Kris, It's Me! - Chapter Seven

The aquarium. Kris said he wanted to go to the aquarium.

Claire wanted to meet him, in mermaid form. She looked around the nearly empty aquarium. No one would know, right? Of course not.

“Don’t do anything stupid!” Joe had screamed as she left the house.

Claire scoffed as she jumped into one of the water tanks. Kris was wandering around in that area. He had come early on purpose to get to know the displays.

She noticed how light her hair got when she wasn’t in her human form, there were a few bracelets on her wrists and her necklace still hung around her neck.

Kris turned around and stared at her. “I-It’s you…” He walked up to the display and tapped on the tank. “Hey…it’s really you. Can you hear me?” He tapped on the glass and pressed a hand against it.

Claire lined her hands up against the glass with his. She nodded.

She pulled her hands away and backed up a bit so he could see her.

“H-Hey, thank you…for everything.” Kris said. “Do you think we can ever be together?”

Claire nodded. “Find me.” She whispered before swimming away.

Kris tapped on the glass. “H-Hey! Hey! I…never got your name.”

She turned around. “Find me…I’m closer than you think.” She said before swimming away. 

Claire swam up to the surface of the huge swimming tank and made sure no one was looking before climbing out. She dried off and stood up again. She twirled her brown locks with her fingers before putting the ring back on. "Hm, I haven't seen myself with blonde hair in a while...that was...refreshing." She said as she walked down the stairs. 

"Kris?"

He turned around and smiled. "Oh, hey..."

"What were you looking at?" 

Kris stared ahead of him into the water. He looked at the fish and the turtles swimming around. "I just...thought I saw her, that mermaid. I...I think it was just a day dream or something, it seemed so surreal."

It wasn't a day dream. Claire wished she could tell him the truth already, but she couldn't risk disappearing. 

Kris shook his head and grabbed her hand. "Let's go look at jelly fish." 

He turned to her a couple hours later. They had explored the whole aquarium.

"Can I ask you something? Maybe I already asked you this but..." Kris eyed the necklace. Didn't the mermaid have the same exact one? The only place he's ever seen it was on Claire's neck and on that mermaid's neck. "Where'd you get that locket?"

Claire looked down at her necklace. "This? From my home town in Seoul." she said, which was technically right because she was born by the sea near seoul. 

"Do you have a picture or something inside?" Kris asked.

Claire opened up the little pink sea shell to reveal an empty space where her pearl would've been. 

Kris looked at the empty space, it looked quite familiar. What could fit in there? A pearl. "What's supposed to go in that spot?" He asked as he closed the little shell.

"A pe