The Mermaid [Infinite Fanfic]

Part 4

Dongwoo, on the other hand, followed her to the kitchen. "Is there anything I can help with?"

Buyong turned around quickly, slipped and fell. She had expected to hit a hard surface, but instead landed softly. When she opened her eyes, she found herself on top of Dongwoo. She quickly climbed off him and sat next to him on the floor. "Oh my... I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"

Dongwoo sat up and smiled "I'm fine. How about you?"

"I'm good" she blushed. "Now I feel like an idiot" she hung her head low.

Dongwoo started waving his hands "Don't worry about it. I'm really okay. I'm just glad you weren't hurt." Then he stood up, smiled and held his hand out. Buyong took his hand and he helped her up. "Guess we should get to making the tea" he said with a smile.

Buyong smiled back and nodded. She walked over to the stove and grabbed the kettle, filled it with water and placed it back on the stove. While the water boiled, she opened the cabinets and pulled out some trays and cups.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Dongwoo asked.

Buyong shook her head and said "Not really. We just have to wait for the water to boil."

"Oh" Dongwoo replied depressingly.

"How was your tour?"

Dongwoo lifted his head and saw her staring at him. "Huh?"

She gave a little giggle and then asked again "How was your tour? Did you enjoy it?"

"Are you kidding? I had a blast! That was the most exciting thing I've ever done!"

Buyong smiled "Really?"

"Yeah!" Dongwoo replied and then proceeded to tell her all about his tour with the shark.

Time seemed to pass by slowly as they talked, that they were surprised when the kettle began to whistle. They both got up and Dongwoo helped Buyong prepare the tea for the others. Then they grabbed the trays and brought them out to the group who were still chatting about their experiences. They handed out the cups and then returned to the kitchen to enjoy their tea together.

"Have you always been able to breathe underwater?" Dongwoo asked as he took a sip of his tea.

Buyong smiled. "Actually, my gills didn't fully develop until I was fifteen."

Dongwoo looked up in surprise. "Really? So you couldn't always breathe underwater?"

"I had always had the webbing between my fingers and toes, so I could swim very well and I enjoyed being in the water. I loved swimming" she smiled. "When I turned fifteen, I got a high fever and had difficulty breathing. My parents brought me to the hospital, but they couldn't find what was wrong with me. They told my parents that they had done all the tests they could and that they should prepare themselves for the worse if my fever did not go down."

"So what happened?"

"There was nothing that they could do for me, so they sent me home to die."

"Are you kidding? They just gave up?" Dongwoo became angry.

"It's okay, Dongwoo."

"How can that be okay? They basically said that they didn't care whether you lived or died."

"Dongwoo" she smiled serenely "they really did try everything they could to bring my fever down. They even brought in specialists from overseas to try and help. I was hospitalized for over a year before they sent me home. By that time I had become very weak from fighting the fever for so long that they believed that it was only a matter of time before the inevitable happened."