Part III

The lake supposedly was beautiful. Taemin from centuries was listening to people extolling the lake's transparent water, colourful fishes living in it, or admirable surroundings. Lake drew to itself residents of nearby towns who liked to spend time by the lake with family, or treated it like perfect place for a date with beloved person. Young people often were spending time by the lake with their friends throwing a parties or simply enjoying time on the fresh air. Lake also drew to itself huge amounts of tourists allured by the legends told about the lake. 

Taemin was watching all of those people, sometimes with curiosity, watching how throughout the centuries their habits and behaviours were changing, sometimes with jealousy because him, even if still somehow alive, wasn't part of their world, and never could be. Taemin knew that witch wanted to do something good when she was casting a spell on him, however her spell turned out to be a lot worst curse, for a boy who used to was young master Taemin, than lack of love in his life. 

Taemin spend next years and next decades waiting for the right girl to show up and make his heart bit faster, he waited vainly. The legend said about beautiful girl trapped in the lake, not a boy. A very few women that came to the lake shore were completely uninterested by the legend, or weren't interesting for him. 

After Jonghyun's appearance Taemin gained new hope than maybe after almost two hundred years of waiting and being imprisoned he will finally regain his freedom. With every new candidate he get to know, this hope decreased. 

Taemin used different methods, sometimes he tried to almost force himself to love, sometimes he was watching candidates blankly, deciding that whatever gonna happen he doesn't have any influence on that. Non of this methods worked. Taemin was slowly growing to accept that his fate was to rot in lake's waters forever, always watching other people having what he couldn't have. 

Last hope died in him during that day when Jonghyun told him that he already meet all of his friends. Taemin felt like sitting down and crying, because some part of him always believed that one of candidates will move something in his heart. Taemin came to the conclusion that he's cursed, that apparently he had done something so horrible in his life that he didn't deserved to love. Apparently what was provided for him was eternal loneliness, eternal disappointment and eternal suffering. 

By following nights after announcing sad news Jonghyun was still coming to the lake shore, but Taemin never felt like seeing him. He was hiding in the depths of the lake listening to the Jonghyun's voice calling out his name. 

It wasn't Jonghyun he was angry at, and it wasn't Jonghyun who disappointed him, he had done it all by himself, he himself was one big failure, yet some part of him wanted to punish someone else for all failures that happened to him during his long life. 

Jonghyun was first person from almost two centuries with who he had a chance to talk longer than for few minutes, his relationship with Jonghyun was first one from decades to which he was sure that next day will also be true. That's why for Taemin is was first time from ages when he could umbrage at someone, refuse to see that person and be sure that he'll hear requests asking him to come out from his hiding. 

Somehow sadness visible on Jonghyun's features when he still wasn't coming out was making him feel better, because it made him feel like after all those years he again has someone who cared about him. 

"I'm sorry Taemin, I'm really sorry." Jonghyun's voice sounded almost like whines of the little puppy who you denied joint fun, when he was apologising to Taemin again and this time lake-boy gave up. 

"It's not your fault Jonghyun, you don't need to apologise." Taemin said mercifully, sitting above the water few meters from Jonghyun who was standing on the shore with worried expression. 

"If you understand that's not my fault why did you avoid