"so, which fish would you like?" mark asked, showing donghyuck the different types of fish displayed on the fisherman's table.

mark had taken donghyuck out in his human form so that he could choose the fish he'd like to eat. as donghyuck still had trouble walking, mark had sat him on the wheeling chair he had found in the basement of his house.

donghyuck had his eyes glittering at the sight of so many fish and seafood. as he was close to the merchandise, he grabbed what looked like a salmon by his tail, and immediately bit a piece of it. the fisherman widened his eyes as mark snatched the fish from donghyuck's hand who whined. "you're not supposed to eat this like that!" mark whispered.

"how do you want me to eat it? alive?" donghyuck pouted with furrowed brows, making grabby hands towards the fish.

mark sighed, giving it back to donghyuck. "we'll take 10 salmons, a kilogram of shrimps and..." mark turned towards donghyuck. "do you like tuna?"

the younger nodded. "and 5 tunas."

"do you need me to... cut them?" he asked, eying donghyuck strangely, still shocked about what just happened.

"hum... no." mark eyed donghyuck.

the fisherman nodded before packing mark's command.

mark paid and gave the huge seafood bag to donghyuck who was too busy munching on his raw fish to care.

"how can you eat that?" mark asked, pushing donghyuck's wheelchair towards his house.

donghyuck snorted. "i didn't make any comment when you were devouring your beef last night."

"i was eating it after it had been cooked! it had been grilled. i'm not eating it raw."

"well, are humans conceived without a brain? how do we grill things underwater you intellectual?" donghyuck tilted his head back to look at mark.

"you're gaining confidence, i see... where has the shy donghyuck who's scared of me gone?" mark smirked.

donghyuck blushed going back to eating his fish. "shut up." he muttered.

they arrived at mark's house short after, donghyuck going out of the wheelchair as soon as he entered mark's garden.

"my uncle is at work, so you can swim in the pool if you want." mark said, catching the boy who was walking with difficulty.

donghyuck happily squeaked at what mark said and jumped in the nearby pool, watching his legs change into his beautiful red tail. mark smiled as he watched the merman jumping and swimming around the pool, giggling at the pleasant feeling.

"mind if i join?" mark asked, making the boy stop agitating in the basin.

donghyuck shook his head with a smile.

"okay, i'll go wear swimming trunks and i'll be back!" mark said, running inside the house.

and they spent the whole day playing in the pool like young boys.

ψ

"i saw you bought bunch of seafood." mark's uncle, yongsu, said during dinner. "i thought you didn't like them."

mark shrugged. "i wanted to try again."

donghyuck and him had gotten out of the pool approximatively an hour before mark's uncle came back. mark had continued training donghyuck to walk.

later on, when mark's uncle had prepared dinner, mark had gotten down, leaving donghyuck in his room, watching 'zig & sharko'.

so, here was mark, facing his uncle during dinner.

"and i saw you played in the pool as well." his uncle added.

mark raised a brow, not understanding how he knew that.

"the deckchairs' pillows were soaked wet when i came back, and there was water everywhere." he explained.

mark rubbed his nape. "well, yeah, i felt like swimming."

"if i remember well, you didn't like water and swimming." yongsu said, mouth full.

"people change with time." mark stated, playing with the food in his plate.

"if i didn't know you, i would think you're becoming a mermaid!" mark's uncle exclaimed before laughing loudly.

mark felt uneasy for a second, before forcing a laugh. "well, good thing you know me well then." he said.

"true." yongsu said before drinking his full glass of beer in one go.

mark stayed silent for a whole minute, munching on his food while staring at the empty chair next to his uncle.

"what have you found about mermaids?" he asked, catching his uncle off-guard.

"a-are you seriously asking me that?" yongsu raised a brow.

"yes."

"i thought mermaids were stupid."

mark rubbed his nape. "well... what if they really existed?"

"are you really interested in what i'm doing?"

mark nodded.

"well, then... i'll tell you. but, let me warn you. once you know, you'll be eager to find them, and considered as a mad man until you find one to prove the entire world you are not a liar." yongsu said in a deep voice, almost scaring mark.

"tell me a bit. i surely won't be as devoted as you because it's not my... passion? but, anyways, these days i've been asking myself questions about them." mark explained.

yongsu nodded.

"well, the first thing you have to know is that they do exist. they're not only a legend. they are real."

"how can you be sure?"

mark's uncle moved his head forward. "because i saw one, with my own eyes." he whispered, eyes looking deeply into mark's ones.

"how was it?" mark asked.

"horrible." yongsu spat. "let me tell you the truth."

mark raised a brow at what his uncle said. was there something he didn't know about mermaids? well, surely lots of things, but the look his uncle gave him told him it was noting good.

"it's this mermaid that killed yuri." yongsu spat.

mark widened his eyes. he had always thought that his aunt had died in a boat accident, actually, that was what his uncle had told him. "w-what do you mean?" mark asked, tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

"do you really want to hear this story mark? do you really want to know why i am this obsessed with these creatures?"

mark gulped before nodding.

"yuri and i had rented a boat to have a week-end trip on the sea. everything was going well. we had managed to go far from the coasts, somewhere we couldn't see any boats. it was only yuri, the sea and i. it's true we had no right to be there, but we didn't care at all. we were having a good time..."

flashback

yuri and yongsu were peacefully looking at the sun setting on their boat, far from everybody.

but then, a creature appeared. it wasn't looking at the boat at first, which allowed the two lovers to see it perfectly.

as impossible as it seemed, this creature was a mermaid. she had short blue hair and an elegant blue tail, shining in the sunset.

"oh my god! she is so beautiful!" yuri exclaimed reaching for her phone in her pocket.

she got her phone out, taking loads of pictures of the gracious creature in the sunset, giggling at her discovery.

except that everything didn't go as planned.

when the mermaid heard the ruckus behin her, she turned around, widening her eyes at the woman taking pictures of her.

humans can't know mermaids exist.

the mermaid jumped to catch the device and dived back underwater. but the woman was still clutching on it, refusing to let it go. the mermaid swam so deep that the human couldn't take it anymore. the pressure was too high, the water too cold, and she had no air left in her lungs. yuri had just drowned.

seeing what she had done, the mermaid brought her back above the surface, looking at the man on the boat with teary eyes.

"i-i'm sorry!" the mermaid exclaimed. "i didn't want to kill her. but you shouldn't know we exist! i couldn't let her have pictures of me!"

yongsu was fuming red at that point. he grabbed a harpoon on the boat and shot in the mermaid's direction. the mermaid dodged it and swam back to her place, disappearing form yongsu's sight.

"i'll kill you, mermaid! you and all of your people!"

end of flashback

mark was listening very carefully to his uncle, not daring to interrupt his speech nor to look at him in the eye.

"i too, used to believe mermaids weren't real. but what happened to yuri made me realise that not only they were real, but also that they were monsters that didn't deserve to live. they killed her mark." yongsu insisted, a tear falling form his eye. "that's how i decided to join the mermaid chasing group. actually, our family did chase mermaids since generations, but they did it secretly. after yuri's death, i told your grandfather about it. and he allowed me to continue his personal researches about mermaids. you have to know that mark. our family is the best mermaid chaser family. we have been doing it since long. in a few years, i'll be too old to continue chasing them, meaning it will be your turn to become a chaser. we need to take revenge on what they did to yuri, mark."

mark stayed frozen on his chair. "i-it's a lot to digest." he stuttered, loking everywhere but in his uncle's eyes. "i-i'm not hungry anymore." he added, rising to his feet.

"it's okay mark. i understand. take your time. but think about it. they are monsters, we can't let them live."

these were the last words he heard from his uncle before mark locked himself inside his room.

perhaps he was right. mermaids were never meant to live. mermaids hurt his family. he couldn't let that happen. they are monsters...

mark wiped off the rivers of tears that were falling from his eyes and looked at the boy on his bed. donghyuck was sleeping soundly in front of the tv.

mark approached him.

was he a monster? definitely not. donghyuck was far from being a monster. he was a cute fluffball, innocent yet sassy, distrustful yet curious. he had never harmed mark in any way. in fact, it was the total opposite. donghyuck needed to be protected, and seeing him in such a position, mark couldn't resist but push away the fact that donghyuck could be dangerous.

"don't worry, donghyuck. i'll keep you safe. i'll make sure you'll never be harmed." mark whispered caressing the merman's hair, making him cuddle into his touch.