Binhwan | Mermaid AU | Slight Angst | Recovery

He did it again, he ran away.

Ran away from the shouts, the broken glasses, the tears rolling down the cheeks, the pain.

His mother and his father never cared.

He was a mistake.

He forgot how to cry, forgot how to smile.

He had no friend, not even a family.

He was alone. He was empty.

His steps lead him to the only spot he knew, the sea side.

He sat there, on the white sand, chin lift up to look at the bright moon.

The view was breathtaking tonight.

A hundred stars glowed in the dark sky, their glimmer reflecting on the moving surface of the water. The waves tenderly crushed against the cliff, the slow melody brushing his ears like a relaxing spell.

He thought a million time about jumping from the cliff which standed high enough to help him end his struggles. In his selfish thinking, he never thought someone could have had the same idea. So when his eyes caught the frail figure balancing at the sharp edge, his heart jumped in his chest. Like in slow motion, he saw the body leaning more and more toward the fall. As the stranger's feet left the rock, a shout remained blocked in his throat. His ears lately heard the splashing sound made whenever an object met the water and he fell back on his , knees suddenly weak and giving up. Without even realizing, he'd stood up to get a better view.

That's it ? he thought, A life ended in a split of seconds ?

The scenery remained dull for a while.

He was still shocked when his eyes were trapped by the water now shining with a strange gold color around the area where the body hit the liquid.

Only a second later, a big fish tail slapped the water and the halo of light started to move around freely as if it was animated with glee.

He must have been dreaming, right ?

It was past 2AM and he'd been sitting here for almost two hours watching the creature swimming and having fun all by itself. It sometimes came back to the surface to giggle cutely and Hanbin could only find himself with a smile stretching his lips. How could something, or someone, be this happy only by being in the water ?

It was pleasant to watch. The bluish black of the sky and the sea, the glinting silver of the stars and their reflections, and the pure gold ..

He was amazed, hypnotized.

The waves' sound faded slowly as the horizon began to show off a slightly lighter color. The creature disappeared behing a rock and Hanbin got up to follow it.

He remembdered the black hair shining with a metallic blue-green shade, the white skin and its rose-gold glittering, the golden tail ..

But the small boy standing in front of him with his eyes rounded by surprise was a mere human, certainly beautiful and probaly worth him giving up on his soul, but a mere human.

He'd lost all his magic.

"Please, keep it as a secret .." the stranger almost whispered, fear making his voice shake a little.

"What's your name ?" he asked.

" .. Jinhwan."

And Hanbin nodded.

Did he only have to fall in love with a mermaid to forget about his emptiness ?