Early next morning, Jongin was already out and about, putting on his shoes before heading out the door; quiet so he doesn’t disturb anyone in the building. He remembered the old lady’s conversation from last night, going through her directions to make it into the middle of town where the market is beginning to bustle. He wasn’t surprised about a number of food stalls around nor was he surprised about how many of them were revolved around fish or seaweed, he certainly wasn’t surprised when he bought almost every single food vendor that offered seaweed soup. He wouldn’t say it aloud but there’s a reason why the old lady had been a three-year champion.

He wondered around mindlessly but happily as he took in the sights, enjoying the life and stopping every now and then to try some food and/or taking a few pictures on his smartphone; ready to be uploaded to his Instagram. He would never admit this out loud but Jongin is low-key proud of his Instagram, he enjoyed it when people liked his pictures.

Jongin soaked up everything the town had to offer him, even buying a few trinkets for friends back home and of course, a lovely jade hair pin that shone a pretty pale pink, silver details woven around it for the old lady. He had to return her kindness, and he wouldn’t mind getting another free bowl of her famous soup. He also bought a big box of sweet dumplings, he was persuaded by an old lady although this one was a lot larger and had an aura of steel claiming he was too skinny and to buy her buns, right after she er punched his arm. It hurt quite a bit but Jongin knew she had good intentions so he bought some anyways. He decided to make his way back to the cobblestoned path, quickening his pace to go further along the path where the smooth boulders were and very little sand between the ocean.

It took him a while but he found the perfect place to sit, it faced the ocean, the boulders behind him hid him well if anyone did come by and the waves were only a feet or two away. The ocean was calm and it seems as it rolled about playfully in front of Jongin, he enjoyed watching the water go back and forth as he bit into the dumplings.

He sat there for a long while, sometimes thinking and when that got too much he just blanked out. He couldn’t help but wonder about why he was here. He should be working on several essays and presentations, he wondered if there was any point. Whether the career path he set himself on was a good choice, he thought about how it’s always choosing the ‘good’ choice rather than if it’s the right choice. If everything is actually worth it, and now that it’s coming to an end. Jongin wanted to really think about it, it’s the end of one thing and the beginning of another, and he really can’t tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Jongin wasn’t exactly the most ‘grounded’ person out there but he knew these things won’t matter in a year or two. There will be different problems to weigh his mind and he prayed silently that they would be overcome in time like his older friends, family, the things that everyone tells him. Jongin’s mind just blanked out, he couldn’t be bothered to think about that kind of stuff and it drained him to even let it cross his mind. He can fall into an existential crisis another time and instead he just let the warmth and sweetness of the dumplings invade his mouth, staring at his feet as he’s wrapped up in a world of his own with the sounds of frantic splashing in the background and a large doe eyes staring wide into his, with plump pink parted lips frozen in awe, the colour was a compliment against the man’s skin and Jongin couldn’t help but think that all the colour schemes matched his tail.

…………

Tail?

Suddenly Jongin was reeled back into reality; was this reality? He thought, his eyes scanned several times at the... ‘thing’ before him, was it a thing? A person? The top half of the thing was definitely a person, the bottom half, however...

“A ing mermaid.”

Jongin spoke out in a monotone voice, it almost became deafening how loud his voice was even though he knew it wasn’t all too loud. He scrunched his eyes closed, his brows furrowed as he presses a hand against his temple, hunching over slightly and hardly aware that the mermaid is just leaning up under him. Though Jongin didn’t really care at this moment, he was done with life and he tried to think something rational yet all he could see was the hella good looking mermaid behind his eyelids. Oh boy, he didn’t even want to go near the thought that he finds the mermaid attractive, one problem at a time, please.

“Mermaids don’t exist, mermaids don’t exist, ing mermaids do not ing exist.”

“But I do exist, kiddo.”

The voice that replied was deep, smooth, softly spoken and yet it held a certain confidence that made Jongin’s world shake. His eyes shot open automatically, the mermaid was still there right below him, in fact, he’s a lot closer than Jongin remembered with a familiar looking sweet dumpling half eaten in one of the mermaid’s hands. They both stared at each other for a moment before Jongin went back to closing his eyes, muttering;

“I don’t believe in mermaids, I don’t believe in mermaids, I do not ing believe in ing mermaids.”

He could hear the mermaid shuffle or drag himself to sit beside Jongin on his rock and the distinctive sound of more dumplings being eaten went on for a minute or two as Jongin continued muttering as if it was a magic spell for his mind to slap him awake. The muttering stopped as Jongin’s lungs needed a break and just before his lips parted again to continue his muttered chant, the mermaid spoke;

“If you keep saying that..”

Jongin opened his eyes, squinting sideways at the other.

“I still won’t go away.”

The mermaid spoke as he took another bite into Jongin’s dwindling dumping stash, a smile grazing his lips; shooting it at the other playfully. Jongin could feel the other humouring him, as he saw the mermaid’s eyebrows raise sarcastically at him.

“Also, I’m not a mermaid. I’m obviously a merman.”

And with that, the last threads of Jongin’s sanity was cut, thrown into the wind, just like the amount of s he gives but on the bright side. He wasn’t completely sane, to begin with anyway, so he thought he took it quite well.

Although it did take him almost twenty-six minutes for him to at least move and look at the ‘merman’ and another ten minutes for him to speak. “So… Merman, huh? By any chance do you have a ?”

“You meet a merman, probably your first one ever or anyone’s first one in the last hundred years or so, and that’s the first thing you ask?”

“I set the standard low but if you don’t like it, steal some other someone else’s dumplings instead.”

“Do you know how hard it is to pull myself on sand? I’m fine, thank you… Also, thank you for the dumplings.” The merman nodded; his face looked serious albeit even a little scary but Jongin can see the same sincerity that was shown in the townspeople he has met, in the merman’s eyes so he didn’t really mind, he didn’t even point out the merman didn’t even ask for some in the first place.

“You’re welcome. I’m Jongin, by the way.”

“Kyungsoo. It’s nice to meet you, want to be friends?”

The merman didn’t even look up from the last few of Jongin’s dumplings when he asked, Jongin stared at the other before his eyes scanned the other’s body, right up to the tips of the other’s tail that occasionally twitched and slapped the wet sand underneath. Jongin could almost mistake the twitch of his tail to be out of nervousness.

Jongin chuckled and made sure to grab the last dumpling left, munching it thoughtfully as he looked on at the ocean. Not minding the newfound handsome companion he had gained, his mind is still reeling in the fact that Kyungsoo is real so Jongin thinks he’s still allowed to procrastinate the thought that the merman was definitely too good looking to be real.

“As long as you don’t try to drown me, I don’t mind.”