The next morning, Baekho was greeted with harsh sunlight stabbing his senses awake. He groaned and turned over, pulling his pillow closer to his face to cover the sunlight.

"Wakey, wakey, rise and shine, Baekie boy!!" The annoying voice of his best friend filled the room. Baekho groaned and glared at his friend who was already charging at him. He let out another groan when his friend laid atop of him, trying to get him to wake up.

"I'm awake. Get off, you heavy lug," he snapped at his friend, kicking him off. Seungkwan laughed and got up, glad that Baekho woke up without much problem. It usually took a lot more to wake the other up but because of yesterday's event, he found it hard to rest well. "Why the hell are you even here?"

"Because we don't usually get to spend a whole week together?" Seungkwan scoffed and dragged Baekho to his feet. Baekho grumbled and rubbed his temples. "Did you drink last night? Why do you look so terrible?"

"No. Something happened last night. Something crazy," Baekho complained and shoved Seungkwan out of his way to go to the bathroom. Seungkwan raised his brows with curiosity and followed Baekho.

"What is it? What is it? Are you going to tell me?" Seungkwan asked, voice dripping with curiosity. Baekho rolled his eyes and shut the bathroom door in his friend's face. Seungkwan was the last person he wanted to hear this early in the morning. The younger boy waited outside the bathroom though and went straight to annoying the older one again when he came out to change clothes.

"Oh, shut up!" Baekho snapped. "It was a mermaid. Happy? I saw a freaking mermaid." His tone small and quieter.

"What?! Baekho, that's huge news!!" 

"Shut it!" Baekho clamped a hand over his loud friend's mouth. Seungkwan gasped and calmed down a little. He looked around, making sure there was no one outside his door or bedroom window before letting Seungkwan go. "Shush. Don't yell it out."

"What happened?" Seungkwan squealed as quietly as he could. Eyes twinkling in excitement. Baekho shrugged.

"Remember what my niece said? About the singing mermaid?"

"Yes, uh huh!"

"I was really distracted by it and I went out to take a stroll last night. That thing... whatever it was... was singing what we were singing that day," Baekho said quickly. "Some fishermen were there and tried catching it but I interfered and it ran away."

"Wait, what?! Why would you interfere?"

"I don't know! What was I supposed to do then? Help them capture it? It sounded so scared, Kwan... I was scared they were hurting it too," Baekho sighed, rubbing his face with his hands. "If any of them find out that I helped that creature, they'll probably have my head for it."

"My mouth is zipped! Promise. But was it really a mermaid?" Seungkwan went closer to Baekho, really really curious. Baekho hissed and pushed his friend away.

"It was. It had a human male upper body and a fish tail," Baekho clarified. "I saw it with my eyes. I told you whatever grabbed me in the water yesterday was a hand and I wouldn't be surprised if it was the same goddamn thing. It sang what we were singing."

"But it's a pretty popular song. You sure it wasn't just humming some random tune?"

"No way. It's not like people blast music in the middle of the sea." Baekho laid on his bed and Seungkwan let himself fall beside his stressed out friend. "I don't know what to do, Seungkwan...."

"What do you mean? There's nothing you can do," Seungkwan replied in a confused tone. 

"Those fishermen are bound to try to catch it now.... now that they know it exists," Baekho whispered angrily. He didn't want that somehow. It was a living creature just like them. It didn't deserve to be locked up or caught as food. 

"Then... what do you want to do? You don't know where it is... Maybe it has already swim all the way out to the ocean to find a new hiding spot. Come on, man, there's nothing you can do."

"You're right.... I should probably stop thinking about it."

Except he couldn't. When evening rolled in, he found himself sitting by the shore alone again. The water was lapping at his toes slightly. What was he even doing? There was no way it would appear again after being attacked so aggressively last night. Baekho sighed and decided to sing to pass time and boredom. He hummed at first and played with his phone. Gradually singing a little louder since there was no one around to judge him singing anyways. It was just him and the sound of waves.

"-though I like you, nobody knows
Even when I see other-" Baekho paused when he heard a distant voice. He looked around the empty beach and then back at his phone. Maybe he was just imagining things. He continued singing and then moved his phone aside to keep it so he could leave but his whole body froze and so did his lips when he saw something in the water right in front of him. Just barely a few inches away. His eyes widened as he stared in disbelief. There it was. 

Sparkling purple eyes stared into his brown ones. Smooth porcelain looking skin with a few bruises. Wide shoulders. Sharp gaze. Pointy nose. Thin lips that were curved upwards in a smile as it stared at Baekho. Baekho rubbed his eyes and blinked them again. He shifted slowly and watched the long shimmering tail attached to its hip flip it's tail fin as though it was greeting Baekho. It's eyes moved along with Baekho's movement. Baekho sat up straight again and it turned to look at him. Baekho gulped and quickly looked around the empty beach one more time.

Water slid off its skin, dripping onto Baekho's feet and made him flinch as he turned back to the merman that was still there, smiling at him with eyes that seemed to be enjoying whatever it was looking at which happened to be Baekho. Baekho didn't know what to say or how to react. 

"A-are you real?" Baekho stuttered and it didn't reply him, just smile that beautiful smile. Baekho gulped. Did this thing only talked fish? Whatever fish meant. "Uh... why are you even back here? What if they try to catch you again? You should leave." He waved his hand, trying to get it to go back into the sea but it seemed confused at what Baekho was telling it to do. It opened its mouth, sharp fangs showing themselves to Baekho as it tried to say something but nothing came out. It closed its mouth again and a sour expression took over as it placed a hand or what seemed more like claws against its throat. It looked pitiful to Baekho then, danger not even registering in the boy's head. 

"What's wrong with your throat?" Baekho asked. "Did you hurt it?" It stared at Baekho and moved it's hand away, showing its long neck that had a bruise around it. Baekho grimaced at the look of it. It must have been done by the fishermen yesterday. It took Baekho awhile before he seemed to realise the other actually... understood him. "Wait. You know what I'm saying?"

It blinked and nodded before breaking into a smile again. "So... you were the one singing yesterday?" Another nod. "Did you pull me into the water too?" It stiffened before it slowly nodded. Baekho wasn't even sure if he was angry at it for doing that. "Why? Did you think I was food?" A head shake. "Why did you pull me in then?" It looked nervous and slowly started to move back into the water. "Wait. I didn't mean to sound mad at you. I'm just confused. You... you just appeared and.... and..." 

The merman stopped and opened its mouth, pointing at his throat and then towards Baekho. Baekho couldn't quite understand what it was trying to gesture but it repeated it again. "Oh. You were... trying to imitate me singing?" It seemed to show an irritated expression before trying again to gesture at Baekho and moving it's jaw while tapping it's ear. "Hmmm.... You... wanted to hear me sing?" It smiled and nodded. "But I can't sing underwater." It frowned and nodded, showing a small pout. "I guess you found that out yesterday." 

Baekho felt like he had probably went bonkers if he's talking to an actual fish man. But he was. Although the merman himself didn't talk, Baekho found it pretty mesmerising to look at. It had a pretty face and a fit body that really looked human apart from its gleaming purple eyes and fangs. "Did you get hurt? From yesterday?" It nodded and touched it's body where there were a couple of bruises. "Does it hurt? Will you be fine?" Two nods. Baekho sighed. He didn't know what he could do for it. It's not like he could bring it to a doctor anyways. "Ah... do you have a name? I'm Baekho." It nodded and held out a nail as it drew into the sand. The words came out looking weird and Baekho had to read it a couple of times before he guessed correctly.

"Minhyun.... Minhyun. A pretty common name for a merman, don't you think?" Baekho said jokingly and it frowned, splashing water at him. Baekho laughed and covered his face. "Hey! Don't do that. I'll get wet." It seemed to smile triumphantly and it's tail flapped excitedly. The sound of people approaching made Baekho turn his eyes away from the merman but when he turned back, it was gone. As silent as it had appeared. "Minhyun?" 

A few laughter sounded behind him and Baekho guessed the other had retreated back into the water, afraid that it would get seen by others. Baekho sat there until the few people went away but it didn't surface anymore. Baekho decided to try to come again tomorrow and see if the merman would appear again.

That night Baekho had called Seungkwan to tell him what had happened and the other was genuinely excited about it. He asked if he could see it too but Baekho wasn't sure about that. 

"We could try tomorrow," he said as he sat down on the bed. 

"But really, it's like you just summoned it with your voice. Are you like a Disney Princess or something?"

"Hey, it could work with yours too. After all, we were both singing that day on the boat."

"Oh my gosh. You are so right. I can't wait!!" 

After their chat, Baekho went to sleep. He felt warm somehow and smiled whenever he thought about the merman. It looked pretty even with the water dripping off its porcelain like skin. It's hair a light shade of brown with black mixed in it. Baekho wondered if it's voice would ever come back, remembering the voice he had heard the previous night. A sweet mellow tone. He wished it would heal faster. Maybe then they could talk more. He wanted to see it again. 

Something about it was just magical and it seemed to be attracted to Baekho just as much if it was willing to show its body to him like that. Baekho couldn't help but feel giddy just thinking about it. No, not it. Minhyun. Thinking about Minhyun. It had a name too.