Once Owen's hand delicately laid onto my leg, I felt his heat radiate into every part of my body. I honestly thought that I would feel flustered or uncomfortable by the touch of his palm, but it wasn’t the case. In fact, it was really, really soothing.

He gently started to stroke along my thigh, feeling every bump of the scales along the way. As I relaxed with each brush of his hand, I soon noticed Owen's look of fascination, to which was complemented with the deep red blush that had spread across his face right up to the tip of his ears. I didn’t question it though as I peacefully close my eyes and smiled, feeling my worries slowly fading away with each stroke of Owen’s soft fingers.

I lost track on how much time had passed and honestly, I didn’t even care. I just knew that felt more and more at ease with Owen by my side. My mind began to wander elsewhere when I noticed that the brushing had suddenly ceased. I opened my eyes and glanced at Owen in confusion, wanting to ask him why he had stopped. But Owen was faster to speak when he asked me one simple, yet very unnerving question.

“Why are you even hiding in the first place ?”

All of a sudden the colours that once flushed my face instantly drained away. I wasn’t surprised by the question, I was actually expecting him to ask me at some point. But the actual question wasn’t what made me so anxious. No, what worried me more was the answer that I would have to provide him, and how I predicted the conversation would slowly unfold. I grabbed his arm and pushed it away from my thigh, drifting my gaze to the opposite side of where Owen was seated.

“I-I don’t know if I should tell you,” I mumbled.

After a moment of silence, I heard Owen sigh as he began to reassure me again.

“That's okay, I'll understand if you don’t want to tell me about it. But I only want to let you know that I'd always be there for you. When I made the deal with you two days ago, it was honest. The only thing that I want is to be your friend. Just… please keep in mind that you can trust me with anything.”

But should I trust him with this ? If I were to give out the answer to the question he asked, then there was this lingering possibility that he would betray me as soon as I'd finish talking. He would stab me in the back and use me for his own gain right here and then. The fact of whether I would give out this piece of information to him or not could completely change the course of our relationship.

But… Should I risk it though ?

There was always this likelihood that if he knew everything, he would be able to become one of my greatest allies. If he knew the truth, and if the intentions that he had expressed were honest, then he could become a person to which I could rely on for protection at all times. In a situation like this, he could be the one who'd completely ruin my life. Yet, he could also be the one that would become my saving grace. And after a moment of reflection, I finally decided to follow what my heart was telling me to do.

“Yes,” I sighed. “I now know that I can trust you. I've already told you a lot on my specie anyway, and I feel like it is important for you to know this. But please Owen,”

I turned my head towards him and stared fully into his eyes. From that, he must have understood the seriousness of the information I was about to give him.

“Please,” I pleaded. “You must promise me that what I am about to tell you, you should never, EVER reveal it to anyone.”

To that, Owen gave me a nod of approval.

“I promise.” He smiled.

I stood up from the mattress and leaned onto my desk situated right next to my bed. Looking down to the ground, I started revealing to Owen about the forbidden truth.

“You'd think that mermaids would hide from humans because they fear what society would think of them. Or at least, that is what fiction would make you believe most of the time. But the truth... is much darker than this. We are not hiding from you because we are fearful, we are hiding because… We are constantly in danger in your society.”

I swallowed a lump of stress down my throat before I proceeded to continue.

“The truth is… We are hunted down. You see, there is this… legend… going around on us. Nobody knows the legitimacy of it, but to the hunters, it doesn't matter. Every day, they are hiding amongst the humans, searching for us and chasing us down for bounty. We… are very valuable on the market, more valuable than you would ever imagine. If a hunter came to catch even one of us, no matter if we were dead or alive, it would guarantee them a lifetime of wealth and fortune.

What is so scary is that we never know who it might be, and every single day they are developing new techniques to locate us and hunt us down. That is why most of the mermaids still live at sea, despite the pollution. At least, they would not need to hide every day, worrying with each passing second if their lives would be sold out by the humans. This, Owen, this is why we are hiding from you. This is the reason why I secluded myself from your kind for so long. And this is why it was so hard for me to relay you all of this. You are a human, and this should be reason enough to not trust you in the first place.”

The room went completely quiet. As I watched Owen, I noticed the horrified expression riddled across his face. The sparkles in his eyes had completely disappeared and were replaced with colourless orbs that seemed to have lost all life. His ghostly face and slightly ajar mouth showed me even more how shocked he was by what I’ve told him. Well, he might not have expected the situation to be this dire, so this much was understandable.

“Wow…” He whispered. “So all this time, you and your species were in danger ? But… But… How can anyone be so cruel ?!”

I pursed my lips in response. “That's just how life works. Some people are willing to do anything to get what they want, and some of them just want to be rich. That’s just the way things are.”

“B-but to the point of sacrificing someone’s life ? That is so unfair !”

The room fell silent for a few more minutes while Owen and I were trying to recollect our thoughts. I cannot believe that I told him everything, and I have to admit that it was probably not my smartest move. Urgh, great job Akari, you just have to make your life more complicated than it already is.

But... in all honesty, deep inside I felt that this was maybe the right thing to do. After relaying to him all this, I felt this huge weight lifted off my chest and, for some reason, I finally felt liberated from the past I tried to hide for so long.

“WAIT A MINUTE !” Owen sprang off the bed. His loud voice and sudden action had made me jump to the stratosphere like a cat you awakened from a deep sleep.

“What the hell man ! What’s up with you ?!”

“Y-you told me about a legend, a legend about your kind that made the hunters specifically target you as their prey. But you didn’t tell me what that legend was all about. What could be so important that it would endanger your life and every one of your kinds ?”

I scratched the back of my head. “I don’t know if I–"

“Akari.” Owen stated. He stepped over to my side and grabbed me by the shoulders. “Please tell me about this. I’m so worried about you right now after everything you’ve just told me. I want to protect you, that's all I want. But for that, I want to have some insight into why the situation is like that for you in the first place. Please… Akari, please tell me.”

Well, I guess that I’ve already revealed everything else to him. Right now, there is nothing else that I want but to get rid of everything that weighed my chest. So, to that, I didn’t think long before responding to him.

“Okay… I will tell you.” I sighed while going back to sit onto the bed.

“As I had said before, there is no legitimate truth on the legend at all, hence why it is first and foremost a legend. But… It is said that while a mermaid ages and dies over time, their heart stays young forever. That's why if you ever find yourself in possession of a mermaid’s heart and eat it, then you will be granted a long, healthy and youthful life. Not only that, but depending on the variances of the legend, you would also be blessed with a lifetime of luck and have wealth come your way and follow you until the day you die. Because it is a legend, it means that some people might believe it, while some of them won’t. But the people who do believe it to be true are ready to pay an enormous amount of money to gain possession of a mermaid’s heart. And for the hunters, as long as money is involved, they wouldn’t care less if this legend were true or not. I have no idea myself on how much truth there is to this legend, and I do not wish to know. All I want is for me, but most importantly for Mira and my family to be safe. I’m truly willing to do anything in my power to protect them the best I can.”

I shifted my gaze from the floor to Owen, who was now leaning at the same spot I found myself before. His head was facing out of the window, making me unable to observe his facial expression.

“I see,” He murmured.

It was at that moment that I started to panic. 

I shouldn’t have said that I shouldn't have said that, I. should. not. have. said. that… For christ sake, why do I have to be so stupid ?! I just told him the biggest and darkest secret of our kind like it was nothing. Like, do I want to get myself killed ? What am I even doing ! I barely even know the boy that is standing only a few feet away from me, yet I am entrusting him on everything mindlessly without even thinking about the consequences ! And right now, I couldn’t even figure out what he was thinking of all of this ! I would not be surprised if he was planning to kill me. Even if he were wealthy, a lifetime of luxury and youth could certainly be tempting to even the most kind-hearted of souls out there.

My legs were now trembling like crazy as beads of sweat drizzled across my face. I felt myself entering a frenetic state of anxiousness when suddenly I heard a chuckle. It was then that I lifted my head to stare at Owen, who was still admiring the view of the garden that was displayed outside my window.

“W-w-why are you laughing ?” I questioned.

“Well, I find all of this pretty stupid. Why the hell would people kill another being just to grant themselves such an easy life ? Isn’t it kind of boring to live like that ?”

He then turned his face towards me. And as I was able to read Owen's expression, I noticed it had completely subverted my previous expectations. His mouth was slightly curled upward with a stone-hearted look in his eyes as if he were indeed finding the situation completely stupid. In no ways did I find any hint of mischief in him, even a fool could notice how genuine he was. And what he said after only eased my heart even more.

“What a bunch of idiots.” He swayed his face side by side while letting out a puff of air.

As if I was relieving myself of all the bottled-up stress, I slightly chuckled onto Owen's words. And just like he were mirroring my expression, he started to giggle at my reaction.

"What ?" He questioned with a grin, to which I started to laugh even louder.

And my reaction clearly didn't leave him indifferent as he started to chuckle with all his voice. The more one of us broke out the louder the other one imitated. We made each other crackle more and more and soon enough we both began roaring our heads off like two nutjobs. We didn’t know why we were having a fit, there was nothing funny about the situation at hand, yet we both couldn’t help it. And each time I heard Owen's hysterical laugh, I soon felt the chains attaching me to my past worries loosen up more and more until they finally broke loose. For once in my life, I was finally free.

Eventually, we both calmed down, and through the last pieces of giggles, we were finally able to talk normally again.

“I’m sorry. For a moment there I was doubting your loyalty and thought you were going to backstab me. I really should have trusted you from the start.” I worded out, and soon enough Owen copied my smile.

“I haven’t tried to be your friend for so long just to backstab you in the end. Especially over a stupid legend to which there is no proof whatsoever to ever be legit.”

Just after that, he approached the bed on which I was still sitting on and took a seat next to me.

“But man, all this time chasing you to be my friend was definitely worth it in the end. Thanks to that, I was finally able to understand you better. You are really incredible Akari, and I am still very thankful that you are trusting me so much, even though it must be one of the hardest things to do for you right now given the situation.”

My face slightly flushed onto his words. I scratched the back of my head while speaking from the heart.

“It’s ok, I know that I can trust you know Owen. And… Thank you.”

“Hm ?” Owen voiced out. “Thank you for what ?”

I looked up to his eyes and showed him the brightest smile I could ever give to anyone.

“Thank you for never giving up on me.”