His body still hurt from his injuries, but he didn't care. He didn't care that every step he took pained him, that his body protested to the strenuous use. He didn't care that he might be damaging the legs he had given up so much for, that he might ruin his ability to dance, which was the only thing he was known for. He didn't care about any of that at the moment. He just needed to get away. He needed to get away from Jonghyun and the palace.

So he ran. He ran as far as his legs could take him, through the sand and over the rocky cliffs. He ran till every muscle burned and his heart felt like a hammer in his chest. Then he fell to his hands and knees on the rocky shore, gasping for breath. And in the end, all that gasping for air turned into sobbing.

He wanted to scream. He wanted to scream and rage and curse every living being. But he couldn't. All he could do was sit there, crying in silence.

When he lifted himself to the ground, he turned his attention to the sea, to the water reflecting the moonlight. How he had hated those waters. He still hated those waters, but somehow at that moment, they seemed tantalizing. Even though they repulsed him and frightened him, a small part in the back of his mind wanted to go there. He wanted to throw himself back into those waves, no matter what the outcome may be.

He sat back on his knees and stared at his home, longing, loathing, wallowing...

Until movement on the surface caught his eye. He saw her again, the mermaid from before. At least, he assumed it was the same person. It had to be. Two different people wouldn't be that foolish at once.

She was closer to the shore now. She was searching for something. Taemin pulled himself to his feet and slowly walked closer. He would get her attention this time, no matter what. And he would make her see that her curiosity wasn't worth at. She didn't need to turn out like him.

He waved his arms to catch her attention, and she stopped moving when she saw him. She didn't flee though. She remained close to the shore, waiting for him.

Taemin picked up his pace as he drew closer, as he got a better look at her face and her form. He couldn't believe it was true, but there was no denying it. The mermaid before him was Jinri. His sister had come to find him.

Though the water had terrified him before, he ran straight into it now, straight for his sister. She pulled herself up into the shallow waters and met him half-way. They came together in the waves and he fell to his knees beside her, clutching her tightly to his chest. He found himself sobbing again, only now, for a different reason. He was with his sister again, and he didn't realize how much he had missed her until that moment. He didn't realize just what he had sacrificed until he saw her crying with him, clutching him like she never wanted to let go.

And he didn't want to let go either. He wanted to leave with her. He wanted to go home.

"I've missed you. We've both missed you," Jinri said softly, as if not sure how he would take the news. Taemin wasn't sure what he felt about the statement, if he even believed it was true. Of course, Jinri would miss him; he just wasn't sure Boa missed him. After all, she wasn't there with her. She hadn't left behind everything to come find him.

Taemin remained in the water with his sister, sitting near the shore with the water over most of his body. It was comforting to look upon her face and hear her voice, though it sounded different than how he remembered it. His human senses had changed his perception so much. He wondered what home would even look like now.

"We thought you had just run away from us, until Yoori came and told us what you had done."

The Seawitch. Taemin suddenly remembered his bargain with her - the one he had tried so hard to forget. There was no running from it now, no dismissing what he had done, what he had so nonchalantly traded for his shot at happiness.

"She said you were in love," Jinri continued to speak cautiously. "She said you wanted to be human, that you wanted it more than anything. Then she told us what you traded for the magic."

He sighed from his shame, and from his frustration with himself. Mating with Yoori was the first of his many mistakes, and happened to be the worst one now, that he looked back on it. How had he let her talk him into that? How had he talked himself into it?

"Boa was furious...she's still furious."

"That's why she's not here now," he said to himself.

"But she'll forgive you. I know she will," Jinri said, but she sounded more as if she was trying to convince herself. "We want you to come home."

He shook his head, "I can't."

She was able to understand his silent words. "There has to be a way."

There wasn't. Magic did not exist on land. There was no one he could turn to for help. Even if there was someone, how would he explain his situation to them?

"You don't belong here, Taemin. You belong with your family. And as much as we don't like what you've done...you're going to be a father. You need to come home."

How badly he wanted to do as she asked. He wished he could just go back and forget every stupid thing he had done. But he couldn't. He was stuck on land, stuck in silence, and stuck with the consequences of his choices.

"Maybe Yoori will help you," she suggested.

Taemin violently shook his head. He didn't want to go back to that woman.

"I'll talk with her. She has no reason not to help you. It would probably be better for her if you were there anyway..." Jinri was now talking hurriedly, getting excited over her idea. She didn't notice Taemin's apprehension, or how much he didn't want her to go there. "I'll be back!" she said suddenly.

"No!" he tried to scream, but she was already swimming away. He couldn't stop her, or go after her. He stood to his feet and watched her shadow leave him, and he wondered if maybe she was right. Maybe Yoori was his only option.

"I don't understand. You were so ecstatic over these letters a few days ago. What's the matter?" Jinki wondered. Taemin found it funny how everyone kept asking him questions, even when they knew he could never answer them. Even if he could speak, it wasn't like he would have told Jinki what was bothering him. Where would he even begin?

Frustrated, Jinki set down the pen and paper, giving up on trying to catch his interest. Taemin just couldn't focus on writing that day. He couldn't keep his mind from wandering to Jonghyun, then to his sisters, to Yoori, and to his soon-to-be-child. Learning to write seemed very unimportant in the grand scheme of things.

A knock on the door interrupted both his and Jinki's silent moment of frustration. The attendant rose to answer the door, and Taemin waited expectantly to see who had come to visit him.

While part of him wanted to avoid Jonghyun, the other part was desperate to see him. And he hoped it would be the prince come to see him, to apologize, or tell him he got it now. Or in the very least, to try and understand more.

To his disappointment, it was Meeyon.

The bruises from their battle a week ago were now nearly faded. She was back to her perfect beautiful self, dressed in the flowy gown and a bright smile. Taemin had never felt much when he looked at her before, but now, his dislike for her was over-whelming. She was just as ignorant as her husband to be. She had no idea he envied and hated her.

"Good afternoon, Minnie," she said pleasantly. "Are you doing alright?"

He nodded.

"That's good. I'm glad." Without hesitation, she took a seat beside him on the couch. He wasn't aware they were so familiar with each other. "Jonghyun tells me you don't want to be at our wedding."

So that was why she was there.

"Why not?"

Jonghyun didn't tell her. He didn't tell her he had confessed his feelings and kissed him. Or that he had returned Taemin's kiss, and for a brief moment, was lost in it. No, he didn't tell his fiancée that.

"You won't have to do anything. We just want you there. You have no idea how grateful we are to you, Minnie."

If he could speak, he might have told her his reason for refusing. He might have told her he had fallen in love with the prince long before she had, and told her that the prince had loved him in return. And that the prince didn't love her. He had said so himself, those many months ago, when he had told him they had a bond that no ceremony or physical connection could ever mimic.

Knowing that, how could Jonghyun love her?

"Please?" she continued, trying to sway him with her smile, "Isn't there anything we can do to change your mind?"

She didn't know what she was asking of him, what he would be forced to witness. He didn't know how he would handle watching the ceremony, what it would do to him. Could he bear to see the man he loved bond himself to another? He had already rejected him, but it could hurt more than it already did.

"What's wrong, Minnie?" she asked, as his distress was clear on his face. She moved a little closer and his arm. "Something is bothering you, isn't it?"

"He's been like that all morning," Jinki interjected from the corner of the room.

"Is there anything I can do to fix it?" she asked.

Die.

He shook his head. There was nothing she could do for him.

"I wish you could speak to us," she lamented, "You seem to always want to say something, like the words are always on the tip of your tongue, they just can't come out."

How true it was. How helpless it made him.

She fell silent, grieved on his behalf. She continued to his arm for a moment, before concluding their brief meeting there that morning. "Well if you do change your mind, there will be a place for you at the ceremony. And if you need anything, you just need to ask." She kissed his cheek before rising and leaving the room. Taemin watched her go, more upset than before she had gotten there.

When did he start hating her so much? When did his indifference toward her turn into such envy?

"Are you alright?" Jinki asked. Where the question should have been full of concern, it was laced with fear. Taemin was making him wary. At least someone in the palace wasn't completely clueless.

Jonghyun's moment of speaking to one of the many royal workers was interrupted when Meeyon returned to the room. He was relieved to see her and his heavy sigh said so. She was so late, he was afraid she would never show, and he would be left sorting out all those complicated details by himself. Who knew holding a simple wedding ceremony could be so much work.

It wasn't even going to be a huge affair. Considering all the tumult that had been going on in the kingdom lately, the royal court had decided it would be best to keep the wedding within the safety of the palace walls. It would be relatively small compared to all the royal weddings that had come before it, but Jonghyun preferred it that way. If he could skip the ceremony altogether and just take his vows before a priest, he would have.

"Where have you been?" he asked Meeyon as she came to join him.

"I paid a quick visit to Water Boy," she answered, as she took a seat beside him.

Her statement made him uncomfortable, though he knew it shouldn't have. He had nothing to hide from his fiancée, and the fact that he did keep Minnie's confession from her was bothering him a lot. She was going to be his wife, why did he feel the need to protect his pride from her? Then again, maybe it wasn't his pride he was protecting. Maybe he was concerned for Min.

"Could you give us a minute?" Jonghyun asked the servant.

"Of course, your highness," he said, and graciously backed out of the room to give him and the priestess some privacy.

Meeyon looked surprised that he wanted to speak with her alone. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," he said, "I just thought...I told you Minnie wasn't interested in being there."

"I know, but I thought I could change his mind."

"Did you?"

She shook her head glumly. "No. He seems upset about something, but it's impossible know to what it is. Do you know anything? What did you say to him when you asked him about the wedding?"

Jonghyun shrugged. He wasn't even sure he remembered. "I just told him he was invited, but he refused. I think he was upset even before he came to me."

"Do you know why?"

He couldn't bring himself to blatantly lie to her.

"You do know," she said, affirmed by his silence, "What is it?"

"I...I don't feel right telling you," he answered awkwardly, "It's him. It's personal. He told me something, and I'm not sure it's something I should share."

"He told you something?"

"Yes. Well, he mouthed it, and I figured it out."

"What did he say?"

"I told you, it's personal. For him, I mean."

"Then why is it affecting you so much?" she asked.

Jonghyun paused. It was true, Min's confession had been weighing on his mind. His confession and his kiss. He had tried all night and all morning to push that moment from his mind. He wanted to forget how it made him feel, how it reminded him of nearly drowning, of nearly bleeding out, of nearly dying to escape his reality.

And how at the same time, it promised him hope. Hope in something different and removed and exotic, where he could escape into something else. It reminded him of Taemin and the freedom he had felt when they were together - freedom that was just an empty temptation, that had vanished and left him alone.

But he was no longer alone. He had actually found some happiness. Happiness that would not slip away from him.

He took Meeyon's hand, looking for some solid evidence that that happiness was still there, that he still had a shot at it.

"What did he say?" Meeyon asked again, more softly.

"It's not really about what he said, it's what he made me feel. It felt like he took me back several months, like I was back on that island, afraid. Not of dying, but of living. And he made me doubt. He made me doubt that I have something good here, that I could be happy. He made me doubt that I really love you."

It was a struggle to get those words out, but in the end, they only made Meeyon smile, and he didn't understand why.

"You love me?" she asked, as if that idea surprised her.

"Of course I do. Why would you ask that?"

"Well, you've never actually said it to me before."

He hadn't? How could that be possible? How could he have not told her how complete she made him feel? Then again, she had never said those words to him either. Neither of them had confessed their love, even though it was so obviously felt between them. "Well, I do love you," he assured, then said it one more time just to remind himself. "I love you."

She looked like she might cry then, and damn it all, if that happened, he knew he would start crying too. Luckily, not one tear was shed. Not even when she returned his sentiments. "I love you, too."

The wedding preparations could wait. They seemed inconsequential at that moment. Everything seemed inconsequential. All he wanted was Meeyon. He took her face and guided her in closer for a kiss, so he could erase his doubt and every other lingering negative emotion that had been left for him.

There was no doubt. He loved her.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Comments are always appreciated. Sorry I keep making you all cry. :-|