OCEAN GIRL, heeseung [book 1] ✓

02. Hallucination

July 2018 — THE BEACH

"Remind me why we're here again?"

"Because I need a conviction that I'm not insane," Heeseung said, glancing at Park Sunghoon only momentarily. "And because Jongseong doesn't believe me. He says I probably just hallucinated it, seeing as I was sleep-deprived and all."

"And Jungwon?"

"He just laughed at me," he frowned. "He thought I was trying to mess around with him as usual. And don't ask me to tell Taehyun or the others. They'd think I'm losing my mind, which I might as well be."

"What makes you think I believe you, though?" Sunghoon asked.

"I don't," Heeseung replied, squinting into the water. "You're just the only one who was willing to humor me and tag along."

"Ah. So you just don't want to be alone out here again." Sunghoon hesitated for a few moments, and Heeseung knew what was coming before he said it. "Listen, hyung, don't you think you really might have imagined it? I mean, it's been a long week for us both. You said it yourself. You were falling asleep right here. It's not impossible that you hallucinated it yesterday."

"I didn't," Heeseung crossed his arms stubbornly. "I know what I saw, Sunghoon. You can't tell me it's possible to see a girl with a fish tail sitting right in front of me, who said hello in the most casual way ever! You can't tell me it's possible to hallucinate that!"

"Well..."

"Sunghoon!"

"Fine, I can't see that happening unless you're insane either," he admitted. "But still, you can't expect me to believe you saw a mermaid or something without concrete evidence!"

"That's why I dragged you here," Heeseung said firmly. "To show you proof."

A long silence stretched on between them, where they sat on the sandy beach, just waiting. This time, Heeseung was far more alert, knowing exactly what he was looking for. Next to him, Sunghoon nodded off, slumping against Heeseung as he fell asleep.

That didn't bother him. He was far too focused on whether the girl would come back again. If she didn't, he would look extremely stupid and very much question his sanity. Maybe he'd go to a doctor and start taking medications. At least that would make him feel better, even if he ended up becoming far too reliant on them.

But maybe that wasn't what he would do. More likely, he would keep coming back, because now he knew she was the reason she felt a pull towards the ocean. She, that girl with the beautiful fish tail, was the reason he felt almost connected to the ocean, because that where she was. That was where the answer to the question he'd been asking for so long was, and for that, he felt...grateful? Freaked out? Less than delighted but not exactly disappointed?

Mostly, he just felt a little less than completely taken off-guard by the sheer weirdness of it. If the girl wasn't a figment of his imagination, then that meant the fairy tales he knew to be just the invention of storytellers weren't just that, an invention. She would be living proof of that.

But it wasn't to be, probably. Even after they had spent a good hour there, rapidly beginning to sweat under the sun that climbed higher and higher in the sky, the only movement in the ocean was the crashing of the waves and nothing from the girl.

He should have known better after the day before, because just as he was reached to shake Sunghoon awake, ready to go home, take a shower, and crash right back into bed (and maybe tackle his homework that night if he felt up to it), a splash sounded from a few feet away.

A head popped out of the water's surface—long, dark hair in twin braids draped over her shoulders; large eyes as blue as her tail, as blue as the ocean; and delicate, small features, resembling those of a child but a teenager around his age at the same time.

Heeseung's mouth fell open as she swam closer. Through the waves, he could make out, clearly, her deep blue-scaled tail, propelling her forward with powerful strokes. Her sleeveless blouse was tied at the waist, leaving her arms, neck and face the only bit of bare skin visible, a tanned color close to bronze, probably from hours spent in the sun. And she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

But that didn't change the fact he felt a stab of fear and started to back up, hand tightly clenched on Sunghoon's upper arm. "Wait!" she called, her voice light and musical. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"You're...you're a mermaid," he breathed, trembling all over. With fear or shock, he couldn't tell. The two seemed synonymous at the moment. "You're a mermaid. You're real. How?"

"That's a question to be answered later," she said, swimming closer still, until she was sitting on the sand, the waves gently splashing around her. "Don't be afraid. You know that we were supposed to meet, right?"

"I know," he agreed, "but how do you know?"

She didn't reply to that. Instead, she seemed to be studying Heeseung's face, a sad smile on her own. "You don't what's coming, do you?" she asked, in almost a whisper. "I didn't think we would have to meet so soon."

"What do you mean?" he demanded, thoroughly freaked out now. His hand tightened on Sunghoon's arm. The younger boy stirred, blinking in the bright sunlight. "Tell me!"

"We're meant to be," the girl said simply. "We were always meant to be."

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WORD COUNT: 932

A/N: i like this version a lot better than the last one. i purposely didn't give the girl a face claim because i wanted you guys to conjure up your own image with the description i'm giving, just like in the rest of the trilogy.