Mi-young had to take a moment to register that Baekhyun's hands were on her waist, that his body was pressed to hers, that his lips were moving almost rhythmically against her own. When her brain finally did comprehend what was happening, Baekhyun pulled back, but only a few centimeters. She involuntarily whispered his name, softly, pleadingly, and then he was kissing her again, harder and faster this time. As he pushed her back against the headboard, she wrapped her arms around his neck while his encircled her waist. Her mind was swimming from lack of oxygen and the bubbly happiness rising rapidly inside of her.

This is what I wanted all along, she realized- not just his attention, not just his approval, but him, him and his heart. Her heart sang with every kiss, her body trembled with every touch. She had never known that she could desire something so much, and in that moment she forgot every intention to ever return to the sea, abandoned every feeling of homesickness she had ever experienced. Wrapped in Baekhyun's warmth, she felt more at home than she ever had. It took him longer to retreat this time, and she could feel the hesitation in his body as he slowly straightened up and cleared his throat uncomfortably.

“S-sorry,” he stammered shyly. Now that the euphoria was wearing off, Mi-young had the sense to blush. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?” he asked worriedly. If he had, her nerves had been to busy with the sensation of him rather than her numerous scratches and wounds. The throbbing in her side returned with a fury, making her squirm slightly in discomfort and recall the intense guilt she had been feeling when she had called him in.

“No. I… Didn’t hurt you… Did I?” she murmured very slowly. Of course I did. I left without telling anyone. He must have been frantic, she thought guiltily, now avoiding his gaze. The mood between them had all but soured as they just sat in a tense silence. Baekhyun abruptly sighed heavily and gingerly sat down on the edge of the bed, reluctantly reaching out to take her hand. He rubbed the top of her hand with his thumb, but rather than reassure her, it made her feel even worse. “Are you angry with me?” she murmured quietly.

“No,” he responded instantly. “I was angry with myself, for letting it get to the point that you would even do something like this,” he admitted equally as quietly, his hand migrating from hers to pull down the comforter, revealing the bandage around her middle that was still spotted with blood. Grandma Lee could only stitch it crudely, and so it was still bleeding slightly despite the old woman's best efforts. Not to mention it hurt horribly, but the mermaid did not want to complain; she had done it to herself, after all. It had been her decision to descend into the sea, knowing the dangers, and she had suffered for it. It had been a wonder she had escaped with her life. As Baekhyun gazed miserably down at the blood-soaked bandage, however, Mi-young knew that he was most likely blaming himself.

“Baekhyun, this isn’t your fault,” she insisted firmly. “I made the decision. I wanted to go home…” At her comment, an intensely pained look passed over his face, and she knew that she had said the wrong thing. “B-but that’s not what I wanted after all. I was just so upset that it’s what I thought I wanted,” she explained hastily, but that sad expression remained on his face. I’ve hurt him, she thought, leaning forward to put her hands on his cheeks. He twitched, but thankfully he did not pull away. “Please, Baekhyun, I’m sorry...!”

“No. I’m the one who should apologize,” he uttered bitterly as he glanced down at his lap. “I… I didn’t mean to push you away. I thought I was keeping you safe, but… In the end, I just put you in even more danger.” He reached up to take one of her hands, pressing it to his mouth the gently kiss her fingers. The sensation sent shivers up and down her spine. Concentrate, Mi-young, she scolded herself lightly as heat rose to her cheeks.

“I thought… I had become a burden to you,” she admitted quietly. “All those things you said on the beach… I remembered them, but then I remembered all the things I had done wrong, and I was just… so lonely…” She hung her head in shame. She should have never doubted him; he cared deeply for her, and he had shown that time and time again. Yet, she had still let the baseless doubts win over in the end. “I guess… Both of us are to blame in this,” she sighed after a while, finally forcing herself to look up at him.

“Yeah. Maybe so,” he responded simply. He was rubbing her hand again. “So… They all know,” he continued casually. It seemed that her secret had been unable to be hidden from the rest of the group after all, thanks to their combined blunder. Mi-young preferred it that way, however.

“Yes. I think that’s best, though,” she answered with a small smile. “They have all been so good to me. It was really weighing on me, keeping it from them… It was so hard trying to be so careful all the time, and as we've seen, I’m not very good at that,” she laughed lightly, and she was immensely grateful to see a smile creep onto his lips.

“Yeah, that’s true. I didn’t like hiding it from them either,” he admitted and ran a hand through his hair. “Speaking of, they’re all outside waiting for you. They’re really worried. Would you like to go see them?” he inquired. She nodded eagerly, the thought of seeing all her friends after such a tough night lifting her spirits considerably, but as she threw the covers off herself and moved to stand up her legs wobbled and she teetered precariously. Baekhyun instinctively caught her by the waist, grabbing her right over her gaping wound. She exclaimed as sharp pain rocketed through the entire side of her body. “I-I’m sorry!” he squeaked and hastily moved his hands to her hips, which made an entirely different sensation shoot through her nerves.

“I’m okay. It’s just very sensitive,” she assured him weakly. It seemed the ordeal on the beach, all the blinding pain and intense suffering had drained her body of energy. Just standing up had made her exhausted.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Baekhyun asked anxiously as he held her to him. “You need to rest, Mi-young. Get back in bed,” he demanded, grabbing the comforter and trying to ease her back onto the mattress. Unfortunately for him, she was stubborn to a fault.

“No! I’m fine! I want to see them,” she pouted, and as her sea-blue eyes met his, he sighed deeply and shook his head. He supported her as she limped out of the bedroom and out into the living room. The boys were all sprawled across the furniture in various stages of sleep, from general drowsiness to snoring loudly as their limbs twitched. When the bedraggled Mi-young entered the room, however, the boys shot awake and scrambled over each other to cluster around the mermaid.

“Mi-young! How do you feel?” Kai asked her worriedly.

“Does it hurt?” D.O. frowned as he eyed her multiple bandages, especially the one hanging out from underneath her night shirt.

“I’m fine. I’m a little sleepy, and it kind of hurts, but I would have been a lot worse off if you guy didn’t come out and look for me. Thank you all so much,” she explained ruefully. She had put them all through such trouble, having them awake in the wee hours of the night trawling the city searching for her, all on account of her stupid stunt. Tears rose to her eyes as she thought of how she had doubted all of them, not just Baekhyun. She found herself bowing her head to try and keep them from seeing her volatile state. “I must have worried you all so much… I’m so sorry…” she apologized meekly.

“No! Mi-young, it’s okay,” Lay cried as he pushed through the huddle of idols to gently hug her. “It wasn’t any trouble. We care about you. Of course we would go looking for you,” he told her, shaking her slightly as if to knock all of the sad feelings out of her. It worked a little, and a smile appeared on her face without her knowing it. The boys all released a simultaneous sigh of relief, and then they helped her onto the couch. Once they had gotten apologies and explanations out of the way, the only thing left was to address the problem of her “condition.” She recounted the story of how she and Baekhyun met, and why he had insisted on keeping it a secret. By the time she was finished with all their questions, the sun was creeping in through the window, and they were all nearly asleep.

“I think we should call it for the night. Mi-young's had it rough,” Baekhyun asserted, prompting a sleepy chorus of mumbles of agreement. The boys rose to their feet unsteadily and shuffled off down the hallway, and Mi-young heard a series of shutting doors. She was still sitting down on the couch, as now that she had been sitting and awake for a while her wound was almost angry. Every throb felt like someone was punching her in her side, and pain shot through her nerves like lightning. She had tried her best to hide it, but it was approaching the point to where she wanted to scream and writhe. As the rest of the boys vanished down the hall, she kneaded her night shirt relentlessly to try and channel the anxious energy. “Mi-young? Are you all right?” Baekhyun asked quietly as he leaned over the back of the couch, close to her ear. She was in so much pain that she couldn’t even respond like a sensible person and shudder; she just tried to remain as still as possible.

“Y-yes,” she wheezed weakly, finally relaxing her tense muscles to collapse onto her good side. She drew her legs onto the couch, content to just fall asleep right there, as the thought of walking to the bedroom just seemed like too much. Baekhyun wasn’t buying it, however, and walked into the kitchen to begin rifling through one of the doors. He returned with a strange little tablet and a glass of juice, kneeling down in front of her head to hold it out to her.

“Here. It should help with the pain,” he told her gently. She took the medicine without even bothering to ask what it was, downing the sugary drink while Baekhyun lifted her head gently to prop it onto a pillow. He rubbed her arm gently as she waited for the medicine to kick in, and thankfully, it did not take long. Within fifteen minutes she was struggling to keep her eyes open, and the pain in her side had deadened considerably. “Better now?” Baekhyun asked her softly, lifting a hand to begin caressing her hair. It felt so nice that she involuntarily let out a soft sigh.

“Mhmm,” she answered as she snuggled into the couch. He grabbed a blanket and unfolded it to gently throw it over her, tucking her into the folds. Her eyes drifted closed, and she was glad that the last thing that she saw was Baekhyun smiling softly at her.

When the mermaid was finally asleep, Baekhyun leaned back and slowly drew a hand over his face. I made a mistake. That was bad, bad, bad. He had acted on pure impulse, and it was the worst thing he could have done. Why did you kiss her, you fool?! He yelled at himself. She is a mermaid! She has to leave! Because of your own selfishness, you’ve made it even harder! Similar scolding echoed in his head right up until the point he passed out on the living room floor, the exhaustion finally overtaking him. When he did he immediately wished he had been awake.

He was standing on the beach, and it was dark, and stormy. The wind pulled at his clothes, threatening to rip them away as he stumbled across the dunes. The wind had whipped them higher, and he felt like he was traveling through an endless desert. She stood at the shore, with his back to him, and no matter how much he screamed her name she would not turn. He kept running, but it felt like he wasn’t getting any closer; if anything, he was getting far away. As she stepped forward to dive into the water, he threw out his hand in vain hope that he would catch her, but she disappeared under the writhing surf, into the dark, and he could feel his heart breaking as he collapsed into the wet sand, feeling the rain pour down over him, and he just howled in agony.

He awoke with a start, sweating, panting, delirious. It took him a moment to register that he was indeed lying on his back on the carpeted floor, and not in the soft white sand of the nearby beach. He was shivering with cold, a phantom feeling of being stranded in the unending rain. He rubbed his arms as he glanced at the clock on the wall; he had only been asleep for about two hours, but the sun had risen and now poured its light through the windows, illuminating the room and falling over the mermaid’s sleeping form. She looked absolutely gorgeous.

The light played over her black hair, bringing out the natural highlights he never knew she had. Soft strands of silver were inlaid with the ebony, making it look like starlight had fallen into her hair. The blanket had fallen off of the upper half of her body, and her soft white skin glowed in the early morning light. Baekhyun was staring at her face, however, at her soft, plump lips. The desire to kiss them overtook him, and he slowly rose to his hands and knees to crawl forward, his eyes and attention all bent on that one desire. He jerked to a stop when she abruptly stirred and rolled over, and the bandage on her side slipped down, revealing the ugly stitching beneath. The wound was inflamed and red, and it was definitely enough to sober him up.

You can’t, Baekhyun, he reminded himself as he robotically fixed the bandage and covered her back up. You did this to her. She got hurt because of you, and if you continue down this road, all you’re going to do is hurt her more. You have to let her go. You have to. Still, he could not bring himself to leave the room, and so he just sat there on the floor, disgusted with himself, and watched the sun continued to rise on a new day.