DongHae POV

"We're almost there," I said to the semi-dormant merman who I piggybacked for almost an hour now.
Wearily leaned Hyuk his head on my shoulder and tightened his grip with his arm around my neck to avoid falling off of me. Immediately I told him to loosen his grip as it got really hard to breathe normally with him clinging on me like this. It worked... for a short while.
As sooner as the Merman loosened his grip slightly, he immediately tightened it again after a few meters. Again I told him to stop clinging so tightly on me as I also needed air to breathe.

"Hyuk-ah," I said in an admonishing tone and slightly out of breath to which the young merman only began to yawn tired. I sighed and tightened my grip on his legs to push him higher. The sudden upward movement woke the merman up from his doze immediately. Almost instantly he clung himself even tighter to me. Once again I warned the blue-haired man. He immediately understood and loosened his grip instantly.

"I'm sorry," he said embarrassed and buried his face in my neck. I felt how his warm breath tickled my neck and left a delightful warmth on my skin. I swallowed loudly once. I wanted to tell him that he should stop doing that, but those words didn't want to come out of my mouth.

I silently carried the young man through the crowded streets of Myungdong. I noticed how some passersby stared at us curiously, and occasionally whispered something to the person next to them. The words they said didn't came to my ears because of the loud music of the many cosmetics shops next to us, but based on the eyes they were giving us they seemed not very pleased about our appearance.

A silent sigh escaped my throat. That sigh didn't escape me unnoticed. As sooner as the barely audible sound had left my mouth, I felt how Hyuk started to move on my back. Slowly he leaned forward to be able to see my face.
"Is something wrong? I really tried to not cling so tightly on you again", I heard the young man on my back say worriedly. I smiled and shook his head slightly. Visibly relieved, the blue-haired merman nestled himself on me again. I felt how he relaxed a little. A quick glance at his face told me that he had closed his eyes. The young man didn't sleep though. Nevertheless, not much was missing until he would find his way to his dream land. A soft smile crept onto my face as I watched the relaxed facial features of the young man.

I tried to walk as slowly and gently as possible, so that the merman was able to fall asleep. To my surprise, I managed that quite well. Throughout the rest of the way to Namdemun hardly anyone bumped into me. I also managed to open the door and climb the stairs to my little attic apartment without any major problems. As I stood in front of my apartment door, I looked again at the young man's relaxed face. He still had his eyes closed. It almost seemed as if he had fallen asleep on the way, but his breathing betrayed him. Too restless and too fast moved his chest against my back.

I carefully pulled out the key to the front door and slowly turned it in the lock. A faint click told me that the door was unlocked now. Immediately I turned the handle and opened the door. Without hesitation, I walked to my bed and tried as gentle as possible to lay the young man on the soft mattress. An undertaking that already threatened to fail from the start. When Hyuk realized that I wanted to free his arms around my neck, he clung himself even tighter on me. I soothingly over his arms. This showed its effect on him... but only for an instance. Nevertheless, I use the short time to lose his grip and gently put him on my bed.

Hyuk grumbled something under his breath and opened his eyes briefly, but soon closed them again and forced himself to rest. A short break, the young merman urgently needed. Throughout the day he had held himself bravely on his legs. He wanted to even see a few other animals from other regions and even dared to do his first steps on his own. Although he ended up landing quite hard on the ground, he seemed to be really happy with his result.

The young merman turned to the side and calmly began to doze. I smiled gently and pulled out a thin blanket with which I covered him. Immediately took the young man the thin fabric and wrapped it tightly around him. His breathing started to calm down very quickly. It would not take long until he would finally fall asleep.

A long strand had fallen into his face while he turned himself. Hesitantly, I brushed the strand of hair away from his face and let my hand rest on his soft hair for a while. Surprised, I pulled away from him when I felt how the young man nuzzled his head like a cat on my palm in his sleep.

Thoughtful I looked at the blue-haired man. Was KiBum right? Does Hyuk really look like my HyukJae? Although I now looked at him more closely, I couldn't see any resemblance between those two. Neither physically nor when it comes to character did he resemble my HyukJae. Was KiBum imagining things? It looks like it. Who else knows HyukJae better than I do? I would have immediately seen the resemblance.

I abruptly stood up and walked into the kitchen. There I leaned against the work surface and put my head back slightly to leaned it on the closet cupboard door. My mind was racing. HyukJae as well as Hyuk made my thoughts spin endlessly. Especially the behavior of the merman this afternoon occupied my thoughts. He had the best mood all afternoon. Not even once had the sad thoughts returned to him. At least it had looked like that to me.

A loud rumbling in my stomach tore me away from my thoughts. Embarrassed, I put my hands on my growling stomach and glanced over to the bed, where the merman was sleeping. The young man didn't seem to have heard anything. Relieved, I took a deep breath. Unfortunately, my stomach didn't seem to have meant it well for me as it let the same unpleasant sound appear once again.

I immediately filled my rice cooker and let a new portion of rice cook. I took some vegetables and even the last remnants of the meat that I had bought two days ago out of the fridge and laid it on the work surface. I looked at the amount of vegetables and meat and try to consider whether this would be enough for two people or not. It will be a tight squeeze, but it could be enough for both of us.

As noiselessly as possible I tried to cut the vegetable and the pork in stripes to fry them later in the only pan I own. Unfortunately my gas stove didn't want to play that game. Loud clicking sounds of the lighter echoed through the apartment. When finally fairly decent flames appeared, I threw a quick glace back to the living room. Hyuk seemed to be completely unaware of what's happening around him. Relieved, I exhaled and began to roast the meat as well as the vegetables over the fire. Soon a delicious spicy fragrance filled the room. The smell of food made my stomach growl again. I didn't give any attention to it. I rather concentrated myself on frying everything evenly.

A loud crash finally pulled me out of my concentration and made me look up from the pan. Hyuk was laying only a few feet from the bed away on the floor. The fact that he just fell didn't seem to bother him at all. His eyes were closed while he raised his nose and sleepily sniffed the air. I smiled and rushed to help him get up again.
"That smells good. What is it?", he asked, gesturing with his finger to the pan, which I had supervised a few seconds ago. I told him that he would see what it is in a few minutes. I guided him back to my bed and turned the TV on for him. Confused, the young man looked from the TV-screen to me and blinked a few times. I smiled at him and handed him the remote control. Immediately I began to explain to him what button for what was, but Hyuk didn't seem to understand what I was trying to tell him. With big inquiring eyes he was looking at me. He was about to ask me something when an acrid smell of smoke got to my nose.

I quickly turned back to the kitchen and saw how a light black veil came out of the pan. Cursing, I ran up to the smoking thing and began to stir in its content. Although most of the vegetables were OK they didn't seem very usable anymore. I picked one vegetable stick up and took a bite. Disgusted I pulled a face and let the rest of the stick fall into the pan again.
I sighed and put the pan into the washing trough and began to scour my fridge once again. Nothing useful could be found there. With another sigh, I closed the refrigerator and grabbed my phone to order something. Although my wallet would be against it, I needed something to eat. Now! He surely could use some food too.

I dialed the confided number and walked out of the kitchen into the living room. My gaze wandered to Hyuk. I froze in shock. Someone from the delivery service picked the phone up, but I ended the phone call without even saying a word.
The young merman held a framed picture in his hand and looked at it. Interest was glittering in his eyes. I quickly walked up to him and snatched the picture from his hand. I let my eyes wander over the old photograph. A stone-large lump formed itself in my throat and made it difficult for me to breathe. It was the photo that was taken just after HyukJae and I became a couple. My fingers ran over the glass where his face was visible.

"Who is that?", Hyuk asked curiously while leaning forward, trying to look at the picture again.
My eyes still lingered on the picture. Lost in the moment and captured by a piece of paper, I sat down beside him and clutched the frame tightly.

"This is HyukJae," I said slowly and with difficulty.
Hyuk didn't seem to notice my tone. Curious, he leaned toward the frame and then looked up at me.
"Is he a good friend of yours? Can I meet him too?", he asked and looked at me hopefully. I smiled bitterly and tightened my grip on the frame even more.

"That won't be possible. HyukJae died in a boating accident three weeks ago", I said drily. I didn't want to talk more about it, but Hyuk peppered me with further questions.
"Is that the one your friend was talking about? The one who supposed to look like me?", he asked whereupon I was staring at him questioningly. He had heard that? That was impossible; we were standing too far away from him.

I was dwelling on my thoughts until I noticed how Hyuk still looked at me quizzically. I nodded slowly which caused the merman to eye the photo again.
"He means a lot to you. Am I right? How did you meet?", he asked curiously. To my own surprise a smile drew itself on my face by the mere thought of HyukJae and how we met. I was reluctant to tell a stranger something as personal as this. I was about to put away the frame and pick up the phone to order us something to eat when Hyuk stopped me from doing so by gently holding me back by my arm.
"Please tell me", he pleaded and looked at me with big puppy eyes. I sighed and was about to refuse again, but something in me didn't allow it. I nodded briefly and reaped soon after an exclamation of joy by the blue-haired man who now no longer looked sleepy.

"HyukJae belonged to one of the most respected families here in Seoul. He had money and reached everything he had set his mind on. No matter how harebrained his ideas were, he always thought it would be worth a try. When I met him... I thought that he was playing with people and their feelings. I had heard a lot about him and that's why my prejudices against him were huge", I told him haltingly.
"Then you... didn't like him?", Hyuk asked and cocked his head.

I laughed.
"In the beginning I didn't. I couldn't stand him at all. He had set his mind of getting to know me. Suddenly he was everywhere I was. He came to the same university, rented a flat close by. I found that extremely annoying and uncomfortable. One thing you had to leave him; he had stamina. No matter how many times I rejected him, he came back the next day to ask me out again. The funny thing is that I had fallen gradually for him without realizing it. I was not aware of my own feelings, until one day he stopped asking me out", I told him and started to laugh shortly before I continued my story.

"He started to ignore me and to take care of other people. That was the day when it struck me. Throughout the day I had been watching him, waiting for that he would still come over to me. He had kept an eye on me during the day therefore he had noticed my reaction and the looks I gave him. On the same evening he was standing in front of my door and dragged me out to his boat so we could talk in peace. Kind of ironic, that the place where we got together and the place that has torn us apart are the same."
Sadly I looked at the floor and tried to recover the smile that had disappeared at the end of the story.

Only when suddenly two arms wrapped around me, I looked up. Hyuk had noticed how m