Chaeyoung was in the presence of a mermaid. An actual mermaid! A mermaid with an actual tail and long hair and...odd skin. Still, it was a mermaid!
What does she do? The mermaid seems to still be breathing. So she's alive. But she doesn't look okay.
Chaeyoung looked around her for anybody. But since she was more in the rural area, not many people were around.
"Darn...I can't lift her all by myself!"
The mermaid was definitely bigger than tiny Chaeyoung, and the smaller hardly had any arm strength. But she just couldn't leave her there. Something was wrong since she doesn't remember mermaids sleeping on beaches.
"Okay..." Chaeyoung spoke to herself, zipping her coat up. She then lifted the mermaid's arms so they would be loosely around her neck. She mentally counted to three before using all her strength to heave the body over her right shoulder, taking a few steps back to balance herself.
A small grunt left her lips at the realization of how heavy dead weight actually was. No. Unconscious weight. Because she definitely wasn't dead. She can feel the shallow breathing still. Didn't make her any lighter, though.
Chaeyoung carefully walked towards the dirt road, legs shaking with each step she took. The walk to her house wasn't too far, but it would still be a struggle to get a whole body who was heavier than Chaeyoung herself there.
After walking for thirty seconds, Chaeyoung buckled under the weight and she quickly put the mermaid down as carefully as possible. She just couldn't do it by herself. She needed another hand.
A call and five minutes later, Chaeyoung breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing Tzuyu riding towards her on a bicycle. Attached to the back of the bike was a rope connecting it to a rusty, red wagon.
"Tzuyu, you are a life saver!" Chaeyoung said in relief, standing up from where she was trying to hide the tail.
Tzuyu shrugged as she hopped off the bike and laid it down. "I try. So, what happened?"
"I just found her like this down there." Chaeyoung pointed behind her, further down the road where the entrance to the beach was.
"And you're sure she's alive?"
"Jeez, I don't know," Chaeyoung sarcastically said. "It's not like I can tell whether a person is dead or not!"
"Sorry. Had to make sure. A little help?"
Tzuyu grabbed the upper half of the mermaid, Chaeyoung supporting the tail of the body. They both lifted the mermaid into the wagon, using the jacket as support for the head.
"Why did you cover her tail?" Tzuyu asked, standing back up.
"In case someone else came by. I was afraid they would take her away."
"Right. Good thinking. Do you want to ride?"
"It's your bike."
Tzuyu slowly rode the bike to Chaeyoung's house, the smaller walking beside her and momentarily forgetting her wet socks and shoes. She was reminded of it when she accidentally stepped in a small puddle and groaned in disgust.
Every few moments, the two would glance back to see if everything was okay, Chaeyoung fixing her jacket over the mermaid occasionally. She was so excited and anxious of looking after a mermaid that she didn't initially register the fact that they had arrived to her home so soon.
"Quick, fill your bath tub with cool water," Tzuyu instructed, kicking her kickstand down to prop the bike.
Chaeyoung nodded before quickly unlocking the door and rushing inside. She hurried to the bathroom, doing as Tzuyu said, her hands fumbling over the faucet knobs before she got a grip on them. Tzuyu came in not long after, carrying the mermaid bridal-style with the jacket halfway covering her tail. She chucked the jacket off then lowered the body into the tub slowly, letting the cool water slowly cover her body. The two watched the mermaid for a bit for any movement, not finding any whatsoever.
"So, what do we do?" Chaeyoung asked, biting on her bottom lip in worry.
Tzuyu slowly shook her head. "I dunno. I never dealt with an unconscious mermaid before."
Yeah, me neither, Chaeyoung wanted to say, but it was more than obvious.
"Maybe We should just wait for her to wake up."
That was a good idea. Or, the only idea as there was nothing much they could do.
"And buy a pool," Tzuyu continued in all seriousness.
"A pool?"
"Yeah. For her to recover. She can't be in this tub forever, it's too cramped."
Tzuyu leaned down to turn the water off, and she knelt beside the tub, just staring at the mermaid. Chaeyoung merely observed her, trying hard not to bite her nails in anticipation.
"She looks young, but looks taller than you. Wow, she must eat her veggies," Tzuyu joked before standing back up. "Tell you what, I'll ask Dahyun if you can borrow her pool for the mermaid."
Chaeyoung nodded because that was obviously the best plan, since she didn't have one.
"Can I tell her?"
"Yeah." There's no use in keeping secrets from her friends. She's just worried about her parents and if she should tell them.
It wouldn't be so bad if her parents didn't dislike mermaids. She doesn't know why exactly, since every time she asks about it, they change the topic. She even tried asking her grandparents and other relatives, but they refused to tell Chaeyoung either. And she was left with a few unconfirmed ideas of what could be the reason for their dislike in mermaids, ranging from them not liking their appearance and "unnatural" tails, to her mom being a mermaid once and getting surgery to become a human. The latter is her most believing one to her.
Tzuyu left, leaving Chaeyoung with the unconscious mermaid in her bath tub.
Wow. She's always wanted to meet a mermaid, but not like this! Chaeyoung doesn't even know if the mermaid is terrified of humans, because there are a great deal of the species who are terrified with their human counterparts. She's heard of some deliberately attacking humans out of pure fright, sending the victims rushing to the hospital.
But the one in the tub looked harmless. Sure, she was unconscious, but she was probably nice and harmless when she woke up.
Right?
I hope you enjoyedddd!
Idk what else to say.
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