Taemin swam out of his reef as fast as he could, the sea stormed- his father was really angry and somehow he had a clue why.

The main hall was full with guards, he couldn’t pass them no matter how hard he tried, one of the guards had enough of his tries and caught his arm roughly, preventing him from going in.

"Let go of me!" he yelled but the guard ignored him "let go!!!"

Taemin could hear his father scolding, his tone harsh and threatening, his heart ached in his chest because he knew Minho was the one who's being scolded even if he hadn’t heard his voice.

"…You from all the mermen and mermaids know how dangerous it is!" the king barked at the young bodyguard "what would have happen if any of those fishermen had caught you both?! Do you think Taemin's legs would have been strong enough to run away?"

"I'm sorry my king"

"You could have become a food on human's plate!!!"

"I wouldn’t let this happened my king, I promised to protect the young prince, I would have defense him with my own body"

The king shot an angry look but the bodyguard kept his eyes on him.

"Like you defended you're match?"

Minho clenched his jaw, the king knew he lost his match when a fisherman caught him in his net, he told him all about it when he hired him to protect his son and even with that record he hired him. The sight of Changmin flashed in his mind, he couldn’t forget how helpless he felt watching him crying for his help, he tried to rip the net, pull him out but it was worthless. For two years Minho blamed himself, he couldn’t find Changmin no matter how many times he went up surface and walked among humans, he was gone forever and he realized it tonight after he tasted Taemin's sweetness, he won't look for him anymore- he loved someone else.

"Get out of the kingdom, don’t ever come back" the king ordered.

Minho felt his body shaking from despair, he bowed his head respectfully and swam out of the hall quietly even though he wanted to scream.

 "Minho!!!" Taemin called and struggled to get free from the guard's grip when he saw the older swimming out of the hall.

"I'm sorry Tae…" he said defeated and swam away.

"Minho!!!" the boy screamed, the guard set him free and he was about to swim after Minho but his father blocked his way.

"Appa…" he gasped and looked at his father's angry face.

"Inside, now"

He had no choice but to follow is father, he watched as Minho disappeared from his sight and a lump stuck in his throat.

"I forbidden you to swim up surface and you did anyway" the king scolded his youngest son with harsh tone.

Taemin opened his mouth to speak, however his father didn’t let him "It was the most stupid and dangerous thing you ever did! You don’t even know how to walk, what would have happen if you had to run so you could save your life?!"

"Minho kept me safe" Taemin said, his voice trembled "he wouldn’t have let anything happen to me"

"If he wanted to keep you safe he wouldn’t have let you swim up surface in first place!" the king barked.

"It was a birthday gift!" Taemin raised his voice "…we swam back into the water right after we had se-" palming his mouth he realized he gave to much information, his father's eye flicked dangerously.

"You had what?"

Taemin gulped and lowered his palm but remain silent, his father got closer to him, his big form frightened him.

"You had what???"  

"" the boy's voice barely sounded.

The water around him stormed and knocked him to the bottom of the ocean, he fell on the ground with a painful slam.

"Go to your reef!" his father ordered and he had no choice but to swim away as fast as he could.  

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When the sunrise lighted the kingdom everyone started to celebrate the young prince's birthday at the feast- everyone but the prince himself, Taemin who hadn’t slept all night was too busy looking for Minho.

He started at his reef and found out that the older packed his life and gone, at some point he even swam up surface by himself but dive back quickly- too afraid his father would find out, however there was no sign for his bodyguard anywhere and it ached in his heart.

When the day was over he swam back to his reef exhausted, he saw his parents arguing- probably because he didn’t show at the feast but didn’t care, he wasn’t in a mood for anything right now.

Taemin didn’t show for dinner either, his mother and brother came to speak to his heart and convince him to join them at the table but he refused, how could he eat?! His whole body ached from sadness, the last thing he wanted was to eat.

Curling himself on his shell he thought about Minho and Minho only, he wanted to see him, to be touched by him, it's been only few hours since he was gone and he already thought he'll die with out him around.

"Taemin…" small voice echoed in his reef and he raised his head to see Luna at the entrance.

"Noona" he said miserably as she swam to his shell and sat on it by his side, he raised his head and rested it on her tail while she his hair and cheek lovingly.

"I missed you at dinner" she said quietly.

"I wasn’t hungry…"

"I know you're sad, Onew told me that you and your father having some issues"

"He scolded me last night" Taemin said even though she probably knew the details already, after all, his father never hide anything from his brother especially when it came to his rebellious behavior and his older brother never hide anything from her. Not that he mind Luna to know about the families crises, she was practically a family, he just wished his father to stop involving his brother with every stupid little thing he does.

"Appa fired Minho because we went up surface, he just tried to surprise me, it was a birthday gift…" the boy whined and she said nothing- just listened to him "we stayed at the beach, it's not like anything dangerous happened, Minho kept me safe. Noona, have you ever been up surface?"

Luna looked like she was thinking about the right answer to give before she nodded.

"With…Onew?"

She flushed but nodded, he had an idea why.

"Appa never scolded Onew for swimming up surface…and don’t tell me it's because he's much stronger than me so he can protect himself- and you" he said when she opened to say something that would justified his father.

"I don’t know what made him angrier, the fact that we went up surface or had "

Luna stopped his hair "you two had…?"

Taemin looked at her, was something wrong about it? "Yes…" he answered quietly.  

She kept her thoughts about him being too young for and kept his hair, after all when she and Onew swam up surface and had she wasn’t much older than him.

"I love him, Noona" Taemin confessed "but now he's gone"

Feeling sad for him she kissed his cheek "things would be alright, don’t worry, I'll help you"

Big dewy eyes looked at her with hope, he raised his head from her lap and hugged her tightly, thanking her before she said good night and swam from his reef.