*Four months later*

          Four months had passed since Donghae had returned to the ocean and Eunhyuk hadn’t been himself ever since he left. The blonde only left his apartment once a month to collect groceries, other than that, he stayed inside and curled up on the couch, watching TV. Sometimes he’d go down to the beach and walk along the shoreline with his feet kicking at the water. Eunhyuk would look out at the horizon and allow tears to fall down his cheeks as he thought of Donghae. He gripped at the fish charm necklace the merman had gotten him for the previous Christmas, and felt his heart pound fast. “Donghae,” he muttered to the waves. At night, he would lie in bed and imagine Donghae lying next to him, sleeping in his arms, but then wake up and realize he was alone still. Sometimes he’d walk into his bathroom and expect to see Donghae soaking in the bathtub, but the white tub remained empty.

          One afternoon, Eunhyuk was curled up in his living room watching it storm outside. The strong winds and violent rain made Eunhyuk nervous as he watched the waves rise and crash against the shore, hoping that Donghae was safe wherever he was. Donghae however was stopping to rest on a deserted beach somewhere in the middle of the ocean. The merman exhaustedly dragged himself onto the shoreline and collapsed on the wet sand as the rain poured down on top of him. He turned over onto his back and covered his body up with wet sand before brushing his wet bangs out of his face and finally exhaling and falling asleep.

          Eunhyuk was sleeping on his couch when there was a knock on his apartment door. The blonde groaned as he stood up and wrapped a blanket around his body before stumbling over to the door. He opened it up to reveal, to his surprise, Heechul standing there. “What are you doing here?” Eunhyuk muttered as he walked back over to his couch and fell down onto the furniture.

          “Siwon had Ryeowook call me and ask if I knew if you were still alive or not. He said he’s tried calling you a hundred times to talk to you about your next book and you haven’t answered,” Heechul explained as he walked inside. The raven haired Korean looked around at Eunhyuk’s apartment and noticed how in bad shape it was getting. Dirty dishes filled the kitchen sink, there were empty chip bags and ice cream cartons everywhere, mounds of clothes starting to pile up sparingly near the washing machine, and bottles of coke and alcohol littered the kitchen and living room.

          “Well as you can see I’m clearly alive, so you can tell Siwon that I’m fine and I’ll get something to him soon,” Eunhyuk remarked.

          “Eunhyuk, what’s going on? You’ve obviously let yourself go, and your place has gone to . What happened? It’s not like you to act like this,” Heechul asked. “Does it have something to do with that Donghae guy?”

          Heechul saw Eunhyuk’s eyes well with tears as he gripped the fish charm on his necklace. “Donghae had to leave,” he muttered.

          “He left you?” Heechul echoed.

          “He wanted to go find his family, but he promised he’d come back. It’s been four months, and I just miss him so much,” Eunhyuk cried as he leaned forward and put his face in his hands. “I don’t feel like doing anything without him.”

          “Did you ever end up sleeping with him?” Heechul questioned.

          “That’s none of your concern,” Eunhyuk snapped, looking over at the raven haired Korean.

          “I’m going to take that as a yes; I think you ed a merman,” Heechul stated.

          “I don’t give a damn what you think, I love Donghae and he loves me and I will continue to love him long after he’s come back, whenever that’ll be,” Eunhyuk said.

          “What if he doesn’t come back?” Heechul questioned.

          “Don’t say that, he will come back, I know he will,” Eunhyuk replied. “He promised me he would, and I believe him.”

          “Eunhyuk there are lots of large creatures in the ocean compared to Donghae,” Heechul reminded.

          “What are you saying Heechul?” Eunhyuk demanded.

          “I’m saying you need to keep in mind that there are things out there that could swallow Donghae up and never spit him out. Or something could take one bite and snap him in half,” Heechul stated.

          “Stop it, stop saying things like that,” Eunhyuk spat as he stood up quickly. “Donghae knows how to take care of himself; out there he’s in his element.”

          “You’re not worried about him in the least bit? Worried that something will take him away from you and you would never know since you have no means of communication with him?” Heechul responded.

          Eunhyuk said nothing but instead walked over to window and looked outside at the ocean and bit his lip. Truthfully, he was worried about Donghae; the merman had never been in the ocean alone before, and Eunhyuk worried what would happen if he couldn’t outswim a predator. The blonde felt Heechul slowly wrap his arms around his waist and mutter “Why upset yourself and your heart thinking about someone who might not ever come back to you?”

          Feeling Heechul start to lightly run his hands up his arms, Eunhyuk quickly pushed Heechul away and demanded “Get out, now.”

          The raven haired Korean looked at him for a few moments before replying “Fine, if that’s what you want.”

          As soon as Heechul had left, Eunhyuk locked his door and pressed his back against it as he slid down, pulled his knees to his chest, and buried his face in his arms. “Donghae, Donghae,” he cried quietly before leaning his head back against the door.

          Meanwhile, Donghae awoke still on the beach. He brushed the sand off himself before diving back into the water. The merman swam through the vast, blue ocean, passing coral reefs, schools of fish, and even a large whale. As he swam, Donghae heard a frightened squeal coming a few miles away. Quickly, the merman hurried over to the sound of the distress squeal and found a dolphin that had been captured in a large fisherman’s net. Gasping, Donghae swam up to the net and said “Don’t worry, I’ll help you.”

          Donghae swam around the net looking for a weak spot, and yanking at the netting as hard as he could. Resorting to his last idea, the merman bare his sharp teeth and began biting roughly, trying to open up the net to release the dolphin. Finally, the aquatic mammal was freed from the net and swam up to Donghae, rubbing it’s head against Donghae’s chest affectionately. “You’re welcome,” he replied, gently petting the dolphin’s head. “Do you think you could help me?”

          The dolphin nodded as Donghae smiled. “Do you know of any other merpeople like me?” he wondered. Squealing, the dolphin nodded again before leading Donghae through the ocean.

          Eunhyuk tossed and turned in his bed that night. He couldn’t sleep; his mind was all over the place, thinking about Donghae again. Sitting up, Eunhyuk sat there in the dark silence for a few moments before sighing and getting out of bed. He walked to the bathroom and ran warm water in the bathtub as he undressed before climbing into the water and sitting down in the tub, leaning his head back against the tile. Eunhyuk closed his eyes, and imagined Donghae with him in the bathtub; with Eunhyuk holding him close as Donghae’s sapphire blue tail splashed the warm water, and they kissed one another. Tracing the fish charm with his finger, the blonde muttered Donghae’s name before draining the water and going back to his bed, burying himself underneath the covers, and forcing himself to rest.