I always went to the sea when I was angry.
Sometimes when I was bored.
Sometimes when I simply didn't know where else to go.
The sea had become the one place where I could be completely alone without feeling lonely.
I could sit there for hours, watching the waves crash against the rocks while pretending the ocean was listening to everything I couldn't say to anyone else.
That afternoon, I needed it more than ever.
"Bjei!"
I heard Mom's voice before I even reached the door.
I stopped.
Angela stood in the kitchen with her arms crossed, staring at me.
"What?" I asked.
"You cooked again?"
I sighed. "I was hungry."
"And who told you to use the stove?"
"I can cook, Mom."
"That isn't the point."
"Then what is the point?"
Her eyes narrowed.
"The point is that you never listen to me. Every day, you do whatever you want. And now you're cooking alone when I've warned you not to."
"I was only trying to help."
"Help?"
She shook her head.
"Bjei, one day that stubbornness will take you somewhere you don't want to go."
I rolled my eyes.
She noticed.
"Don't do that."
"Do what?"
"Roll your eyes at me."
"I didn't."
"You did."
I grabbed my bag.
"I'm going out."
"Where?"
"Nowhere."
"Bjei!"
But I was already walking away.
I heard her shouting behind me.
"Don't go near that sea!"
I kept walking.
The farther I went, the quieter everything became.
Until I could hear only the wind.
And the waves.
My favorite sound.
When I reached the shore, I sat on my usual rock.
I hugged my knees and stared at the water.
"She's always angry with me," I whispered.
I picked up a stone.
"Maybe I'm really the problem."
I threw it.
Plop.
Another stone.
Plop.
I smiled sadly.
"Maybe I should just disappear."
My phone vibrated.
Christel.
I answered.
"Hello?"
"Bjei! Where are you?"
"At the sea."
There was silence.
"You went there again?"
"Yes."
"You know your mother doesn't like that."
"I know."
"Then come home."
"Not yet."
"Bjei…"
"I'll be fine, Christel."
"You always say that."
I smiled.
"I'll call you later."
Before she could answer, I ended the call.
I placed my phone beside me.
The sun was slowly sinking.
The water glittered beneath the fading light.
For a moment, everything felt peaceful.
Then I heard singing.
I frowned.
I looked around.
Nothing.
The singing came again.
Soft.
Beautiful.
Almost like a lullaby.
I stood.
"Hello?"
The voice stopped.
My heart began beating faster.
I stepped toward the water.
There was nobody there.
"Is someone hiding?"
Silence.
Then—
SPLASH!
I jumped backward.
Something moved beneath the surface.
I stared at the water.
"Who is there?"
A hand suddenly shot out.
It grabbed my wrist.
I screamed.
"LET ME GO!"
I tried pulling away, but the grip became stronger.
Then another hand wrapped around my waist.
My feet left the ground.
"No!"
I screamed for help.
But the waves swallowed my voice.
I was pulled beneath the water.
Cold surrounded me.
I kicked desperately.
My lungs began burning.
I tried to swim upward, but something kept dragging me down.
Deeper.
Deeper.
The sunlight above me disappeared.
I thought I was going to die.
Then I saw him.
A boy.
He was swimming toward me.
His dark hair floated around his face, and something golden shimmered across his chest.
He looked impossibly beautiful.
His eyes met mine.
And somehow, even though I was drowning, I stopped fighting.
He reached for me.
His hand touched my cheek.
Warm.
Impossible.
I watched his lips move.
But I couldn't hear him.
Then he pulled me closer.
Everything went black.
When I opened my eyes, I was lying on a bed made of something that looked like pearls.
I gasped.
Air rushed into my lungs.
I sat up.
"Where am I?"
A familiar voice answered.
"Somewhere you were never supposed to find."
I turned.
He was standing beside me.
The boy from the water.
I stared at him.
"Who are you?"
He smiled.
"My name is Shawshank."
I looked down.
His lower body disappeared beneath a shimmering blue-green tail.
My mouth fell open.
"You're…"
"A mermaid," he said softly.
I backed away.
"No. No, no, no…"
Shawshank laughed quietly.
"You're frightened."
"I'm not frightened."
"You're shaking."
"I am not!"
He moved closer.
I moved backward until my back touched the wall.
His smile softened.
"Bjei."
I froze.
"How do you know my name?"
He didn't answer.
"How do you know my name?"
He looked into my eyes.
"Because I've been waiting for you."
My heart skipped.
"Waiting for me?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Shawshank's expression suddenly changed.
The warmth disappeared from his face.
"Because the sea knows who you are."
I stared at him.
Behind him, enormous golden doors slowly opened.
Beyond them was a breathtaking underwater kingdom.
Palaces.
Bridges.
Glowing gardens.
Thousands of tiny lights floating through the water.
But despite its beauty, something about the place felt wrong.
Very wrong.
I turned back to Shawshank.
"I need to go home."
His eyes darkened.
"You can't."
"Why?"
"Because they will come for you."
"Who?"
Before he could answer, a distant horn echoed through the kingdom.
Everyone outside suddenly stopped.
Shawshank looked toward the palace.
Fear crossed his face.
For the first time, I realized something.
He wasn't the one I should be afraid of.
He was afraid too.
"Shawshank?"
He looked back at me.
"Whatever you hear tonight…"
He stepped closer and whispered,
"Don't answer the voice."
A chill ran through me.
"What voice?"
He didn't respond.
Then, from somewhere deep beneath the kingdom, a woman's voice whispered my name.
"Bjei…"
My blood ran cold.
Shawshank grabbed my hand.
"Don't listen."
The voice came again.
Closer this time.
"Bjei…"
And somehow, I knew that voice.
It sounded like someone who had known me long before I was born.
Someone who had been waiting beneath the sea.
Waiting for me.