‘Hey… Why don’t you come out of the water?’ The boy asked the girl who was swimming around him. ‘I can’t, my dad doesn’t let me out of the water. But when I’m old enough, I’ll get to go up to the surface.’ ‘I’ll wait for you then. It’s a promise.’ He linked his little finger with the girl’s.

‘Tao! Sweetie, where are you? It’s dinner time!’ The little boy’s mother called for him. The girl hid under the waves, fearing that she would see her. ‘Who were you talking to, honey?’ She kissed his forehead. ‘Nobody, I want to sit here for a while. Can I, mum?’ ‘Alright, come back in before 7PM.’ His mother then went back to the house.

‘Phew… That was close. You know, I wish I can bring you back home with me… We can play all day, you can come meet my friends and we’ll play with them too!’ ‘I want to but I can’t…’ The girl trailed off, a sad look in her eyes. ‘It’s getting darker, I have to go back in… I’ll see you tomorrow before I go back then.’ The boy gave a peck on her cheeks and waved at her before he entered his house.

But tomorrow never came.

The boy and his family had left earlier than expected because of an emergency, he never got to say goodbye to her. He never met her again and soon, she was forgotten. Just another happy memory stored at the back of his mind as he grew up.

Twenty years later…

‘Hey Tao! Let’s go to the beach!’ His friend Kyungsoo whooped as he broke into Nicki Minaj’s Starship. ‘Alright, alright, calm yo , dude.’ He said annoyed that his friend kept singing the same song over and over again. ‘Come on man, its’ summer! Let’s go already! We can hit on some babes there! Who knows? You might even end up dating one of them!’ His other friend, Jongdae joined in as well.

‘Ah jeez! You guys are so frickin’ annoying!’ He yelled, ruffling his blond hair and packed his essentials before starting the engine. ‘Are you guys happy now? Goddamn… I swear, you’re even worse than my sister when she’s on sugar rush hype mode!’ Kicking in the gear, the trio then set off towards the beach.

Both Jongdae and Kyungsoo gave wolf whistles at the sight of so many girls clad in skimpy bikinis, showing off their curves and revealing tons of skin. ‘Let’s go somewhere where it’s not crowded as hell.’ He said and strutted off, leaving the duo behind to catch up to him.

It’s been a long time since he last came here, smelling the salty air brought him down memory lane. His parents owned a beach house here so it was convenient for him if he wanted to stay here for a few days. It was hot and he dove into the sea’s welcoming embrace, letting the water soak his skin and fight the heat. He swam deeper and further into the open sea, without realizing it, he was already too far away from the shore.

Someone yelled ‘Shark!’ and he began to panic as he turned around to see a large shark fin heading his way fast. ‘! ! !’ He cursed, trying to swim faster. His energy depleted but he was still nowhere near to the shore and he was starting to drown, he never thought that he would end up as a shark’s dinner as his heart pounded furiously in his chest.

Waiting for the sharp jaws to snap him up, he suddenly heard a beautiful voice speaking to him as if singing. ‘Tao…’ He heard his name being called out by that melodious voice. Someone kissed him and forced air into his lungs. Miraculously, he could open his eyes in the salty water and breathe like a fish.

In front of him, he saw a beautiful girl wrestling against the shark. She had the upper half of a human but the lower half of a fish, her shiny silvery-blue scales glinting in the sunlight. The girl was dressed like a warrior, she has a sword by her side and has markings on her back. She seemed to be communicating with the shark as she saw opening and closing, it then swam away. All this is too much for Tao to absorb and he out.

He woke up in his own house on the couch, his friends must’ve carried him in. The pressure from the deep water still lingered in his head, causing him to have immense headache. ‘Hey, how are you feeling? We were worried as hell when we saw you got pulled under the water, we tried to get help and tried finding you but we found you under the docks by the far end of the shore. Whoever saved you must’ve been a daredevil. We thought the shark got you, mate!’ Jongdae patted his back.

I’ve seen that face before… He thought to himself. ‘I’m gonna go take a walk, gotta clear my head.’ ‘Right, just get back before midnight. Dinner’s on the table, Soo made some food.’ He gestured towards the kitchen and went upstairs. When his friend was gone, he put on his hoodie and ran to the sea.

‘(F/N)! If you can hear me, please show yourself!’ He yelled into the darkness before him. There was nothing after waiting for a few minutes and he started to walk away disappointed. ‘I’m here…’ He heard your voice. He ran back over to you and was on the verge of crying, it’s been such a long time after all.

‘It really is you… You look different…’ He stared at your features, crouching on the sand to prevent his pants from getting wet. ‘Different…?’ A puzzled look was spread on your face. ‘You look more… Beautiful…’ He trailed off, his hand making his way to your hair that was decorated with silver streaks and adorned with exquisite shells.

‘I waited for you every single day here at dawn but you never came. Until today.’ ‘I’m so sorry I broke my promise, I couldn’t see you because I had to leave for an emergency.’ He held your face lovingly. ‘It’s fine. It couldn’t be helped anyway.’ You smiled at him. ‘I made you wait for twenty years, why aren’t you mad at me or something?’ You gave him a small laugh as you replied him. ‘Well, even back when we were only children, I couldn’t stay mad at you for long.’

‘What are you doing?’ You asked him as he went deeper and inspected your tail. ‘, you’re bleeding! Why didn’t you say it just now?!’ Your blue coloured blood seeped out of your wounds because of the shark bite. ‘It’s fine. I heal fast.’ You reassured him but he doesn’t believe you. He looked into your eyes again and his gaze trailed down to your soft and inviting lips, it made him thought about what happened earlier.

‘Uhh… Hey, why did you kiss me…?’ Tao was blushing hard when he asked and earned a chuckle from you as you answered him. ‘Tao, we used to do that a lot when we were kids. My kiss allows you to see, breathe and move fast underwater like a fish. I took you to the deepest parts of the ocean where no human has ever been to before, it seems you’ve forgotten.’ You crossed your arms.

You and Tao chatted happily about the past after he bandaged your wound, he was glad that his friends had forced him to come to the beach. He was reluctant to let you leave when you had to go back but just like when you were kids, he gave you a peck on your cheek and watched you dive back into the sea and swim into the distance, your silver scales disappearing like stars swallowed by the night.

For the next few days, you and Tao would meet up at night and chatted until dawn. Sometimes, you would pop up during the afternoon and saw that he was talking to a few girls, you were envious of them because they have legs and you don’t. You just watched him from afar, there was nothing else you could do aside from watching.

One night, he saw you sitting on the shore as the waves lapped against your tail. ‘What are you thinking about?’ He sat next to you, so close that you could feel his heat radiating off him. ‘What does it feel like to have legs? I’ve been wanting to ask this for so long but it just slipped off my mind.’ Tao thought for a while before giving his answer.

‘Well, it’s like us humans wonder how it feels like to have tails for legs. Personally, I think it’d be awesome if I could discover what’s hidden beneath the sea. I could swim far without having to pop up the surface for air. I guess having legs makes you be able to climb trees, run, kick stuff and helps you balance.’ You nodded, listening attentively to every word he said and imagined yourself having legs instead of a fish tail.

‘Do you still sing like you used to?’ You were caught by surprise with that question. ‘No, I stopped after you left.’ ‘Why?’ Tao begin to feel guilty that he left you, it wasn’t of his own accord but he still felt that it was his fault. ‘Because I have no one to sing to.’ Came the reply, you were staring at the water and hugging your tail.

‘I’m here now. Will you sing to me again like you did?’ You looked up at him again and cleared your throat. ‘Don’t laugh at me if it’s a little off.’ ‘I won’t.’ He flashed a toothy grin, the one that you loved so much. You begin to sing a song that you've heard the humans played on the beach.

Now we're staring at the ceiling
You're so pretty when you're mad
All that I can hear is breathing
Aah-aah-aah-aah-aah, aah-aah-aah-aah-aah
And we're stuck inside the silence
In a cold cold war
We're too proud to say we're sorry
Aah-aah-aah-aah-aah, aah-aah-aah-aah-aah

Right now it feels like we're bleeding
So deep that we might not get back up
Our words will tear through the surface
Like a paper, like a papercut
Right now I don't know why I love you
But by the morning when we wake up
I'll reach for you and remember
It was just a paper, just a papercut

I find refuge in a distance
Even when we're breaking down (down, down, down, down)
Can't we pause it just for one kiss
Aah-aah-aah-aah-aah, aah-aah-aah-aah-aah
Cause I never meant to hurt you
And I know you feel the same
Still the only one I run to
Aah-aah-aah-aah-aah, aah-aah-aah-aah-aah

Right now it feels like we're bleeding
So deep that we might not get back up
Our words will tear through the surface
Like a paper, like a papercut
Right now I don't know why I love you
But by the morning when we wake up
I'll reach for you and remember
It was just a paper, just