I love crossing paths with Yoo two

Chapter 1

Two years later (2023) ~June

POV: Shin-ae

"Rest in piece, Watermelon..." I said softly, pouring him into a hole in a big pot of dirt.
"You were a good fish.." Kousuke added.
"The best fish..." I nodded, feeling a tear fall down my cheek.

I turned around and picked up a red Japanese camellia, planting it in the hole, and moving the soil around it.
Once the plant was secure, I stood back.
"At least he'll live on as a plant and not in the sewers..." I chuckled lightly, brushing away my tear.

    I looked over towards the tank. It felt weird not having anything in it. Over time, the shrimp had died. Watermelon was the last one in the tank, but now he's gone too.
"You wanna get another fish?" Kousuke asked, gently placing his hand on my shoulder.
"Yeah..." I said softly.

    What a great thing to come back to after a long day at work. Though, he was an adult when we got him, so he probably lived at least 4 years. That's a good life for a betta. And he was spoiled, so at least he had a happy life.

I got dressed and met Kousuke by the door. Since the nearest pet store was a mile away, we decided to walk there. We got there about 10 minutes before they were scheduled to close.
"Do you have any betta?" I asked a worker as we walked in.
"Yes, we do have some beta. They're over there." The worker pointed towards the back of the store, so we headed in that direction.

"Why do some people call them 'betta', and some call them 'beta'? They're two different words..." I mumbled to myself.
"Well, we could just call them Siamese fighting fish." Kousuke shrugged.
"Too many syllables." I chuckled.

We got to the back, and saw a bunch of different types of fish. I looked over and noticed the betta section, and moved over to it.
"They're so pretty!" I gasped, looking at the different types. Butterfly, Double tail, comb tail, half moon, etc.

"This one looks nice." Kousuke said, lifting up a yellow butterfly male betta.
"They're all nice." I chuckled.

   A worker a few feet away caught my attention. She had a bowl with a betta on a counter, and she was removing the lid from a bottle.

"What's up with that betta?" I asked her, catching her attention.
"This little guy was shipped in about a week ago, but he hasn't been doing so good." She shrugged, "I think that he got into a tank with another male at some point, and got torn up. We don't even know what type of betta he is because of his poor condition...but when they are like this, it's difficult to rehabilitate them. It's better to just euthanize them with clove oil then see them suffering this much..." she said softly.

"Well....can I have him?" I asked, gaming a surprised gaze from both Kousuke and the worker.
"You do realize that he could die at any moment, right?" She asked.
I nodded, "yes, but there is a possibility that he could pull through, right? Even if it's a small possibility, maybe he'll recover." I shrugged.

   We stood in silence for a minute, then the worker took out a pen and paper.
"Here..." she said scribbling down on it, "we're not going to charge you for this guy. Just give this note to the person in front." She smiled, handing me the note and the fish.
"Alright!" I grinned.

We walked to the front, gave the person at the cash register the paper, and headed out of the store. We walked a few minutes in silence before Kousuke began to chuckle.
"We did go there to get a living fish, correct?" He chuckled.
"He is a living fish!" I laughed.
"But he could die in the next few minutes." He said, looking down at the fish.
"Yeah, but that could count for anyone. Anyone could die in the next few minutes." I shrugged, "doesn't mean we should give up and wait for it to happen."

  We eventually got to the apartment, and got the fish into his new tank.
His fins were a bit tattered, he was a grey color, and he stayed pretty still instead of moving around.
"We could name him Reaper." Kousuke chuckled.
"Alright." I shrugged.

    I put some food in with Reaper, though he didn't touch it. My eyes began to grow weary, so I decided to go to bed.
'Hopefully Reaper lives through the night..'

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First chapter done! Lol, didn't know how to start the chapter😂 RIP Watermelon😢😭

The next chapter will be a bit longer. My first chapters are usually short-ish😂 lol.

See ya later!!