(sea, Chanyeol POV)

I was out on my personal boat at sea during the night. Sometimes, when no one is around, when I'm stressed, or when I just feel like it, I come out here at night to take a relaxing boat ride, or just admire the stars. Tonight, I'm looking at the constellations to see about finding Sirius, my favorite star.

Turning on my headband light, I start looking at the compass and the star map to get the correct location of the star. I use my telescope to get a better view of it, and write down my findings in my astronomy journal. While writing the journal entry, I can hear a faint scream, shouting, "Help! Help me!"

Having no clue what it was, I use my telescope to look out at the sea to notice a girl in the water. Why was she out here later at night? When I thought she was drowning, I just noticed that she was trapped in a net.

She exclaims, "Help me! Is anyone there?! If so, help me! I'm stuck!" "Don't worry, I'm coming to get you!" I shouted back. I turn the motor on my boat on and start driving to where the girl is. Since my light was still on, I could see that she was stuck real good.

"Thank you for coming," she says, "Could you help me sir?" "Don't worry, I'll get you out," I reassured her. I couldn't think of a way to get her out from the boat, so I took a risk and jumped into the water. As soon as I jumped in after holding my breath, I lost it.

But for some reason, the water isn't bothering me. In fact, when I got in, I could breathe it with no problem. Because the light on my headband was waterproof, I use it to find the net and took my knife out and started cutting it. I got the upper part of her body loose, but when I got to her legs, I noticed a fish tail instead.

This must mean she's a mermaid! A real life mermaid! I carefully started cutting the net off her tail without hurting her. Once she's out, she swam to my boat, and I follow her. I get in first, and then helped her in. She was panting, and then looked at me, saying, "Thank you for saving me. I don't think I could've gotten out by myself."

I didn't respond immediately, as I was still amazed and surprised to see that she had a real mermaid tail. "Oh um," I said, realizing what she told me, "You're welcome. I'm just glad you're okay." "Oh man, I forgot," she said, pushing a button on her watch, and her tail turns into human legs, "That's much better."

Then, I realized that she not wearing anything, so I quickly grabbed an extra towel, and gave it to her. I also grabbed a towel for myself so I can dry off. I'm still shocked about how she suddenly turned human just from pressing her watch.

"How did your watch turn your tail into legs?" I asked in shock. She says, "Oh. That? All mermaids have these watches for when we go onto land. It controls when our tails turn into legs. I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Princess Jinju. Youngest princess of the Yellow Sea, and youngest child of King Daeyang and Queen Sirene. And you are?"

"Chanyeol. Park Chanyeol," I said, shaking her hand, "My parents, older sister, and I are co-owners of Eurwangni Fishing Equipment and Boat Rental." "It's nice to meet you Chanyeol," Jinju tells me, "I was swimming to land because I needed to do something in the morning, and I wanted to find the right location before I go to sleep.

"But just as I was swimming back, I saw a boat leave off, so I turned myself invisible. And because I wasn't paying very good attention to where I was swimming, I got caught in the net attached to some buoys in the water. I was stuck for a good hour and a half until I saw you."

Someone else was out here at night? Curious, I asked Jinju, "If you could Jinju, could you tell me what color  the boat was?" "It was blue and white, with a red compass on both the right and left sides," she explained, "and I saw one person on it." That's the same color and design as Iljum's boat.

"Let me take you to my house," I said to her, "It's not safe for anyone to see you out here at night. And my sister is a doctor. She can take a look at you to make sure you're okay." "Thanks. Because struggling in that net left some bruises and small cuts on me," says Jinju. I drove the boat to shore, and park it next to Appa's boat.

I took Jinju upstairs to the living room with me, and saw Eomma and Noona in the kitchen, asking, "Noona. Do you think you can take care of one more patient tonight before you go home?" "Sure Chanyeol," Noona says, "Did you find someone while you were out?" "Yeah, you could say that," I said, and allowed Jinju to show herself, while she's still in the towel.

Eomma and Noona dropped everything, and rushed to us. "Jinju, dear, are you alright?" Eomma asked her. Wait a minute. I didn't even say anything, and Eomma already knows who Jinju is. This night is getting stranger and stranger as it goes on.

I asked, "You already know her Eomma?" "Of course," explained my mother, "Jinju's father owns this place. And because he's retiring, he's asked Jinju to take over the business for him. In fact, she was supposed to come here tomorrow to talk to me and your father about everything, since your father is the co-owner of the business."

"You're the daughter of Lee Daeyang that we heard so much about?!" I asked Jinju. She just smiles faintly and says, "Surprise." Noona comes over and says, "Don't worry Jinju. Let's get you check up and make sure you're okay." She takes Jinju to the infirmary downstairs.

While Noona is checking up on Jinju, Eomma and I prepare some tea and bean sprout soup for her. "I'm going to bed sweetheart. Could you take the tea and soup to Jinju for me?" asked Eomma. "Sure thing Eomma," I said to my mother. Eomma kisses my cheek and goes to her room where Appa is.

I walk to the infirmary downstairs with the tray as I pass by Noona. She tells me, "Jinju is well taken care of little brother. I'm heading home now." "Goodnight Noona," I said, and allowed myself into the infirmary.

(infirmary, Jinju POV)

In the infirmary, I was sitting on the bed in pajamas Yoora lent to me. Thanks to her, my cuts and bruises are taken care of and I'm okay. Chanyeol enters with a tray holding soup and a cup with what smells like tea in it.

"I'm happy you're okay, Jinju," he says, bringing the tray over, "Here. Eomma and I made it just to make sure you don't get sick." "That's very thoughtful of you Chanyeol. Thanks," I said. I take a spoonful at a time of the soup, and then some sips of tea. Right away, I knew Chanyeol was curious. He did see my tail after all.

Putting the tray aside, I told him, "I take it you want to say something." "Tonight's just so weird. And I have a bunch of questions about it all," Chanyeol says, getting up and starts pacing around the room. I grab the cup of tea and said, "I knew it would lead to this."

I go over to him and said, "If you just let me explain, I'm sure you'll understand clearly what's going on." Chanyeol nods and tells me, "Yeah Jinju, you're right," and he takes a seat, "For starters. I know you're the mermaid princess of the Yellow Sea. And not only is your father a king, but also the owner of this shop. If you're supposed to keep this a secret, then how come he owns this place."

"Actually," I explained, "Appa built this place so he can not only keep an eye on the mermaid world, but the human world too. To help make sure we're properly helping them by bringing food and keeping them safe, to monitor human and mermaid activities, and to make sure our secret isn't exposed."

"How does Daeyang manage to come here to work, and also go back to the sea without being discovered?" asked Chanyeol. I said, "He has a tunnel installed in the cave behind a bookshelf in the basement of this building." "And my parents don't know about this?" he hysterically says, "They could-!"

Interrupting him, I said, "They don't suspect a thing, trust me. Appa's managed to go by keeping it hidden. Which is why when he was a teenager, he and my great grandfather invented the watches the other mermaids and I wear. Because when we touch water, our legs turn into tails. But thanks to the watches, we can prevent that from happening."

Chanyeol nods to all of this. I can tell he understands, but he's still a bit confused. So I asked him, "Is there anything else you don't understand?" "It's about when I jumped in to save you," he explains, and I look at him in curiousty, "I held my breath so I could prevent myself from drowning. But because the water was a bit chilly at night, I gasped at the temperature of the water and lost my breath.

"I thought for sure I was going to drown. But, I ended up breathing it in fine. As if I were a fish. But I could also breath air as any other normal human being. It's scary thinking about that. At the same time though, I'm happy you're okay."

That also confused me. Appa told me a bit about Sungjin, Youngmi, Yoora, and Chanyeol when he told me I was about to inherit the business. But he never told me that Chanyeol had something weird like water breathing. He just told me he hired Sungjin because he needed help with the business.

"I don't think I've heard of a human with water breathing powers," I said to Chanyeol, "The only cases I've heard about it are when a mermaid and a human get married and have a child. He really didn't say much about it because he's not typically fond of the idea of that. I'm sure that's not the case for you since you are human."

"You're right," Chanyeol says, standing up, "Maybe it's just some kind of gift or blessing. Well, I'm off to bed. I have to get plenty of rest so I can show you around tomorrow." "Then I'll need to rest to," I said. Chanyeol tells me, "When you get done eating, you can go upstairs to the guest bedroom. It's next door to the bathroom."

"Are you sure?" I asked. Nodding, Chanyeol responds with, "Of course. You don't want to spend all your time here in the infirmary, do you?" I nodded and said, "I'll be up there." He smiles and leaves the room.

I've heard about Chanyeol before, but I didn't expect him to be so nice to me. Even if he did see my tail, but he saved my life. Not only is he nice, selfless, and thoughtful, he's kind of cute too. Maybe owning the business, with Chanyeol as my co-owner, would be fun.