Chan is five when he meets her the first time.
Her hug is cool and warm, sometimes cold, wraps easily around him no matter how much he moves. It's like she's cradling him, whispering sweet and comforting words despite her language being different from his.
But he understands her, and she understands him too.
His fascination and love for her almost turns deadly one day, when he lets her take him away, in her embrace despite the calls from his parents, desperate and worried.
He remembers that day, he's felt so much at home, despite the dryness of his lips and tongue, the burns on his skin, in contrast with the wrinkles of his fingers and toes.
The sea, his true home.
("There's- there's a kid-" Arms hold him, bring him against the crook of the neck of someone, but Chan's consciousness mourns the loss of her embrace, "- call an ambulance he's dehydrated !"
"What happened ?!"
"The kid's been floating on his surfboard for who knows how long-")
He started with empty bottles. He'd fill it with gifts, a piece of his home on land to send to her and communicate.
Flowers, dirt, his favorite plushie, a sock and on and on and on.
And when one day he'd receive back a gift, her own bottle filled with water and a pretty fish in, he thinks it's when he fell in love.
("Chan, stop throwing bottles in the sea ! You're polluting it !" His mother yells, pulling roughly on Chan's arm to drag him away from the sea.
"But mom I'm talking with her-" he struggles to push her hand away, whining in pain when she only pulls on his wrist harsher.
"You need to stop doing this, go play with the other kids instead."
"But I don't want to !")
Later, he'd find himself always going back to her, despite his mother's words and yells. He'd cry while she'd comfort him with gentle touch and Chan would feel so loved it hurt. He'd spend the day and the night next to her, cradled in her embrace, floating gently at her touch while he tells her about his family and their arguments of the moment.
("Chan ! For the last time, I told you to stop going to the beach alone ! It's dangerous, you could get hurt-"
"But I want to see her ! I don't care about it, I'll keep going-" He yells back angrily only to cry out in pain when he gets slapped.
"I'm forbidding you to go back to the beach alone, understood ?" She tells him firmly.
"I hate you !" He cries out and shoves at her legs to run away, ignoring the call of his name.)
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I Cannot Breathe (Be My Oxygen)
FanficChan always loved the sea. He's always felt connected to her, his home, despite that one accident that changes his whole life. But one day, on the beach, he meets someone strange and mysterious. It all goes downhill from here when secrets are shared...
