Park Jimin
Male
13.10.1995
Busan, South Korea

[ Role: Merman ]

Access Granted

A studio filled with various paintings that were either hanging or laying on the ground had a strong smell of acrylic paint which lingered in the air. You squeezed another colour onto your palette and held your brush.

You halted your action just as you were about to press the paint onto the white canvas. You let out a sigh. Your mind was blank and it had been a couple of days since you had lacked in inspiration.

The exhibition was at night and you wanted to at least add one last painting as a surprise gift to the guests. The guests would include extremely important people and you wanted to showcase only the best art as well as one that had not been introduced to the world yet but you couldn't think of any.

You had been sitting on that chair since you had woken up and your legs were starting to feel numb. You decided that it was time to get a rest and maybe continue the routine after grabbing a cup of coffee or two.

You strolled to your living room after making latte and seek for a book to read. Your eyes wandered as you stared at the books on your shelf. There weren't much to read as most of them were about art and you've read them all.

Your eyes lit up when you finally spotted something interesting. You took it out and plopped yourself down onto the sofa.

You hummed as you flipped the pages. There were a few chapters; Midnight Waltz, Not All Wolves Are Bad, Starry Night Sky and The Beauty Within. All those stories were short, cliche fairytale story. You raised your eyebrow when the book came to an end but there were still pages left.

You wondered why an author would publish a book without completing it. At the top of the page was a title,

Chapter 5, Merman.

You raised your eyebrow as you've only heard of Little Mermaid and wondered if it was similar. You couldn't tell as there was nothing else written. You reached for your cup but it was already empty.

You let out another sigh and returned back to your in-house studio with that book.

While carrying that book, you noticed some sort of light coming out from the pages. You blinked your eyes and opened the pages once again.

You gaped as the light blinded you and you ended up entering inside the book. The book dropped onto the floor and was turned to the page with new story.

[ Princess selected - Access Granted ]

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It felt cold and watery. You opened your eyes which soon grew bigger. You were under the sea. The sight was extraordinary. Fish were swimming past you and there were colourful corals that grew from the seabed. You saw an abandoned sunk ship and several treasures flowing out of it.

However, you couldn't appreciate the scenery to the fullest as you started feeling suffocated. Most importantly, you didn't know how to swim and you struggled hard.

It was getting harder and harder for you to breathe as your lungs were getting filled up with water. Your body soon gave in and you were losing your conscious.

Just a minute before you fainted, you saw a boy around your age swam towards you. You couldn't believe what you saw. That boy had a fish tail.

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You gasped and coughed out as soon as you woke up from your slumber. You looked around and scanned the unfamiliar place. It looked like a shore and your body was smeared with sand.

As you were observing, you spotted a person hiding behind the boulder. You stood up and headed there.

You peeked behind the rock just when the other did. The two of you let out a yelp in shock and you fell onto your bum. You groaned inwardly and stared at the other who looked slightly guilty of your pain.

However, the thing that caught your eye was his fish tail.

"A-are you okay?"

You immediately looked up at his face. His voice was angelic and it soothed you. You also didn't fail to notice his well-defined body and soft, delicate face.

"He looks hot," you thought but you never expected yourself to blurt it out loudly.

"Thank you."

The two of you blushed wildly and it was pretty awkward.

He fiddled with his fingers and his tail nervously wiggled. You found it really cute but you kept quiet as you didn't want to make the situation even more awkward because of your brain.

"D-do you want to see the underwater?"

"I don't know how to swim."

"Oh it's fine. Just eat this and you can breathe underwater," he passed you a weird looking plant which made you look at it suspiciously.

"It tastes weird but it doesn't harm you," he assured you.

You shrugged your shoulders and just ate it. It sure did taste disgusting but you didn't feel anything. He grabbed your arm and jumped into the sea without giving you time to prepare.

You closed your eyes and held your breath in fear as you entered the sea.

"It's okay. Relax."

Upon hearing his voice, you did and slowly opened your eyes. You took in the gorgeous place and you couldn't help but smile.

"It's so pretty."

You would've regretted if you didn't check it out. While you drowned, you didn't focus on the location and just fainted. Seeing this mesmerising sight enthralled you.

"Thank you," you told him.

"It's nothing. I'm more than happy to know that you like my world."

"Beautiful just like you," you commented without realising again.

You let out a nervous chuckle and rubbed the back of your neck as you avoided eye contact with him. You wished you could just have a face to face talk with your brain.

"Not as much as you," he smiled.

His smile was really pretty and your heart pounded rapidly.

Suddenly a realisation hit you and you remembered that you had to return back as your exhibition was about to start.

"How do I go back?"

"You want to leave already?"

His expression fell and he looked slightly disappointed when you brought it up. You didn't know how to reply to him.

"I'm a human... I need to return," you told him, "But I promise I will meet you again."

He shook his head and smiled, "I'm glad that I get to show you part of my world."

He brought his hand up to cup your cheek. He trailed his fingers down the jawline and stared at you with twinkling eyes. He drew in closer and pressed his lips against yours.

The soft touch of his lips brought a sparkly tingle in your heart and you felt it stronger when he kissed in deeper.

The moment was held and the lips were met. He moved away and you missed the touch. Time started to rewind and you looked at him.

"I hope I can get to be a part of your world too."

You blinked your eyes and wondered what he meant. You soon felt drowsy and placed your head on his chest. He held you in his arms and started to sing. A melody which lulled you to sleep.

"Now, wake up, my beautiful human."

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You woke up and found yourself back in your apartment. You had actually fallen asleep in sitting position on the floor. The book was on your lap and you held it in your hands. You got up and went to your studio.

You once again sat in front of your canvas and held your paintbrush. Once it touched the canvas, your hands didn't stop moving.

It went on for a while and you set your brush down after you were done. Your eyes sparkled as you leaned back and admired your work. Your lips curved up into a smile as you knew you were ready for the gallery.

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The exhibition was majestic and grand. The walls were filled with various masterpieces for guests to satisfy their eyes.

You had your interviews and got your photos taken. You stood in front of the special art piece that you wanted to display.

Many questioned what inspired you to paint it and you would answer that it was of a beautiful dream.

You were too immersed in your own art that you didn't notice a person standing beside you.

"You are a fabulous artist."

You turned your head to the owner of the beautiful voice. Your eyes lit up as you took in his handsome face.

He glanced at the painting.

"Looks like me too."

Your lips curved up.

"It does indeed. Maybe we've met in a dream."

He chuckled, "Maybe."

He held his hand out to you and smiled.

"I'm Park Jimin. It's really nice to personally meet a beautiful artist whose fingertips work the magic."

Back in your house, the pages of the book turned until it reached the one with the new title. New words were added to it.

[ Merman & Human - Happy Ending ]

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🐍's Note: To my 🌼

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