Prologue: The darkest hour is just before the dawn.

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The darkest hour is just before the dawn. 

That was a saying my father would tell me every single day as I would help him get ready for work. Everyday he would remind me to always see the positive in everything as there was always light at the end of the tunnel. I thought this was all bull because if there was light at the end of the tunnel, the world would be at peace and he wouldn't be dead.

When I was younger my father and I would wake up real early and head to the beach where we would sit and enjoy the sun rising. The cold, fresh breeze of the salty water would hit our face, a scent that relaxed us both before a long day ahead of us.

My father and I were very close to one another. We trusted in one another to keep each other's secrets. You could say he was my best friend and I was his. I was more closer to him than my mother. I loved both dearly and equally, but my father and I had a special connection that bonded us closer.

Something that truly brought us together was our love for the sea, especially our love for mermaids. We had a special interest in the sea and believed mermaids lived deep down at the bottom of the ocean. My mother thought we were delusional and reminded us daily that mermaids did not exist; that they were mythical creatures made up and that this wasn't a Disney movie. But we never paid attention to her comments as deep down in our hearts we knew mermaids were real.

At night when my father would tuck me to bed he would tell me stories about mermaid sightings and how they were the most beautiful creatures to have ever roamed the sea.

"Mermaids are very beautiful creatures with many magical powers." My father would tell me as he my hair with his rough hands, "They may be beautiful creatures but beware Jungkook. They could also be very, very dangerous."

"Why, daddy?" I would ask him with a curious tone, "Mermaids are beautiful, they are not supposed to be harmful."

"That's true, Jungkook. To the eye they seem beautiful and harmless." My father explained to my 10 year old self. "But if a mermaid falls in love with a human, they are fatal consequences that human would face."

"What consequences, daddy?"

"Well, the human would end up with a broken heart because mermaids can not stay on land forever." He would warm me with a very sweet, yet sad tone. "The human would die of a broken heart."

That night was the last time I ever got to talk and be with my father. A destructive storm hit the coast the next morning, and my father died while trying to rescue people who lived nearby the sea. He and hundreds of other people dragged along the menacing, crashing waves.

I remember my mother barging into my room waking me up by the sound of the door slamming. She came up to me and hugged me as tears streamed down her face. I remember asking my mother what was wrong.

She stayed quiet before telling me 4 words I dreaded to never hear. "Your father is dead, Jungkook."

When those words slipped out of my mother's lips, I remembered the last words my father told me to promise.

"Jungkook, promise to never fall in love with a mermaid."

And those last words my father told me to promise where the exact  opposite of what I did. I had failed to keep my father's promise. I fell in love with a mermaid who saved my life in the beginning but broke my heart at the end.