Nolite Flere

Sooyoung's Tears

It starts raining that day.

Two weeks later (without a stop to the rain), Wendy keeps her word.

She hands Sungjae a bag, dropping it into his palm.

"It's all Sooyoung's tears. She's pretty much been crying nonstop. It's making Yeri go insane. Our little sister hates it when she cries."

Sungjae hands her a bag of cookies in exchange. "That's for you. I don't think they'll survive in the sea, so eat them now."

Frowning at the pouch, "Your poison won't work on me," she muttered.

"They're not poisoned. Sooyoung liked them so I figure you would, too. And this is for her." Sungjae gives Wendy another pouch, but she's too engrossed in glaring at star-shaped cookies, so he puts it down on the edge of the dinghy instead.

Very slowly, he opens his gift. He's never asked Sooyoung what she cried before.

While shaking out the bag, his jaw drops at what spills into his hand.

"Holy sh- she cries diamonds?????!"

The mermaid glances up, her mouth full of cookies.

"If that's what you humans call them, um yeah...anyway, you got more of these cookie things?"

--

Wendy keeps coming for the three months that come after that, always eating cookies until she's satisfied and bringing him bags of diamonds.

Sungjae's heart throbs when he thinks of them as Sooyoung's tears, of how upset she has to be when she's been crying nonstop for months. It also doesn't stop raining, and he wonders if maybe her crying and this nonstop rain has something to do with each other.

However, the mermaid that comes on the second week of the fourth month isn't Wendy. Sungjae stares at the mermaid. Her golden tail is a lot shorter than Sooyoung's and Wendy's; she had light brown hair, and pale milky white skin. Her collarbones and shoulders were perfectly sculptured. Her looks, Sungjae thinks, are very intimidating, but no doubt her visuals were absolutely stunning.

"My name is Irene. I understand you're the reason why my little sister's crying."

"You're the oldest sister?!" He shouted astonishingly. He could believe it, if she said she was the youngest. Although that wouldn't make any sense, since Yeri was. Maybe second youngest.

Irene doesn't look fazed at his words as she hands Sungjae the usual pouch. He opens it, and immediately his face fails as he sees the diamonds. "You don't look happy." Sungjae looks up to see Irene with a raised eyebrow. "Are they not enough? Diamonds are the most precious gems for humans, no?"

"What? No, you're getting the wrong idea. I'd rather have no diamonds and instead know she's not crying."

Her expression softens. "I see." She runs a hand across the top of the water. "You know, I was the one who heard the prediction. No one else was around. And while I might have brushed off her words as another rant..." She frowns and stops. Her fingers land on the water, and the water trembles below them. "It was different from how the sea witch normally is. She seemed like she was in some kind of trance... like the words were something she couldn't control. She doesn't have any memory of saying the words. I told father this, and no one else. I figured I could protect Sooyoung, especially if she didn't know. If she thought it was just the witch being ridiculous again. Self-fulfilling prophecies, you know."

Sungjae's blood runs cold. "You think it might be true?"

Glancing at him, Irene goes, "I pray it isn't, but it seems half of it has already come true." She nods at Sungjae. "She's already fallen in love with a human. Although... You don't seem like you would use her for her blood and tears. But that worries me more." She sighs, her fingers running along the waves again. "No sea foam." She mummers to herself. Her fingers dip into the surface of the water, and suddenly all the waves die.

Sungjae's alerted when the boat stops rocking. "What the..." Irene raises her arm, and with a flick of her wrist, the rain stops smashing down onto them, but just in the area around them. "What the – did you do that?!"

Irene's lips quirk. "I'm the next in line for the throne. Haven't quite mastered the art yet, but getting there. I'd like for us to talk without the sea foam bothering us. Waves, no matter how low, carry a bit of sea foam."

"The lady?"

Humming, Irene dips her fingers into the water again. There's a slight wave, making Sungjae think the waves are starting again, except it turns out to be a whale.

He's not kidding.

There is a whale coming up.

It's coming up so slowly that it's not making much of a ripple among the surface, but it's huge. Irene perches on it as it floats just below the surface, providing a surface for her to sit on. "That is what Sooyoung calls her. What most call her. The lady. But my father and I...." She pats the whale's back, almost distracted for a moment. "Maybe I'm biased because my little sister's life is being threatened. But I've come to terms that the lady might not be such a nice presence that Sooyoung thinks."

She continues, "There was sea foam underwater, when I heard the witch give her prediction. There normally is no sea foam underwater. Sooyoung also mentioned that the lady led her to you. While I now understand that you're not a bad human.... You're a human nonetheless. Being exposed to humans is danger for all us merpeople. Sooyoung never really cared about what happened above the waters before she met you."

Sungjae frowns while they sit in silence for a moment. He still isn't quite over the fact that Irene is sitting on a giant whale. Or the fact that she can make waves stop and the rain disperse.

"You think that the lady – the sea foam, whatever – did it on purpose?"

"Yes." Her answer is immediate. "I think she's vengeful. She wants someone to suffer the same way she did. I don't know why she chose my sister, but things are starting to move the way she wants it to. And Sooyoung is turning 21 soon. She understands that we're worried about her, but I just hope... that this isn't just us doing what the sea foam wants us to do." Irene sighs, and the whale lets out a sorrowful cry.

Sungjae gazes up at the rain that's everywhere but around them. "Is that Sooyoung, too?"

Irene laughs, but the sound is bitter. "Yes."