BANG! Hyejin’s eyes sprung open, her tail splashing down and splattering water on her face. For a moment, Hyejin forgot where she was, her heart thumping until she realized she was in the confines of the bathroom. She directed her view skyward and grumbled at the sight of Wheein through a large gap on the roof. With a hammer in her hand, Wheein grinned at her and went back to work on the roof. There went Hyejin’s chance of getting some sleep. Wheein wasn’t responsible for the other’s insomnia throughout the night, but she didn’t help ease Hyejin’s restlessness when she finally felt her eyelids flutter shut.

Two more knocks echoed against the wood and Hyejin lifted the blinds of the window next to her. The sun slowly rose, as if reluctant, streaks of red, yellow, and orange shining on the tides. The waters rushed towards the horizon as if they wanted to help the sun rise higher into the sky.

Wheein’s house was so close to the ocean and yet Hyejin was so far.

“Hey, Wheein?” Hyejin called out. Wheein flinched and fumbled for the hammer as the tool slipped out of her fingers. Hyejin was pleasantly occupied, observing the fisherman juggle the gadget and securing it in her grip, before she continued. “What are you doing?”

Wheein straightened her posture and scouted her surroundings before squinting at Hyejin, removing the nails from . “Don’t be so loud.”

Scoffing, Hyejin ran a hand through her hair. She needed to ask Wheein for something to fix her hair soon. “Someone’s being a hypocrite.”

Wheein rolled her eyes. Hyejin noticed that her bangs dipped and covered part of her eyes when she leaned down.

“I’m fixing the roof before another storm arrives and floods the house,” Wheein elaborated, throwing a teasing smile towards Hyejin. “I know that you might like the idea of swimming freely, but I don’t want to always be in the ocean. I already get enough of that at my job.”

You shouldn’t have built your house in the beach then, Hyejin wanted to say but was cut off when the familiar sound of strikes against the roof arose.

Because she didn’t want to irritate Wheein while she was pegging away, Hyejin spent her time by studying the human. When she pictured a savior sweeping her off and away from danger— which was rare for she was able to fend for herself most of the time— Wheein wasn’t deemed as a possibility. As Hyejin watched her roll up her sleeves and wipe away her sweat under the break of day, she supposed it wasn’t a bad thing. It was a welcome revelation.

When Wheein ceased the construction to touch the blisters on her hand, Hyejin saw it as an opportunity to resume their conversation. “How come you’re repairing your house so early?” she asked. “You have all day.”

“No, not really.” Wheein shook her head while her eyes never left the red hues on her palm. “I plan on carrying back a canoe back to its original owner.”

“A canoe?”

Wheein checked if the nails holding the plank were struck all the way. “It’s what I used to bring you here.”

“Ha!” Hyejin pointed at her. “I knew you couldn’t have carried me all the way.”

Wheein pouted. “I’m fully capable of lugging you around, I carried you inside the bathroom for pete’s sake!” she pressed, her hands moving to express her exasperation. “It was the fastest way and it would have been bad if someone in the village saw me running with a bloody mermaid.”

“If you say so,” Hyejin replied. Wheein huffed because of how skeptical Hyejin sounded.

“Anyway,” Wheein persisted. “After that, I have to hurry and work so you won't be able to see me all day.” Hyejin saw hesitation flash in Wheein’s face and she had a feeling that the latter felt guilty. It was fine.

“Being a fisherman sounds tiring.”

“Well, it is, but I technically have a day off today.” Wheein set down another piece of lumber on the roof and Hyejin’s view of the fisherman was mostly obscured. She was only able to make out the occasional raise of Wheein’s arm as she patched up the roof. Only part of her face was revealed and Hyejin couldn’t deduce what Wheein was feeling now.

“Why would you work during your break?” Hyejin asked. “Don’t you want to rest?”

The racket ceased and Hyejin wished that the gap widened so she could understand Wheein. “It’s fine,” Wheein chirped. “I’ve done this for a long time.”

Another board was banged into place and the gap was filled, Hyejin not having a chance to respond. Hyejin decided to peer through the window, remembering to not open the blinds due to Wheein’s warning, as she listened to the thumps that resounded throughout the house. Despite focusing on the waves that rolled over the shore repeatedly, her mind was on the home of the fisherman rather than where she belonged. She recalled the room she woke up in being devoid of any warmth or personality. She pondered if Wheein usually worked alone.

The sounds stopped and Hyejin began to think she would finally have a peace of mind, feeling the heaviness of her eyelids once more. A bang echoed off the wall opposite of Hyejin and her eyes shot open. “What the hell?” She began to sat up hastily, but winced at the jolts of pain and slowed her movements.

As if on cue, Hyejin heard footsteps down the hall and the door was thrown open to reveal Wheein. Hyejin raised an eyebrow as her eyes darted between the leaves sticking out of Wheein’s black hair and the pile of… something she carried in her arms. However, the fisherman was smiling so she could only smile back. “That’s an attractive getup.”

Wheein blinked in confusion and brought her hand to brush her hair, flushing when a few leaves fell in front of her and were carried to the ground. “Oh, this?” she asked. “This was probably when I…” Wheein turned her head away from Hyejin and the rest of her sentence came out as indecipherable whispers.

“I didn’t hear you, what was that again?” Hyejin asked, partly because she was curious and partly because she was reveling in Wheein’s shy reluctance.

Sighing, Wheein raised her hand and shook out the remaining greens in her hair. “I was climbing down a ladder,” she gritted through her teeth. “But I couldn’t stop thinking about how to keep you occupied— like you can’t just sit in my tub all day with nothing to do— so I ended up slipping and landing on a bush.”

“Oh my god, you were the large bump on the wall?” Hyejin gave her a once-over to see if there were any injuries.

Wheein laughed meekly. “Yeah, that was me. I’m okay though.” She tilted her head at Hyejin’s expression. “What?”

This is the person who saved me, Hyejin thought to herself. If this was an unfortunate occurrence, Hyejin didn’t see it that way. All she thought was how humans were more interesting than she thought. Despite holding herself back, her lip quivered and a laugh spilled from her lips.

“Hey!” Wheein stomped her foot on the tiled floor. “That isn’t something to laugh about, I could’ve gotten hurt.”

“You seem perfectly fine.” Hyejin covered with one hand as she continued to giggle. “Are you always this clumsy?”

“Not always,” Wheein muttered, turning her head to the side.

The grin on Hyejin’s face refused to leave as her eyes trailed lower. “What are you carrying by the way?”

“Oh!” Wheein’s eyes widened and peered down on the materials she held that were unknown to the mermaid, apparently forgetting it. “This is what will occupy you while I’m gone.”

Hyejin raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “How so?”

“I’m glad you asked.” She plopped down in front of the tub to be in the same eye level as Hyejin. Opening one the mysterious items, she scooted closer to where their elbows touched and revealed its contents. Hyejin took in the sights of letters and reached forward. Wheein allowed Hyejin to take it from her and watched as she caressed the words carved inside.

“What is it?” Hyejin asked as she flipped through the work.

“It’s a book,” Wheein explained as Hyejin dangled the book and let the pages flap rapidly. “This town is limited when it comes to entertainment, but we have a lot of stories I think are pretty interesting. You can read, right?”

Hyejin nodded, refusing to tear her eyes away from the book. She was exposed to comprehending words when her mother showed her possessions abandoned by humans with words cut into them. She told her that learning more about humans was the first step to understanding them and ultimately, never be harmed by humans.

And here Hyejin was, perplexed and captured by the book in front of her. She always thought that humans only wrote words to classify and organize. She never imagined they would record stories.

“You sure?” Wheein asked. “You’re not saying yes so I can shut up and leave you alone, right?”

Scoffing, Hyejin rolled her eyes. “Yes, Wheein. I can read most of the words and even the ones I haven’t seen, I can make a guess on what they mean.”

“What does this say?” Wheein interrogated. She pointed to the random page Hyejin left the book on, focusing more on the way Hyejin turned to her with a smirk playing on her lips rather than the novel itself.

“You want me to read this page?” Hyejin asked.

Wheein didn’t like how she emphasized her sentence. “Yes…?”

“Well since you’re so persistent, I might as well.” Hyejin coughed into her hand began to read from the novel. “At this moment, nothing was enough for Seulgi.” Wheein’s eyes widened at the mention of the name. “The hugs, the kisses, it couldn’t make up for the time she lost when she was separated from the one on top of her. She didn’t care if this would come crashing down on her, if this was never meant to be and they couldn’t be together. She just wanted—”

“Okay, I heard enough!” Wheein yelled and lunged for the book. Hyejin lifted the hand that held the book as far away from the fisherman as possible and pressed her hand against Wheein’s plump cheek to keep her at bay. “I’ll get you another book!”

“No way, this is interesting.” Hyejin aimed her attention at the book, but still prevented Wheein from snatching it away. “I didn’t think you would like this sort of thing.”

Groaning, Wheein gave up and backed away from her. The heat in her cheeks along with the memories rushed in all at once. “A long time ago, I was complaining about how bored I’ve been lately and a friend of mine lent me this book, blabbering about how amazing it was. And he was right, but he didn’t mention any of the—”

“Steamy parts?” Hyejin proposed.

Wheein chuckled. “Yes, he never told me about those parts.”

Hyejin looked up and faltered. Wheein’s smile made her eyes squint and soften while a dimple emerged in her left cheek. She didn’t know what to make of that. She ignored the feeling and settled for poking her dimple.

“What was that for?” Wheein cupped her cheek.

She shrugged. “I felt like it.”

“This isn’t the first time that’s happened either,” Wheein whispered offhandedly. She fixated on Hyejin. “So, do you’ll think you’ll be okay with these?” she asked, patting down the stack of paperbacks. “Do you also want me to leave the door open for Ggomo to play with you and keep you company?”

Hyejin scowled. “I’m sure I’ll be alright if I don’t see that creature,” she sneered.

“I told you he’s a cat not a creature,” Wheein retorted. “You make it seem like he’s a five foot giant that intends to tear destroy everything in his path.”

“We both don’t know what he’s truly thinking,” she said.

Wheein sighed. “Fine, I’ll close the door so Ggomo won’t kill you,” she jested. She stood up and made her way through the open doorway. “I’ll get you some food before I leave,” she said before leaving Hyejin alone.

Turning the page, Hyejin sunk deeper in the tub to get comfortable. However, the novel slipped from her grip and landed on the water with a splash. “Oh crap.” She fished the book out, checking the damaged. Well, that answered her internal question of why she never saw a book in its tangible condition.

While most of the words were comprehensible, the exposed sections of the paper began to shrivel. It was one of the things made by humans that didn’t mix with water. It was one of the things that didn’t mix with the way she lived.

______________________________________________________________________________

“Four, five, six,” Yongsun her thumb and skimmed through the bills. “Seven and eight.” She straightened the money and placed it on Wheein’s outstretched hand. “There you go, Wheein!” she said. “This should cover your help on finding the lost canoe.”

Wheein nodded. “Thank you, unnie.” She shoved the currency in her back pocket for safekeeping. Lifting her gaze back up, she was surprised to find Yongsun looking at her in worry with her arms crossed. She resembles a mother, Wheein thought. That’s not good. “Is something wrong?”

“How come you didn’t show up to the restaurant like you said you would?” Yongsun asked. “This isn’t like you, Wheein.”

Wheein winced and her reaction was caught by Yongsun. She knew she forgot something when she was tending to Hyejin, the feeling tugging at her like a hook line, but couldn’t figure out the reason. “I,” she started. “I’m sorry. I was really busy with something and I was really exhausted, so I decided to just rest at home.”

“Overworking yourself.” Yongsun’s face fell. “What were you doing?”

Shaking the image of stitching an unconscious Hyejin and carrying her to the restroom out of her mind, Wheein formed a quick excuse. “I noticed that the canoe was dirty, so I decided to clean it before I returned it.” Technically, it wasn’t a lie. The course of scrubbing away all signs of blood was straining.

“Oh! No wonder Janghyun and I thought it practically shined. You didn’t have to do that, Wheein.”

With a tense laugh, Wheein tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Trust me, I did have to.”

“Well,” Yongsun smiled and Wheein internally relaxed. “We appreciate your help as always. Try to not overdo it though, alright?”

“I’ll be fine, unnie!” Wheein dismissed her worry with a wave of her hand. “I’m tougher than I look.” She didn’t mention how she was planning to take an odd job at the carpenter.

“I’m sure you are, but—” Yongsun paused when she directed her gaze towards the beach. “Who’s that?”

“Huh?” Wheein followed Yongsun’s line of sight and spotted Jinho. He walked by the shoreline, focused on the woman in front of him while keeping his distance. His expression was ambiguous as the woman ambled along with the assistance of a cane. She seemed so fragile. Realization dawned on Wheein. “Oh. That’s only Eunjin.”

“I don’t remember seeing her before,” Yongsun reflected. “Is she new?”

Wheein shook her head. “She’s Jinho’s wife, unnie.”

“What?” Yongsun whipped her head to face Wheein. “He has a wife? I haven’t heard anyone even mention her once since I came though.”

The fisherman hummed, searching for a way to explain the situation to her. “Nobody really talks about her because she isn’t really close to anyone.” Gossip concentrated on Eunjin was scarce, in fear of Jinho eavesdropping. He was respected and cared by everyone, but he had a reputation of being overprotective towards his family. “Well, she used to be friends with all of us, but now she spends her days cooped up inside her house.”

She frowned, reminiscing how bright Eunjin seemed to be when Wheein was younger. “I can’t even remember the last time I saw her outside.”

Yongsun didn’t say anything after that despite having more questions on her mind and the duo watched the couple, Yongsun’s eyes lingering on Eunjin while Wheein fixed on Jinho.

As Wheein observed the man under the dull sky she was accustomed to seeing at this time of day, she was suddenly reminded of the incident with Hyejin. The one that failed in capturing Hyejin was someone she worked with. They must have been close to Jinho to have been given access to a fishing boat.

The idea of approaching Jinho and asking about the ships crossed her mind, but it was released and soon forgotten as she witnessed Eunjin slip in the damp sand and fall to the ground. Wheein’s eyes widened and she stepped forward, but Yongsun grabbed her by the shoulder and held her back before she descended the port. Wheein stared at her, confused.

“They won’t be happy if they discovered that we were watching them in such a… vulnerable state,” Yongsun acknowledged. “We should leave them alone.”

Wheein darted her gaze between the woman in front of her and the couple. “But—” The complaint forming in the back of died as Jinho ran towards Eunjin. He knelt down and his mouth formed words Wheein couldn’t hear, taking hold of Eunjin’s hand and placing it on his scarred cheek. Her boss was known for being benevolent, but Wheein never saw him dejected while helping another. It was as if helping his wife actually made him experience anguish.

Finally getting the point Yongsun was trying to get across, Wheein looked away from the display. She decided to ask Jinho about the boat another day. He had other things to worry about. She had other things to worry about.

______________________________________________________________________________

Wheein let out a yawn as she sauntered down the hall, trying to ease the stress on her shoulders. She wanted nothing more than to fall face first in her bed and blackout until morning came. Of course, she couldn’t do that. Even after she finished work, she had to perform her duties at home. It wasn’t a big deal. It was her decision after all.

After she bribed Ggomo with food to give her attention, Wheein checked up on Hyejin. She left the sight of the woman enraptured in the book and came back to her still nose deep in it. A small smile stretched across her face and for some reason a weight was lifted off her shoulders. She leaned against the doorframe and knocked on the open door. “Hey.”

“Hey yourself,” Hyejin said, refusing to break her concentration on reading.

“I see you’re still caught up on that book,” Wheein noticed.

“Almost finished with it actually.” Hyejin shut the book and set it aside. Wheein’s mouth fell open. “I didn’t want to put it down, but for you I’ll make an exception.”

“Woah!” Wheein pointed at Hyejin. “Um…you don’t look so good.”

Hyejin raised an eyebrow and looked up and down on herself. “No,” she drawled in a sarcastic manner. “I haven’t noticed I was in a bad shape at all. Thanks for telling me.”

“I’m not talking about—” Wheein waved towards Hyejin’s injured tail. “That. I meant that you have bags under your eyes.”

“Oh.” Hyejin reached up to touch her face. “That’s what you were referring to.”

“How much did you sleep last night?” Wheein asked, on edge.

Hyejin shrugged and turned her head to the side. “I didn’t.”

Wheein felt a lot more guilty about fixing her roof early in the morning. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

“Sorry for what?”

“For—” Wheein looked down and crossed her arms. “I made such a racket earlier. I would have put off on repairs if I knew.”

“I won’t blame you for that.” Hyejin closed her eyes and smirked. “However, I will blame you for giving me all those books. I had the chance to sleep all day, but I was tricked into reading a scandalous story. The human world is merciless.”

“Can I ask why you had trouble sleeping last night?” Wheein asked. “Is the tub too hard to sleep on?”

Hyejin smiled at that, her eyelids still shut. “No. I’ve slept in worse conditions, trust me.”

“Then…” Wheein paused. “Is it because something is going to happen to you?”

Silence was the only response. Wheein began to wonder why she tended to make things awkward when they didn’t have to be. “Which is perfectly understandable!” she continued. “I get it if you don’t trust me. Like I may have treated your wounds, but I’m still a stranger that decided to take you to my house… and also pressured you to stay— oh my god I’m sorry I—”

“Wheein.” She froze when Hyejin opened her eyes and was shocked by the intensity in them. “I trust you, okay?”

Blinking once, Wheein’s arms settled on her sides. “Oh…okay.”

Hyejin stared at her for a moment longer before sighing. “I keep thinking about it,” she admitted. “I close my eyes and it’s like I’m still in the storm and the fisherman is still chasing me.”

“You’re having nightmares,” Wheein answered.

Hyejin ran a hand through her hair. “Yeah.”

Wheein frowned, wondering how to solve Hyejin’s predicament. “I’ll be right back.” Before Hyejin could respond, Wheein ran to her room.

“Why is she in such a rush?” Hyejin pondered. A purr nearby caused her to be on guard and she brought her gaze downward. Ggomo mewed in delight when he was noticed. “You,” she hissed. “Don’t even think about coming over here.”

Ggomo made his way to the tub and rubbed against Hyejin’s dangling arm.

“I would throw you again, but Wheein would get mad,” Hyejin grumbled.

“Okay, I’m back!”

Hyejin turned towards the door, tilting her head. No longer wearing a wool cap and overalls, Wheein instead sported a pair of pajamas with a blanket and pillow under her arm. Hyejin found it amusing that the clothing’s design resembled Ggomo’s paws. “You planning to sleep here?”

“Yes, actually.” Wheein dropped her pillow and blanket on the floor. “This way you can always wake me up if you have trouble sleeping. When I was little, that’s how my parents got me to sleep.”

“So I’m being treated like a child now?” Hyejin asked as Wheein shut off the bathroom lights.

“Absolutely not.” Wheein laid her head down on the pillow and rested the blanket over her body. Ggomo stepped away from Hyejin to crawl under the covers. Wheein told herself that the hard floor was beneficial for her back, but couldn’t remember if she learned that piece of information from a book she read or one of the elderly that tried to find remedies for everything. “I’m treating you like any other guest and I have the best sense of hospitality.”

“Why do I get the impression that you haven’t had a lot of people over?” Hyejin teased.

“Hush.” Wheein closed her eyes. “Now go get some sleep.” There was a comfortable silence between them and Wheein began to feel her consciousness blur. Her ears perked up at the sound of moving water.

“Hey, Wheein?” Hyejin sounded soft, but nonetheless determined.

Wheein yawned. “Yeah?”

A beat passed. “Thank you. I never got to tell you that before so I’m doing it now.”

It took a moment for the fisherman to process what she said before smiling.
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[Author's Note]: Hi guys I'm sorry for the late update! I was really busy with school because I had to study for tests for the last two weeks (I recently took a test yesterday actually haha). But I want to let you guys know that I don't plan on giving up on this story! I'll do my best to update more frequently.