Mi-young stared miserably at the blue bedroom wall, the comforter wrapped tightly around herself and pulled up over her nose, wrapping her in warmth. However, no matter how tightly she pulled the plush blanket around herself, the feeling of coldness still aded her body. Baekhyun’s cruel words echoed in her head. “I wouldn’t come looking for you, because it would have been all your fault!” As fresh tears crept into the corners of her eyes, she buried her face into the pillow, still damp from earlier crying spells.

“Baekhyun hates me,” she whimpered to no one in particular. She gripped the pillow tightly while suppressing her sobs. She then flinched as a soft knocking sound came at the door, and she cautiously peered over her shoulder at the closed bedroom door.

“Mi-young? It’s me. I brought you some dinner,” Chanyeol called from beyond the white wooden door, and she gave a meek call for him to enter. The doorknob turned slowly and the redhead popped his head in with a small, pained smile, carrying a steaming bowl carefully to her bedside. As hunger overpowered her urge to continue moping, she rolled onto her back and sat up, cocooning herself in the blanket as the coldness seeped back into her chest. She popped out her arms to take the bowl from him, gently blowing the steam away.

“Mac n’ cheese,” she murmured as she stared down at the cheesy noodles. She suddenly felt extremely nauseous, recalling the day that Baekhyun made her the delectable pasta, and she hastily set it on the bedside table. “Thank you, Chanyeol. I’ll let it cool off,” she smiled weakly up at him. Quite the contrary, she had no desire to eat the meal at all, and it would likely remain untouched until one of the boys brought her breakfast the next morning. She brought her legs to her chest, propping her chin on her knees as she tried to disregard her growling stomach.

“Mi-young…” Chanyeol sighed as he sat down gingerly on the edge of the bed beside her. In response, she retreated further into her plush shell without meeting his gaze. “It’s been two days. Why don’t you try talking to Baekhyun? He regrets the horrible things he said to you…” She remained silent, staring into the sheets miserably. “I know he hurt your feelings, but he didn’t mean it.”

“He did,” she mumbled beneath her shroud of blankets. “He didn’t mean to say it, but when he said it, he meant it.” Deep down, she knew that Baekhyun probably felt horrible the instant the vile words had left his mouth, and had barricaded himself in Chanyeol’s bedroom for the last two days just as she had done in his own. However, every time she considered mending the relationship, his wrath-filled face flashed into her mind, and her courage left her. Getting lost in the mall had been her fault, and for the last two days she had been brooding over all the trouble she had caused the boy thus far. “He deserved to be angry with me,” she whispered.

“He didn’t have to say such an awful thing to you!” Chanyeol rebuked hotly. He then sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to level with the despondent mermaid. “Mi-young, please, none of this is your fault. You have to know that, and you can’t hide from him forever fighting that doubt in your mind,” he explained softly. He rose from the edge of the bed, gently placing a hand on top of her head to ruffle the comforter concealing her thick black hair. “I’m going to talk some sense into Baekhyun. After that, will you please come out?” He waited until she nodded mutely in agreement before smiling and exiting the room. She stared at the door, a secret part of her waiting anxiously for Baekhyun to come walking through with an apology; when he did not, she curled back under the covers, staring at the wall in silence.

Chanyeol, true to his word, continued down the hallway to knock loudly on the door to his bedroom where Baekhyun had locked himself inside. Ignoring the miserable, “Go away,” he grabbed the emergency bedroom key off the top of the door frame and casually unlocked the door to step into the room, blinking at the unexpected darkness. Baekhyun had drawn the shades over the window, casting the room in shadow while he lay buried beneath the pile of blankets and pillows on Chanyeol’s bed. With a sigh, the redhead walked over to the back wall and drew the curtains aside, earning a hiss from beneath the plush mound.

“Go away,” Baekhyun moaned again, sticking out an arm to angrily lob a pillow at his friend. Chanyeol caught it deftly and tossed it aside, walking over to the bed to lightly kick Baekhyun’s plush fort. The barricaded boy squirmed in discomfort, wriggling further inside his retreat.

“Come on, dude, you’ve been in here for two days. I want my room back,” Chanyeol complained as he cast the covers off to reveal a very grumpy Baekhyun. The dark-haired boy sat up, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the light; he then snatched the blanket out of Chanyeol’s hand to throw it back over himself and flop back down on the mattress.

“No. I’m a horrible human being and deserve to die slowly,” he muttered in response. Chanyeol sighed in exasperation.

“Can you not die in my bed though? Seriously,” he whined as he snapped the blanket away once more, this time holding it out of Baekhyun’s reach. “Dude, yeah, you said some ty stuff, but hiding away isn’t going to make Mi-young feel any better,” he reminded firmly. “Get your out there and apologize like a real man!” he cried as he prodded Baekhyun in the behind with the toe of his tennis shoe. Baekhyun groaned and rolled off the bed to drag himself underneath Chanyeol’s bed, sheltering himself among the many articles stuffed beneath the bed frame. Chanyeol rolled his eyes and dropped the blanket, squatting down. “Come on, seriously, you’re acting worse than Mi-young. At least she takes it with some grace.”

“Is she mad at me still?” came the gloomy reply.

“She was never mad at you!” Chanyeol cried. “She was upset at what you said because she thought it was true. She still is,” he sighed as he plopped down and crossed his legs. There came no reply from underneath the bed. “Dude, all she wants is for you to apologize. You do know that it’s your fault and you have to apologize, right?” he asked suspiciously. He shrieked as Baekhyun’s head suddenly appeared from beneath the bedframe, glaring viciously at him.

“Of course, I know that! An apology isn’t near enough for what I said to her!” he snapped, then sighed heavily and flopped his head against the carpet. He did not object as Chanyeol grabbed him beneath his arms and dragged him out from beneath the bed. Moping, he muttered, “I can’t even look her in the face after what I said.”

“Then don’t. Apologize while staring at her s,” Chanyeol shrugged as he continued dragging the boy across the carpet and out into the wooden floor of the hallway. The comment earned him a slap in the stomach, but at last there was a hint of a smile on Baekhyun’s tired face. Before he could say anything else, however, he felt someone bump right into his back. “Oh, sorry!” he cried with a glance over his shoulder, and promptly dropped Baekhyun roughly on the ground when he realized that it was none other than Mi-young, standing in the hallway just outside Chanyeol’s bedroom. She had an expression of shock on her face, and was staring hard at where Baekhyun lay flat on his back on the wooden floor.

“Baek-“ she began hastily, but gasped as he suddenly shot to his feet and took off out of the house with more speed than she had ever seen him exhibit, his face bright red. “Ah, wait, Baekhyun!” she called after him, but he was already long gone down the sidewalk, running like a maniac.

“Well, that went well,” Chanyeol mumbled bitterly.

Baekhyun ran all the way to the beach. By the time he flopped down into the sand, his eyes squeezed shut as perspiration ran down his forehead, he was gasping for breath due to his heart pounding against his rib cage. The sand felt cool against his skin, having long lacked the heat of the sun to warm the grains. Above him, the stars glittered in the dark night sky, and a full moon shone down upon him. The only sounds were the rolling of the waves and his own ragged breathing. He didn’t even have the energy to throw a fit; he only lay there in the sand, panting and hating himself.

I blew it, he thought miserably. She was right there, and I chickened out as soon as I saw her. Baekhyun wanted to apologize, so, so badly; but when he had clapped eyes on her, with her messy, unwashed hair and fresh tear stains on her cheeks, the words had dried up in his throat. He had been hit all over again with the shame of the horrible things he had said. How could she forgive me, when I can’t even forgive myself? He thought bitterly as he sat up to glumly watch the waves beat rhythmically against the shore. Against the horizon, the bright neon lights of the trawling fish boats gleamed.

It wasn’t long before he heard the tires crunching against the asphalt of the parking lot, and he knew that this time his fate was sealed. He did not turn as the car door gently slammed shut, nor did he make a move as he heard the soft footsteps in the sand slowly approaching. He squeezed his eyes shut, gathering the little courage he had before it failed him, afraid that if he looked at her it would vanish.

“Baekhyun,” Mi-young whispered softly as she timidly sat down in the sand beside him. As her small shoulder brushed against his own, he nearly fainted; it had been the lightest of touches, but he had no idea how much he had missed her, just her presence alone, until she was right there next to him.

“I’m sorry, Mi-young, I’m so, so sorry!” he blurted before the mermaid could say anything more, digging his fingers into the sand as he forced the words out. “I said such an awful thing to you, and I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it, it wasn’t your fault, and I-!” he paused with a gasp as he felt her slender finger against his lips, and he forced his eyes open to see her gazing up at him with a soft smile, the moonlight reflecting in her sea-blue eyes. His heart skipped a beat. Even with her unkempt hair and unwashed face, she still looked more beautiful than she ever had before.

“I know,” she murmured gently. “I’ve known that all along, and I’ve forgiven you.”

“I made you cry,” he choked guiltily, reaching up to gently run his fingers over the tear marks on her cheeks. The tips of his fingers came away with salty water clinging to them, and he dropped his hand miserably. “You shouldn’t forgive me. What I did is unforgivable.” She dropped her hand and shrugged, turning to watch the waves roll in and the starlight glittering upon the ocean surface.

“You may have meant it,” she murmured suddenly, “but you didn’t believe it, right, Baekhyun?” He blinked in confusion, staring down at the girl as she looked back up at him with a knowing smile. “I didn’t believe it either. You promised you would take care of me, right?” she smiled. “I know you would never, ever abandon me like that.”

“Then, why…?” he frowned, and she laughed lightly and shoved him in the shoulder. As he rubbed his arm tenderly, she stuck her tongue out at him.

“Well, any girl would be upset when a guy yells at her like that,” she teased. He chuckled awkwardly, but it faded as her expression turned solemn. “I was afraid you hated me,” she admitted. “I was afraid that you hated me being around because I had up-ended your life. You didn’t ask to find me, and in truth, I’ve caused you a lot of trouble and stress,” she sighed. Baekhyun stared down at the girl, and in a fit of either clarity or lunacy, he suddenly threw her arms around her and pulled her to his chest in a hug. He heard her gasp lightly.

“Mi-young, I could never hate you,” he whispered into her hair. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Sure, you get into a lot of trouble, but it’s also fun seeing you learn and grow,” he explained as he rested his cheek against the top of her head. The words just spilled out of him like a waterfall, pouring out his innermost feelings that he had discovered while he had been brooding in the dark- the painful reality that had made his words all the more damning. “The truth is, I’ve been going through life up until now just constantly working toward my future, and I had never thought to devote more time to the present… I didn’t enjoy life anymore. I was dead on the inside. You taught me how to live again.” As he finished, he felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He meant every word.

“Baekhyun…” she sniffled, wrapping her slim arms around his back. “Thank you…” As he smiled softly, he heard a dark chuckle from his left, and he glanced up to see his eleven housemates standing over him and cracking their knuckles.

“Well, isn’t that sweet?” D.O. grinned mercilessly as he cracked his neck. Baekhyun felt dread creeping up on him, and he hastily released the mermaid to stand unsteadily to his feet.

“Yeah, real heartwarming. Straight out of a romantic drama,” Tao smirked from behind him, glaring at the confused boy.

“What are you guys doing here?” Baekhyun squeaked as his eyes darted from one boy to the next. One, he was embarrassed to have been interrupted during such a tender moment with the mermaid, but two, he was terrified of the hungry looks in the boys’ eyes. He had seen that look before, and what followed was never pleasant.

“I tried to stop them…” Chanyeol sighed from the back, but was smirking alongside them.

“Ya see, now that you’ve made up with Mi-young, we can finally give you your punishment for making her cry,” Kai beamed. A few of the boys cackled, wiggling their fingers threateningly. It was then that the terror got to Baekhyun, and he took off down the beach with a horrified screech. “Get him!” Kai crowed, and with howls of glee the boys charged after their frantic housemate, almost immediately cornering him against the surf. Baekhyun cried out as Suho grabbed his legs and Sehun grabbed his arms, and next thing he knew he was being flung into the waves by the grinning pair of boys. As he popped back up, spitting out saltwater, the rest of his housemates were howling with laughter and pointing. Off to the side, Mi-young was watching with a giggle.

Well… I guess I deserved a good dunking, he thought with a tiny smile. He cried out as Chanyeol suddenly came flying into the water, seemingly a happenstance victim of Xiumin’s. The boys began chasing each other around and forcing each other into the waves, and poor Mi-young narrowly avoided being revealed by claiming her white shirt would reveal too much. Soon the boys were all splashing around in the waves, soaking one another and enjoying the cool water while the moon shone down on them from above, and by the time they returned home, Baekhyun felt the happiest he ever had.