Chapter 6

Yongguk quickly barged through the front door of his house and ran to the bathroom. He flung the shower curtains to the side and the water so that it comes out of the bottom faucet, making sure to plug the drain so that none of the water gets whisked down the it. He quickly ran back out of the house to where he had his father's old car waiting. He was thankful that he had decided to drive down to the boating dock today.

He opened one of the back doors, letting the end of Himchan's tail fall out. If it wasn't for the car, Yongguk wouldn't have been able to bring Himchan back with him. There was no good way to explain why he was carrying an injured merman on his back in broad daylight to anyone who would have seen him. It was difficult enough to sneak Himchan to the car from the boat.

“Yongguk-ah, is everything okay?”

Yongguk quickly turned around, making sure to stand in front of the door's opening, shielding Himchan from anyone's view. The elder woman from next door was standing at the entrance of his gate, looking at Yongguk with pure curiosity.

“Everything's fine, halmeoni!” Yongguk said, hoping that the elderly woman would go back to her house.

The elderly woman smiled at him. “I was just taking my walk and noticed you were running back and forth so I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Oh no. Everything is alright, halmeoni. There's nothing you need to worry about.” Yongguk tried to sound convincing.

“Okay then.” The elderly woman said. “Take care.”

“You too, halmeoni.” Yongguk said as the elderly woman started to walk away. He watched her walk back into her house then released the breath that he was holding.

He turned back to the car and ducked his head in. Himchan was staring at him, fear and worry written on his face.

“Come on, Himchan. We need to get you inside so that I can help you.” Yongguk said as he reached for the merman's webbed hands. He pulled the merman to a sitting position. He turned around and crouched down so that he could wrap Himchan's arms around his neck. “Don't let go, okay? I'm going to carry you again. Okay?”

“Okay.” Himchan said softly, lacing his arms firmly around Yongguk's neck.

Yongguk stood back up, groaning at the sudden weight on his back. He knew that Himchan would be heavy because of his tail being made out of mostly muscle but he wasn't prepared for it. He wrapped his arms behind him so that he could hoist Himchan a bit higher on his back and so that the merman wouldn't slide off.

Breathing through his nose, Yongguk walked them both into the house and straight in to the bathroom. Yongguk cursed as the water started to overflow the tube. He tried to crouch back down to turn off the faucet but with Himchan's weight on his back, Yongguk was having a tough time with it. He gave up on the faucet and simply turned around so that he could lower the merman into the tub.

“Okay here we go.” He said as lowered down, trying not to drop Himchan into the water.

He heard the water move and felt more of the water overflowing out of the tub onto the bathroom floor. He removed Himchan's arms from his neck and turned off the running faucet. He turned back around and to see Himchan look around confused as to where he was.

“Is this water okay? Do you need sea water? Is the temperature alright?” He asked the merman. He wasn't even sure if this was the best idea. There could be a good chance that Himchan wouldn't survive out of the ocean's waters. For all he knew, he just hammered the last nail in the merman's coffin.

Himchan submerged his arms in the water and smiled. “No, it's fine. The water feels good.” He looked up at Yongguk. “It's a little cramped though.”

Yongguk bit the bottom of his lip. Himchan's entire upper body and the end of his tail was visibly sticking out of the tub; the fin flapping against the shower wall.

“I wish I had something bigger for you.” Yongguk told the merman. “But this is what's going to have to do for now.”

Yongguk knelt down on the bathroom floor, instantly soaking his legs from the water that had overflown. He didn't care about the water that covered the floor. He would clean it up after tending to the merman.

“I need to look at your wounds.” He informed the merman so that Himchan wouldn't get scared when Yongguk started to touch him.

Himchan nodded. He watched as Yongguk leaned closer to him. Yongguk gently touched his chest, carefully looking over the scratches. Himchan studied the land creature's face in silence. He had never had the chance be this close to Yongguk before. He still had made sure to keep his distance from the land creature whenever they would meet.

“Your scratches don't look to be too bad.”

Yongguk's voice broke Himchan out of his trance. He looked down to where Yongguk's hands were. He winced when Yongguk got close to the cut on his tail. Yongguk hadn't touched the cut but the area around it was swore.

“I'm sorry.” Yongguk said, looking up at Himchan. “Does it hurt a lot?”

Himchan stared back at Yongguk, a slight blush on his face. “It does.” He breathed out before blinking a couple of times. “But not as much as before.”

“That's probably because you're not in salted water anymore.” Yongguk informed Himchan before getting back on his feet.

Himchan wanted to ask Yongguk what he had meant when he said salted water but he was more curious as to what the land creature was doing.

Yongguk opened the cabinet on the wall and grabbed the pain killers that were in there. He looked at them, wondering if it was a good idea to give them to the merman. He placed them back in the cabinet and looked for some hydrogen peroxide and cotton so that he could at least disinfect the scratches on his chest. He wasn't surprised that there wasn't anything in the cabinet.

Yongguk turned back to look at the merman and knelt back down in front of him. “I need to go out and get you some things for your wounds.” He could see the fear in Himchan's face at the thought of Yongguk leaving him in a place that he wasn't familiar to. “Don't worry. I'll be right back. I promise.”

Himchan bit his bottom lip and nodded.

Yongguk gave the merman a small smile before getting up and walking out of the bathroom, closing the door behind him. He walked down the hallway, grabbing his keys from his pocket. He opened the front door and froze when he was met with a pissed off Youngjae and a wary Daehyun.

“Well look who's not dead and walking around without a care in the world.” Youngjae dropped his bag on the ground and walked towards his brother. “Where the were you?! For the last three days, I've called you, texted you, emailed you with no answer whatsoever! Do you want me to die from a heart attack?!”

“Youngjae, calm down!” Yongguk said, putting his hands up in defense. “I can explain!”

“Explain inside! It's hot as hell out here!” Youngjae said as he walked passed Yongguk and into the house.

Daehyun grabbed the bag Youngjae left on the ground and walked up to Yongguk. “Sorry. He's been worried the last few days when he couldn't reach you. He thought the worst had happened.”

Yongguk ran his hand through his hair and sighed. He should have known that Youngjae would start to freak out if he didn't hear from him. He had been so consumed with finding out why Himchan had disappeared that he didn't realize that he himself had disappeared to Youngjae. He could only imagine just how worried Youngjae must have felt.

Yongguk hurried back into the house to find Youngjae pacing around the living room. Daehyun set both of their bags on the floor next to the sofa. Youngjae turned to Yongguk with a glare that Yongguk had only seen once when Youngjae was in high school and Yongguk accidentally deleted the history paper he had been working on for days.

“Look,” Yongguk started. “I have a perfect explanation for all of this.”

Yongguk paused. He couldn't actually tell Youngjae and Daehyun about what had happened, could he? It would be easier to lie to his brother when they were talking on the phone than in person. At least when it came to this.

“Well?” Youngjae crossed his arms across his chest and raised an eyebrow.

Yongguk walked to the kitchen and grabbed the container of rice that still had his phone. He was glad that he hadn't thrown away the phone yet. He walked back to Youngjae and handed the container to his brother.

“My phone fell in the water and I've been trying to salvage it the last three days. That's why I wasn't able to call or text you. Sorry Jae.” Yongguk informed his younger brother.

Youngjae held up the container to his eye line. “Okay. That explains the calls and texts but why haven't you emailed me back?”

“I came here to disconnect from the world. Why would I be online?” Yongguk said, grabbing the container for his brother's hands. “I bet you guys are hungry and thirsty from the trip. I'll make some ramyun.”

Youngjae watched as his older brother walked back to the kitchen. Youngjae couldn't shake the fact that Yongguk was hiding something from him and he was determined to find out what it was.

“Where's the bathroom again?” Daehyun asked Youngjae as his boyfriend started to look through his bag for something.

“Down the hall, first door on the right.” Youngjae responded without looking back up at Daehyun.

Daehyun nodded and walked towards the bathroom. He stopped in front of the door, noticing the puddle of water that was coming from the bottom of the door. He opened the bathroom door slowly and instantly froze. He couldn't believe what he was looking at; a half-man, half-fish laid in the tub.

A merman!

The merman jumped, frightened to see Daehyun standing at the doorway. Daehyun simply blinked a couple times before slowly and silently closing the door. He walked back to the couch and sat down, resting his hands on his lap. He simply stared at the wall, his brain trying to process what he just saw.

“You're back quick.” Youngjae said, when he noticed that Daehyun had sat down. He looked at his boyfriend. Daehyun looked like he had just seen a ghost. “What's wrong?”

“Mer...merman.” Daehyun whispered.

“Huh?” Youngjae cocked an eyebrow. He thought he had heard Daehyun wrong. “What did you say?”

Daehyun blinked. “Merman.” The word came out as a faint whisper.

Youngjae got closer to his boyfriend so that he could hear him better. “Did you just say 'merman'?”

Daehyun looked at Youngjae, his eyes wide with shock. “In the bathroom.”

Youngjae narrowed his eyes. “Merman...in the bathroom?

Daehyun simply nodded. Thinking that his boyfriend had lost his mind, Youngjae placed the back of his hand on Daehyun's forehead. Daehyun grabbed the hand that was on his forehead and removed it from where it was resting. He gripped the hand tight.

“No, really Youngjae. There is a...” Daehyun leaned closer to Youngjae and lowered his voice even more, not wanting to alarm Yongguk in the kitchen. “Merman in your tub!”

Youngjae tilted his head to the side. Daehyun has never acted this weird before. He decided to play along with Daehyun. He got up but Daehyun grabbed his arm. The older male placed his index finger to his mouth, signaling for Youngjae to be quiet about it. Youngjae rolled his eyes at Daehyun's childish act.

Daehyun got up from the couch and peeking into the kitchen to see Yongguk pouring filtered water into a pot. He looked back and saw Youngjae walking towards the bathroom. He quickly caught up with his boyfriend, bumping into him when he did.

Youngjae opened the bathroom door. He froze when he was met with a frightened merman in his tub, just like Daehyun had said.

“See. I told you.” Daehyun murmured.

Himchan looked at the two land creatures that were standing a couple feet away from him. A scream escaped his lips.

Yongguk dropped the pot of water on the floor when he heard Himchan's scream. He ran out the living room and noticed that neither Youngjae and Daehyun were in there. He cursed and ran straight to the bathroom. His mouth went dry when he saw that both Youngjae and Daehyun were standing in small bathroom staring at Himchan.

“Yongguk! Help!” Himchan yelled when he saw Yongguk entered. “Get these land creatures away from me!”

Yongguk made his way in between Youngjae and Daehyun and knelt down in front of Himchan. The merman was shaking from fright, tears forming in his eyes. Yongguk reached out to the merman and wiped the tears from his face.

“I'm sorry that they scared you Himchan, but you don't have to be scared of them.” Yongguk reassured the frightened merman. “Do you remember when I showed you my phone and explained how it works? How it let's me talk to a person from far away?”

Himchan slightly nodded.

“Remember how I was talking to the phone and there was a voice coming out from it?” Yongguk asked the merman who nodded once again. “Well, this is the person I was talking to.”

Yongguk motioned to Youngjae, who was taken aback by the entire situation. Never in his wildest dreams did he think mermen existed or that he would see one in person. He was more surprised that his brother was friendly with one.

“This is Youngjae.” Yongguk's voice snapped Youngjae out of his daze. “He's my younger brother. And the other person there is Daehyun. They're not going to harm you Himchan. I would never let that happen.”

Himchan looked at the two land creatures with wary eyes. He leaned back until his back hit the shower wall when Daehyun crouched down next to Yongguk. He pulled his hands back and wrapped his arms around his chest.

“Hi. My name is Daehyun. It's nice to meet you.” Daehyun smiled and waved at the merman. His smile dropped when he noticed the cuts and scratches on the merman. “You're hurt.”

“That's why I brought him here. He was bleeding pretty badly and the sharks were waiting for him to come out of the cave he was hiding in.” Yongguk told Daehyun. He turned back to look up at Youngjae. “This is why I was missing the last few days. I was looking for Himchan.”

Yongguk turned back to Himchan. “I thought you left without saying goodbye. I was worried for you Himchan. And then this happened to you. I'm sorry. This is all my fault. This probably wouldn't have happened if hadn't met me.”

New tears formed in Himchan's eyes. He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Yongguk, hugging the land creature. For a moment Yongguk froze, his brain having a hard time deciphering what was going on. Then as if the switch went off, he buried his face in the crook of the merrman's neck as he wrapped his arms around him, hugging Himchan back.

“I'm...s-s-sorry.” Himchan said, unsure that was the proper word for the situation. “Did I use the right word?”

So that was Yongguk's brilliant idea?  And DaeJae now know about Himchan.

I tried to make this a little funny.  Don't know how well I did.  I said in the last chapter that the fun is going to happen in this one but I'm still setting up for the fun.  But hey now Yongguk and Himchan are under the same roof.  The fun is really going to start soon.  Promise.

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Til next time lovelies~

HAPPY NEW YEAR LOVELIES!