Where Land & Sea Meet

          The sounds of seagulls and crashing waves continuously hit my ears as I sit here on my laptop and type, and honestly, I love it. We never got to hear sounds like this back in the city, but now that we've moved, it's a luxury we get to enjoy every day. I will never regret my decision to uproot our lives in the city and move closer to the ocean; I searched for months for the perfect secluded location for us, and finally found this lighthouse. It was a little rundown, but we fixed it up nicely and made ourselves a home, with which we have been content with for almost two years. To be clear, we don't live inside the lighthouse, but instead in a house connected to it.

Even though we left our lives in the city, I still continue to write novels and email them to my publisher back in Seoul. The merman novel I created based on my experience received massive acclaim from readers and reviewers, and as a result of that, I wrote several sequels, all of which received similar praise. But no one will ever know that the merman they are reading about is real, how my merman was the inspiration.

After I finish typing my latest chapter, I close my laptop and stand to look out the window at the ocean. The vast blue mystery stretches beyond the horizon and its color calms me. Our home has two unique beaches on either side of the hill that our home and lighthouse sits on; on one side, the beach is filled with large, jagged rocks that waves constantly collide into, and the other side has fine, white sand and is perfect for walking on at any time of day. I exit our house and walk down the hill to the sandy beach side and allow the foam of the collapsing waves to graze my feet before wading into the water up to my ankles. Almost as if he senses it, I see Donghae breach from several feet away before he smiles and swims towards me.

My Donghae, he's the reason why I decided to move us here. I still felt guilt for being the reason why he gave up being a permanent merman with his family, so I brought him here where he could swim every day and be safe from anyone who wouldn't understand him or try to hurt him. Donghae swims for hours every day while I write, and he never seems to tire from his routine. After swimming up to me, he playfully tackles me down onto the shoreline as I slip my arms around my merman and gaze up into his eyes before kissing him, feeling the waves wash past us as we lie there together in a passionate embrace on the sand. His lips are drenched and I can taste the ocean in his kisses; I sit up after a few moments before wrapping a towel around his naked, now-human form. Usually if the weather is pleasant, we walk around the sandy beach for a few hours, but today, the weather is growing dark early as storm clouds loom eerily in the distance, so we must return indoors to get ready for impending downpour.

Once inside, Donghae redresses himself while I change out of my wet clothes and head to the lighthouse through a covered walkway that connects the tower to our house. I climb the spiral staircase to the top and do what I have to, to get the lighthouse light turned on for passing vessels on the horizon. After the light is secure, and the generators are on in case of power outage, I retreat back to our home just as a loud clap of thunder cascades through the air. Donghae is curled up on the couch under a blanket calling for me; he's never been a fan of thunderstorms. I smile at him and gently pull the blanket back before placing a kiss on his lips. "Don't be scared, I'm here now," I whisper before settling on the couch next to him, protectively wrapping an arm around him as he turns on our TV.

While he watches TV, I watch him. He is still just as beautiful as the day I rescued him and brought him home to live in my bathtub. Donghae has grown in muscle and intelligence in the time we've been together, but he still latches onto me when he is afraid, and looks at me, with that innocence in his eyes, for reassurance that everything will be alright. I run my fingertips over his damp brunette hair, before lightly kissing his temple. "I love you," he says to me as I kiss him.