Dive Into You

Chapter 9: The Curse: Mermaid Siren

"Did anyone else see the mermaid fin?!" Even from under the crystal clear water surrounding the island of Jeju, the words are clear. It is time to spring up and show herself. Playing around with Haechan and Tae-il was fun, but she has to know if they have seen Ryu-jin at all. So as soon as the words come out, she pushes up with her hands and tail and breaks the surface of the water.

"You mean me?" she says, hovering about a half mile out from the shoreline.

Seung-kwan, Tae-il, Haechan, Shin-won and Kyung-hwa's heads all snap in her direction.

"Jeong-yeon...oh my..." Kyung-hwa's voice trails off.

Jeong-yeon's once shorter wavy brown hair twists in a braid to one side of her head. Various sea flowers are stuck into her silvery-purple hair locks, giving her a very beautiful and youthful Disney-princess-esque look. And beside her, her fin, purple-ish-blue, sticks out of the water.

"Mermaids, vampires, magical flower powers...what else? Werewolves and fairies? Maybe a unicorn named Na Jae-min?" Shin-won says, slapping his forehead in a stunned shock. He turns to Kyung-hwa. "I went in for a second to find potatoes and I came back out to a dang fairytale!"

Kyung-hwa shakes her head. "I know. We missed out on getting fantasy-ed."

Jeong-yeon glides closer and slides up the shorelines, making sure to stay just enough into the water though. She rests her head on her hands. "I think I heard enough to know Haechan's an over-the-top protective vampire, Tae-il's his subject lover, Seung-kwan's a Flower Prince of some kind with flower powers and a flower crown and the two of you are normal and untouched, but where's the others?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Tae-il says.

"Jeong-yeon, not that you weren't before, but you're radiating beauty," Kyung-hwa gasps.

Jeong-yeon smiles. "Thank you."

"Well, we can't take her with us. She's part fish," Haechan states, gesturing toward Jeong-yeon's glistening tail.

Jeong-yeon glances at it. "Sadly, you might be right..."

"Ugh, I miss Jae-min!" Seung-kwan suddenly whines. "Where is he!?"

"Oh...no...not again," Jeong-yeon complains as she begins to glow a yellow-ish color and then her mouth opens up and a glorious vocal chorus comes out as well as a strange yellow mist:

"Oh baby you got something I want, a lot

I got something you need

You need you need

Feel it, oh say you love me

Oh baby you got something I want, a lot

I got something you need

Tell me honestly

Say you love me."

Seung-kwan and Haechan's eyes flash an emerald green, while Tae-il appears to be entranced, closing his eyes and humming along. Kyung-hwa and Shin-won share a look with one another.

Jeong-yeon's tail thumps the water with a soft splash three times before transforming under the familiar yellow-ish glow. And like Princess Ariel from Disney, her fin becomes two human legs.

"Well, look at that, looks like she CAN come," Shin-won states.

Haechan shakes his head to clear it. "Please, do us all a favor and don't sing again."

"You know you liked it," Shin-won whispers to him.

Jeong-yeon giggles, getting to her feet. A silvery-purple top and matching skirt similar to her hair color trails down her slender girlish legs. "I'm a shapeshifter, Haechan. I think whenever I sing, I have the ability to transform myself human...or into a mermaid." She walks out of the water. "A little bit ago, I found myself on the sand and when I was gazing at the water, longing to go in it, I suddenly began to sing the very same song. Next thing I knew, I was in the water with a fin. It just happened again, the feeling and desire to sing because I wanted to join you." She smiles at them.

"You wanted to find Ryu-jin," Kyung-hwa teases her friend. "I know you."

Jeong-yeon grins. "Perhaps I do. I think it's obvious the two of us are madly in love like Haechan is with Tae-il."

Shin-won cocks an eyebrow. "Hmmm...it didn't take long to couple up at all here on Jeju."

"That's the romantic beauty of this island," Kyung-hwa remarks.