DongHae POV
 

Gently, I ran my fingers through the blue hair of the exhausted man next to me who rested his head on my shoulder and slept soundly. I smiled in satisfaction as I twirled a longer strand between my fingers. Cautiously, I leaned forward to look at his face.

He seemed absolutely calm and relaxed. My eyes wandered over his perfect face and eventually got stuck on his full lips. Those lips... Had I really felt those lips on mine last night? I remembered the hesitant touches of our lips and the feeling that they brought me. The mere thought of it made little butterflies appear in my stomach again.

Happy I pulled Hyuk closer to me whereupon he began to grumble quietly. He quickly squinched up his face. Soon his facial features relaxed again and he snuggled himself closer to me. Lovingly I looked down at his sleeping figure and smiled. I his hair again but this time the merman seemed to notice the contact.

Hyuk hesitantly sat up and looked at me with sleepy eyes. Tired, he yawned once before he closed his eyes again and snuggled closer to me. He gently nuzzled his head on my shoulder and then let it rest there without another word. A chuckle escaped my throat as I watch the drowsy merman next to me. My eyes wandered back over his sleeping face and I just couldn't help grinning happily to myself.

After a while I took my eyes off of him and looked around. The bus we were sitting in didn’t have many passengers. When I looked outside, I realized why.
Dark clouds heralded a not so friendly looking day. Yet this unpleasant weather didn't seem to stop some people from the city to go to the beach.

My eyes wandered over the familiar landscape. I recognized the place where we were and immediately knew that it wouldn't take long until we would reach Eurwangni Beach.

Instantly, my stomach clenched in fear. If I could I would have gone back to Seoul with the blue-haired man to spend a wonderful lazy day off with him at my house. I would have liked to keep him away from the looming threat that the salt water was for him. Unfortunately, that wasn't possible.
Not that I haven't tried. When we woke up this morning, I had tried to convince Hyuk to stay at home, but I failed miserably.

I slightly leaned down to the sleeping man next to me and looked at him intently. I didn't want to miss any detail on his face. I wanted to keep him in my memory like this forever. When my eyes landed on his lips again, I leaned even further forward and stole a soft kiss from him.

Slowly I detached my lips from his. I noticed that his eyelids began to flutter and eventually opened hesitantly. Dreamy he looked up at me and clutched himself tightly on me. He closed his eyes and sighed blissfully as he snuggled his head back on my shoulder. I laughed.

"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty", I said, and run gently my hand over his hair.
A low mumble was heard from Hyuk before he nuzzled his head closer to my neck and pretended to not have heard anything.
"Wake up", I said again but it didn't seem to have any effect on the merman. Quietly, he breathed in and out and soon it looked as if he's drifting off to his dreamland again. I sighed and tried to push him off of me, so that he would be forced to open his eyes and wake up. When Hyuk realized what I was up to, he tightened his grip on my hip.

A low chuckle suddenly came to my ears. When I looked down at Hyuk, I noticed how he started smiling to himself while he continued to firmly close his eyes. I grinned and pulled him as tight as I could to me. That finally made Hyuk open his eyes. In desperation, the young merman tried to free himself from my tight grip. After several unsuccessful attempts, he finally succeeded.

"You're awake", I exclaimed joyfully and gently pinched his cheek.
Displeased with my behavior Hyuk started to pout and crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"You're mean!", he said and turned to the window next him.
I smiled and gently his hair which somehow seemed to calm him down immediately. Without noticing it he put his head against my hand, enjoying the soft touch to its fullest. Had he been a cat, he certainly would have started to purr, but instead of that he just closed his eyes in pleasure.

Quickly, he turned back to me and leaned himself on me. Without hesitation, I put my right arm around him and pulled him closer to me. Hyuk immediately responded and snuggled up to me. Another blissfully sigh escaped his throat.
I wanted to lean down to him again when the driver announced that we soon would reach our final destination. Disappointed, I let myself fall against the uncomfortable seat and thereby earned a questioning look from Hyuk. I gave him a quick smile and then glanced outside. Only a few meters were laying between us and the station.

My heart was heavy at the thought that I might lose that wonderful merman by my side in a few hours. I quickly shook my head in hope to dispel those bad thoughts again, but it's was like trying to get blood from a stone.

"Hae-yah?", I heard Hyuk whisper beside me which made my head turn towards him.
I saw how Hyuk slowly moved towards me. A few seconds later I felt how he put his plump lips on mine. Hesitantly, he moved his lips against mine and waited for me to response. I immediately returned the kiss. Hyuk smiled happily into the kiss. Instantly I tightened my embrace. I sighed with pleasure and tried to deepen our kiss.

I didn’t care if the people, who also went to the beach, saw us or not. Right at this moment only Hyuk and I mattered. Nothing else. I wanted him to be with me forever.

When Hyuk reluctantly pulled away, I felt how the bus began to slow down. Through the window I could already see the bus stop. Saddened by the sight of the little station I looked at Hyuk, who was slightly red around his nose, and informed him that we would arrive soon. Determined nodded the young merman and smiled at me encouragingly.

"Everything will be all right. I promise"

One last time I pulled the young merman closer before we got up and left the bus together with a few other passengers.

Hyuk clung himself tightly on me. Happily I put my right arm around his waist to help him to get off the bus. Hyuk smiled gratefully at me. For a second he didn’t pay attention to his steps and began to stumble slightly. Immediately I tightened my grip on him and helped him find his balance again.

Hyuk blushed furiously. He apologized for his clumsiness and thereby lowered his head. I smiled at him, lifted his head with my free hand and gave him a hasty kiss on his nose. Shy Hyuk pressed himself closer to me and tried to hide his now tomato-red head from me.

For a while we just stood there and enjoyed the closeness of each other. When Hyuk had calmed himself down again, he looked up at me. Intuitive I leaned forward and gave him a light kiss on his forehead. Briefly he closed his eyes and began to slightly nestle his head against my chest.

When he opened his eyes again, he finally took a look at our surrounding. With a nod and big pleading eyes, he indicated me that he would like to walk a few steps. I immediately consented to his request and went with him to the nearest staircase that leads to the beach. As we arrived at the first step I stopped walking, so Hyuk could take a look at the sea in its full glory from the top of the hill.

With his mouth half-open, Hyuk looked at his former home. Seagulls swirled in the air and circled over the beach as well as some small part of the water in hope to finding something edible. The roaring waves sounded somehow threatening and yet melodic in my ears. The smell of salt water came through the wind to our noses. Hyuk closed his eyes joyfully and sniffed in the air.

"Do you smell that?", he asked quietly, and slightly began to smile.
He seemed happy. However, I wasn’t able to smile. In my mind I was already in the future. Fear shot through me by the mere thought of him... becoming foam. Although my little merman had tried to persuade me that everything would go well and assured me that he didn’t believe that it would actually happen, I was afraid. What if he was wrong? He didn’t make it to Australia and I don’t think that he found what he was looking for here in Korea. How could he still smile at the sight of the sea that... would bring death?

"Hae-yah?", Hyuk asked quizzically as he watched me with joyful eyes.
I took a deep breath and forced myself to smile. When Hyuk pointed with his finger on the horizon, I followed the direction he was pointing at with my eyes. Far away, a small boat rocked slowly back and forth on the water. I questioningly looked down at the blue-haired man.

"Can we try that?", he asked me with big pleading eyes.
I laughed and ruffled his hair. Amused I told him that we didn’t have a boat to set sails with, which made Hyuk pout slightly.
"But I want to try that. It looks funny", he softly said, whereupon I pulled him closer to me to hug him. After a while we decided to continue walking and cautiously went down to the beach.

Hyuk didn’t pay much attention to the steps in front of him. He fully trusted me that I look after him and would catch him if he would fall. A task that I gladly accepted.
Again and again his eyes wandered to the boat on the water and then back to me. Several times he tried to say something but then decided not to do so. I clearly saw how much he wanted to get on a boat to see his world from a different angle. Sadly I wasn’t able to rent a boat. Not that there would have been any boat rental place nearby anyways. At least there were none that I would have known of.

When we arrived at the white sanded beach Hyuk started to eye every little tiny thing on the sandy place with interest. He carefully took one step after the other. Fascinated he observed how his feet slightly sank in with each step. Joyfully he began to laugh. He loosened his grip on me and tried to walk a few steps on his own. As he wasn’t used to walk on a sandy ground, it didn’t take long until he lost his balance and fell.

I immediately rushed to his side to help him getting up again. With a joyful smile greeted me the petite man but when I wanted to pull him up, the merman made himself extra heavy and pulled me to the ground. Laughing Hyuk crawled to me and laid himself down next to me. Without hesitation, I pulled him into my arms and enjoyed the warmth radiating from him and the sand.

"That feels great", Hyuk said and squeezed himself closer to me.
I nodded and enjoyed the closeness we were sharing. I wished that this moment would last forever, but the thought of the impending kept me from fully enjoying the moment.

"It's not too late. We can still turn back if you want. If you don’t go into the sea..."
"Whether I go in there or not doesn’t matter. But should I really... you know... I’d rather be in the sea”, he said while staring steadily at the dark clouds above us.
My heart sank at his words. So… Had he only said those good sounding words to me in the bus as well as at home, to calm me down? My breathing was suddenly going faster when fear overcame me. I wouldn’t to be strong enough to lose someone again that meant so much to me. I probably wouldn't be able to get over it again.

"Don’t worry, everything will be fine. I am sure of it. The voice of the sea protects his charges. It would never...", he began, but made no attempt to finish his sentence.
I took