[May 21^st, 2017]

The pair were inside of Hoseok’s car, which sat in the middle of a large, empty parking lot.

“You want to try driving?” Hoseok asked with a nervous laugh. “Right here, right now?”

He knew she had no previous experience driving—anyone could probably figure that out.

She nodded eagerly, clapping her hands together.

“Yes! Don’t worry, I’m probably a natural!”

Hoseok laughed once more—an anxious laugh more than anything else—as he opened the door of his car and stepped out, heading towards the passenger seat.

Ye Seul jumped over to the driver’s seat. She took a deep breath and seized the wheel with a death grip. And before Hoseok could even close his door, she moved the handle and pressed the gas pedal. She screamed as the car lurched forward.

“H-H-Hey! Press the brake!!”

“T-The b-brake?! Which one is that?”

“To your left!”

The car came to a rough stop.

Hoseok inhaled sharply as he tried to calm his nerves.

“Ye Seul, before you even start driving, you’re supposed to put your seatbelt on. Ya kno’, like I do when I drive.”

She stared at him, gave a half nod, and began to fumble clumsily with the seatbelt.

“I’ll do it for you,” Hoseok chuckled as he reached over and grabbed the seatbelt.

He hovered in front of her for a brief moment, his face only inches from hers, before clicking the seatbelt into its lock. In that very moment, he had stopped breathing.

“You turned red,” she said with a small laugh.

Hoseok gave a shaky laugh—probably his third laugh in the last two minutes—as he waved his hand in the air. “Who wouldn’t turn red in the presence of a goddess like you?!”

“That’s true,” she replied with a pout. “Very true.”

He laughed again. Then he pointed, one by one, to the features of the car as he gave Ye Seul a quick explanation of each function. She nodded as she made an effort to understand his explanation. 

After about ten minutes, he sat back in his seat and smiled.

“You wanna give it a try now?”

She closed her eyes and nodded in a manner that almost came off as cocky.

“I’m telling you, I’m a natural,” she said as she wagged a finger at him, a sly smile stretching across her lips.

Then she gripped the wheel, with even more valor than the first time, and pressed on the gas. She grinned with confidence as the car moved forward, less violently this time.

“And If I press down—” she muttered as she pressed down even harder on the gas, “Do we go even fas—”

“Y-YE S-SEUL! SLOW DOWN!”

He grasped the top of her hand as he turned the wheel sharply to the left, causing them to dodge the approaching parking sign just in time. She slammed on the brakes and shut her eyes tightly, squeaking in terror.

Then she slowly opened them after the car came to a full stop.                                            

“H-Hey. Y-You can let go of my hand now…”

“H-Huh?” Hoseok stuttered, his face paler than the moon. Then his eyes widened as he realized they were on top of hers.

“M-My bad,” he sputtered as he quickly removed his hand and shoved it in his pocket.

She laughed nervously as she took her hand off the wheel as well.

“Let’s put the car in parking for now,” Hoseok said as he took a deep breath.

“I guess I’m not a natural,” she muttered darkly as she moved the handle to park.

Hoseok ruffled her hair. “I’ll keep on teaching you, then. Until you really are one.” He smiled and gave her an encouraging nod. 

“Really?!”

“Yeah, even though it might take years,” he replied with an exaggerated laugh.

Her face fell for a quick moment. She then mustered a smile.

“Years… that would be nice.”

“Are you hungry? Should oppa take you to his favorite café while we’re in the area?”

“Oppa?” she repeated with a raised brow before chuckling.

“I am a year older than you!”

She laughed. “I am a little hungry, oppa.”

Hoseok smiled and closed his eyes as he raised his nose into the air, moving his head back and forth as if listening to a melody. “It sounds nice—oppa.”

She hit him in the arm. “Pfft.”

He grabbed his arm and pretended to look at her in shock.

“Go drive, dongsaeng.”

“Oppa,” he corrected.

Her eyes crinkled into crescents as she giggled. “Fine, oppa.”

--

She pressed her hands against the glass of the container that encased the pastries. Her eyes were round with amazement, ajar in delight.

“Is it your first time here?”

She nodded quickly in response.

“They have really good coffee here—”

She interrupted him with a sharp, repetitive tap on the glass. She mouthed “I want this” with raised brows.

Hoseok stifled a laugh as he ordered two coffees and two pastries of the same kind.

Moments later, she bit into her bread and closed her eyes, the phenomenal taste whisking her away into pure bliss.  

“Hey—I just realized.”

She nodded.

“That bread—”

She took another bite and nodded once more, a playful grin on her lips.

“You food thief,” he finished with a laugh.

He slapped his knee and took a sip of coffee as he narrowed his eyes, facing her with exaggerated suspicion.

“Lee Ye Seul… You really are a piece of art.” (Ye Seul/Sool = art in Korean)

Her expression lit up.

“Say, is it true that you guys use things like…” She paused, thinking hard. “Paints and brushes…?”

“For… art? Of course, we do. What else would you use?”

“W-Wait. Stay like that. Just like that. Don’t move,” she commanded as she squinted, creating a miniature picture frame with her fingers.

She was appalled at how long it had taken her to realize it. The man that she had carved into stone countless times, when she had still been a mermaid, looked exactly like Hoseok. Her breath caught in as she continued to stare. No—it was Hoseok.

Hoseok gazed at her with curiosity as she took another bite of her bread. She seemed to be thinking extremely hard about something. Then a dollop of cream from the bread smeared across her lips. She took another small bite, oblivious. He reached for a napkin and called her name.

“Ye Seul.”

She snapped out of her trance and looked at him in surprise.

“One moment,” he murmured quietly as he reached across the table and wiped the cream from her lips.

Then the girl flushed a deep red.

“H-H-Hey. I can do it myself.”

Hoseok laughed. “What were you thinking about? Seemed pretty important.”

She blinked. “It’s nothing…”

“Art, right? You said you wanted to see some art supplies?”

She bit her lip and looked straight at him, her head bobbing into a slow nod.

“I want to… paint something.”

--

[May 25^th, 2017]

Her head pounded furiously as the room began to spin in circles. She stumbled towards the bathroom, covering to stop the onslaught of scratchy coughs that followed. She clung to the sides of the toilet and vomited—yet the only thing that came out was a stream of frothy red. She grimaced as she coughed again into the palm of her hand, decorating it with splatters of blood. She reached into her bag with trembling hands and produced her third bottle of water and downed it in one session.

Exhausted to the bone, she dropped to her knees and closed her eyes for a brief moment.

“Mom, is Ye Seul going to die?” her brother was asking in a quiet voice, with his head bowed downwards as he fought back his tears.

“No, of course, she isn’t. Don’t be silly, Sunghoon.”

The little boy lifted his head and shook his head in fierce denial. “She can’t die!”

“Shh.” Her mother pressed a finger to her lips. “Your sister is sleeping. Sunghoon—”

“Mom… I can’t imagine life without Ye Seul. She’s going to get better, right? You promised me!”

The woman smiled gently, nodding her head in a reassuring manner. “She’s going to get better. Don’t worry, Sunghoon.”

Then when she opened her eyes again, she realized that she was crying. She now remembered why she had been so against the idea of becoming a human—the thought of being in another world without her family had, although she had hated to admit it, frightened her. And right now, at this very moment, she was utterly alone. She missed her mother’s overprotective nagging and her brother’s constant blabbering.

She glanced towards the entrance of her room and stared dully at the two bags that sat by the wall.

Soon she would have to leave.