Hakyeon and Taekwoon were lying on hakyeon's bed, taekwoon's one arm was under hakyeon's head while the other was put at his side, hakyeon was lying on his side, one of his hands was busy drawing shapeless patterns on taekwoon's chest while the other was simply rested on his side on bed, they were both tired after a long session of swimming around the sea and observing new things, suddenly hakyeon stopped touching taekwoon's chest. 

"woonie, in this one month you've seen where I live, we observed every little part of this sea togheter, but I've never seen the world out of here, where you live, I want to see it"

Hakyeon was right, taekwoon had seen every part of this sea in this one month,  togheter with hakyeon, they have even kissed outside of water,  in one of their observations at night when there was no one at beach, they've kissed, again it was hakyeon who did it, he approached taekwoon and put their lips togheter,  the kiss was sweet and warm, for a moment taekwoon didn't felt the cold wind, his whole body was warm, it was the warmth of hakyeon's body that transferred through the kiss,  nothing more, that was what taekwoon forced himself to believe.

So hakyeon didn't have any problem on walking, he would have feets instead of his own tail when the contact with water got cut.

Taekwoon enjoyed every moment he spent here with hakyeon,  he had completely forgotten about his life out of here, his life here was so sweet that taekwoon forgot about the bitter life he had before, he didn't want to come back there, he didn't want to come back to a place where mina didn't want him any more, where the love of his life was with some one else.

Taekwoon was so drown in his own thoughts that he didn't hear hakyeon talking to him, hakyeon gently shook his arm and that made taekwoon come back to reality. 

"woon ah,  I told you it's ok if you don't want to go back there" 

Taekwoon tilted his head to look at hakyeon straight in eyes. 

"no,  it's ok, we can go"

Hakyeon smiled widely when he heard that, and that made taekwoon's heart melt badly, then hakyeon got out of bed and walked to his closet.

Hakyeon never wore anything,  his upper body was always and the rest of his body was his tail, taekwoon always wondered what hakyeon kept inside of that closet.

Hakyeon opened the closet and pulled some clothes out,  he turned to taekwoon and showed them to taekwoon with a sweet and wide smile on his pretty face, taekwoon took a clear look at them,  the clothes contained a shirt and  a skirt and two shorts.

"I even have clothes,  I can wear these when we go out"

Taekwoon tried really hard to hold back a chuckle, hakyeon would look really cute with a skirt, taekwoon made a mental note that he would ask hakyeon to wear that later when they were inside his apartment. 

Taekwoon stood up and walked to hakyeon then he grabbed the shirt, one of the shorts and skirt from hakyeon. 

"you can wear these, but took this one with you too"

"ok, I'm so excited about this"

 Hakyeon's smile grew wider,  he continued to check the clothes while taekwoon was watching him with amusement.

They decided to leave the sea at middle of night when there were no people around. 

Finally it was time to leave,  hakyeon was super excited about it, when he was out of water and his tail was turning into feets, finally it was completely done, hakyeon now had two legs instead of tail, taekwoon couldn't help the blush on his face, there infront of him was hakyeon looking at his own body in awe and , completely . 

Hakyeon grabbed the clothes but he seemed completely clueless about how to wear them, much to taekwoon's shyness hakyeon asked for help, and taekwoon had no choice but to accept his ask, even though he was extremely shy to do it.

In their way to taekwoon's apartment,  hakyeon kept looking around in awe and praising that how beautiful the city was, exited hakyeon was so adorable and looking at his exited face made taekwoon smile and think about how beautiful hakyeon was.

-----------

It's been a week since they came here, Their time on ground was as much fun as before, they visited every part of city each day and that all was new to hakyeon,  he kept being exited every time they visited a new place, they enjoyed their time together so much.

But one day when they were visiting one of taekwoon's friend's restaurant, taekwoon noticed that hakyeon wasn't as excited as before, his smile faded from his face when they were infront of restaurant,  he looked nervous and also in pain, taekwoon grabbed his forearms and turned hakyeon to look at him.

"hakyeon ah, what's wrong?"

Hakyeon kept looking at groung and didn't meet taekwoon's gaze.

"can we leave here please?"

Taekwoon was shocked but didn't complained anyways,so they left there. 

When they were inside of taekwoon's apartment,  after hakyeon calmed down, taekwoon asked about the panick attack hakyeon had before.

"hakyeon ah,  what happened earlier? What was wrong?" 

"I...there was a strange smell and I saw it, that... That was awful" 

"what was awful hakyeon? You saw what?"

"I spent all of my life in sea taekwoon,  sea is a part of me, as well as all the creatures inside the sea, but-- but at that place they were...they were---"

It made sense now that taekwoon thought about it, they were infront of a seafood restaurant when that happened,  hakyeon had seen people cooking and eating seafood and it made him feel bad and disgusted. 

Taekwoon pulled hakyeon into his arms and patted his back while whispering sweet nothings to him till he felt better.

Everything was fine after that, just untill taekwoon received a message from mina.

One day when hakyeon was showering, taekwoon went to check his phone for any new messages and he was shocked to see a message from mina, the latter had told him that she didn't love taekwoon anymore and wanted to be with sungmin, his new love, taekwoon loved mina with his whole heart and the news about breaking up with her made taekwoon feel so desperate and he ended up trying to kill himself after his break up with mina.

But mina had asked to meet  taekwoon,  mina taekwoon's whole life,  wanted to meet him, taekwoon couldn't say a no to that, so he grabbed his jacket and rushed to the place mina wanted to meet.

Mina was already there when taekwoon arrived,  the latter wasted no time to rush to mina and sit across her, mina smiled at taekwoon when she saw him.

"oppa, I missed you so much"

"you said you were tired of me, that you didn't want to see me anymore, you said you love sungmin not me"   taekwoon tried to seem cold, he failed at it, his love for mina was still there in his heart.

"I'm sorry oppa,  please forgive me, I love so much,  I made a mistake but now I found out that i love you only you"

Then mina stood up from his chair and went to sit near taekwoon,  she grabbed taekwoon's hand and put her head on taekwoon's chest. 

Mina came back to taekwoon,  she said she loves taekwoon and only him, not any one else, it made taekwoon so happy, finally mina was back.

Then taekwoon remembered about hakyeon,  what about hakyeon? Taekwoon needed to get rid of hakyeon, but how?

"mina,  I need to do something,  after that we can come back togheter,  give me a few hours, then we can be togheter"

Taekwoon came back to his apartment,  hakyeon had already finished his bath, he rushed to door when he heard it open.

"woonie, where were you? I was so worried" 

"hakyeon ah, get ready, we need to go somewhere"

Hakyeon was a bit taken back but accepted anyways and went to get ready. 

Hakyeon got ready in a few minutes and they left apartment. 

In their way hakyeon asked about their destination, but taekwoon told him to wait a bit more.

Finally they stopped walking,  but it was just infront of that seafood restaurant again, hakyeon felt the same nervousness coming back to him, he grabbed taekwoon's arm and tried to stick to him as possible as he could.

"woonie, why are we here? Can we go back?please? I feel bad here"

"I just need to talk to my friend,  it won't take much, just hold a bit, wait here, and I'll be back in a few moments" 

Then he pushed hakyeon's hands away from his arm and walked inside the building. 

Hakyeon felt terrible being alone there just infront of that ing restaurant. 

He didn't want to cry, he wasn't a little boy anymore,  but it was all to much to handle and he couldn't take it, tears were just rolling down his cheeks, he couldn't move a bit, he kept staying at the same spot taekwoon had left him, with his head down, he was scared, no, he was terrified,  why was taekwoon so late? He needed taekwoon so badly, he needed taekwoon to take him away from this awful place.

But there was no sign of taekwoon coming back, hakyeon waited for so long but he didn't come back.

It had started raining,  and hakyeon was near fainting,  his tail would pop out if his feet were in contact with water, he was already in a horrible state, and now the rain made it even worse.

He sat on the ground and pulled his knees to his chest then put his head down on his knees, he shouldn't get wet.

Hakyeon sat there crying and asking taekwoon to come back.

-------

Taekwoon entered the restaurant and went to exit from the backdoor, but ravi had already seen him, , he needed to exit soon, but ravi approached him, and he couldn't do so.

"hyung,  long time no see"

"ravi ah,  I'm in hurry, we can talk later"

Then he left  and ignored a annoyed ravi who was asking him to wait.

Taekwoon was walking to his apartment,  trying to calm himself down, he kept telling to himself that hakyeon was going to be fine, he tried to think about mina waiting for him but it had no affect,  the guilt didn't go away.

Taekwoon felt even worse when it started raining, he knew that being in contact with water would make hakyeon's tail come out.

Taekwoon couldn't go back to his apartment  and ignore hakyeon like that, he turned around,  there was a girl carrying an umbrella with her, taekwoon grabbed that umbrella with force from her and ran to that restaurant,  he couldn't care about that girl yelling at him, the only thing his mind was hakyeon. 

Taekwoon arrived infront of the restaurant,  only to find hakyeon in the same spot he had left him, the latter was sitting on the ground, hugging his knees, he looked so pathetic like that. 

Taekwoon rushed to him, and put the umbrella above him, then he sat on the ground too.

Hakyeon raised his head and looked at taekwoon with teary eyes, taekwoon wasted no time to pull him into his embrace, he put one of his arms around hakyeon while the other was holding umbrella. 

"I-I was so s-scared, w-woonie" 

Hakyeon said with a cracked voice, taekwoon hold him tighter. 

"I'm so sorry hakyeon ah, I'm here now, it's ok, I got you, don't cry,  please, I'm so sorry" 

Hakyeon clung to taekwoon even more, but his crying didn't stop.

It took about fifteen minutes for hakyeon to calm down, when taekwoon felt hakyeon calming down, he helped the latter to his feet and they started walking home. 

Taekwoon put his arm around hakyeon protectively.

When they arrived at taekwoon's apartment,  they found out that mina was already there.

Hakyeon looked confused to see her in taekwoon's apartment,  taekwoon had never about any one living with him, while taekwoon was so nervous,  he didn't want hakyeon to find out about mina.

"who is this oppa? Is your work done now? The thing that you wanted to do so that we can be togheter" 

Hakyeon felt his heart break into little tiny pieces, togheter? Taekwoon wanted to abandon him there to be with his girlfriend? But that was so cruel, how could he do that to him? What was wrong with just asking hakyeon to leave? Taekwoon could have told him to leave, if he said he loved this girl, hakyeon would leave without complaining,  he wouldn't stick to taekwoon,  taekwoon could have asked him, just an asking was enough for hakyeon to leave,but this was so much.

Hakyeon turned around and started running out of there, his vision was blurry but he couldn't care about that, he needed to leave as soon as possible. 

Taekwoon tried to grab hakyeon's arm and prevent him from leaving but hakyeon pulled his arm out of his grab and left.

He left taekwoon there with a terrible feeling, but taekwoon deserved it anyways, he acted so cruel toward hakyeon,  he was so mean and deserved to feel terrible. 

Hakyeon left taekwoon's apartment as fast as he could, he wanted to run away from there , run away from taekwoon, he walked out of that house to elevator,  he paid no attention to taekwoon calling for him, to taekwoon's nonstop apologizes, he didn't want hear those hollow apologizes from taekwoon,  taekwoon wanted to get rid of him and be with his precious girlfriend,  so why was he apologizing now? Wasn't that what he wanted from the first? To get rid of hakyeon?  Now hakyeon was doing it so taekwoon would be happy by now, thinking about taekwoon living happily with his girlfriend made hakyeon cry harder and he put his hand to his mouth to prevent sobs leaving his throat.

It was still raining and hakyeon had no choice but to stay in building till it stops raining,  he had no where no go expect the sea.

Hakyeon felt so stupid for believing that taekwoon was in love with him, taekwoon never voiced out his feelings but hakyeon thought his actions were enough, the way taekwoon laughed brightly with him whenever he said something funny, the way he clung to him at nights while sleeping,  the way he hugged him when he had a panic attack made hakyeon believe that taekwoon loved him, he believed him but he ended up like this, coming back to sea again with a broken heart.

Hakyeon didn't pay much attention to his surrounding,  he silently stood infront of the glass door and waited for the rain to stop.

When someone slowly touched his shoulder, he jumped abit, he was in depth of his mind thinking about his memories with taekwoon,  and he was startled enventhou it was just a gentle pat on  shoulder.

Hakyeon turned around and looked at the stranger's face gesturing for him to go on.

"emm, I saw you with taekwoon hyung earlier I'm his friend...emm may I ask why are you crying? You seemed so happy earlier,  you know making out under rain"   the stranger boy chuckled slightly. 

Hakyeon would simply say 'it's none of your business' to a stranger like this boy and walk away, but the said boy seemed so kind and hakyeon couldn't say such a thing.

"I..we ... I left cause he..."

Ravi seemed to understand that hakyeon couldn't explain it, so he decided to change the subject.

"it's ok, it's natural between couples to fight sometimes, you don't need to explain it"

Ravi smiled and it made hakyeon's lips curl up a bit too.

"I'm ravi by the way, what's your name?" 

" hakyeon "  

" oh nice to meet you"

"nice to meet you too"

"I can give you a ride if you want" 

"no thanks"  ravi frowned at that. 

"it's better than standing here and waiting, what if taekwoon hyung walks out of his apartment?  I think you don't want to see him right now"

"ok" 

Ravi smiled, then they walked out to ravi's car,  using  the latter's umbrella too.

Hakyeon was silently watching outside of car when ravi started driving.

"where should go? I mean tell me your address"

'Oh what should I answer now? why are you stupid hakyeon? ' hakyeon thought   'drop me off at beach please?' that would sound so crazy,  he let out a sigh and looked down at his lap.

"you don't have anywhere to stay?" 

"no, I just.."

Hakyeon tried to make some excuses but nothing came to his mind.

"you can stay with me "

"thank you but..."  hakyeon immediately tried to refuse.

"oh come on, it's ok you can stay till you two make up"

"we're not gonna make up" 

"you sure?"   Ravi said while raising an eyebrow.

"yeah" 

"Ok, whatever"

'I can stay a bit with him and leave after few days it's ok' hakyeon tried to reason himself. 

Ravi drove them both to his apartment and invited hakyeon inside to living room, his apartment was bigger than taekwoon's, but also untidier,  there were clothes all over the floor and some pizza boxs and colas on the table.

"sorry I didn't have time to clean"

Ravi grabbed the clothes and took them to a room that seemed to be his bedroom, then came back and carried the boxs to kitchen, hakyeon was standing at a same spot while ravi tried to clean his apartment a bit.

"you can sit, make yourself home"

Hakyeon nodded and went to sit on the couch, ravi offered him some drinks then they started chatting,  mostly by ravi asking questions and hakyeon answering them with short responses, hakyeon told ravi to not tell taekwoon about him staying at ravi's place.

Hakyeon was a bit uneasy around ravi, after all ravi was a human,  not that he was scared or didn't trust him, he accepted ravi's help since he knew he wouldn't do any harm to him, but eventhou ravi was kind and trusty person,  hakyeon needed to be careful around him, he shouldn't let ravi find out about him being a mermaid. 

---------

It took a few days for hakyeon to open up to ravi,  he was shy and uneasy at first but now he could chat easily with ravi, they would even watch movies togheter, cook togheter while chatting.

Hakyeon learnt that ravi was a really kind man and he treated hakyeon the best, but non of ravi's caring doings could make hakyeon forget about taekwoon and what he did to him, his mind kept thinking about taekwoon, thinking about how happy he was near his girlfriend while hakyeon was miserably hurting by himself, ravi wasn't blind thou he knew that hakyeon missed taekwoon so much and he was hurting, ravi decided to tell taekwoon and end all this hurtings. 

At the same time, taekwoon kept thinking about hakyeon and what he did to him, he acted so cruel to hakyeon,  hakyeon was being nice to him all the time and the latter trusted taekwoon with his whole heart but taekwoon just ruined his trust.

Guilt was eating taekwoon up, he was sorry and he wanted hakyeon back, he missed the latter so much and wanted to find hakyeon and tell him how sorry he was and how much he missed him,  how stupid he was for hurting hakyeon , he wanted to tell hakyeon how much he loved him, vut he couldn't, he tried to find hakyeon, but hakyeon wasn't anywhere taekwoon could find.

Taekwoon broke up with mina a day after hakyeon's leaving,  he kept looking for hakyeon every where,  he even went to sea but the latter was nowhere to be seen.

When taekwoon received a call from his friend telling him that hakyeon was with him, he felt joy wash over him, he'd finally found hakyeon, he ran all the way to ravi's apartment after receiving the call.

When he arrived at the apartment finally, he pushed ravi aside and went inside and kept looking for hakyeon,  ravi was telling him to calm down but in taekwoon's mind was just one thing: cha hakyeon, and all of other things were ignored.

When taekwoon finally spotted hakyeon in kitchen,  he rushed to him and pulled the latter into a bonecrashing hug.

Hakyeon was really shocked to see taekwoon,  his eyes were wide, the dish he was holding dropped to the floor when he saw taekwoon, when taekwoon hugged hakyeon the latter was too shocked to react, he became more shocked when he felt the wetness on his shoulder, taekwoon was crying.

Taekwoon finally broke the hug after a few minutes,  he then cupped hakyeon's face in his hands and looked at his eyes with his own teary ones.

"what are you doing here? You--you didn't want to be with me"

"I'm really sorry,  hakyeon ah, please forgive me, come back to me, I really can't leave without you, last week was a hell for me, please come back to me, I promise I'll treat you the best, I won't hurt you again,  never"

Hakyeon raised his own hands and cupped taekwoon's face too, taekwoon's teary eyes and sincere apologies were enough for hakyeon to forgive him, taekwoon pulled his face closer and put their lips togheter. 

"I love you"

Taekwoon mumbled between the kiss,  it was the first kiss that taekwoon did himself,  also the first time hakyeon heard ' I love you' from his eternal mate.