─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

it had been a month, since jeongguk had seen the dolphin for the first and last time.

every day, he waited until the sun was down to go back home, to maybe have a chance to see it better, or even catch a glimpse of the beautiful creature.

that day, he finished work later than usual, so he rushed directly to the beach, not changing nor grabbing his camera.

he sat on his rock, taking off his shoes and socks, rolling up his pants to let his feet be in the water.

he was exhausted, his last month had been hell, he had no way to rest as much as he needed, he had to wake up early for shootings and sleep late for editing.

he closed his eyes for a couple of seconds, but snapped them open when he heard a flapping noise coming from the water.

his eyes scanned everywhere, but he didn't see anything move except for the relaxing waves.

he sighed and laid down on his stomach, his head at the edge of the rock, almost above the water.

he watched the waves clap the rocks, the foam slowly disappearing, and then reappearing at an even and soothing pace.

he felt his eyes close slowly, and he didn't want to get up yet, he felt at peace, away from all the pressure weighing on his shoulder, it was like he was free from anything in the world, so he didn't want to leave.

he let the tiredness take over and he let his eyes close, he was sure he would sleep there until the morning since the sun was almost down, but he knew no one would come here to disturb him, so he stayed, and fell asleep on the hard rock.

he woke up the next morning as he expected, when the sun shone brightly in the sky.

he kept his eyes closed for awhile, appreciating the soothing sound of the waves against the rocks, the chirping of the birds flying in the sky and a sound of... shells.

jeongguk frowned, he listened closely to the unusual sound and guessed it sounded like rocks tapping against each other.

he slowly opened his eyes, not moving an inch, so he wouldn't scare whatever was making that noise.

when his eyes adjusted to the light, he didn't see anything, and the noise had stopped.

he first thought he was dreaming, until he looked down, at a rock being just under him.

he saw beautiful shells disposed in a perfect circle. all the shells were little and white, in different shapes, but he knew it couldn't be the waves that had made this perfect round.

he looked around slowly, still not moving his head or anything to see if anyone had found his secret place. but he didn't see any foot print or anything that could indicate someone's presence.

he pursed his lips and heard the familiar flapping once again, after a whole month of waiting for it.

he looked it the noise's direction, expecting to catch a glimpse of a grey tail, but he really wasn't even close to it.

he suppressed a gasp when he was met with a pink tuft, an abnormally perfect face, thin arms covered in gold jewels, long hands covered in thin rings, and especially, a sparkling pink tail.

he thought he was still dreaming, of course he was, mermaids were a myth, they didn't exist, anyone knew that.

but he still watched the perfect creature carefully. he saw it put a bigger shell, a pink shiny one, in the middle of the circle made with little shells.

the creature rearranged the pieces carefully, like it wanted it to be perfect. it moved a bit away from the beautiful shells to take a better look.

jeongguk saw a small smile appear on the creature's pink lips, he was totally mesmerized.

he pinched himself on the forearm and it hurt, he wasn't dreaming, he really wasn't.

he was above the sea level, he couldn't see the creature's eyes, nor its nose, because they were hidden by its pink bangs.

its hair was shiny, it even seemed like it was sparkling, and so was its tail. jeongguk couldn't see its whole tail, only the tip, and it was only then he realized it really didn't look like a dolphin's.

it was way bigger, and it had long and translucent fins, floating at the surface.

the creature also had pink scales on its shoulders, jeongguk could only see the top of them, the rest was under water.

he looked back at the creature's face, his mouth still agape and his eyes round from the surprise.

the creature readjusted the big shell one last time and looked up with a content smile.

the two made eye contact, and jeongguk couldn't suppress a gasp. the creature's eyes widened, and in less than a second, it dived back in the ocean and disappeared.

"please don't go!" jeongguk shouted but it was already too late.

he closed his eyes again, trying to remember its face, and even if he had seen it for a couple of seconds, he knew it was breathtaking.

it had humans features, but it looked much more special.

he couldn't remember the details, but he remembered how symmetrical its face was, how its round eyes looked right into his soul when they made eye contact, how perfect its skin looked, it was glowing.

jeongguk sighed and looked back at the beautiful shells. he watched them for a small while before reaching for the biggest one.

he looked at it carefully, it was the same pink as the creature's hair and tail, it reminded him of it, so he decided to keep it.

"i don't know if that was for me, i hope i'm not stealing it from you, but it's really pretty." he said, not really hoping to be understood or even heard.

but he was actually heard and perfectly understood, by a shy merman who hid behind a big rock to see if the pretty human would accept his gift of not.

and they mEt bitch