Prince Yunho came back to the castle confused about what he saw, but he didn’t say a word to anyone.

A girl ran towards him, her expression worried.

“Your Majesty! Where did you go? Are you okay?”

She was the princess his parents had chosen for him. Yunho rolled his eyes. He found the girl terribly annoying. He was barely 17 years old and his parents wanted to marry him off to a girl he didn’t know. How could they do this to him?

“Leave me alone” he scoffed.

In that moment his parents came in the hall.

“Yunho! How can you be this rude to your future wife?” His mother scolded him, while his father just stared at him disapprovingly.

“It wasn’t my choice to marry her, Mother!” The prince yelled.

“You can like it or not, but you are going to marry her. Because this is what WE decided for you. You don't have a say in this, Son.” The King replied.

“I hate you. I hate this!” He fumed. Then he turned to the princess one last time.

“Just so you know princess, I won’t ever love you. Since my parents were so kind to choose this wedding for me, you’re going to live with an empty shell for the rest of your life.” a chill ran through the people in the room’s back. “And I wish you good luck with that.” The prince stated coldly before turning around and leaving his parents and his future wife there.
When he knew they couldn't see him anymore, he dashed to his room. Once inside he closed the door and stood there against the wall trying to breathe deeply.
Being a prince wasn’t easy. Sometimes the loneliness was suffocating and he felt trapped inside a golden cage. He wasn’t even free to go for a walk alone, though this hadn’t really stopped him from sneaking out countless times. He hadn’t seen anything of the world; just the sea and the rocks around the castle. His dream was to travel, explore and discover. He just wanted to be free and live the life he wanted to, not the life someone else chose for him. He had maybe two real friends. He didn’t trust people easily. The people who tried to get close to him just wanted to take advantage of his status and the money his family had.
He sighed and went to sit at his massive window with the ocean view. Deeply lost in his thoughts, he was peering at the sea as if he was expecting something to magically appear from it.

Yunho had always been mesmerized from the sea. He loved to sit in the sand and lose himself in both the ocean’s waves and calmness. He could finally allow himself to think about what he saw earlier in the ocean.
Did he imagine that creature? He was only able to catch a glimpse of it, but what he saw was absolutely breathtaking.
And what about the voice he heard saying his name?
Was it the creature that was calling him?
Why?

Suddenly he remembered a poetry about mermaids he read when he was a child:

“Beware of the mermaids,

With their hair of rainbow,

Their eyes of indigo.

They are but illustrious raptors,

Pretty and beastly.

Damned souls from

The underworld,

Predators of the sea.”

Yunho had to admit that it was a pretty scary poetry, but he was a wise man and he didn’t want to judge something from a mere old legend.
He wasn’t sure about the situation yet, but he wanted to find out. He was eager to! Somehow he couldn’t stop thinking about it.
He himself couldn’t explain why he was so curious; the only thing he knew was that there was a strange feeling growing inside of him. In the moment he heard his name being whispered, he felt his heart beating fast. It was something he had never felt before, as if the gravity around him had shifted.
In that moment he just wanted to go out and find out more. He had never fallen in love, but for once, even though he was feeling oppressed by the weight of the things bound to happen in his life in the near future, he could see hope in front of him. He could feel his cold heart melting just remembering the sound of his own name whispered by the beautiful creature. And he didn’t care if it was dangerous, because his heart recognized the sweet voice before his own eyes understood who was actually whispering.

He went to bed and dreamt about golden hair and porcelain soft skin.

----

Jaejoong was on his way to the secret library. He could feel Junsu almost yelling in his mind, asking him where he was. He could detect the worry in his voice and the prince tried to assure him that everything was okay, but Junsu could feel the uneasiness and the confusion in his best friend’s mind and he was getting more worried by the second.
He swam to the familiar rock and after checking if he had been followed, he whispered “Colosseum”, the watchword for the secret place to open.

 

As soon as he entered the majestic library, Junsu ran to him.

“Joongie! What happened?” He nagged, checking Jaejoong’s body to see if he was hurt.

“I’m okay, Su.” Jaejoong mumbled.

“You’re not okay. I can feel that something happened.”

A soft bark was heard and Jaejoong found himself with a handful of his little dog snuggling against his neck.

“Hi little one! Did you miss me?” The prince looked at his small poodle and pet him sweetly.

“Jae, don’t change topic. There’s something different about you and the fact that I can’t seem to grasp what it is, is driving me crazy!”

Jaejoong sighed and told him everything that happened that evening.

He told him about Boa (sometimes interrupted by Junsu’s curses towards his older sister) and the meeting with the land prince.

“Did he see you??” He asked worriedly.

“Su, if he had seen me I probably wouldn’t be here, don’t you think?” Jaejoong replied with a bit of sarcasm.

Junsu took the clue and kept silent till his best friend finished his story. His face was pensive and the merman Prince was waiting anxiously for him to say something.

“It seems like you found your soulmate, Joongie.”

“I found what? My soulmate?” His eyes widened.

“Yes, the feelings you described, the pull you felt towards him at first sight and the fact that he apparently heard you saying his name, confirm my theory. I’m sure he felt the same things as you.”

“But… But… He’s human.”

Junsu sighed. “I know...”

“And I can’t show myself to him without being exiled.”

“I know…”

“And he’s getting married, Su! How is this possible? It’s a story without a future. It won’t ever work.”

“I don’t know what to say, Joongie. It seems like destiny wants to play with you. This will get really painful for both of you. Your heart will call for him, your body will crave his, your soul will yearn for his. And without even knowing you, he will feel all of this too. I think it’s even more tragic.”

Jaejoong was nibbling on his bottom lip anxiously.

“Okay, what can we do about it, Su? There has to be a way out from this.” Sadness dawned on the beautiful prince’s features.

Junsu glanced down, unable to bear his best friend’s gaze.

“There’s nothing I can do, Joongie. We can’t change the destiny, it’s against the rules.”

“But Suie, even the normal magic is against the rules!”

“Jae, you know that it’s not the same thing. Even if what I’m doing is illegal, we can’t meddle with human lives. That is the main reason mag