Chapter 5

Yongguk laughed at the cute reaction Himchan had to when his cellphone went off. During their talk, Himchan had pulled himself up to sit on edge of the boat, leaving the end of his tail submerged in the water. Yongguk was explaining something to Himchan when his ringtone went off, startling the merman. Himchan was caught so off guard that he slipped and fell back into the water.

Yongguk had to cover his mouth to try and stop himself from laughing. He just couldn't help it. It was a rather cute sight to watch. He scrambled to his feet and walked over to the other side of the boat where Himchan had been sitting.

“Himchan?” He said through his chuckles as he leaned over the edge of the boat. His breath hitched when Himchan popped back out of the water, his face inches away from his. He leaned back, pulling away from the merman and cleared his throat.

“What's that noise?” Himchan asked, his eyes wide, scared and confused. He had never heard such a noise before. It just happened all of a sudden, he didn't see where it came from. He pouted at Yongguk, who was still laughing at him.

Yongguk didn't want to laugh again but Himchan was being too cute for Yongguk not to chuckle. “Sorry.” He said before composing himself. He grabbed his phone that was still ringing and waved it in air. “This is a cellphone and that noise that is coming from it a called a ringtone. It goes off when someone calls you.” Yongguk smiled at the confused face that Himchan was giving him. “I know, you have no idea what I'm talking about.”

Yongguk looked at the screen to see Youngjae's name. He silenced the phone before turning it back to Himchan.

“This device lets you talk to people that are not standing next to you.” Himchan tilted his head and blinked. “Okay. Let's say that I wanted to talk to someone that's back on land. All I have to do is tap the numbers of the person's other device and then it will allow me to talk to them.”

“I still don't understand.” Himchan pouted.

Yongguk sat back down next to the side of the boat that Himchan was at. The merman pulled himself back out of the water and sat on the same spot he was before.

“Watch.” Yongguk said to the merman. He unlocked his phone and called his younger brother back. He put the phone on speaker. “Try not to talk okay?”

The phone didn't ring for too long when Youngjae answered.

“It's nice to see that you are alive.”

Himchan gasped when a voice came from the small device Yongguk was holding in his hands. Yongguk tried to bite back a chuckle before composing himself.

“Sorry Jae, I was away from my phone.” He lied. “What's up?”

“Just checking on you.”

Yongguk rolled his eyes. “You know you don't have to call me everyday to check up on me. I'm a big boy. I can take care of myself.”

“I know you can. I'm just worried about you okay?” Youngjae paused. “You're the only family I have left...and it scared me to hear what happened to you in Seoul...I don't want anything to happen to you again, hyung.”

Himchan noticed the change in Yongguk as the land creature talked to the voice that came from the device. Yongguk's eyes cast downward and he fidgeted uncomfortably. He wanted to ask Yongguk what was wrong but remembered that Yongguk had asked him not to talk.

Yongguk sighed. “Nothing is going to happen to me, Youngjae. I won't let anything like that happen to me again. I promise, I'm not going anywhere.” He reassured his brother.

“Well you better not be.”

Yongguk remembered that Himchan was sitting next to him when the merman's tail splashed in the water. He looked back at Himchan, who was had his head tilted to the side in wonder. “Hey Jae, why don't I call you back later tonight? We can talk more then.”

“Okay hyung. Talk to you later.”

“See, that's how a phone works.” Yongguk said to Himchan when the call ended. “Are you still confused?”

Himchan nodded. “Does...how does a land creature live in there?”

The question almost had Yongguk coo over how cute the merman was but he just flashed his gummy smile and laughed heartily. “Land creatures don't live in there Himchan. There's no way I could fit in one of these things. The person I was talking to was my younger brother, Youngjae. And he lives away from the island, so we communicate with this.”

“So no land creature lives in there?” Himchan cocked an eyebrow.

“Nope. No land creature lives in here.” Yongguk said. Suddenly an idea popped in his head. He the camera and pointed it at the merman. “Say kimchi.” He said before snapping the picture of a confused Himchan.

He looked at the result and smiled. He turned the phone to show Himchan his picture. “Look. This is a picture of you.”

Himchan gasped in fear. There he was, trapped in Yongguk's device. It scared him. He quickly grabbed the phone from Yongguk's hands and looked at it closer. “How did I get in here?! Get me out!”

Yongguk quickly moved to calm the panicked merman but the merman jumped sending his phone into the air.

“My phone!” Yongguk tried to reach out for his cellphone without falling into the water but the device flew too far from his reach and he watched in horror as it disappeared into the water. All his business contacts, schedules, photos, videos, music files were all gone. Sure, he had it all backed up on his laptop but it would be a major pain getting a new one and transferring everything again.

Himchan jumped into the water and dove underneath to retrieve the device. It only took him a couple of seconds to find it and bring it back to Yongguk. The innocent smile that Himchan had when he came out of the water with Yongguk's device in his hands disappeared when he saw Yongguk's face. The human stared at the water in pure horror like he had seen one of those frightening creatures that lived in the depths of the ocean. Himchan swam back to the boat and pulled himself back up, sitting right next to Yongguk.

He tilted his head to the side, leaning closer to the frozen human. He lifted the device up to Yongguk's face. “I saved it from drowning.”

******

Yongguk knew it was hopeless. He just knew it was. But part of him – a tiny part – still held out hope.

He picked up the container of uncooked rice and looked at his phone, battery and SIM card that swam within the grains of rice. He sighed as he set it back down on the kitchen counter. It had been three days now since his phone took a dip in the ocean. He ended up cutting his meeting with Himchan short telling the merman that he would come back to see him the following day. He immediately started the process of attempting to save his phone when he returned home.

He knew two things after these last three days. One, he's going to need to buy more rice so that he can eat. Two, he's going to need a new phone.

Yongguk looked out of the kitchen window to the clear blue sea. He couldn't be mad at Himchan for what had happened. The merman didn't know any better. How could he? It was his first time learning what a cellphone was. And it was mainly his own fault that it happened. He shouldn't have taken a picture of Himchan without the merman knowing what a picture was. Himchan had freaked out because of the ringtone, so of course he would freak out because of a picture.

Yongguk's eyebrows knitted together and he nibbled on his bottom lip. He hadn't seen Himchan in two days. Yongguk was able to see Himchan the next day after his phone fell into the ocean. They talked more, Yongguk taught Himchan more about land creatures and Himchan telling him what the sea was like. Yongguk felt a little more connected to the merman with that one day. But the day after that, nothing. No Himchan. The merman didn't show up to their meeting spot. Yongguk waited on his boat all day for the merman with no sign of him. It was the same the next day.

Yongguk was starting to get worried. What if Himchan didn't want anything to do with him anymore? No. Yongguk didn't want to believe that. They had such a good time talking and laughing together that Yongguk was sure Himchan had warmed up to him and was no longer afraid of him.

What if something happened to Himchan? Yongguk swallowed. What if he was hurt or worse? What if someone found him and took him to perform all types of experiments on him?

Yongguk grabbed his keys and the cooler with food and water he had prepared for his day at sea and walked out of his house. He made it to the docks in no time. His heart pounding harder the closer he got to their spot. He anchored the boat and waited. He waited just like he did the last two days. He took out the binoculars and looked out on the water for any sign.

A bulb lit up in Yongguk's head causing him to bring back the anchor and start up the boat again. He didn't know why he hadn't thought about checking there until now. If there was a chance, even a slight one it's worth checking it out. He drove the boat over to the other side of the island that had the small cave that Himchan had abandoned Yongguk in after their first meeting. There could be a chance that Himchan was there.

Yongguk spotted something in the water just in front of the cave's opening. A fin broke through the surface of the water and disappeared only to have another fin do the same close by. Yongguk took his binoculars to get a better look. His blood ran cold when he noticed that the fin belonged to a shark and that there was not only one shark swimming around the entrance of the cave, there were two.

He moved the boat closer to the cave, hoping that the sharks would disperse. They did only to let Yongguk move the boat closer but once Yongguk anchored the boat, the sharks started to swim circles around the boat. Yongguk could feel his heart in his throat. He gripped the railing from the side of the boat when the sharks started to rock it.

“Himchan?” Yongguk yelled, hoping that it was loud enough to reach whoever or whatever could be in the cave. He heard his voice echo throughout the cave and seconds later he heard a voice calling back to him.

“Yongguk?” Himchan's voice echoed throughout the cave.

Yongguk sighed in relief when he heard the merman's voice. “Are you okay? Why are there sharks circling the entrance?”

“I-I got hurt. Now they want to eat me.” Himchan said.

Yongguk's eyes widened at the news that Himchan was hurt realizing that that must be the reason why Himchan had been missing the past couple of days. Just the thought of Himchan being in this cave with sharks ready to rip him to shreds worried Yongguk. He needed to do something.

“How bad are you hurt?” Yongguk asked.

“My tail...” Himchan trailed off.

“Can you swim?” Yongguk asked.

“Y-yes. But not like before.”

Yongguk thought for a moment. “Hang on. I'm going to back up the boat closer to the entrance.” Yongguk went back in the drivers seat and removed the anchor. He drove the boat around, getting closer to the cave. He then placed the boat in reverse and backed it up as close as he could without getting it stuck. He got out of the driver's chair after he lowered the anchor.

“Okay. Do you think you can swim to me as fast as you can?” Yongguk asked.

“What if those things get me and try to eat me?” Himchan asked.

“Don't worry. I blocked them with the boat. They shouldn't be able to get you.” Yongguk reassured the merman. 'At least I hope they can't get you.' He did make sure that he was close enough that none of the shark could get too close to Himchan.

“O-okay.” Himchan said after a while.

Yongguk could hear a small splash into the water. He grabbed onto the railing as the boat began to rock once again. The sharks were able to smell Himchan's scent in the water and were trying to get to the merman. Yongguk let out a small yelp when one of the sharks surfaced close to where he stood. He moved away from side and waited for Himchan to emerge.

Yongguk's heart stopped when he saw a trail of blood in the water coming to him. Himchan must have been cut and the blood is what the sharks smelled. Yongguk wondered just how long Himchan had been cut and what type of condition he was in.

Himchan popped out of the water and Yongguk breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly reached out to grab a hold of the merman's hand, pulling him up. Yongguk wrapped his arms around Himchan's torso, not caring about the slight sting from his sunburn. He struggled to pull the merman into the boat as the shark went wild at the close scent of blood. Yongguk was scared that the shark would turn over the boat with the force that they were using as they rammed into the boat.

He fell back on the floor of the boat with Himchan falling on top of him. Yongguk would have taken time to study Himchan's face up close if it wasn't for the possibility of their death if they didn't get away from the cave. Yongguk quickly got out from under Himchan and made his way to the helm of the boat and recalled the anchor before steering the fishing boat away from the cave and the sharks. He only stopped the boat when they were back at their normal meeting spot.

Yongguk stopped the engine and turned back to see Himchan. His eyes widened when he was finally able to see cuts on both of Himchan's protruding hip fins and a cut that ran diagonally down his tail as well as a couple of scratches on his torso. Yongguk quickly went to Himchan's side.

“What happened?” He asked as he looked over the merman.

“I almost got caught by one of those things that takes the fishes.” Himchan said. His breathing was a bit labored from the swim.

“Oh god.” Yongguk shook the image of Himchan being caught and found out by one of the fishermen on the island out of his head. He didn't want to think of what could have happened to the merman. “When did this happen?”

“Two of those.” Himchan pointed to the sun.

“Two days ago?” Yongguk said in shock. “Were you in the cave for those two days?” Himchan nodded.

Yongguk placed a hand on Himchan's arm and realized that the merman felt warm. He didn't know if it was because of heat or if it was because Himchan was out of the water. There could also be a chance that Himchan had an infection of some type. Did mermen even get infections like they did? Yongguk's mind was running wild. He didn't know what to do exactly.

“I need to get you out of here.” Yongguk said. There was only one logical thing left to do in his mind.

I wonder what Yongguk's going to do!  What do you have in mind Yongguk?  Tell us!  We want to know!  We don't want to have to wait til the next update, I take too long to update!

Um, yeah, hey guys!  I don't know really what to say about the chapter and all.  I just needed this chapter to set the up fun that I have planned out in the upcoming chapters.  I can't tell you what's going to happen in the next chapters.  Any guesses?  

Oh!  And you've probably have noticed already that I have new graphics for the fic!  It's all thanks to the multi-stop Ilaria.  The person that made it for me not only made me one but surprised me with two.  I liked them both so I decided to use both of them.  And I'm pretty proud of myself for that cheesyass line that I came up with for the posters.

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Til next time lovelies~