat down on the bench. The last of the janitors had finished up the floors and was moving on to other rooms, leaving the young man alone with the instrument.

As he began playing the first few notes of a song, he thought about Mr. Yoo again, and the conversation they’d had. He was about a month into the new contract Mr. Yoo and his people had drawn up for him; he’d drop into the studio every so often to help supervise the progression of the recording and to preserve the original integrity of the songs he’d written for them. And Mr. Yoo would pay him handsomely. Things were working out, finally. 

Yixing smiled, continuing the song and being amused at the odd quality of the music being played on this out-of-tune piano. Working in the music industry was his dream, and it was finally starting to come true. Why didn’t he feel happier, then? Why did irritation and restlessness and wanting continue to gnaw at his bones? The truth was that despite the way things were unfolding he couldn’t be happy. 

“You finished the song,” someone said. Yixing smiled sadly to himself. He sometimes still had hallucinations, thinking that he was hearing her voice. He’d recognize it anywhere.

“A few days after you disappeared,” he answered without turning around. He kept his eyes poised on his own hands, on the soundboard, but he refused to turn around. There was a short silence before he began hearing her voice again.

“It sounds a little different,” her voice said. “Is it really the same song?” 

Yixing kept quiet, closing his eyes. Sometimes hallucinating about her voice made him happy, and other times, he wished it would just leave him alone. He let out a slow breath before answering.

“The piano’s not tuned,” he said. “I don’t think anyone ever really plays it around here.”

His fingers began to play the bridge, and the lyrics played out in his head. And the memories fought to come back while he tried to keep them at bay. His distraction made him miss a few notes in the song, and her voice laughed softly at his mistakes.

“Are you forgetting the song?”

“No,” he answered.

“That should have been a B flat… No, on the right hand… You hit it too quickly… Look,” when that last word was spoken, Yixing suddenly felt a gentle press of skin on the back of his right hand, and a shiver shot down his spine when he looked down and saw another hand on top of his. Panicking, he turned around and his face went pale. 

He stole his hands from the keyboard and stood up, so astonished that he knocked over the piano bench and stumbled over it backwards, landing on his bottom on the cold granite flooring. 

Equally stunned by the suddenness of his movements, Jinyu took a few steps backwards and gasped in surprised. 

Yixing slowly picked himself off the ground, but dared not take his eyes off the apparition in front of him. His eyes were wide, confused and disbelieving. He stepped backwards until his back hit the piano. Jinyu’s eyes were troubled, too. She’d thought about this moment for so long, rehearsed what she’d wanted to say, but when their eyes were bearing into each other’s, she’d forgotten how to speak.

Yixing shook his head slowly, his eyes drinking in the sight of her: Jinyu, with her hair at her shoulders, wearing an off-white dress. And her eyes, brown instead of blue. It can’t be, he thought. His heartbeat was in his ears, and he shook his head.

Jinyu opened once or twice, preparing herself to speak.

“It’s… It…” she said shakily, her voice barely a whisper. “It’s me.” She fidgeted with the hem of her dress a little, while Yixing still stood in shock, unable to speak.

“Yixing, it’s me,” she repeated, swallowing hard. “Jinyu… It’s me, Jinyu.” When h didn’t answer, she became worried.

“You remember me, don’t you?”

Yixing nodded, the movement barely detectable. Jinyu smiled gently.

“How?” Yixing whispered, finally. He looked her up and down, trying to verify that she was really there and he wasn’t just imagining it as he’d done countless times before. Jinyu’s shoulders shrugged.

“To be honest with you,” she said, rubbing her arms. “I’m not completely sure. I don’t really remember it. All I remember is waking up one day, and being here again.”

She smiled softly. “But, I think it was because of you.”

“Because of me?” Yixing said. “I don’t understand.”

“The spell that the witch cast on me,” Jinyu said. “She said that only Luhan’s kiss or your death could break the spell. And because I couldn’t do either of those things, I was turned to foam and I died. But… I remember something else she said. Something else that all mermaids know that I had just forgotten. And I think that… I think that because you loved me, my soul lived on, and I was brought back.”

Yixing summoned a little courage to take one step toward her. He could feel himself shaking, and he forced himself to stay standing and to appear strong. He was holding himself back from wrapping her up in his embrace then and there; he was afraid she might disappear again, vanish into the thin air the moment he touched her. 

“This is so strange,” he whispered.

“It is strange for me, too,” she answered. “But I’m real.”

Yixing took one more stride and stood directly in front of her. His breath was caught. He was close enough to touch her, but he still refused. He closed his eyes tightly and then opened them again and there she still stood.

“I’ve had this dream before,” he said slowly. Jinyu shook her head.

“It’s not a dream,” she said. “It’s really me. It’s me, I promise. I’m here.”

Yixing swallowed a lump in his throat and he lifted his hand to her face so agonizingly slow that when there was but a centimeter between his palm and her face, Jinyu close the gap, gently pressing her cheek into the curve of his hand, and Yixing let go of the breath he was holding. He pressed his lips together for a moment before speaking again.

“How long?” he asked.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I mean, how many days?” he said. “How long do you have this time? How much time do you have until you have to go away again?”

Jinyu looked at his face and she couldn’t hide the ridiculously big smile on her face. 

“All the time we want,” she said. Yixing’s eyes grew wide. “Yixing, I’m human now. Fully human, like you. I don’t have to leave. I can stay as long as I want. As long as you want me to stay.”

Yixing closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against hers. All the time we want, he thought to himself and how beautiful those five words sounded to him. He swallowed again, trying to fight a few tears. A wide smile split his face, and their noses touched. His chest heaved up and down.

“You left without a single word that morning,” he whispered with a shaky voice. “I woke up, you were gone, and I didn’t know what to do with myself. I still don’t know, and I’ve had a hellish time trying to figure out what I’m supposed to do, and how to keep hoping. I almost gave up –”

“Shh,” Jinyu said softly, lifting a hand to hold his face, too. She pulled her forehead from his in order to look at him more directly. 

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m sorry for leaving so suddenly. I… I came back some weeks ago, and I would have come to you sooner but I couldn’t just leave Vera, she’s been so weak and – ”

“Vera?” Yixing asked. Jinyu smiled.

“She’s the woman who cared for me,” she said. “She’s Nichkhun’s mother. He’s here tonight, actually. He brought me here to see you.”

“Nichkhun did?” Yixing said in astonishment.

“Yes,” Jinyu answered. “Yixing, I would have found you sooner. But I’m sorry I didn’t. And that’s partly because I had to take care of Vera. And partly because I wasn’t sure how to find you. And then when I found out how much time had passed since I disappeared, I got scared. I didn’t know if you were – I wasn’t sure if you… still felt the same way as before, or if you’d found someone else or if you’d already forgotten about me, and if you did, I didn’t want to bring up the past. I didn’t want to burden you again.”

“Never,” Yixing said, shaking his head. Jinyu smiled shyly.

“Do you still feel the same way, then?” she asked, pressing her hands against his chest and staring at her fingers. Yixing took his hands and wrapped them around her wrists. 

“Completely,” he assured her with a smile. Yixing took her hands from his chest and let their arms hang in between them, their fingers intertwined. “You… You really should have come sooner. Would have saved me a lot of trouble.”

Jinyu giggled. “I know. I know, I’m sorry,” she said again. She looked up and caught his gaze with her new brown eyes. Yixing smiled; despite the fact that the startling blue was gone, her brown eyes were deep and sweet and just as lovely.

” But I’m here now,” Jinyu continued. “And I’m staying this time. And I’ll take care of you like you took care of me, and treat you the way I should have the first time around.”

Jinyu took a deep breath. “You saved me,” she said. Jinyu surprised Yixing by being the one to close the gap this time. She touched his lips with hers gently at first, their lips barely brushing each other, and she held the kiss still in that fragile moment, waiting to see if he’d respond. Yixing felt his breath hitch a little. After several seconds, he closed his eyes and returned the gentle pressure against her lips. 

This one was different from their past kisses, which had been hard and rushed, hurrying to make their time, which had run out so quickly.  Now that they had all the time in the world, this kiss progressed much slower. Chaste and restrained, and yet bursting with all the pent-up passion that had built up over the seven months. Jinyu released her hands from Yixing’s grip and rested them on his shoulders, wanting him to be closer.

When they parted their kiss after just a few moments, Yixing pulled her into a hug, which, admittedly, he had been longing for more than the kiss. Having her in his arms was all the confirmation he needed to know that she was real, and that this moment was real. Indulging in the bliss of the moment, Yixing lifted her slightly and decided to twirl her, which earned a laugh from the both of them, and Jinyu placed a small kiss on his neck. 

“God, I missed you,” Yixing said, still laughing at his cheesy twirling move. 

“I did, too,” Jinyu answered when he finally put her down and held her at an arms’ length. Their conversation was cut short when they were suddenly aware that someone else had come into the room. Jinyu turned and Yixing looked over at the entrance and saw Mei in her purple dress.

“So this is where you disappeared to,” Mei said to Yixing. She looked at her brother and only then became aware that he was with a girl. She raised an eyebrow at first, but when recognition came to her, her jaw dropped, and she bolted forward.

“Jinyu?” she said incredulously before crashing against Jinyu’s frame. Jinyu caught the younger girl’s hug with a laugh and a slight groan. But soon she was caught in Mei’s tight embrace and neither wanted to let go. 

“I can’t believe it’s you!” Mei said, laughing and crying in happiness. Jinyu laughed along, and touched Mei’s face.

“I missed you, too!” Jinyu said. More people began to appear in the entrance. Two boys in suits.

“Yixing, Luhan’s looking for you and – ” Chanyeol said, but he stopped and looked at Mei hugging the girl in the white dress, and a huge smile spread over his face, too. He lightly punched Kyungsoo’s shoulder.

“Is that?” Kyungsoo said.

“Yes it is!” Mei replied. In an instant the boys had their arms around her as well, Mei caught in the middle of the savagely happy group hug. Yixing laughed on the side. Jinyu tried her best to answer Chanyeol and Kyungsoo’s slew of questions as fast as she could. But soon, more company arrived. Luhan stood in the entrance way, now. He appeared curious about the situation, but when he began to recognize her as well, he smiled and walked over to them.

Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, and Mei let go of Jinyu for a moment so Luhan could see her better. Even if her romantic feelings toward him had long since faded, Jinyu was still fond of Luhan. And like the others, she was happy to see him as well. When Luhan stood silent for a long time, trying to think of something to say, Yixing walked over and stood behind him.

“Go hug her, she just rose from the dead,” Yixing said amusedly, and pushed Luhan toward her. Jinyu laughed at Yixing’s joke before hugging Luhan, too. 

“I’m glad you’re back!” Luhan said. “Seriously, he wasn’t himself when you were gone.”

Jinyu smiled, and because this party was never-ending, Victoria soon arrived, fuming slightly.

“How could you guys just waltz away from my reception party after all the trouble I went through to invite you!” she said. They all turned to look at her, and Jinyu met Victoria’s eyes, and not a word was spoken before Victoria opened and let out a shrill, excited scream and ran to Jinyu, twirling her in much the same way Yixing had just minutes before.

“You’re back!” Victoria said, hugging Jinyu. 

“Yes, I am,” Jinyu said, slightly strained since Victoria was hugging her so much. Without letting go, Victoria pulled the rest of the group in for one big group hug with Jinyu in the very middle. Despite being squished by the plethora of arms and bodies, Jinyu’s heart swelled, and she thought she might cry from the joy of seeing her family again… her human family, whom she had come to love after a year of hardships and triumphs. She caught Yixing’s eye again in the midst of the giant embrace and he smiled quietly, and Jinyu nodded.

In the entrance of the cabaret lounge, Nichkhun stood quietly, watching the scene from afar. He felt lighter suddenly, and an overwhelming sense of satisfaction settled on him. He caught Jinyu’s eye and nodded to her, happy that he was able to do something right. He watched Victoria closely, and no matter how much he still wanted her, he was content just to see her eyes lighting up again. It was the first time he’d seen it since that day at the courthouse seven months ago.

Victoria turned her head slowly and caught Nichkhun’s gaze. He smiled shyly before nodding, and turning away. Victoria smirked a little bit. She excused herself from the group hug and walked determinedly toward the entrance.

“So, who had to cut you out of your tail this time, and did you give someone a black eye again?” Kyungsoo asked. 

“Hey! We’re missing the party!” Chanyeol exclaimed.

“And what happened to my raffle ticket?” Luhan asked as the group made its way back to the hall. Yixing drifted to the tail end of the group, and fell into step beside Jinyu. His hand bumped hers and they intertwined their fingers again, determined not to let go until the last possible moment, and even beyond that.