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It was a forbidden love, Nie Mingjue knew.
He was a human while he was deeply in love with a merman with a bronze tail that glittered gold under the sunlight. They had first met several years ago when he had saved the merman named Meng Yao from a fisherman’s trap that he had unknowingly gotten himself into. Meng Yao had a thin structure then, with short hair and wide doe-like eyes that Nie Mingjue had fallen into at first sight.
“Your tail is quite pretty.” he had commented as he was freeing Meng Yao, the tips of his fingers lightly brushing against the bronze scales of Meng Yao’s tail. “It’s a beautiful colour. I bet it shines gold underneath the sunlight.”
Nie Mingjue had pretended that he didn’t notice Meng Yao’s cheeks burning up at the compliment. “It does…” Meng Yao mumbled. “My friend had said so once.”
He chuckled. “Then, if you wouldn’t mind, would you let me see it under the sunlight?” he asked, looking straight into Meng Yao’s eyes.
“Free me first…” Meng Yao replies, voice barely a whisper. “... Please.” he softly added after a few moments.
“Of course.” Nie Mingjue replied, a small smile gracing his lips.
Staying true to his words, Nie Mingjue had freed him and they spent the entire night waiting for the sun to rise so he could see Meng Yao’s tail shine gold under the rising sun. It had been quite a memorable sight to him then and he loved seeing it every single time they’d meet after it.
At first, they’d meet up monthly to exchange stories about each other’s worlds. Meng Yao had asked for human trinkets as well, seeing as they were valuable down in his own world. In exchange for the bottles and broken fishing nets and stuff that were basically trash to humans, Meng Yao would give pearls that Nie Mingjue would keep.
More months would pass and Nie Mingjue never stopped looking forward to meeting up with Meng Yao. In a blink of an eye, several years have already passed. He had grown into a fine young man, others have told him. But he didn’t care about what others say about him.
Over the years, he noticed how Meng Yao had changed over the years. He had once talked about how his father had finally started to notice his efforts after having sold a lot of trinkets from the human world. To commemorate the 10th year since their first meeting, he had a very special pearl necklace made for his merman friend. It was one of the first pearls Meng Yao had given him, one that he had kept for so long just to give back in a necklace.
He remembered how Meng Yao had been so happy about it, nearly tearing up but stopped himself in order to give Nie Mingjue his own gift.
“Why not?” Nie Mingjue had asked when Meng Yao had told him that he wanted to go to the human world at least once. “You can come see it with me, you know.”
“As much as the thought delights me, you know I can’t.” the merman had responded. “My tail would make it impossible and I can’t be out of water for too long.”
Nie Mingjue’s heart sinks as he replies with, “Then maybe in our next lives we can go together.”
There wasn’t a next time, they both knew that. Merfolk lived longer than humans and didn’t enter the cycle for reincarnation once they reach the end of their lifespan. Nie Mingjue cursed the gods for making them unable to be together for all time, destined to stay upon separate worlds until they meet in this cove where they could have their very own.
And maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea.