My Lifeline - Jaywon Shortstories

Naiad

Hi everyone!
We're getting closer and closer to the end of this book...
This is chapter 99, so I hope you will like this last story, I'll be trying a new setting this time!

Love you all,
Big sis AuthorNim ✨

~

"Stop it" said Sunghoon. "I know you're trying to freak me out, but I'm not a child anymore. Naiads don't scare me anymore."
"I'm not lying!" replied Jungwon, pretty upset.

Sunghoon rolled his eyes at him.

"I'm telling you, I saw one!" continued Jungwon.
"Okay, let's admit for a minute that you really did" said Sunghoon, seeing that his brother would loose it if Sunghoon disagreed with him one more time. "What was the Naiad like?"

Jungwon closed his mouth, trying to gather the right words in his mind.
It wasn't so easy to describe perfect beauty, and he didn't want to mess it up.

Sunghoon waited, moving his tail around out of impatience. His golden scales glowed, sending several rays of light through the room.

"He had a blue dark tail, with some silver scales here and there, like the night sky" said Jungwon. "His skin-"
"Wait, WHAT?" asked Sunghoon, eyes widened in shock. "What do you mean sky?"

Jungwon instantly regretted speaking. He knew the rules, and now Sunghoon knew he had broken them.

"Did you... did you really... put your head out?" asked Sunghoon in a trembling whisper. "You know mermen aren't allowed. We can't be seen."
"I know but-" Jungwon tried to explain.
"No buts!" shouted Sunghoon. "We can't be seen, especially you."

Jungwon tried to make himself smaller. He knew Sunghoon was right to scold him, however it didn't make it easier to take it.
Like every time he felt overwhelmed -or any emotion too strongly at this point-, Jungwon's scales shone brighter. It was something unique that everyone liked about him, but Jungwon hated it.

He could never hide anything.

If he tried, his own tail would give him away.

"I wasn't seen okay?" replied Jungwon.
"Yeah, cause a bright orange tailed merman really is extremely discreet" said Sunghoon.

Jungwon stayed silent. He knew his brother would forgive him, but he also hoped he'd keep his secret for him.

Sunghoon eventually sighed.

Jungwon smiled, his brother would keep his mouth shut.

"So.. scales like the night sky I've never even seen huh?" asked Sunghoon. "You were about to tell me about his skin?"
"Like ours, but... transparent I guess?" said Jungwon. "It's a spirit, so I don't know how to describe it better."
"And what happened?" asked Sunghoon. "When you saw the Naiad?"

Jungwon had to contain himself very much not to blush, and thus not to make his scales shine.

"Hum, nothing happened" he said, trying to keep his voice as normal as possible. "I looked at hi, I mean, I saw him and he just vanished out of my sight."

Sunghoon nodded slowly.

"Are you sure it was a spirit?" he asked. "Could have been your imagination after breaking the rules and putting your head out of the ocean?"
"I knew you wouldn't believe me" mumbled Jungwon.
"I don't believe in spirits, you knew that before coming to my room and annoy me with this made up story" said Sunghoon.

"That's it" said Jungwon, angry this time. "Come with me, I'll show you."

~

They two mermen left Atlantis discreetly. They needed to hurry because it was almost curfew time and they needed to be back home by then.

The swam fast and gracefully, propelled by their powerful tails. Fish, that usually were used to mermen passing by them, swan away from them, scared by their unusual speed.

Jungwon guided them through a cold current and turned left after a while. He had recognized the specific coral close to which he had seen the Naiad.

He swam slower, still followed by his brother, until they had reached the exact place he had seen the Naiad.
And they stopped.

"So..?" asked Sunghoon after two minutes of silence.
"He was here" whispered Jungwon. "I saw the Naiad here."

Sunghoon nodded. He didn't really believe Jungwon had seen a spirit, but he didn't want to hurt his brother by trying to find the right explanation for his story.
He knew it would hurt Jungwon.

"Perhaps.. perhaps the Naiad went home" he whispered.
"You think?" asked Jungwon.
"Maybe Naiads also have a curfew" said Sunghoon with a chuckle.

Jungwon laughed as well, even though it was silly.

"So.. what should we do?" asked Sunghoon.

He obviously wanted to go home, but it needed to come from Jungwon.

"Let's swim back" finally admitted Jungwon.

They swam silently, each deep in their own thoughts. Sunghoon trying to figure out what Jungwon had seen, and Jungwon imagining his plan.

~

Atlantis was asleep, as it always was this time of the night. Jungwon, on the other hand was wide awake. He knew what he had seen, but he needed to confirm it.

He had decided to go back one last time, and that if the Naiad didn't appear, he would look into a "reasonable" explanation.
If the Naiad did appear...

One thing at a time.

It took Jungwon quite a while to leave discreetly the under-water city. He had to take precautions not to be seen or heard.

However, as soon as he was outside, he swam as fast as his tail would let him, getting more excited each passing second, which meant that his scales also became shiner, spreading a beautiful orange light around him.

The cold current, the left turn, the coral, and-

Jungwon stopped out of nowhere, just in front of the Naiad.

The spirit was exactly like he remembered, only even more beautiful.

Jungwon's eyes locked with the Naiad's and the merman felt his hand reaching out...

Until he finally touched the Naiad's arm.

"Wait" said Jungwon in shock. "I can.. I can touch you? You're... real?"