Becoming the Keeper of an Alluring Merfolk - Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Formal Relationship, Shui Se Kisses Song Xiu

In the corner, a small pink head quietly poked out from the ventilation duct. Shui Se’s ear fins trembled, and her fingers tidied her messy hair. Her reflection in the metal wall was clearly not as pretty as when Song Xiu meticulously styled her. She hesitated for a while, but finally made up her mind and returned to the dorm.

When Song Xiu returned to the dorm with tired steps, she found Shui Se curled up in the bathtub, her side facing the door.

“Shui Se, I…” Song Xiu approached cautiously, surprised.

Before she could finish her sentence, Shui Se suddenly flipped over, scrambled out, and lunged into her arms.

The merman’s icy tears soaked her shirt, and pearls, wet with tears, clattered to the floor.

Song Xiu hugged her tightly, running her fingers through her pink long hair, which was dry from being out of the water for too long: “I was wrong. I shouldn’t have treated you like that. I was drunk last night, and it amplified my internal emotions.”

A drunk Song Xiu was completely different from her usual self. She had never been truly moved before, at most just feeling elevated emotions, so she hadn’t realized she would act that way.

“Then will you still touch my mating scale?” Shui Se looked up, her eyes red. She was genuinely distressed. Everything last night had been too sudden, and she really hadn’t been prepared. She wasn’t entirely sure what alcohol was; she only knew that that version of Song Xiu was different from usual, seemingly having lost her mind. She was truly a little scared.

“I won’t touch it again,” Song Xiu promised solemnly, “Unless you agree.”

Shui Se’s ear fins trembled slightly: “Then… you can occasionally touch it… just once…” Her voice grew smaller, “Just once, if you really want to touch it…”

Song Xiu’s heart warmed, and she quickly changed the subject: “How about I move to the empty room next door? I’ll leave this dorm for you.”

Shui Se nodded, but as Song Xiu turned to pack her luggage, Shui Se secretly hid her pillow.

Late at night, Song Xiu tossed and turned in the bed in the dorm next door. Without Shui Se’s gentle breathing, the room was terrifyingly quiet.

Suddenly, the window was pushed open with a swish from the outside.

Song Xiu sat up alertly, only to see a pink figure carrying a hamster cage and clumsily climbing in through the window. Shui Se had manifested her legs but wasn’t used to using them to climb a window yet.

“Shui Se, why did you come over?”

Shui Se put down the cage, standing barefoot on the floor, nervously twisting her nightgown with her fingers: “Mermen are social creatures. I can’t sleep alone.”

Song Xiu lifted the covers, and Shui Se immediately slipped in.

When the cool body pressed against hers, Song Xiu let out a sigh of contentment.

“Didn’t we agree to live separately?” Song Xiu teased her intentionally.

Shui Se buried her face in the crook of her neck, her voice soft: “Because I like being with you. Being with you is very comfortable.”

Song Xiu fell asleep quickly. After confirming she was asleep, Shui Se actually secretly placed a kiss on her lips.

Just as the merman was about to pull away, Song Xiu, who had woken up sometime or hadn’t been asleep at all, suddenly reached out and held her wrist.

“Why are you sneaking a kiss?” Song Xiu opened her eyes, her voice laced with a smile.

Shui Se’s ear fins instantly flared upon being exposed: “I… I didn’t.”

“Liar.” Song Xiu gently pinched her cheek. “I felt it.”

“Since you found out, I did secretly kiss you.”

Song Xiu’s heart was completely softened. She propped herself up and looked seriously into Shui Se’s eyes: “Let’s try dating, okay, Shui Se?”

Shui Se’s body visibly stiffened. She lowered her eyes, unconsciously pulling at the bedsheet with her fingers: “No, we can’t.”

“Why not?” Song Xiu pressed, confused. “You clearly like me too, don’t you?”

“I like you, but it’s different. If a merman falls in love with a human, there will be bad consequences.”

Song Xiu was startled: “What consequences?”

“I don’t want to say for now. Also, I have important things to complete and can’t let pseudo-ovulation delay things.”

“You want to find Xiao Hen, right?”

“Yes, I need you to find her, I must, and then we will rendezvous with the rest of the clan and go live in the deep sea.”

“What about me? Will we have to separate then?”

“Then, can we date until I leave? That way, you won’t have regrets.”

Song Xiu’s heart felt a stab. She slowly released the arm hugging Shui Se, her voice slightly hoarse: “What I want isn’t this kind of fleeting romance. If you’re destined to return to the deep sea, we shouldn’t start.”

Shui Se’s pearl tears suddenly started falling in large drops, making faint sounds as they hit the bedsheet. She frantically tried to catch them with her hand, but she couldn’t catch them all: “But… but I…”

“Go back to sleep, Shui Se.” Song Xiu turned her back to her. “I have to work tomorrow.”

The mattress gently shifted, but Shui Se didn’t leave. Song Xiu felt a pair of cool arms wrap around her waist from behind. The merman’s sobbing voice pressed against her back.

“I don’t know what to do. I want to be with you, but I must find Xiao Hen. The clan members are still waiting for us. I need to find a new home with them.”

Song Xiu closed her eyes, her chest aching severely. She knew Shui Se was telling the truth. She had her own home and responsibilities, and Song Xiu was, after all, a human of the land.

“Sleep. We’ll talk properly tomorrow.”

The morning sun shone on the water. Xiao Ye Guo lay by the pool, curiously watching the preoccupied Shui Se.

“Older sister… you’re not happy?” The little mermaid tilted her head, her dark green long hair fanning out on the water. Her human language was improving rapidly.

Shui Se sighed, her finger unconsciously stirring the pool water: “Song Xiu said that if we can’t be together forever, we shouldn’t start.”

Xiao Ye Guo’s ear fins suddenly stood up. She swam closer mysteriously and whispered into Shui Se’s ear: “Then, then… lie… lie to her…”

“What?” Shui Se widened her eyes, almost thinking she had misheard.

“Say… you’ll come back…” Xiao Ye Guo stammered an explanation. “First… date…”

Shui Se’s ear fins instantly turned crimson: “Isn’t that bad? She’s so good to us.”

But when she saw Song Xiu feeding the merfolk in the distance, her heart suddenly sped up.

Song Xiu was wearing a simple white shirt today, with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Shui Se unconsciously touched her own lips; the sensation of the stolen kiss from last night seemed to linger there.

Late at night, Shui Se once again climbed through the window into the room next door. This time, she didn’t hesitate and immediately burrowed under the covers.

“Move back in, Song Xiu.” She pressed against the human’s warm back, her voice light as the sea breeze. “I promise you.”

Song Xiu turned around: “Promise what?”

“To date.” Shui Se mustered her courage. “Let’s try it.”

Song Xiu’s warm fingers gently caressed her cheek: “What made you suddenly change your mind?”

“Because I like you.” Shui Se closed her eyes, feeling Song Xiu’s breath brush her eyelashes. “After I find Xiao Hen, I’ll send her back to the clan, and I’ll return.”

It was a beautiful lie. Shui Se silently apologized to Song Xiu in her heart, but at this moment, she only wanted to indulge in this warm embrace.

Song Xiu seemed to see through something, but she said nothing, only holding Shui Se tighter: “Okay.”

The moonlight was like water, flowing onto the bed through the gap in the curtains. Shui Se gently lifted Song Xiu’s hand, her fingertips slightly trembling.

“Then you can touch the mating scale now.”

Song Xiu’s breath hitched. She watched Shui Se slowly turn around. The turquoise fish tail glowed with a pearlescent sheen in the moonlight. That special scale was right below her lumbar dimple.

“Are you really sure?” Song Xiu’s fingertip hovered in the air.

Shui Se didn’t answer, only grasping her hand and slowly pressing it toward the scale.

The moment their fingertips made contact, both trembled simultaneously. The scale was softer than she remembered, carrying the coolness of seawater and the merman’s unique body temperature. Song Xiu cautiously stroked it, feeling a subtle tremor emanating from beneath the scale.

Shui Se whimpered and bit her lower lip. Her ear fins were fully spread like fans, and her tail uncontrollably slapped Song Xiu’s calf.