Light, the brightness awakened the creature inside a cylindrical glass cage as the metal cover remove. He had been there for so long.

He didn’t even know how long.

As he opened his eyes, humans wearing white were already there to welcome him — holding clipboards and pens — the usual view the creature saw behind the glass. Everything in this surrounding was way far different and strange from where he originated.

These people never tried to touch him and merely observed his movement the whole time. They fed him with seaweeds and fish but none of those appealed him. It was a miracle that even though he was not consuming anything, he was still alive.

At the end of the day, the people in white left one by one and the metal cover was back hiding him to the world.

There were moments uncommon group of people visited the laboratory and obviously, went there to see him. They were not wearing white like the regulars, and instead suits in black or gray and the female humans were colorful dresses. They wear accessories made of gold or silver and women wear pearls — those pearls came from the same place where he used to live.

Oddly, there was something with one of those visitors making the creature intimidated. Those sharp brown eyes looking at him across the glass dividing them made him small. That human had a golden hair and fine facial feature.

‘So there are humans like him?’

Some instances, they were the only ones left and they would exchange long stares, scanning each other meticulously. The human’s lips curled upward — the creature did not know what that meant — and yet curious, he tried doing it. He felt light afterwards. On the other hand, the human who still had that expression opened his mouth and his body shook a little bit. Everything in this world was weird already for the creature, and now he was seeing another new thing. He also got tired easily these days — perhaps due to lack of eating. He turned around because he did not want to face the human anymore.

“You’re teasing him too much.” One of the scientists approached Wu Yifan after his little interaction with the creature. Still smiling, he raised an eyebrow at him.

“I’m just trying to be friendly.” He shrugged. They joined the other researchers in a long table, where some of their findings about the creature in the tube were presented.

Four months and two days and 13 hours ago, some paid fishermen caught him in Yellow Sea near South Korea’s Hongdo island. There were four or five of his species seen but it was like, this one let his family escaped.

He had long black braided hair, gray eyes and his upper part was same with humans, while he had fish-like tail in his lower part. Its color was artistically painted with red, orange and yellow like fire.

He was a living proof that mermaid existed — in this case, a merman.

“Recently, the subject’s heartbeat is getting slower.” The oldest scientist said. “Your plan of making him the star of your oceanarium has a little percentage to happen because his mortality is more concrete than that.”

The always composed Wu Yifan simply smirked. He was not bothered of losing the creature, because even without it, he would still earn millions of cash with just the Oceanarium itself. It’s the leading amusement park in the country after all. And if ever the merman died, it was still a win for this business tycoon.

He would be dissected and the studies made from him and also his remains would sell, not only to the government but with different classes of the society.

“Have you tried taking him out of the water?” He said, reading the creature’s file on the table.

“It was done when the fishermen caught him. He has gills like fish so he has difficulty breathing out in our environment.” A female scientist said.

“He probably wants to die.” And all of a sudden, the youngest scientist among them spoke, pushing his glasses closes to his eyes. He was the only Korean member of the team and had curtain style of hair like you see in a 90’s boyband. “You can truly feel he is giving up just from the moment we are giving him food. His captivity is a suicide.”

“Dr. Byun we are not stating things here without any factual evidence. That’s just your mere opinion.” The female scientist said.

The young man stared at the creature with pity and sighed. “I know. But as a human, can you not feel it? I really want to save him.”

Few days went by and the creature’s condition was getting worse. He was no longer like in a standing position, but chose to sit on his cage floor instead. Starving himself was visible in everyone’s eyes with his thin limbs that seems to break soon and skin was as pale as a white canvass.

“Hey, buddy.” Crouching, Yifan knocked his finger on the glass that caught the creature’s attention. He smiled at the blond like the last time, but looked so tired today, giving the businessman a pang of guilt inside him. He never felt like this before.

Dr. Byun Baekhyun’s word imprinted in his mind and kept haunting him since then. His cold heart was starting to unfrozen — due to that being? — he was unsure.

A melodious cry was done by the creature inside the tube. He was doing it sometimes but this might be the loudest yet most serene and clear like crystal.

Unconsciously, Yifan put his hand on the glass as if touching the face of the creature and surprisingly, the creature reached his hand and level it with his. If the glass was not separating them, they might have a real contact to each other.

Before every person in the room would notice what their boss was doing, Yifan took his hand off the glass. Although the merman was always looking emotionless, he knew it saddened the creature.

“Alchanyeolme!” The creature must be hallucinating, hearing someone calling him. The voices were so familiar, listening to them over and over again. The metal cover hid him from the outside and it was hopeless someone from his family would save him after all this time.

He remembered that day when his sister, the queen of their tribe, decided to visit the world above their palace. The elders warned them how dangerous that place could be. But for the happiness of his sister, he assured them that they would returned home safely. He went up with his sister, her two servants, and his assistant. There was no threat at first and they managed to hop happily above the water. However, when they heard roaring sound from a huge metal, they were alarmed. It was too late for escape as the human trap flew over them, Alchanyeolme succeeded in pushing his family away from the net — but as a prize, he was held captive by those men.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of the cover opening. Feeling like he was concealed there not a while ago — he could not help but to wonder — no one wearing white appeared in front of him making it more bizarre. A few moments later, a man covered in black hit the glass of his container with a long-hard object. He created a few crack that broke the tube completely.

The water pushed the creature off the tube and slumped on the floor. He struggled getting up, and while he was doing that, he was unable to detect that something sharp and thin was stabbed on his neck. That was done by the anonymous person. He could not move because of it and gave the stranger a chance to carry him in his arms.

“Damn, you’re heavy.” He could not understand whatever that person had said, losing his consciousness, getting away from the place he stayed for a lengthy period of time.

He remained in a deep slumber for another extensive span of time. He heard incomprehensible words that human could only understand for sure.

…And the day he would awake from that great sleep came.

He heard beeping sound beside him as soon as he returned to consciousness. He opened his eyes and he was greeted by radiant light, brighter than the ones he had on the laboratory. His body felt vulnerable maybe due to all the things he had experienced; still, he attempted to lift himself from the soft place where he was resting.

He looked at his surroundings and it was absolutely unalike the previous environment. It was somewhat comforting although his world was not similar to this. He felt something stings on his arms and found it was a transparent cord connected to his body, his lips were shaking already. He tried controlling his own self from doing anything against the nature of his class as he followed the thread’s other end, locking his eyes to a soft bottle of clear liquid.

He screamed with echo, making the whole place vibrated and it managed to break some glasses on the place. Because of his action, a person came inside there, rushing to his side to calm him down.

“Ssshhh, hey, it’s okay… it’s okay.” That person said, gathering him into his arms. The other being looked up on him and he knew he had seen him before, yes, he was one of the men wearing white. His voice, it had no difference with person who took him from his container.

‘But, why?’

The human got something from the surface beside them and it was the same thing he plunged to the other before, making the other whine softly but still echoing.

“Don’t worry, I’ll wake you up when boss arrived.” After that penetrates his arm, he felt his world swirl and he out.

Hearing two voices, the creature awakened once more. He peeled his eyelid open, seeing the pair of humans talking — he chose to observed them quietly.

“After 58 days of reconstructing our subject, he magnificently transformed to a different being.” The shorter man said.

“Yes, and you shouldn’t address him as ‘subject’ anymore, now that he is considered to be one of our kind.” The taller one said, who had golden hair and fine profile. He was…

An echoing voice interrupted the pair’s conversation, learning it was the creature they stole from the laboratory. It was Yifan’ idea to take him to his villa.

The being wriggled his legs under the sheets and Yifan laughed inside, could not believe they changed the tails into legs. Aside from inheriting his family’s wealth and multiple companies, the blond could make a life out of his profession as a surgeon. The being’s lower section had no difference with humans, they just needed to replace his scales into human skin. He would not know this stuff if he did not scan the files at the research center. Besides the legs, they altered some other parts of this marine creature’s body.

The former merman opened the blankets and found a couple of milky-white-long legs underneath it. His expression after learning the truth was priceless. He might not have emotion or expression but the sound that seemed never ending coming from his mouth was funny for Yifan.

“You’re boldly showing your sadist side, boss.” Baekhyun, looked unamused, reminded him that he should stop guffawing like crazy. He must be having a thought that he had psycho in front of him.

There were glasses and lightbulbs crashed with the cry the former merman was creating. It was fun to watch because he had never seen something like this but, his villa might turn into ruins if this continued.

“Hey, buddy.” The being automatically stopped crying like a firetruck’s siren as he sat by his side and cupped his face. He knew this was so homo but he was left no choice. “We did this to save you. You don’t know how much you cost by now, after all the procedure we have done for you, so I hope you cooperate with us. This was an innovation for both of our parties but I know we’ll get used to it, okay?”

There was no doubt the other male was clueless of everything he said but this made him behave like how Yifan wanted him to be. There were a lot of things they needed to fix with this guy, mainly his lack of emotion.

“Want to try walking?” Yifan offered, holding both of his hands to help him get up but it was not the right time, they fell back to bed.

“He may be human or whatnot but I hope you are not forgetting you’re both male.” Baekhyun massages his head while staring at them. “Please, get up there already, before I think you have changed preference.”

Alchanyeolme kept telling himself that he could no longer go back to his old self — now that he himself was confused of what to call him. When the cord connected to him was removed, the short human started feeding him food different from the fish and seaweeds he had in the research center. The appearance and the smell of it is very unique. The first one he had was this creamy liquid with grains in a tiny basin.

‘This food is hot.’ This was the first time he had something in this temperature, making him scared to intake the meal. He pushed the utensil that had a mouthful of it off his face when the short human tried to feed him.

The short said something he could not understand and insisted. In the end, the human won against him.

As he had in his mouth, it was not harmful as he expected and the taste was strange but good. He had a few more bite and later, he snatched the utensil from the human and feed in his own will.

Some other days, he had several kinds of human food and he hated none of them except the taste that burned his tongue. It was so red he thought it was evil. But, not all the red was bad. He had something that tingles him and he always asked the short human gave him something like that.

The short human accompanied him most of the time. There was this chair that help him tour the whole place, pushed by the short human. For the first time in a long while, he had a wider place to explore. After the travel, they went into an area where the short human helped him practice using his new pair of limbs.

It was difficult to operate them at first, but with the human’s patience and determination in each day they practiced, he was able to use them smoothly.

The human hugged him with the same light expression he had seen with the taller one. Alchanyeolme was already having a hard time to understand him and even more with the speed of his mouth movement.

Speaking the same language was the next task the humans wanted his to learn for sure — and he wanted it for himself too.

Yifan had uncountable meetings from the various sectors of government and business world, specifically when the one-of-a-kind creature was stolen from the laboratory. They were suspecting Byun Baekhyun with that incident and the blond knew that the reason he kept the young scientist with his creature in the secluded villa.

He lost a lot of money from the casualty he made himself and lost more when he reconstructed the creature into a human. He could not explain to himself why he would do such thing and saved that person — yes, he was now considered a person — from death and giving him generous amount of care like he was a precious being.

He sighed, stepping off the yacht and proceeded to the villa where he spent his weekends.

As he entered the place, he heard a cheerful sound coming from the TV in the living room and echoing voice imitating whatever was in the show. Yifan smiled, going that way and saw the former merman sang along as he sat on the sofa. Although the creature was almost the same height with his, Yifan found him adorable.

The creature grinned as he saw him and waved his hand then back watching the show on TV. Yifan could not monitor him due to his business but grateful, because he had Baekhyun, who kept him updated with all the happenings for his creature.

He received the news that this being made some habits. Every morning as soon as he woke up, he ran to the garden then rolled on the grass and smelled some flowers. Sometime, he was like singing for the blossoms but Baekhyun did not really know since he could not understand whatever this creature was saying. In mealtime, the creature loved eating almost everything. He just disliked spicy food but most of all, his favorite was eating sweets.

The latest one Yifan received was this creature started talking like a human — all thanks to the Television. Baekhyun said that the former merman devoted his time on watching and copying everything he saw and heard on the device. He even had a favorite show.

Folding his arms, Yifan walk closer to the sofa, curious what the creature was watching.

“Pororo?” He scoffed and the creature stick watching the show. Baekhyun joined them maybe when he sensed Yifan had entered the place. The blond looked the shorter man with judgement. “Seriously, you meant to push him and have this Korean-speaking show than English or Mandarin. You’re being bias Dr. Byun.”

“Well, he liked it the first time I switched the channel to this.” Baekhyun tried to explain. “And besides, you can speak Korean too.”

Rolling his eyes, he knew Baekhyun had a point but still...

“Dance time!” Chanyeol cheerfully said bouncing on the sofa. God was maybe making miracles — he heard the creature spoke words that he could understand. This felt like a parent heard his baby spoke for the first time. Literally, the creature looked like an infant — well a giant infant — excitedly singing along Pororo’s ending song.

In the midst of his amusement, Baekhyun patted his shoulder to get his attention.

“I told you we could have fix his voice box.” Yifan shoved the hand that was patting him because he never liked that suggestion.

“But, he’s special that way.” He heard Baekhyun breathed out in surrender.

“Whatever, I just hope you’re really not converting into something.” And, that did not slip in his ears — he focused on his worker this time.

“What do you mean?”

“Friends forever!” The creature shouted out of the blue — even that was cheesy, he might be right. They were probably differed in species but there could still be companionship that would build within them.

While Yifan returned staring at his creature, he took notice of his head.

“We forgot to change that.”

The next morning, Alchanyeolme sat on the chair, watching the scenery outside, in the wide window. He heard shuffling noises of feet coming closer to his, turning his head to their direction. They are the shorter human, the tallest one and a new face.

As soon as he and that person had an eye contact, the creature quickly faced the window back. He felt someone touch his head and mostly on his hair.

“Are you sure this is okay?” That person said, wearing clothes that had too bright colors. “Maybe he’s a Rastafarian that’s why he had a hair like this.”

“That’s true but he said he would like to convert to Christian so he wanted to change his hair into something appropriate for our religion.” The shorter man explained.

“Is that so.” This colorful man said before getting his attention to him again. “What hairstyle should I do with him then?”

“Whatever you think that suits him.” The blond shrugged.

“Alright. Would you mind leaving the two of us for a moment?” The two men in the reflection nodded before doing what the other man said. He excitedly but gently combed his hair, forcing him to glance up at him. “Since you have beautiful feature, I know what to do with you.”

The creature shrieked with echo the next moment the man took out the scissors from his bag. He had seen one in a Pororo episode but he never thought they would be scary in reality. He made the other two humans get back inside that room. After the shorter calmed him down and convinced him that it was harmless, the colorful human resumed his job to him.

He felt disturbed seeing his hair fell on the ground, poured some unknown liquid, and he was taken to the sink — rinsed his hair thoroughly, and after few minutes, the colorful man is done.

“Yoohoo~ Yifan, Buoxian, come and see my masterpiece!” The colorful man said and the two entered the room. Alchanyeolme was looking at his reflection at the time, could not believe the change of his hair completed his transition into a human. The colorful man turned his seat so he could face the other pair, seeing how surprised they were as well.

“He’s pretty.” The shorter said, still wearing his astound. “Uh, Am I saying the right word? He was a guy you know.”

The blond blocked his view from the shorter, moving exactly at the center of his focus — he was so near on his spot. Because this person always makes him intimidated, he chose to look on the floor instead, but his hand bigger than his forced him to look at his face straight.

“Do you like it?” He asked, looking at the other with intently. The other gulped before answering by a nod. That man seemed to like his response, touching his hair to the tip. He imitated what he was doing and was shocked. “It’s so soft.”

He hummed in agreement. It was unbelievable how silky his hair turned to be — maybe the colorful man was a magical person. While awing on his newest transformation, his eyes captured the golden hair of the taller man. He thought he was asking something too much but he could not help it.

“Can I… touch… yours?” He asked with his echoing voice and stared at how the man’s both eyebrows raised, but seemed not to scold him.

“S-sure.” The man accepted.

Slowly, he reached his hand to the golden strands and gasped because the texture was same with his. In the middle of his adoration, the other pair was having a conversation in the background.

“Who is he, Buoxian? Boss called me and said I needed to fix someone and I never thought he was a former Rastafarian.”

“Umm… he’s my cousin.”

“So… you have this gorgeous cousin all this time?”

“Yah! Are you referring that I don’t deserve to have a bloodline of beauty?”

“I didn’t say that, but your cousin is absolutely special for boss.”

“He’s just spoiling him because he found a little brother in him.”

“How old is he?” The colorful man eagerly asked. “If he recently graduated from college, he would be my type of guy.”

“Get away from him, you pedo.”

Honestly with that long dialogue, the former merman did not understand any of those since Pororo never spoke like them.

The golden-haired guy, moved away from him and walked closer to the pair. It seemed he thanked the colorful man with whatsoever language and then the shorter and colorful man left the room. As soon the door closed, he had the golden-haired man’s attention again. Although that human intimidated him, there was something uplifting he felt inside whenever he was with this person.

“I… I… want to know what they are saying.” Clasping his hands together, he said intensely.

“I don’t think that’s suggestive.” The man returned brushing his hair up with his warm hand — which felt so good.

“Suggestive?” Then, the taller took his hand off of him.

“I mean… that’s not a good idea.”

“Idea?” There are a number of terms Alchanyeolme could not still understand but he hoped the humans would be considerate of his situation.

“You see — it’s not gonna work on you. You’re still not doing well with this language, so if we add Mandarin to your knowledge vault, you might get twisted.”

The former merman exhaled and nodded. The man gestured to the couch, inviting him to sit there. The taller spread his arms on the rest, unusual to his stiff movement. The other silently observed him.

“Since you change a lot, are you ready to discover more of our world?”

“Do you mean I will also meet others of your kind?” The golden-haired man nodded and he felt something rushing inside him, squealing. “Thank you so much, umm… two-legs?”

“What?” The man exploded a laugh and the other was confused what he said wrong. “I don’t know where you got that but you can call me Yifan.”

“Yifan?” The man nodded.

“Yes, that’s my name?”

“What is a name?” The curious one asked and in-timing for the return of the shortest man.

“Name – noun – is a word or a combination of words by which a person, place, or thing, a body or class, or any object of thought is designated, called, or known.”

“That’s directly from a dictionary.” The tallest throw a pillow straightly to his face then looks at the former merman. “What he basically means about that is — a name is your identity.”

“My identity? Like how I called Pororo, Crong, Pobby, Loopy, Petty, Tong Tong, Eddy, Tutu, Popo, Pipi and Rody – Pororo, Crong, Pobby, Loopy, Petty, Tong Tong, Eddy, Tutu, Popo, Pipi and Rody?” He made the two humans dumbfounded.

“Umm… yeah?”

“So… you’re Yifan.” He said as he finally understood what name meant.

“Yes, and I’m Baekhyun.” The shorter guy introduced himself and the creature laughed at this new discovery.

“And, I am Alchanyeolme.” He said voluntarily. The pair reacted with eyes opened widely, exchanging stares to each other.

“You had a name?” Yifan doubtfully asked.

“Yes. The holy beings gave that to me.” He hesitantly shrugged.

“Holy Beings? Are they like some sort of Gods?” Yifan elbowed Baekhyun and that question was not answered.

“By the way, you said Al-Chany-Yeol-Me… hmm…” The tallest, who was already standing, walked in circles, with his hand cupping his chin.

“I know in Korean that means Fruity-fruit.” Baekhyun then snorted “What a cute name for a guy.”

The creature did not even know what his name meant, like he said — the gong sound that his family were hearing underwater, which they called ‘holy beings’, gave him that.

“Let’s make it shorter.” Yifan suggested. “How about we call you… Chanyeol?”

“Sounds awesome to me.” Baekhyun agreed but Yifan made a quick glare at him.

“I’m not getting your opinion.” And, he quickly shifted to a lighter expression when he looked at the other. “What can you say, huh?”

“Yes… you can call me Chanyeol.” and the two standing humans high-fived. They looked so happy, inviting the now-called Chanyeol to do the same, but he gave so much power, hurting the two. “Sorry, are you okay?”

“We should delay your plan of bringing him out to the world, boss.” Baekhyun, who was rubbing his hands, proposed.

“You’re right about that.”

A few more weeks had passed from that haircut, and a few more trainings were done for Chanyeol, and after a long wait, Yifan’s newly-transformed human was prepared to meet the city. Fulfilling their plan, he filed a month of leave from his companies.

There were gossips running around that this wealthy man found himself a girlfriend. Girlfriend you say? Yifan smirked after packing his things. He never thought Chanyeol as a lover — most especially — they were both male. Also, Yifan never had a companion before and now, he had two. Maybe… Chanyeol was merely a pet for him — a valuable pet – he would spend all the dime he had.

They travelled from his private island in China to Korea’s Second Largest City, Busan (A/N: I know what’s your thinking right now, but PLEASE! Get this away from that Zombie Movie. PLEASE!). He preferred this city than Seoul due to its vast seaside that certainly, Chanyeol would get fond of. Riding the plane, they arrived in the airport at dawn and this gave a plenty of time to rest in the hotel.

Yifan did not enjoy the travel at all — because — he was bothered of Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s closeness. What he should expect? He was the one to blame in this relationship between the trainer and his pet. But, would he just watch them goofing off? The answer is no.

Why did he planned this vacation if he wanted to be a plain audience?

Chanyeol was interrupted in his slumber when he heard someone opened the door of his room. It was Yifan.

One night, Yifan told him that he was Chanyeol’s owner. The former merman did not mind since the human was the one who gave him a new life.

Yifan sat on the edge of his bed and combed his hair. He did not know why he felt so good whenever that warm hand touches him. Drowsily, he smiled at his owner and sat up.

“Good morning, Mr. Wu Yifan.”

“Yifan will do. I kept telling you that, silly.” The blond chuckled and Chanyeol tilted his head.

“Is silly my new name?” Yifan laughed louder but he paused when he seemed to remember something.

“No. Why don’t you change so we can start our tour around the city?” Hearing that, Chanyeol got excited but he was not making an echo-ish squealing sound like before.

The former merman took off his shirt and pants and rummaged his backpack for a new set of clothes. “Is Baekhyun ready too?”

“No, he will not come along.” Chanyeol stopped from what his doing and turned his sight to the other, learning Yifan was staring at him with stern eyes. He looked at himself and realized he was wearing nothing but underwear. That made him felt an automatic embarrassment. ‘That’s what they called this feelings, right?’

“But, why?” He asked after putting the new clothes on.

“Don’t you want to go with just the two of us?” In a second thought, he was curious himself what it would be like if Baekhyun was not around.

“I’d like to.” He immediately answered and his owner form a slant on his lips.

“Never heard you said that before.” Yifan said, turning around. “Let’s go.”

Yifan brought his pet to Shinsegae, the world’s largest department store. With hundreds of shops and restaurants inside there, the pair could barely visit half of its part, but he managed to take Chanyeol to the golf driving range. He taught the other how to play golf with, of course, guiding him to shoot. As soon as he positioned himself at Chanyeol’s back and held his hands, he noticed how the former merman’s face turned red. Although charmed, Yifan continued teaching him and he was able to help the other hit the ball.

After exhausting almost all of Chanyeol’s energy, he took him to one of the restaurants that serves Italian dishes. Chanyeol really loved eating and it was fun to watch — Yifan had to order multiple servings for him. As they enjoyed their time together in the restaurant, a chic lady approached them.

“Oh, CEO Wu, I never expected to see you here.” She was a famous model Yifan used to date with. This woman gave him a sudden kiss on the cheek while Chanyeol observed the whole thing, chewing his pasta sluggishly. The woman finally became aware that he was along a companion. “Who is he?”

“Umm… his Chanyeol, my friend.” Standing, Yifan formally introduced the former merman. “He completed his service from the military yesterday so I was giving him a celebratory dinner.”

“Well, congratulations.” The woman reached her hand to Chanyeol. “I’m also CEO Wu’s friend by the way. My name is Megan.”

“Hello.” Instead of accepting her hand, Chanyeol waived his hand to her and that made an awkward air between them. “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too.” Yifan knew Megan had a fake smile on as the awkwardness continued to linger. “I better go now, CEO Wu. It’s really refreshing to see you again. Maybe we could have dinner next time while you’re still here.”

“We’ll see about that.” Yifan calmly replied, as if he was dealing with business. “I’ll check my schedule.”

When the lady left, Chanyeol hurriedly finished his meal and he did not ask for more.

On their way home, the uneasiness was still there sitting with Chanyeol at the backseat. Yifan looked at the other on the rare mirror and saw he was staring on the window blankly. He killed the silence when he turned the stereo on. It successfully took Chanyeol’s attention.

“Have you heard music aside from Pororo’s theme song?” Lifeless, Chanyeol shook his head. “I have several songs to play. If you don’t want what I’m playing, you could say next.”

Mika’s Underwater played on their background and Chanyeol slumped his body on the backseat. He closed his eyes and hummed following the melody of the song. He seemed to like it.

“You must be really tired.” Yifan commented as he watched the other on the mirror. “I’m sorry if we could not bring Baekhyun along. He was still under fire after he stole you from the lab. He was with us because… we might act like this — awkward.”

“No, Yifan, I enjoyed the day with you.” When Yifan thought Chanyeol was sleeping, that was a mistake. “You’re right… I’m just tired.”

“I’ll try to have Baekhyun with us, tomorrow.” Chanyeol nodded then his movement paused as a signed that he dozed off. But half a minute must have passed when…

“I want to feel love too.” Those words escapes from the former merman’s lips, timing to the lyrics of the song: Cause all I need is the love you breathe,

Put your lips on me and I can live underwater,

Underwater, underwater! Underwater!

Yifan was astound, wondering if he really heard the other person said that. He was positive Chanyeol could not understand English and yet…

The business tycoon brought Chanyeol, and as promised Baekhyun, to Sea Life Aquarium in Busan the next day.

Minus the glasses and wearing a snapback, Baekhyun had this as his disguise. Although Yifan was the mastermind of his crime, he could appear openly as much as he wanted unlike the young researcher. He had casual clothes on for this vacation. Meanwhile, Chanyeol had hoody jacket and short pants which was his common outfit since he was in the villa.

“Yifan.” Gripping the wheels tightly, Baekhyun had a sigh. “I don’t care if you abandon me in the hotel, at least I can eat a legit Korean food there. But bringing me along your Homo dates… man, I don’t see the sense of it. Why would you need a third wheel like me?”

“Did a zombie eat your brain Dr. Byun?” Yifan took off his focus on the tablet he was holding and shifted it to Baekhyun. His worker did not know but he was having an emergency meeting with his board. “Chanyeol felt uncomfortable with me yesterday so I thought it would be better if you join us.”

“So now my role is your bridge then?”

“Byun Baekhyun!” Yifan would surely strangle the man in front of him if he was not just busy relaying his thoughts on the board’s discussion. He saw Baekhyun rolled his eyes.

“Seesh…What so hard in admitting it?” Baekhyun mumbled that as if Yifan did not hear it. His boss made an eye contact with him on the mirror, threatening him that if he did not shut his mouth, he would be the shark’s food. Effectively, Baekhyun quickly changed his annoyed expression to a pretentious happy face, singing, “we’re here in Sea Life my beloved boss.”

In timing, Yifan’s meeting ended — he turned off his device and put it in his bag. He was about to invite the other occupant of the backseat but he paused as he saw his uneasy face.

“Chanyeol?” He asked, worried of the former merman’s behavior. Chanyeol looked at him but did not move an inch from his seat. This was getting alarming. “Are you feeling well? We could still go back to the hotel if you want.”

With closed eyes, the other male shook his head. “No, I’m okay. I’m just… overwhelmed by the voices I’m hearing inside there.”

Chanyeol’s eyes looked straightly to the direction of the aquarium. They were serious if only Baekhyun was not complaining outside the car because they were taking time.

As the three of them entered the aquarium, Chanyeol was shaking while he slowly walked the path of aquarium. Watching him, Yifan was prompted of supposedly what happened to this person months ago. He must be correct or not, but he guessed the former merman had a trauma, imagining he was trapped inside there like what he had in the research center.

Reaching the middle of the underwater trail, Chanyeol became idle standing there while he was looking the glass wall above them. Yifan had to grab Baekhyun’s shoulder to stop him from walking farther and good thing he was cooperating this time.

“What was he doing?” Yifan gestured his finger to hushed Baekhyun down and they began observing the guy.

People were looking at Chanyeol skeptically but they moved on travelling the tunnel. A few moments later, Chanyeol closed his eyes, gripping his backpack with both of trembling hands. Yifan wanted to know what was going on with him but he needed to be patient.

“Yifan.” Chanyeol called him, having tears as soon as he peeled his lids open. The blond instinctively had him into his arms and embraced him tightly. This was another first time — first time to see this creature cried.

Chanyeol was sniveling when he tried to speak but Yifan hushed him. “This is not right place.”

They walked away followed by Baekhyun. Yifan did not want the scene but could not be help.

Chanyeol calmed down a little when they went back to the car. He knew that he needed to explain to them what he had done in the tunnel. The pair willingly lend their ears so he began talking.

“It was agonizing to see those fishes and other marine creatures locked in that place.” Chanyeol’s tears fell on his eyes again. “They were crying. I bet you know what’s the feeling of getting separated from your family.”

“My parents were assassinated that’s why I owned billions worth of wealth in such a young age.” is what Yifan could response and Baekhyun burst after that.

“Come on, Yifan. Chanyeol is trying to open your heart not close it!”

“I know but having them kept inside there is part of human’s culture. It will take time before that will alter into something else again.” Yes, in a human perspective, Yifan had a point and Chanyeol hated it. He did not despise Yifan but he despised the truth this blond was saying.

Before there will be another debate, Chanyeol chose to sob quietly, curling himself so he could hide his sorrowful face from these people. His owner, on the other hand, instructed Baekhyun to start driving them home. That was a good idea because he could not take staying to that distressing place anymore.

Chanyeol headed to his room after and wanted to be alone that night. Good thing, Yifan and Baekhyun was being considerate of him. As Chanyeol laid down on his bed and closed his eyes, the picture of the pitiful creatures in the aquarium flashed in his mind. It was like they were haunting him because he was just there looking at them and did nothing to help them escape.

‘What can I do with this weak form? I’m sorry.’

Since it looked like they were going to keep him restless, Chanyeol decided to read one of his books — he obtained after learning the skill. Rising from the bed, he took a book on the table near the window and he did not mean to catch the view of the seaside when the curtain slightly moved upward due to the wind passing through it.

“Why didn’t think of that before?” He asked himself. The book he was holding was left on the floor while he rushes to the exit.

The thirst woke Yifan up in the middle of the night so he went to the kitchen and got something to drink. He was about to go back to his room when he saw Chanyeol’s door was open. Glimpsing in it, he learned his creature was not in there any longer.

Panic immediately attacked him. He woke Baekhyun up and told him the incident. The shorter man had the same reaction like his and they agreed to search for the former merman.

They drove and ran here and there, scouring the whole city of Busan. It was a blind search, since they did not have a lead where to locate Chanyeol. Before their hopes diminished, Yifan and Baekhyun decided to separate for a higher chance of seeing him. Baekhyun would try to look for him on the aquarium and Yifan would head to the nearest beach.

“Chanyeol!” Yifan had been desperately calling the name of his creature for a while now, hopeful that someone would answer on the other end. He received nothing but solely the strike of waves on the shore and yet, that was not enough to make him give up.

His faith did not betray him when he heard not a response but an echoing wail distance from where he was standing. He did not know someone that could do such feat except Chanyeol, so he ran to where he could hear that sound, and found a kneeling form on the cold white sand, who had head on the ground, cheeks kissing it — he was weeping.

“Chanyeol?” Yifan’s world broke apart, seeing the pitiful creature on the icy floor, grabbing him up from there and embraced him. Chanyeol buried his head on the crook of his neck, still sobbing.

“I promise I’m not trying to go home,” Chanyeol convinces, “I cannot do that with this legs and with all the transformation I had.”

“I know. I know.” Yifan muttered, petting his head as he kept him in his arms. “But, what are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk to the holy beings.” Chanyeol’s voice got smaller as he tried to speak in his condition. “I wanted to talk to them about my family and they said I was a hero in our place but…” He whimpered. “They were angry of me.”

“W-why?” Yifan asked in confusion.

“I lived for a long time — longer than those buildings — longer than this city. And since I am not part of the sea anymore… they were taking my existence from me.”

“But, it wasn’t your fault you turned into a human.” Yifan was so angry to the revelation Chanyeol had said. It was unfair this person needed to pay although he was the one to be blamed.

“Still… I’ve known long enough that my fate would ceased once I was taken into this world.” Chanyeol retorted. “That’s our Devine Rule.”

“That’s nonsense!” Yifan snapped — he really could not bear this crap Chanyeol was stating. The other buried his head further to his neck, maybe getting afraid to the taller man’s dominating feeling. “The expenses I made for you wasn’t a joke so they shouldn’t simply take you away from me! Who are they kidding with?”

“That’s what I wanted to ask you too.” Chanyeol finally raised his head from Yifan’s warmth, looking so wasted but faced him with serious eyes. “I’m so grateful with your generosity but, why are doing all these things for someone like me? Why?”

Yifan did not have an answer for his question — because he did not know the answer either, leaving the creature with utter silence. Chanyeol looked so defeated due to that, rigidly closing his eyes, squeezing more tears from him. An anguished cry escaped his lips and Yifan was there merely watching him. He was hurt himself but he suppressed this emotion, because he did have the right to show it after giving nothing but dead air.

Baekhyun found them in the shore, wondering what happened and Yifan shook his head that seemed to made the other understand the situation. The three of them got into the car so they could return to the hotel.

Several days later, Chanyeol did not come out of his rom since then. He chose to lie on his bed, not sleeping or eating. Even with all the efforts Yifan and Baekhyun poured in order to feed him, he always dodged the spoonful of meal and if they insisted, he hid himself under his blanket.

Yifan could not compromise his Korean worker with Chanyeol’s condition — this is his country after all — and therefore, he let Baekhyun had a visit to his family. The short man was uncomfortable of his decision at first, but Yifan made him realize the perks of it till he agreed. When Baekhyun left, the young billionaire was left taking care of his pet — well, it was awkward to call Chanyeol that — so he changed it with his person.

Yifan was not sure if the observation he was doing could be referred as caring. All he did while staying in their unit with Chanyeol was check him in his room from time to time. He gave him a tray of food, yes, but it was left untouched and would be replaced with another one in every interval. This vacation to Busan became a mess and he was now regretting going to that place. He could have picked Seoul – where there was a smaller body of water.

And time had come… the boredom crawled on his body that made Yifan had enough.

Yifan could have kicked Chanyeol’s door open, raging his way to his room and dragged him out of there — if Yifan was a psycho. But since he was an intelligent man, he came in opposite from that.

Chanyeol was lying on his side, staring the open window with emptiness. Yifan breathed out at the view, crossing his arms to his chest.

He was about to preach him about the-torture-of-watching-him-idle-while-waiting-for-his-death-in-which-they-could-have-spend-it-to-some-industrious-activity. But, Chanyeol opened his mouth first.

“Baekhyun is worthy to see his family again, isn’t he?” Yifan instantly became blank and was forced to nod.

He took his question as a miracle because he never heard this person spoke for a long time. And so as his movement, Chanyeol had sat up on his bed for the first time in forever, because it was like hundreds of years passed after that incident.

“He taught me a lot… I mean… everything I need to know.” It was melody in Yifan’s ears to hear the other talk again, allowing him say anything as he pleased. “I’m so thankful of him.”

“So you were listening when I asked him to go?” The blond relaxed his body and sat beside his person, who nodded at his question.

“I don’t know if he said thanks to you but I will do it for him. Thank you, Yifan.” Yifan could not control his hand as it reached to Chanyeol’s face. The other seemed to like it though, rubbing his face on it gently.

“You don’t have to.” Yifan awkwardly chuckled.

“But, really, thank you.” Chanyeol said softly. “You know what. The best thing he taught me is reading. I know heaps of things because of it, especially fairytales.”

“Fairytales?” Chanyeol nodded once more.

“I adore ‘The Little Mermaid’ the most,” obviously, “we have so many similarities.”

“I won’t disagree to that.” The former merman put his hand down and held it tightly.

“I wonder if I have a chance to find the person that I will love like her.” This is the second time Yifan heard him mentioned about love and it sounded incredible. He would not want to talk as much as possible, because he wanted to listen to Chanyeol’s point of view about the topic. “With my state now, I don’t think I would meet a princess.”

“What about a prince?” Yifan dared to say and Chanyeol almost gasped but just laughed on it.

“Why a prince? I’m a guy.” That seemed to made him blushed. His hand immediately freed Yifan’s and hid his beaming lips with that.

Yifan took his disturbed reaction as an advantage, leaning closer to his face. He was aware that he was acting crazy but do or die — this was his inner desire.

“Yes, you’re a guy,” Yifan said without removing the contact of his intense eyes to Chanyeol’s vulnerable ones, “a guy who took this man’s heart.”

Gulping, Chanyeol followed the taller’s hand tapping his own chest with his eyes. He tried to be composed and stared back at the other.

“Does that mean you love me?” A lips pressed against him answered his question. His eyes widened in surprised but did not flinch away. ‘So this is kissing?’ and kissing felt so wonderful.

Chanyeol was a bit disappointed when they separated and Yifan seemed to notice it, giving him a peck as compensation.

“I was asking myself as well why I would save you from the lab and gave you another life as a human...” Yifan did not change the way he looked the other at all. “why I wanted to share with you the beauty of this world so bad, why I wanted to give you happiness… why I was broken when you told me about your destiny. The answer is simple — my heart is beating for you.”

“I can’t comprehend to some of what you have said,” Chanyeol knew that ruined the moment, “but… you just want to say I love you... right?”

“Yes.” And, they brought their face closer again for another warm kiss.

Baekhyun might be his teacher but Yifan was his taker.

Chanyeol wanted to kept his eyes opened with all the occurrence between him and Yifan but all the love the blond was giving was too much. They were calling each other’s name, sharing kisses, sharing sweat and sharing all the heat of the moment. His hands were intertwined with the bigger ones – Yifan owned. It was painful – Chanyeol could not smile at his lover — but he was happy — very happy. It was a chilling night, and yet this would not stop the pair from expressing their love in a burning intimacy.

After their session in the bed, the couple’s body kept intact to one another, covered with thick blankets. Yifan placed more kisses on Chanyeol’s hair and any part of his face that he could reach, while he let this former merman rested on his arms. Chanyeol, on the other hand, was smiling sheepishly, remembering what just happened. The memory of how the taller man carefully took his clothes off for him and his as well flashed in his mind. He could not help burying his face on Yifan’s shoulder, whining.

“Chanyeol, are you okay? Do you feel any pain?” Glancing up, the former merman quickly felt guilty, worrying the other. He shook his head in response.

“I love you, Yifan.” The blond’s eyes widened and he was clueless if that was wrong to say, but the taller man had a bright curved on his lips. It confirmed that he did just right.

“I love you too and I miss you.” Yifan said — so sweet Chanyeol could not help comparing it to a strawberry shortcake.

“You do?” Yifan nodded and gave him a kiss on his lips. He was spoiling him.

“Tomorrow, let’s leave this place and go somewhere romantic.”

“Romantic?” He received a sudden-firmed-hug and this made him squirmed, Yifan simply laughed.

“No more question. Let’s get some rest, shall we?”

Yifan tried so hard to keep Chanyeol away to some areas in Busan, most particularly the sea, since it will upset him. They travelled the lovely walking path heading to the temples and a light house, and Chanyeol was cool with distance, enjoying each of those places. Although the view downward was mostly blue due to the bodies of water, Yifan kept him occupied so his lover would not look at those.

They went back to Shinsegae and resumed their strolling from where they left off. They watch movies, ate popcorn and laughed together. Yifan was not bothered by the judging stares of some people to them — seeing Chanyeol having fun was more important to him. One of their moments inside the shopping complex, Chanyeol took notice of those people and asked him with the way they look at them. Yifan, who was good with sales talk and flowery words, made a creative explanation for his innocent lover.

Before the day ended, the couple went to the ice-skating rink hand-in-hand. Chanyeol slipped multiple times before Yifan had him stood still on the plane, and hugging each other must be the best option. With their proximity, the couple did not stop making giggles. They had so much joy and they were in-love.

It was extraordinary that Chanyeol perfectly mold with him even they had nearly the same height. It must be really their destiny to meet and fall for each other.

“We’re soulmate.” Yifan muttered as snow dropped above them. Chanyeol looked up with fascination, adorably startled from the snowflake that touched his cheeks.

His doe eyes were wide and lost as they looked at Yifan. “Is this winter?”

Shaking his head, Yifan kissed Chanyeol on his forehead. “These are artificial snow that add to the ambiance of this venue.”

“They are so pretty,” Chanyeol commented, glancing up once more.

“Do you want to see some real snow?” Chanyeol hummed in agreement. “We will go to Seoul in December so you could more of these stuff.”

“Thank you, Yifan.” His lover wrapped his arms tighter on his neck and kissed him on his cheeks. Seeing him happy truly melts this rich businessman, who used to have a frozen heart.

When Yifan thought their love story was similar to fairytales, with the lines: living happily ever after — reality struck them.

Baekhyun was back and they returned to Yifan’s private island.

Chanyeol was strolling in the garden when his feet suddenly became numb. He stumbled on the floor; luckily, Baekhyun was there to the rescue.

Yifan rushed from his work as soon as he heard the news. Chanyeol was crying, because before his lover arrived, Baekhyun did the check up and told him that his feet was no good. Yifan was angry, gripping the scientist’s collar, but no matter how many ways he would beat the short man, Chanyeol could no longer use his legs. It was cruel, but Chanyeol accepted that this day will come.

The holy beings might not be able to see by our eyes — but Chanyeol knew they arrived to get what they originally had — his life.

Baekhyun was considered a friend, “Of course! We’re friends, Chanyeol. After all these times?” and that human did not refuse that relationship. He asked the shorter male if he treated Yifan the same while the said man was there with them. Baekhyun glared at the tallest before nodding at Chanyeol.

With those affirmation, Chanyeol got the courage to tell Baekhyun the truth about his enduring existence. The young scientists scoffed, not taking his confession seriously, but as a tear fell on Yifan’s eyes, which Chanyeol had not seen before, Baekhyun broke from sanity. He ran screaming out of the room. He could see that Yifan wanted to ask him about his action.

“He had a right to know.”

It took days before Baekhyun returned to Chanyeol’s room. He looked he had cried most of the time he was not there by his side. Chanyeol could not help but to weep at his friend and the other did the same. The short human hugged him and said sorry repeatedly.

And since then, Yifan did not leave for work. He was working but with the use of technology like video-calls and emails. He already set in his mind that Chanyeol needed him since he would not last long.

As time ticked away, there were several changes to the former merman. His smooth skin became rough and dry — wrinkle was formed one-by-one all over his body and the three men would notice it every morning. His hair grew but they were getting lighter and lighter – from black to gray and to white. His body was getting weaker like his bones were brittle — it would break sooner. Chanyeol did not have the guts to look at himself in the mirror. He knew what to expect if he ever looked there.

Yifan had spent his money again to fix him and Chanyeol strictly refused it. Because of this, Chanyeol doubt the love Yifan felt for him which led to argument. And since Baekhyun was there as a bystander for the entire scene, he was the one who reconciled the lovers. The blond apologized for his foolishness and Chanyeol did the same for losing his trust in that instance. Yifan swore not to do anything that would hurt his feelings anymore and Chanyeol reciprocated. Kisses were what they could have since making love was impossible, bearing in mind Chanyeol’s frail state.

After casting himself away from the civilization for months, Yifan had to come back there, because he wanted to give Chanyeol a gift. The life in the island was boring – he was not saying he was bored. Baekhyun was a clown and Chanyeol singing Pororo’s songs was funny. There was no dull moment especially he was with his lover. Chanyeol might not be as gorgeous and youthful as before but this was the same person he fell head-over-hills with.

Back to the reason why he went to Beijing, he did not know when Chanyeol’s birthday was. All he knew was his lover used to be immortal, living for hundreds or a thousand year. He wanted Chanyeol to experience a real birthday and to complete it, there should be a solid gift.

He roamed the city finding a perfect present for his lover until he found a pet store. A fish was an X. Bird was a no too. Cat would claw Chanyeol’s fragile skin so it was illuminated on his candidate. And then, he saw a white cottony creature.

“Hi there.” Bending down at the stack of cages, he greeted the little fellow.

Chanyeol was squealing when he took the blindfold off and saw the white Pomeranian puppy on his lap. He was too weak Yifan had to support him lifting the tiny canine in his arms. He kissed and looked at it lovingly.

“He’s cute, Yifan.” He said with a tired beam. The blond was just sitting beside him.

“What do you want to call him?”

“Umm… Pororo?”

Yifan snorted. “Pororo? Can’t you think of something else?”

“I can’t believe you’re getting jealous of an animated character.”

“I’m not JEALOUS.” Yifan is a little triggered but Chanyeol doing a sudden tease made him look healthy.

“Rourou… is that okay?” Yifan pecked on his cheek as a sign of his agreement. Even with Chanyeol’s condition, he would still flush in red. “Hello, Rourou, I’m Chanyeol.”

“He’s your Mommy and I’m Daddy Yifan.”

“Yifan!”

Yifan made his promise.

That December, he, Chanyeol and Baekhyun travelled to Seoul. Lights in vibrant colors and Christmas jingles were everywhere in the city as their car traveled to the hotel. This was another chance for Baekhyun to visit his family but he decided on staying with the couple instead. Chanyeol appreciated his loyalty.

When they arrived in the hotel, a wheelchair was already prepared for him. Chanyeol had been using this device since the time his legs were paralyzed and it was very convenient since he could still go to the villa’s garden or around the place and not bedridden all the time — just like when he did not know how to use his legs. Yifan did the honor to pushed him but commonly it was Baekhyun and the blond would be by his side holding his hand.

The couple rested in their suite for the night but it was interrupted when Baekhyun knocked the door of their room. Chanyeol pretended to be sleeping when he eavesdropped to Yifan and Baekhyun’s conversation. He could not control the grin on his face as soon as he heard the first fall of the snow. Before they ended the talk, Yifan complained that they could have chat on the phone instead. That meant they sensed Chanyeol was awake. Yifan closed the door and lied beside him.

“Are you excited for tomorrow?” Yifan mumbled and Chanyeol turned around with a wider grin.

“Very excited.”

Yifan reserved an open ice-skating rink, exclusively for their party. He and Baekhyun helped each other to transfer Chanyeol to a seat specially made for the place and this shorter male stayed on the nearby bench once done. The couple then went to the center.

They were fully covered with layers of coat and Yifan secured Chanyeol was warm, rolling a thick scarf on his neck, a beany and a muffler on his head and mittens on his hands.

Wearing skates, Yifan went on circle to Chanyeol while they were waiting for the snow. His lover was smiling all this time so he did the same. After a few while, he heard Chanyeol awed.

The first snow fell on his nose, it felt so cold but it made him so happy because it was a real snow. Several more had dropped and Chanyeol put his tongue out, wanting to have some taste. It was tasteless indeed but it made his heart flutter.

“Yifan, snow!” He shouted with shaking voice. His lover came closer to him looking above like what he was doing. They both giggled.

This was one of his best days and he hoped he could have more but he could not be greedy.

His view slightly got blurry and his eyelids were falling by themselves. Chanyeol shook his head but it did not change the fact that his whole body was going numb.

“Y-Y-Yifan.” Chanyeol called his lover who automatically bent down to level with him. He could not see his hands anymore but Yifan seemed to sense his desire so he reached for it and grasped it tightly.

“What’s wrong, Chanyeol?” He could feel Yifan was getting nervous of his situation and it pained him but he could not do anything. “Chanyeol?”

“I-I… I feel sleepy, Yifan.” Chanyeol was praying to the holy beings to give him more time to talk to his lover.

“Let’s go to the hotel then.” Yifan was about to stand but Chanyeol stopped him with his hand.

“No, it’s alright.” Chanyeol did not know if he could still draw a curve on his lips. “I want to see your face before I rest.”

“What are you talking about? Chanyeol?” He heard Yifan sniveled.

“Yifan, if I wake up again, will you promise me that I’ll see you again.”

“Yes, my love, yes!” Chanyeol was not ready to say goodbye — but this was the moment the heavenly beings set up for him.

At least, he got a confirmation.

“See you.” As he closed his eyes, he could hear Yifan called his name till he lost all of his senses.

After Chanyeol’s death, Yifan lived the rest of his life on his private island. He wrote the love story he had with the merman he converted into a human and needless to say, this had a happy ending unlike his. He never anticipated that people would love his story and became one of the bestselling novels of all time. There were some who bashed him, stating it was a ‘Little Mermaid’ rip-off but it was about his life — the life he had with the only person he loved with his existence.

Yifan donated half of his wealth to charities and half was transferred to Byun Baekhyun. Since it was never proven that Baekhyun stole Chanyeol from the research center, he returned to the service. He met a woman from there who exchanged vows with him and they had three children. Although Chanyeol was his friend, he pushed Yifan to marry someone and had a family, but the island owner rejected him the same amount of his pursues.

Every sunset, Yifan would go to the shore along Rourou. Their companionship was longer than what he had with Chanyeol. The dog died due to old age so he was left alone strolling the sandy lane.

One afternoon, Yifan was 87 years old. He sat on the sand, watching the waves struck on the shore. He suddenly had flashbacks of all the memories he had with his lover, from the moment he met the merman on the research center for the first time. The creature always had a poker face on it was amazing to see him smile. He gone weak that became Yifan’s reason to take him out from there. They reconstructed him and gave him legs — he had an epic reaction when he saw his legs.

Chanyeol loved running around the entire villa, rolling on the mowed grassy floor of the garden and talked to the flowers, and most of all, he loved watching Pororo.

Yifan was love-struck to Chanyeol when he had a haircut. He was dazzling. And the rest of his memories of him was his echo-ish squealing, smiling and Chanyeol would always say thank you and I love you.

“I love you too, Chanyeol.” Yifan was getting tired — he closed his eyes before the sun would fully sunk down the sea.

“Yifan?” When he opened his eyes again, a bright day welcomed him and most especially a merman was sitting on the shore. That person had a beamed that both corners of his lips would reach his elfish ears. His black shoulder-length hair was straight and silky, and his big gray eyes stared at Yifan with amusement. He gestured the other to come closer to him and Yifan did not hesitate to do so.

Yifan felt so young again and literally that was his reflection on the water as he looked at himself. Yifan was distracted by a giggle, making him squat side-by-side the creature.

“Yifan,” Chanyeol hugged him and he felt so alive to having this person’s warmth again, “I came here to take you.”

“Take you where?” Chanyeol pouted, tugging him closer by the arm.

“Don’t ask, just come with me.” He nodded and he swam along his lover, hand-in-hand, to the depths of the sea.

Yifan might not have a son or other relative but he left his DNA to Baekhyun. Dr. Byun’s people made a clone from it and that person was adopted by the Byuns. He did not change his last name though. He might not have the memory of his predecessor but his personality was identical. The clone got married and had family and his bloodline lived on.

The Wu’s fortune was, like anyone else, a wheel. They were from riches to rags and so on. But although they met hardships, they did not ever attempt to stake Wu Yifan’s island. They took care of it and it was still existing like the way it was.

A thousand year later…

Some youngsters slammed the lanky body of their schoolmate on the wall of a dark alley. They were so mad because this boy refused to give them money and planned to beat the crap out of him. Before they did so, one of them snatched his backpack from him and carelessly — he dispensed everything from the poor boy’s bag down the ground.

“No!” The lanky boy cried but it was too late. The trio examined his things and saw his wallet.

“Score!” One of them yelled, giving high-fives with his group. Then, one of the bullies noticed an unusual item in his belongings.

“Guys, what is this?” The red haired one took that thing and they looked at with bewilderment.

“Don’t! Not that one please!” The boy pleaded but he received a kick instead.

They continued inspecting the item, flipping it up and down, tried to open it and found out – it was a bind of paper.

“Is this a book that we keep on hearing in the legends?”

“Oh ho ho ho! Boss would be happy with this!” The evil trio exchanged laughter before leaving the boy and taking his wallet and book. He tried to stop them by hugging the leg of the one who had a green hair, and this led to his pounding.

Whistling, the trio advanced to their headquarters, which was in the abandoned building near the open ice-skating rink. They presented the reading material on the table and another red hair raised an eyebrow to what they brought.

“What’s this?” He pointed to the item on his table with disgust. It looked very old and dusty.

“Can’t you tell? It’s a book.” The short hair brunet said, rolling his eyes.

“Book?” Their leader had a firm hold to his leather executive chair before he cautiously touched the foreign object with his finger.

“Legit.” The green haired killed the suspense, their leather withdrew his hand on the book, but his eyes did not miss reading the title, ‘Underwater’.

“Who owns this?” His boys were already hitting the head of the green haired one when he asked that question. One glare and they stopped, getting back to their places.

“The tallest and the dumbest kid in school.” The brunet quickly answered.

Chanyeol scoffed, putting both of his palm on his desk as he stood up. “I know the tallest student in school was the same person next to me in the ranking. So…” in an instance, he banged his hand on the desk, “HOW COULD THE 2^ND SMARTEST STUDENT BE DUMB? HUH? ANSWER ME?”

“Thunder boy was the only one who said that.”

“Shut up, Mad Ice!” The trio started throwing curses to each other, Chanyeol sighed soundly and it made his boys quiet.

“Black Light.” He said, trying to keep his cool.

And, the red head, he called, stuttered a yes.

“Aside from the ‘book’, what else did you take from him?” He interrogated, showing a sarcastic smile.

“We took his wallet.” That same boy answered.

“For Christ sake, Baekhyun, your family owns a firm, why would you need that?” The red head shrugged.

“Because, that’s what a bully does.” Their leader could not take it anymore, gritting his teeth as he grunted.

“I’m your tutor, you three idiots, not a leader of a gang. Our school was clearly stating what their mission and vision is and I haven’t read anything about enhancing your bullying skills.” He dotted his index finger hardly on his desk. The three had the cat got their tongue as they stared the tallest boy with shocked faces. “Give me his wallet. Also, I wanted you to reflect on your sin, memorize the periodic table of elements.”

“That was so elementary.” The green haired complained.

“Yes, just like your brain.”

“You’re a bully, Park Chanyeol!” The three ran and their tutor was anticipating already that they would seriously do what he said. That had been their routine.

Chanyeol sat on his desk, smiling, because before the boys came out, they tossed the wallet over his table — and his eyes fell on the book again. He pulled one of the drawers open and took a disinfectant spray and box of napkin from it. He intensively cleaned the book till it was acceptable for him.

He was nervous but he was curious of what was inside this reading material. He loved reading and he was excited to finally read a physical book. He consumed everything from cover to cover and a tear fell from his eyes after reading the last page. It was so wonderful.

The next day, he personally approached the boy during recess and invited him in the school garden. He returned the things his three tutees took from him. The boy, who had a black hair, said his thanks and bowed. He was going to take his departure and would take his lunch but Chanyeol had something to ask.

“The author’s name was Wu Yifan.” The boy froze on his spot and turned back to Chanyeol. There are some people witnessing them so Chanyeol gestured to continue the conversation to somewhere quite. They go further where there were only trees and tiny critters that would be with them. Chanyeol then continued asking. “How are you related to him, Kris Wu?”

“He’s my ancestor.” He said without showing anything that would make his statement false. While Chanyeol was staring at him, he noticed the boy was good looking even he was wearing thick glasses. He was flawless — Chanyeol was unconsciously biting his lower lip. “By the way, how’d you know my name?”

“I’m number one in the school’s ranking.” Chanyeol suddenly felt shy, averting his eyes to the trees.

“Your Park Chanyeol?” Chanyeol reluctantly nodded and the other clapped his hands once. “What happened to you?”

“Umm… someone made fun of my hair.” It was Baekhyun. He insisted to dye his hair with flame-like color because he said Chanyeol looked good on it.

“It looks good on you.” So, Baekhyun was telling the truth.

“Thanks… I guess.” He bashfully touched the strand of his hair.

The awkward air devoured them for seconds before another conversation popped. “Your name.”

“What’s with my name?”

“You share it with the mermaid character in Underwater.”

“Oh yeah, you’re right.” Chanyeol put his hands on the back-pockets of his pants, tip-toeing his feet and he was not aware his proximity with the other guy was closer. He tried to calm himself, continuing their subject. “Mom said she got my name from a novel.”

“Maybe the story she was talking about was Underwater.” Kris pushed his glasses and flashed his gummy smile.

“Why haven’t thought of that?” When that movement was made, Chanyeol did not detached his eyes from looking the taller’s lips. “The male protagonist was named Kris too, right?”

“Yeah.” The event was fast — they were already clashing their lips against each other. Chanyeol’s arms was clinging around the other male’s shoulder while his waist was enclosed to a pair of strong arms. They kissed more and deeply before they both gasped for air and their mouths separated.

“I’m sorry.” Chanyeol slowly pulled his arms away from Kris and so as the other. Blood was boiling inside him. “I just felt… we had met before.”

“Me too.” Kris rubbed his nape and chuckled nervously.

“Yes, we did meet, especially we’re schoolmates but I really felt we had meet somewhere else.” They were probably not embracing each other now but they were still close and did not kept their eye-contact away.

“Perhaps in another world or another time?”

“I don’t know but, if you want…” Chanyeol smirked, wrapping his arms around Kris’ neck once more, “let’s have a soulmate challenge.”

“Sure.” Kris gladly replied and hugged him. “Shall we do another kiss for the first test?”

“I’d love to.”

The End