It took Seulgi two weeks to conclude that Joohyun was more like a six year old than the fully grown, centuries old woman she claimed to be.

She had noticed the air of innocence around the mermaid since their first meeting, but never on earth had she expected her to be this childish.

Joohyun couldn’t stay still in one place for longer than ten minutes, always tugging at Seulgi’s sleeve and asking her to carry her around to see different places in the huge ship.

As it occurred to her, the mermaid didn’t quite like human, but she certainly loved the world of humans with all of her heart.

Seulgi catered to her wide-eyed curiosity by explaining everything patiently, from toothbrush to light bulb and from the kitchenette to the ship’s machinery. Ever since the mermaid got past her fear of the new place, she couldn’t stop asking questions.

She was also warming up to Seungwan, no longer getting startled when the girl entered the cabin and smiling cheerfully at her instead.

The latter claimed that they were quickly becoming best friends, and that they would ditch Seulgi one day because she was a slow idiot.

Seulgi’s answer was a pillow tossed to Seungwan, which earned her the same pillow hurled back to her face. Joohyun watched the exchange with a rather amused look.

All in all everything was going great, and even Seulgi’s father seemed to let them slip away rather silently. It almost scared her at how smooth things were going.

“Dip in the breakfast!”

Seungwan barreled into the room with trays of food, reminding Seulgi that maybe, not everything was so smooth.

Joohyun frowned at the innocent fried egg and sausages as if they had killed her entire family.

“Sorry sweetie. The kitchen doesn’t have krills and algae for you. Why don’t you eat fishes anyway? I can get you some.”

Seungwan settled on the small round table, ready to have another breakfast with the two of them.

A laugh escaped Seulgi despite feeling bad for the still frowning mermaid. “She’s too nice to eat her own relatives. It will be cannibalism.”

“But you are from different species.” Seungwan bit on her bread. “Though admittedly, I will feel weird if somebody asks me to eat a...monkey.”

Seulgi held a palm up. “We are not discussing evolution at seven in the morning.”

“Fine.” Her nerdy friend drawled, plopping the rest of the bread into . “But you need to make her eat something. She needs those food to recover.”

Seulgi stirred her gaze to Joohyun, voice softer as she touched the mermaid’s hand. “Hyun, eat some of them, please? I will take you to the front deck later and we can fly a kite.”

Joohyun’s eyes lit up at the promise, and a bright smile spreaded on her lips.

She nodded immediately and happily dug into her meal.

Seulgi grinned from ear to ear, so close to cooing at the adorable display in front of her if she hadn’t remembered that Joohyun was actually a lot older than her.

Seungwan watched the two of them with silent amusement. “You two are surely, very nauseating. Maybe I’ll have breakfast with that pretty cook, Sooyoung, starting from tomorrow.”

Seulgi threw a napkin at her face.

 

------------------------------------------------

 

It was Seungwan’s fault, Seulgi decided.

As Joohyun nestled on her back, flying the purple colored kite and looking towards the sky with smile brighter than the sun, Seulgi watched her and felt that maybe her heart was reacting way too happily with all of this.

She had a girl around her weight dangling on her back almost all the time, explaining mundane things and doing silly act she last enjoyed as a toddler, but felt surprisingly happier than she did for the past ten years.

She had dismissed the feeling as Joohyun’s simple happiness being contagious, but after Seungwan’s unhelpful remark, she now had a new point of view to examine.

Was it the same reason why she panicked whenever her friend walked into the cabin and Joohyun was buck because the mermaid hated clothing?

Was it the same reason why she felt slightly irritated when the men -- the ship crews -- who had previously feared the mermaid, now stole glances at her and fussed over her beauty?

Was it the same reason why she felt ridiculously hot at night when Joohyun scooted closer to her underneath the blanket without any piece of garment?

Seulgi shook her head, willing bad thoughts to fly away.

Joohyun watched her curiously from the top of their bed after their kite-flying session.

“What?” Seulgi asked, voice weak with embarrassment at her weird train of thoughts. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

The mermaid beckoned her to come over and Seulgi did so timidly.

“Uh, I -- ” She ceased speaking because a pair of cool hands landed on her cheeks, pulling her face down to meet amber-colored, round eyes.

“What are you --“

Joohyun pressed an index finger on her lips, stopping her from speaking effectively. She patted Seulgi’s cheeks repeatedly and blew out some air on them.

“You are...trying to cool me down…?”

A nod, and Seulgi’s cheeks burned even hotter at how obviously red she must have been.

“I’m not hot!” She squeaked, but even her voice sounded embarrassed to her.

Thankfully, Joohyun didn’t seem to suspect her of any indecent daydreaming – maybe she thought she was hot because of the climate -- and only thought of helping her to cool down.

Seulgi sighed at the silly state she was stuck in and immediately regretted because Joohyun stopped patting her cheeks and looked into her eyes.

Oh, crap.

“Hey Seul, your father wants to --“

“Please knock on the door first Son Seungwan, they are made for a reason!” Seulgi scrambled to cover Joohyun up with the bedsheets in breakneck speed, causing Seungwan to flinch at her yell in the doorway.

“Alright, alright, I’m sorry. I always forget that she likes to be --“

“Please just,” Seulgi clamped a hand over her face, groaning. “Come inside and close the door.”

Seungwan slipped inside and bit back a smile at her friend’s funny, possessive stance, still holding the sheets around Joohyun way too protectively.

“What’s the matter?”

“Your father wants to have dinner with the two of you.”

Seulgi flicked her eyes to her then, and even Joohyun seemed surprised.

“Don’t look at me like that, I have no idea what he wants too.” Seungwan shrugged.

“Now?”

“Yes, now. I was in the kitchen chatting with Sooyoung -- oh god, she’s so pretty by the way -- and he came in asking the cooks to prepare some kind of feast. For you, apparently.”

Seulgi looked at Joohyun, and the mermaid blinked back at her just as lost.

“Um...okay, thanks for telling me.”

“You’re welcome.” Seungwan waved offhandedly and then tilted her chin at Joohyun. “You sure you don’t need some men to help you carry her upstairs?”

“Ew no.” Seulgi waved away, feeling utterly displeased somehow at the thought of men touching Joohyun. “I’ll carry her everywhere myself.”

She felt Joohyun’s legs kicked slightly, and she was sure if the mermaid still had a tail, it would be whipping around happily like before. Does that mean she is happy?

Cute.

“Whatever you want, champion.” Seungwan laughed, muttering softly as she walked away but not soft enough for Seulgi and Joohyun to miss. “So much for almost being married to a guy.”

Seulgi hurled a pillow at her but the door closed on her faster, the fluffy weaponry only hitting the wooden surface as Seungwan’s laugh echoed from outside.

Seulgi wheeled away to the wardrobe to pick up some clothes and dared not to meet Joohyun’s gaze for the rest of the time.

She could feel eyes behind her and her heart thumped.

 

--------------------------------------------

 

“Welcome. Please, have a seat.”

Seulgi stared at the overflowing dinner table warily, numerous fancy dishes she had only seen her father prepared for his fellow wealthy merchants staring back at her with excessive gleam.

She placed Joohyun carefully on the seat across her father, and then settled herself on the empty seat just beside the mermaid.

The maids rolled in to serve some wine, and then the strange dinner began.

“So,” Her father started, carefully cutting half of his grilled steak with poise. “How are you recovering, Miss...Joohyun?” He asked it slowly as if testing the water, and then smiled one of his diplomatic smile that Seulgi learned usually meant something was under the way.

“I haven’t had the chance to talk to you because of your injury, but I want to deeply apologize for what my men have done. They were terrified, and they clearly had done something they really shouldn’t. I beg your forgiveness for them.”

Joohyun regarded him briefly but looked unsure about what to say. She looked over to Seulgi.

“Father, if you have something to say, please just say --“

“That’s not a way to interrupt your father, Seulgi.” His voice turned completely stern, and Joohyun glanced back at him with uneasy, tiny frown. She didn’t like the way he talked to Seulgi.

“And to answer your question, yes, I have something to say. To your friend.”

“You are not going to ask her to leave the ship now, are you?” Seulgi breezed, not caring for the potentially bubbling anger in front of her. “Is that why you are treating her so nicely now?”

Her father abandoned the attempt to act nice altogether and leaned back on his chair with razor sharp gaze.

“If I were to be as heartless as I appear to be in your mind, my child, you will still be stranded alone in that empty, cold island.”

The chill of his voice gripped Seulgi, and she swallowed slightly.

Her father looked over at Joohyun and, relaxing again, tried to adopt another smile. “I was simply about to offer you the time to stay in this ship as long as you wish. You were injured by my men after saving my troublesome daughter, so it is only rightful that I grant you whatever it is I can provide as a form of gratitude.”

Seulgi stilled in her stiff chair, and out of the corner of her eyes she caught Joohyun looking at him with surprise too.

“I’m inviting you to stay on board with us as long as you wish.” He leaned forward, smile still intact and unreadable. “After all, my daughter, Seulgi, seemed to value your friendship a lot. I’ll be happy to have you here.”

He shifted his gaze back to Seulgi, rising his wine glass as he led it to his mouth.

 

--------------------------------------------

 

“It’s weird.” Seulgi said more to herself than to anyone, biting one of her fingernail as her eyes wandered to the night sea. “Father never does something kind without expecting anything in return. That’s how he gets all of his fortune. Bargains.”

Joohyun watched her quietly from the side, and after a moment, Seulgi realized how confusing she must have looked. “I’m sorry. I -- maybe I just think too much.” She shuffled closer, sitting beside Joohyun on the open deck. “But what do you think about what he said? Do you trust him?”

Joohyun seemed to consider briefly, before looking at her and nodding.

“You do?” Seulgi asked in surprise, almost wanting to tell her not to be so trusting. “Why? Because he is my father?”

This time Joohyun shook her head and pointed at her instead.

Because you are here. You will not let anything bad happen to me.

Caught off guard, a nervous laugh escaped Seulgi and she looked away from the bright eyed mermaid. “Right. I promised you I would keep you safe. I still hold on to that.”

Joohyun grinned widely, and the positivity finally rubbed on Seulgi as a smile of her own bloomed. “Alright then, in that case,” she stood up, hands on her hips, “we need to teach you a few basic things to survive in this human place.”

Joohyun blinked up at her, eyes wide as her legs kicked excitedly from the edge of the seat.

“First, we will need to teach you how to walk.”

Her legs stopped kicking in instant, and her face turned immediately pale as if she had just heard that the entire population of fish had gone extinct.

Seulgi laughed. “Relax. Walking is not that hard.”

Joohyun seemed apalled, but Seulgi leaned down to pick her up. “Here, let’s try.”

She swept Joohyun in her arms easily and tried to lower her to the wooden floor, but the mermaid clung to her neck desperately like her life depended on it.

“Joohyun, I can’t breathe.” Seulgi laughed, the mermaid’s arms crazily tight around her neck as her legs flailed frantically in order to not touch the floor.

“Joohyun.” Seulgi groaned, now struggling to breathe for real because of the 100 pounds baby dangling on her neck.

“I’ll hold you, see, I’ll hold you!” She managed to get Joohyun off of her somehow, and the mermaid’s feet finally touched the floor as Seulgi steadied her with both arms around her waist. “See? It’s not that bad. I will still hold you.”

Joohyun seemed to calm after realizing that Seulgi wouldn’t let go of her, and looked down at her own two feet to wiggle her toes curiously.

Her arms still wrapped around Seulgi’s neck, but she seemed so fascinated by her own feet touching the ground she barely noticed Seulgi laughing.

“Oh my god, you are so short.”

At that she shot Seulgi a glare, the younger girl cackling even harder at the new found measure. “I never realize how short you are because you are either in tail or in my arms, but wow, you are totally pocket sized. A pocket sized mermaid. A goldfish.”

Joohyun grumped and slanted forward to bob her forehead against Seulgi’s. “Ouch! What was that for?”

Joohyun huffed, and Seulgi was pretty sure if she didn’t need her two arms to cling around her neck, she would have punched her with them right then.

She broke into another fit of laughter before sobering up. “Alright, let’s get started then.”

Joohyun stiffened again at the mention and Seulgi grinned. “Feel those woods on the soles of your feet?”

She nodded, looking down again carefully.

“Try to shift your weight on both of them and get a feeling of how you balance them.”

Joohyun did as she was told, shifting to left and right slowly and trying to get a hold of her balance, her arms still secure around Seulgi’s neck and Seulgi’s hands still clasped on her waist.

“Good.” The taller girl grinned. She was so absorbed by teaching Joohyun that for a moment she forgot about the non-existent gap between them. “Now try to put your right foot forward while I take a step backward.”

Joohyun’s right foot stepped forward unsteadily, but Seulgi cheered on nonetheless. “Good. Now try to take the second one with your other foot.”

The mermaid seemed to gain confidence because of her encouragement and strived hard to take her second step.

Seulgi cheered, and was happy to find that her company smiled back at her just as excitedly.

They rounded the open deck step by step for about an hour, with Seulgi walking backward and Joohyun walking forward.

When the mermaid had seemed to gain enough sense of balance on her own, Seulgi suggested her to unhook her arms from her, which earned her a horrified look.

“No, no, it will be fine.” She assured, soothing Joohyun’s worry away. “You will be fine. I won’t let you hit the ground.”

Joohyun refused to release her arms, head shaking firmly. Seulgi met her eyes and squeezed her cheek with two fingers. “Trust me, okay? I won’t let you fall.”

Uncertain eyes flickered up to meet hers, but after a long time, the arms around her neck finally unlatched.

“Great.” She said slowly, feeling Joohyun began to sway unsteadily between her arms. “Calm down. Calm down. Now, take a step forward.”

Joohyun did, and after succeeding without tripping on her face gracelessly, her eyes shimmered widely.

“Nice!” Seulgi urged on, the mermaid now striving to walk on her own without her aid. An excited step forward, followed by another even more excited step forward, and suddenly it became too much excitement.

“Oh, no! Slow down!“ Seulgi yelped, just in time for one too eager footstep to trip its owner forward and crash her with unceremonious shriek to the floor.

Seulgi groaned painfully, feeling her back and scream in protest.

Joohyun winced on top of her, fingers curling tightly against the fabric of her shirt as her eyes screwed shut.

When the painful blow didn’t seem to come, she opened her eyes to find herself perfectly cushioned by something. She looked down to find Seulgi.

“Yeah, right, I’ve heard that I’m very comfortable to lay on.”

The mermaid scrambled off to her knees immediately, and as much as her body hurt, Seulgi couldn’t help but laugh. Joohyun looked utterly guilty as she made a big deal of checking -- patting? -- her injured frantically.

“Hey, it’s okay. I was just kidding. I’m fine.” Seulgi caught her wrist, stopping her from her -patting frenzy. The mirth in her eyes met Joohyun’s overly concerned ones, and sitting there on the open deck with her hurting, Seulgi couldn’t be happier.

Joohyun’s forehead frowned with concern.

“It’s okay. You did great.” She said sincerely, her laugh dying down and her gaze softened. “We will try again tomorrow, okay? Everyday until you can walk on your own.”

The mermaid nodded but still wore the small frown on her face. Injuring Seulgi in any way was never her wish.

She made a series of hand gesture.

“You want to make it up to me with something?”

Joohyun nodded, eagerly and seriously.

Seulgi grinned from ear to ear as she looked skyward and pretended to think. “Okay, well, how about teaching me how to swim one day when you’re fully recovered? Will that make us even?”

Joohyun nodded again eagerly, and suddenly leaned forward to tackle Seulgi down with a grateful hug.

Seulgi crashed to the floor again, chortling as smooth arms looped around her.

Joohyun clung to her like she was her favorite person on the world, burying her face into the crook of Seulgi’s neck as her nose nudged repeatedly against Seulgi’s skin, acting more like a puppy than any aquatic creature probably should.

Seulgi let the big smile settled across her lips and lied back, letting Joohyun snuggle away at her all she wanted.

As she stared at the starry sky above them languidly, she realized that she really felt way too happy with all of this.

That she was, perhaps, a little too fond of someone she knew she couldn’t keep forever.

Her smile faded a little.

 

-----------------------------------------------

 

“So, that will be read as s.”

“Seungwan!” Seulgi cried at her best friend’s choice of word, nearly dropping her cup of tea. “That’s not a word you should be using for teaching!”

Seungwan merely waved her off, flipping to the next paper she had placed on the wooden easel.

Joohyun listened to her attentively with such concentration that made Seulgi want to cringe. She hoped the mermaid didn’t actually retain all those words in her memory.

Seungwan cited the next word. “And this one will be read as Buttock.”

Seulgi spat her tea across the table, coughing miserably.

“Out...out!” She wagged her hand around, face reddening as she walked over to the duo. “I’m not letting you teach her ever again.”

“Gee, such a prude.” Seungwan folded her arms in front of her chest. Beside her, Joohyun nodded in agreement and motioned her to continue.

“See? Even the student doesn’t have problem with it. Maybe you are the weird one for making a fuss over it.”

Seulgi glared. and any form of it never bothered Joohyun because it was how she lived. Of course she would find Seungwan’s little prank normal.

“Go back to flirt with Sooyoung or read some books about leaves, I will continue the lesson by myself.”

“Fine.” Seungwan drawled, gathering her belongings and snickering as she stood up. “Don’t forget the s and buttocks, okay?”

Seulgi hurled a crumpled paper at her so quickly as she ran outside with resonating laughter.

Sighing, Seulgi settled on the chair previously occupied by her obnoxious friend. “Forget everything she said. We will start anew.”

A small, confused frown formed on Joohyun’s face.

Seulgi put down the paper to ask something out of frustration. “Okay, let me ask you one thing before we start. This is because your lack of concern about is starting to worry me. What if one day you stand alone on the deck, and one of the ship crew -- a male -- comes at you and asks, ‘Hey, you are a mermaid, why are you wearing clothes?’ Will you take them off?”

Joohyun’s frown reached the depth where it looked like Seulgi had asked her if fish needed water and she nodded solemnly. Of course! What’s the big deal?

Seulgi groaned and pulled at her own hair. “See! You can’t do that! I mean, not in human world at least. People here are -- they are – different! They are going to look at you and --“

Leer because you are so goddamn beautiful and they are going to start imagining things about your lovely body because I know I do --

“Just....don’t get in front of anyone except for me.”

Crap.

Now that sounded incredibly corrupted.

Seulgi swore she was a nice person. She wasn’t trying to lead an innocent girl down the path of indecency with --

Wait, nobody said anything about indecency. Why is she so defensive?

She swallowed a breath. “Anyway, just...” she cleared , ignoring Joohyun’s confused eyes, “…carry on with the lesson.”

They tumbled through the reading session for about an hour, and while it was fairly easy to teach Joohyun how to walk within weeks, it was sadly difficult to get her to read, or more precisely, to read out loud.

Her tongue just didn’t seem to work the same way human’s did, and Seulgi was starting to wonder if maybe it had something to do with her vocalbox too.

She didn’t want to push. “You know, it’s perfectly fine even if you don’t speak our language.”

Joohyun shook her head adamantly and Seulgi knew what she was going to state even before she flailed her arms.

She wanted to.

She was determined to speak.

“Okay, but why?” Seulgi put the brush and paper down, pulling up her chair to face Joohyun better. “Why do you want to speak human language so badly? I mean, I can understand you perfectly fine even without it.”

At this Joohyun grinned, and took out a paper to jot down something in what little characters she had learned. She passed the paper to Seulgi.

Because I want to say your name.

A wave of heat hit Seulgi squarely in the face, creeping all the way to the tips of her ears.

She colored bright red and her heart hammered.

“Hey!” Seungwan’s head suddenly popped in from the slightly open door, just in time for Seulgi to tear her gaze away from Joohyun and retreated from her seat. She tried her best to tame down her crazy heartbeats.

“Uh, sorry to barge in again but your father wants to see you.”

Seulgi swallowed and tried to keep an even voice. “Um, why?”

“No idea.” Seungwan shrugged, but then thought better. “Maybe it has something to do with your upcoming birthday. Sooyoung said the kitchen has been notified to prepare a big feast once we arrive in China.”

Seulgi’s face darkened and her heartbeat finally dropped. “Then it’s not my birthday feast. It’s just a business feast with his fellow merchant whose son he nearly married me off to.”

Seungwan’s mouth formed an inaudible ‘O’ and Seulgi stood.

“I’m going to talk to him. Please take over Joohyun for a while.” She passed the chair to Seungwan but lifted a finger before walking away. “No indecent words, okay?”

“Yes, mam.” Seungwan pretended to salute and sat down.

Across her, Joohyun looked a little crestfallen after hearing the word ‘marriage’. Her eyes remained glued on the door even after Seulgi left. She had forgotten about the arranged marriage.

 

----------------------------------------

 

Why is it so hard?

Irene frowned at her latest failure, brows knotting together furiously as shut with annoyance and her cheeks puffed out.

It was just one simple word.

Seulgi.

And everything on her world would go right.

She a breath and closed her eyes, willing all the concentration from the calm sea breeze to come over and help her.

It was past midnight and everybody was asleep, but Irene, knowing that Seulgi’s birthday was coming soon, had set out on her own to have some extra training.

She would call Seulgi by her name on her birthday even if it killed her. It was her lifetime mission.

She focused again and cleared , warming the stupid vocalbox to cooperate with her better.

“A...A...E…” She tried, and then swallowed deeply. “Seul --“

The ‘Gi’ wasn’t even out of yet when a crashing sound surprised her from a corner and she whipped around to see -- Seungwan? -- and a girl -- Sooyoung -- she thought, trying to enter a cabin in a very sloppy manner while enganging in some kind of...strange mouth- activity.

She frowned.

What is that?

Sooyoung caught her shadow despite being rather heavily occupied and immediately pushed Seungwan away with a graceless shriek.

Irene blinked, bowing her head low as some kind of apology because it felt like she int