After our exchange about mermaids, we eventually got tired of chit-chatting. To pass the time, we decided to watch a random series on television in the living room. I initially thought that the atmosphere would turn out to be awkward with him around, being Owen and all, but it wasn’t the case. In fact, the more time I spent with him, the more I felt relaxed with his presence. Is this what it feels like to have a friend ?

Just when the next episode was about to start, I heard a ring coming from beside me. After looking at the caller's ID, Owen excused himself and went over to the other side of the room so that he could have a proper conversation without the TV being a disturbance to the call. A few minutes later I noticed Owen hanging up the phone, then groan loudly while pressing his palms onto his forehead. He came back towards me and gave me a frown.

“I’m sorry Akari.” He mumbled.

“Huh ?” I voiced out. I was about to ask him what was wrong but he beat me to it.

“I was on the phone with my housekeeper, and I totally forgot that my volleyball coach had been planning to do some extra hours of practice later on today.”

“Oh,” I stated. Then I suddenly realised what he had said.

“Wait wait wait !” I screeched out. “You play volleyball ?!”

To that Owen stared at me with oblivious eyes, completely surprised by what I had just said.

“Eh... yeah, I am a player on Colenson’s high volleyball team, didn’t you know that ?”

The look of confusion on my face must have answered his question perfectly, and after trying to suppress his laughter for a few seconds, he eventually couldn’t contain it anymore.

“Hey, stop mocking me !” I screeched while throwing a cushion at his face, which obviously amused him even more.

“I’m sorry I’m sorry ! I just thought that you would already know that since everybody at school already brags about it all the time.”

“Well, might I remind you that I am probably the biggest outsider to ever exist.” I pouted.

“It’s okay,” Owen smiled. “Now that I am around, you don’t need to be an outsider anymore.”

I stared into his perfect face, thinking to myself that it was no wonder he was so popular, seeing how handsome and kind-hearted he was. Now that I thought about it, Owen always had a perfect body, and I started to realise how foolish it was of me to not even suspect him being part of the volleyball team in the first place. Our school is notorious for that club, and several times in the past we had won national championships, so not any person could wander in the club since the expectations set were pretty high. Owen being on Colensons high volleyball team wasn’t a small deal around here, so his reaction did, in fact, make a lot of sense.

Urgh, is this guy actually a god or something ? He is handsome, muscular, kind, rich, outgoing, AND part of a famous sports club. Just why lord, why are some people born to be so perfect ?

As I got myself off the couch and lead Owen to my bedroom to get a few of his stuff, preparing himself to go, he turned over to me with pleading eyes.

“Ehm… Listen,” Owen spoke out. “My housekeeper told me he would be here at any moment now. I’m really sorry that we had to cut our time together short like that.”

“Oh no no no, it’s okay you don’t need to worry about that ! I understand how practice is important.” I yelled out while waving my hands to tell him it was fine.

“I know,” Owen sighed. “But I was honestly having a really good time with you. You are such an interesting person and I would have loved to spend a little more time with you today.”

I blushed a bit to the compliment Owen had given me. Me ? Interesting ? I was probably the most boring person to ever exist ! Well, maybe minus the fact that I was a merman. But still, I would have never thought that Owen Leroy would be the kind of person to find someone like me interesting ! Oh my god, I cannot even hide my happiness right now !

“W-we can hang out… another day… if you want.” I uttered under my breath. Owen let out a blushed smile and brushed my hair.

“I’ll be looking forward to it !”

Suddenly there was a ringtone that broke the quiet of my room. Owen picked up his phone and read the message.

“My butler is here.”

“Oh, well… I guess I will lead you to the front door.”

Owen nodded and we started towards the exit.

“By the way, I thought it was your housekeeper that came to pick you up, so is a butler the same thing as a housekeeper ?” I asked Owen while walking towards the door.

“Oh, not really, they do have their differences. But Regy is kind of an all-in-one man. Not only he does the chores and guides the employers in my estate, but he also spends a lot of time taking care of me like a guardian. One day I hope that I could properly introduce him to you, I’m sure you will both get along.” Owen answered eagerly. In response, I gave him a slight smile and voiced out a ‘mmh’ in approbation.

As we both stepped out of the door, we glanced at one another and for some reason, I knew exactly what he was thinking about.

“Don’t worry !” I reassured him. “Unexpectedly, I had a really fun time with you today ! I thought that I was going to feel pressured with revealing the secrets of my kind to you, but it turned out much better than I thought !”

Owen let out a large smile in response.

“Yeah, today was fun for me as well ! Will… will I be able to come back ?” Owen asked while playing with his hands.

“You can ! But... we have to be cautious. You see, it is a big crime for mermaids to be discovered by humans, and I don’t want my family to know of my mistake. Even though they’re trustworthy, I don’t want to tell them about you knowing who I really am. So to be safe, I think it would be okay for you to come back, but only if my family isn’t around.”

“Okay, that’s understandable !” Owen grinned. “Well, I guess I will see you on Monday !”

“Sure, see you then,” I waved at Owen who was heading out on the little trail.

I watched him disappear around the rocks while I stood there, leaning onto the outside wall of my house.

Man, it was sure hard to take in the fact that I was getting close to Owen. Only a week ago, the only person that I had ever considered as a friend was Mira, and I thought it would be the case for the entirety of my existence. But today, I had welcomed a human inside my home. And to boot it all off, that human was Owen, the guy who I literally tried to avoid every time they got even slightly close to me. The world works in a very weird way, in only a single second your life can be completely changed.

I am still not sure how all of this would turn out in the end, but I'm starting to think that Owen is maybe not as untrustworthy as I initially thought. Deep down, I was still scared that everything I had told him today would backfire at me one day or another, but right now, I don’t want to think about it too much. What matters right now is that I am happy, happy to finally find someone else which I could probably entrust myself to in the future.

I was about to enter my house when I heard a voice scream behind me.

“AKARI !”

I turned my head without expecting to see the figure running right towards me.

“Owen ?” I questioned. “What’s wrong, did you forget something ?”

Once Owen had arrived next to me and tried to catch his breath, he pulled out his phone and handed it over.

“Your number.” He stated. “I haven’t got your phone number. C-could I have it ? We could stay in touch !”

I stared back at him in shock. Oh wow, Owen, asking for my number ? Now that is unexpected !

“Uh… Sure ? But it would be much easier if you put your number in my contact directly since I don’t know my own number. You see, this... this is the first time I’m giving out my number to someone else.”

“Oh,” Owen voiced out while he turned his face away from me, failing to hide his rosy cheeks. “Sure then, hand me your phone.”

I reached out to fetch my phone from my pocket and handed it to him. With a nod, he put back his phone inside his jeans and took my phone hesitantly. As he was imputing his number into my contacts, his face turned slightly redder and a little smile formed onto his face while staring down onto the screen with puppy eyes.

Oh my god Owen, just stop acting so cute already !

Wait ! What am I thinking ?! He is not cute ! He is… Urgh okay, he is cute, you’d be blind to say otherwise.

Once he finished inputting his number, he handed back my phone with his usual large grin. I smiled at him in response and took back my device.

“I’ll send you a message once I get back inside.”

“Sure !” Owen answered. “I’m sorry for coming back to you in a rush, but I thought it was important for me to have your number. And as much as I’d like to hang around, I think my butler is getting impatient now, so I really have to go, I'm sorry !”

"It's okay, I'll see you soon !” I waved at him.

As Owen rushed on the little trail that lead back to the road, I had felt the need to tell him one last sentence.

“OWEN !” I yelled out, to which Owen turned his head and stopped in his tracks. “Good luck with your practice !”

In response, Owen shot me one of his grins and gave me two thumbs up. We waved out a goodbye at each other, then Owen disappeared around the corner of the rocks, this time once and for all.

Once I was left alone, I had the thought of sending him a message so that he could receive my number as well. But as I opened the contacts, I was greeted by an unexpected surprise from the new profile on my phone.

‘My handsome BFF’

God damn it Owen !