"Don't go too far!" Yunho yelled at her, "Dad is going to get mad you!"

HyunAe just giggled, "As long as I stay within the kingdom he said!" She shouted back at him.

Yunho shook his head, "Aishh, this girl. Yah! Be back before the sun sets!" He said.

She waved her hand at him dismissively, acknowledging that she heard him before swimming away.

"Seohyun is going to be waiting for you!" He reminded her.

But she was a tiny shadow that disappeared.

HyunAe swam freely, looking at the fish around here, and they smiled at her, greeting her as they often did when she swam past.

"Where are you going, Princess?" A flounder asked her.

"I don't know, I want to explore and see things!" She said excitedly.

"Don't go past the borders!" The fish reminded her.

"Arasseo..." She replied, swimming away.

She continued to swim forward as she tried to get as close to the border as possible, she couldn't go past it but she could stay around it.

It was there that she found many new coral and fish she had never seen before, so colorful, something completely different. They spoke to her a deeper, rougher voice, compared to the refined fish that stayed around the castle.

"Don't go out of that boundary, Princess. Once you do, everyone will know." A crab warned her.

"Does my Father really have that much power?" She asked them.

"Yes. So please be careful. We don't need him angry, right?" He told her.

"Yes, I understand." HyunAe replied to him.

HyunAe stayed there for hours, talking with the fish and picking random objects just to observe them.

There was no such thing as junk to her, everything was a treasure. Everything had a place it belonged and that's how she always thought of it.

Without her realizing it, the sun had begun to set and she wasn't heading home yet. She picked up another object and realized it was a hallowed out shell.

"This must be when they changed!" She said excitedly.

She turned left and right, expecting the dishes to be there but they had gone. Only then did she see everyone was heading to their respective homes, and the fishes had gone back to their families.

She was alone.

"Yong Hwa! Get inside! It's late!" A lady shouted.

"Ye, umma." Yong Hwa called after her, swimming towards his house when the swish of pure white distracted him.

He turned to his left and HyunAe turned away immediately after, he saw her long black locks and anyone could recognize her tail color anywhere.

"Umma, give me a second!" Yong Hwa yelled out.

He swam up in front of her and smiled, "Princess, are you lost?" He asked her.

HyunAe turned to him slightly, before blushing at his built body. It wasn't as if she had never seen a merman before, but he was more defined than the ones back at the castle.

She turned away and simply nodded, "I came out exploring, and I was supposed to return home before the sun set. But I lost track of time." She explained.

He held out his hand to her, "My name is Yong Hwa. Everyone must be worried about you." He said sweetly.

"Do you know the way back?" She asked him excitedly, finally giving him a full view of her face.

He nodded, "Would you like me to lead you back to the castle?" He asked her, gesturing at his hand again.

She took it immediately, feeling the rough callouses on his palms. He noticed how much softer her hands were compared to hers, as well as how much smaller.

"I need to tell my umma that I'm escorting you back to the castle. Then we can go, okay?" He told her.

She nodded shyly, letting him lead her towards his house.

They stayed outside the front door and he smiled at her again. "Umma!" He called out.

An older woman came towards them and looked at him, "Yonghwa! I told you come inside." She scolded him, before noticing HyunAe at his side. "Ahhh.. Princess, how are you?" She greeted nicely.

HyunAe gave a small bow to her with a smile.

"Umma, she's lost. I'm gonna take her back to the castle." Yong Hwa told his mother.

She stared at HyunAe before shaking herself out of it, "Ahhh... Nehhh.. Arasseo." She waved goodbye before going back into the house.

Yong Hwa turned to HyunAe, "Let's go." He said, squeezing her hand and pulling her towards the castle.

She stared at him as they swam next to each other, the way his muscles rippled with each flick of his tail and the color as well.

His hair was black just like hers, but his tail was a mix of colors. Blue and red, but the purple they made when mixed together was dark enough to look dark blue.

He smiled at her, every time he caught her staring, she just blushed and gave him a shy smile back.

He held her hand the whole time as they swam back towards the shining castle. "Almost there, Princess." He told her when the light started to grace his features.

He lit up to her, she noticed that every feature she had seen in the dark, looked much better in the light.

They were approaching the gates and HyunAe found herself slowing down as they swam closer.

Yong Hwa felt it and came to a complete stop, "What's wrong, Princess?" He asked her.

She shook her head, there was no way she could tell him that the reason why she was reluctant to go back was because that meant he would be gone. That would be selfish of her to say that.

"Oh, are you worried about the King being angry with you? I'm sure he just wants you safe." Yong Hwa assured her.

She gave a small nod, to agree with him. At least she could tell him this, he wouldn't question her again.

"Come on, I think they're worried." He told her, nodding towards the castle.

She gave a small sigh and they moved closer, but they moved slowly. He constantly smiled at her now to assure her everything would be okay.

"She's back!!"

Author's Note;
I hope you like it~ :)
enjoy ^^V