So mermaids do exist? That was the question that popped in his head as he eyed Axle's tail with mesmerized eyes.

Noah looked like he wanted to touch Axle's tail, but he was hesitant about it, and Axle who had noticed, asked, "Do you want to touch it?"

Noah's eyes finally left Axle's tail as he faced him. "W- would it sting?" He asked, feeling a little flustered and skeptical.

Axle let out a hearty and amused laugh at what Noah said, and then he answered, "Of course not."

"Really?" Noah asked for clarity as he slowly approached Axle with his hand stretched out. When Axle nodded, Noah then mustered courage and bent down to touch his tail.

He first touched it with the tip of his finger and when there was no sting or reaction, he then relaxed and began to check out Axle's tail.

"Woah! I still can't believe this is happening. It's like touching the tail of a giant fish, only that your tail looks like little beautiful blue diamonds." He couldn't help but fan over it.

After a while, Noah's excitement subsided a little and then curiosity hit him. "Since you claimed you are not Luca, then is there a lookalike for every human in the ocean? Do you know any merman of my age that looks like me?" He asked in excitement as he imagined a little merman that looks like him.

Axle was surprised with Noah's thinking. It reminded him of how he had also thought the same thing back then. He smiled and then whispered to Noah, "Do you want to hear a secret?"

There was no one around, so Axle didn't need to whisper, but Noah couldn't care less. He instead nodded his head enthusiastically.

Then Axle said, "The truth is I have actually seen the Luca you are talking about, and I was also surprised to see a human that looks like me, but… I have also seen other humans, and they do not look like any of my fellow merpeople."

Noah was surprised by what Axle said and then he asked, "Wait, you said you saw my Idol, Luca. When was that?"

"That was years ago, we were still little then…"

"Woah! Did he see you too? Do you guys hang out or keep in touch like friends?" Noah interrupted Axle with his probing questions.

Axle shook his head. "I'm not sure he saw me. He fell into the ocean and was struggling, so I rescued him, but he was already unconscious when I got to the shore. I could only watch as other humans came and took him away, so I couldn't confirm if he survived or not as I never saw him since then." Axle's countenance fell as he told the story, and then his eyes landed on Luca's bracelet which was on his wrist and that brought a smile to his face.

He then continued, "Now here is the most interesting part of the story. When I saved him from the ocean, his bracelet had fallen off his wrist and when I looked at it, I saw my name on the bracelet."

Noah let out a little gasp. "No way! You have got to be kidding me." He said and then Axle showed him the bracelets on his wrist.

The two bracelets had the same designs, but had different names on them. One had the name 'Luca' and the other, 'Axle' and that got Noah confused.

Axle chuckled. "Surprised to see two bracelets? Well, the other one is mine and  it turned out that it has his name on it."

Noah's shock skyrocket to a while new level. "This is blowing my mind! It sounds like a twist from some kind of blockbuster movie."

Axle's brows creased in confusion. "It sounds like what?"

But Noah seemed to not have heard Axle as he was wracking his brain. "You have a bracelet with his name on it, and he has a bracelet with your name on it. You are a merman and he is a human. What could this mean?" He stroked his nonexistent beard as he thought aloud. 

"Have you shared your findings with your parents?" Noah suddenly asked.

Axle looked down dejectedly and replied, "No. I and my father aren't close, and as for my mother… I never knew her. He refused to tell me anything about her."

"Then maybe you and Luca could be long lost brothers!" Said Noah.

Axle would be lying to himself if he said that he hasn't thought of the possibility that they might be brothers, especially after he had observed his fathers reaction when he mentioned about the name on his bracelet, but as the years went by, he began to doubt it. "I don't see how that is possible. Luca is human and I am this." He said while pointing to his tail.

Noah got the point from what Axle said, but he still refused to give up on his narrative. "All merpeople can transform into humans, right?"

Axle thought about it for a while and then realized that since he could transform into a human through the power of his pearl, then the others could probably do the same, as each of them also had a pearl. "I guess so." He answered.

"Then maybe your father transformed into a human and then fell in love with a human. The woman got pregnant and then gives birth to twins. A human and a merman. How does that sound?" Noah clapped in excitement as he said a possible background story which made a lot of sense to him.

Axle smiled at Noah's wide thinking. What Noah said also made a lot of sense to him and he couldn't help but remember that woman he had seen on the same day he met Luca. He remembered how she had called his name when she saw him in the ocean. It was as though she knew him, and then it turned out, to his understanding though, that she was Luca's mother.

But no matter how these clues, together with Noah's narrative seemed to make sense, he still kept growing his seeds of doubt into mighty trees. Maybe he was just trying to avoid getting hurt, in case if all his assumptions turn out to be wrong in the end.

Noah spoke again and Axle got distracted from his thoughts. "I think I have finally found something to make my life less boring. I will take this as my sacred mission to solve this case and find out the truth. Don't worry, I know how I can get you to meet Luca." He winked at Axle after he said the last line.

Axle's heart raced in excitement mixed with a little bit of nervousness as he thought about meeting Luca. How would Luca react when they meet? And how was he supposed to act when they meet? Would they get along? Those were the questions disturbing his mind.

….

Luca and Rose had head out of the forest in Rose's car to a very fancy restaurant in city z. The restaurant had an underground parking lot, and that was where Rose drove her car to, before they both alighted and went up to the restaurant.

At the sight of Luca, the restaurant attendants quickly ushered him to their best table and were acting all nice to him to get bonus points, or perhaps a nice review from him for their already high rated restaurant.

"Good afternoon, sir. It's our pleasure to have you grace our restaurant with your presence. Is everything to your liking?" The waitress politely said.

Luca had gotten used to these kind of things, if not he would have gotten flustered. "It would be to my liking, if you could please go straight to taking our orders."

The waitress's face flushed when she heard his slight jab at her, but she couldn't even bring herself to be upset because he said that with his signature beautiful smile. "Errm… of course, pardon me please. Can I take your order?"

"Sure!" He said and then faced Rose. "Ladies first."

Rose threw him a look before going through the menu. "Since there are no changes in the menu, how about you just give me the usual?"

"Alright, miss Rose." The waitress smiled knowingly at Rose, and then faced Luca. "What about you, sir?"

"Just give me what she is having." Luca said, deciding to trust in Rose's choice of food.

"Alright then, your order is will arrive in no time." The waitress said and then left.

After the waitress left to get their order, Luca noticed that Rose was looking at him with something that looked like mischief in her eyes. His mind was quick to hint him on the reason behind that look. 

He coughed to clear his throat and then asked, "Mind telling what that 'usual' is?"

Rose looked at him in silence for a while before smirking at him. "You would have to wait to see it and find out. When the food gets here, you must eat it or else, this lunch would be cut short."

Rose's answer made him realize the trouble he had gotten himself into. He could only massage his temples as he saw an headache coming on.