Singularity

Wings, album by BTS

Note: I am a baby Army. I recently discovered BTS Wings album and I think it’s phenomenal. This album is what you call art. Apart from the hyped Blood, Sweat and Tears, I think each member’s solo songs were great too, since they were too personal to them.

1. Begin

“When you cry, I want to cry instead”

How surprising it was when I found out that Jungkook said his only struggle in life was seeing his hyungs’ suffering. It proves two things: 1. Jungkook is selfless and 2. His hyungs’ are caring. I love their bonds so much more now.

2. Lie

“The me from before is still here but the lie that’s gotten too big is trying to swallow me up”

Let me first appreciate this song’s music and Jimin’s angelic voice. It gave me chills down my spine. And when I saw the lyrics I totally fell in love. Jimin’s struggle to express his true self while this whole world expects him to be perfect is something we can all relate to.

3. Stigma

"Are you calling me a sinner?"

Stigma; a mark of disgrace. Probably the most mysterious song of the album, it has some deep meaning which can be interpretated in many ways. I personally think it has something to do with Taehyung hurting his siblings in some ways. Hence producing the song as an apology to them.

4. First Love

“I will get to meet you again no matter in what form, greet me happily then”

This was the first song I heard among these seven. And believe me when I say this, I literally cried. Falling in love with music had saved Suga at the most difficult time of his life. I wish I had something like this to hold on to.

5. Reflection

“I wish I could love myself”

Who doesn’t love themselves? That’s a statement we are all used to. But if we think carefully, it should be the other way around. Once we grow up and see the fault within, we slowly start to hate ourselves, don’t we? Namjoon can really make the most relatable lyrics.

6. Mama

“You are my eternal placebo”

It was so heartwarming to experience something so beautiful, as the relationship between Hoseok and his mother, through this song. No wonder Hoseok has such a motherly aura around him.

7. Awake

“I can't fly like the flower petals over there”

Jin really went through a phase thinking he was walking while the other members flew like flower petals. He was always underrated and people failed to see the talent inside him. I can tell, Jin’s thoughts are far from the truth.

NamJinSope as Devil, Demigod, Wizard and Angel

Check out > VMinKook

Thanks. I needed it rn...

You can do the thing. You got this.

Jimin - Blue

5/7 (Check out other colours/members here)

BARBIEPOSTERS +HYYH (insp.)

My Guardian Angel - Part 1

Fandom: BTS Paring: Min Yoongi x Female Reader Genre: Fluff and slight angst Warning: Age gap, running away from home, starving, lots of crying (I’m sorry but the mc cries a lot), panic attack, implication of abuse etc. Word Count: 2.7K Words Note: Since the reader is only 15 years old, I reduced Yoongi’s age to be 22. Please keep the age gap in mind before diving in to read. I must say there is nothing explicit in here.

Summary: You decide to follow a kind hearted stranger to his house in the middle of nowhere after you ran away from your abusive household...

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 [Complete]

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I couldn't even keep track of the time. Who knew how long I had been sitting here all alone. The passers by kept throwing glances at me every now and then. But nobody really cared to ask me if I was okay or what I was up to even if my get up suggested that I wasn't a local in this place.

I had been observing my surroundings carefully. It seemed like I had taken my refuge in a complete foreign land. It was a rocky desert. It shouldn't be called a desert I suppose. Because there were enough plants to make it look livelier, at least to me. I was under a tree myself and secretly grateful for it because it was sheltering me from the heat of the sun. Even though it was winter, the heat had been bothering me since I had walked a long way to reach where I was now. Losing my energy completely, I collapsed beside this old friendly tree.

There was a grocery store beside me. People were going inside occasionally and coming out of it with huge bags. There might be a month's worth of groceries in them. Some of them would walk past me while biting into their snacks. It wasn't making me feel any better since I was starving for a whole day.

Even with the hunger, I was still dozing off because my body couldn't afford to keep me going any longer. That was when he came to me.

I heard someone clearing their throat. But I didn't bother to look up. Not gaining my attention, the person next to me let out a cough next. I looked up this time.

I saw before me a young man, probably in his twenties, carrying a grocery bag on one hand and a whiskey bottle on the other. He was wearing bright but dark blue clothes with a vest on. I noticed that his boots below the baggy black pants were a different shade of blue. All in all, I didn't like his outfit at all.

But there was something I couldn't say I didn't like. It was his hair. Bright fiery red hair. But as I checked out his facial features, I wasn't very glad that he had approached me. He looked really intimidating. Even the beautiful hair was making it worse.

I fixed my sitting posture as I felt a little uncomfortable around the stranger. To my relief, he looked away from me immediately but asked nonetheless, "where are you from? I haven't seen you around."

I didn't reply. So, he asked again, "do you have a home?" He then glanced at me once more.

Again, I remained quiet. He nodded his head as if he got the answers. "I'll just assume you ran away from your place. Seeing you in a state like this, it's most likely." He got it right. But I still didn't want to talk to him.

He leaned a little forward to me and asked in the most gentle voice, "Do you want to eat something? Are you hungry?"

The mention of hunger suddenly made my stomach growl. I nodded slowly. He tried to take out something that he had bought from the store earlier and a tangerine fell from the bag as he was doing so. When I moved to pick it up he went for it first and said, "uh-huh, that's for me." I immediately backed away.

Then, he handed me a sandwich. I grabbed it quickly and started to gobble it up. At that moment, the cold sandwich tasted like the best thing in this world. I couldn't help but let out a sound of satisfaction after the first bite.

He sat a little further from me and started to peel his fruit. I was done eating in a matter of a minute. He offered me a bottle of water. I took it gently this time and bowed my head to show him my gratitude.

He asked while feeding himself a piece of the tangerine, "How long have you been out and not eating?"

I noticed that though he talked with a heavy accent, his voice has a natural calmness. His ordinary questions sounded like music to my barren ears. Instead of answering, I kept staring at him in awe.

He looked back at me and tilted his head a little before saying, "So, you want this too?" He extended his hand towards me to offer two pieces of his little round ball of a fruit and I gladly accepted them, this time, with a little smile.

“I’ll get going now! I hope you figure out what you’re going to do next. Sitting here all by yourself won’t help you.” He said as he stood up and rubbed the dust away from his clothes.

I looked at him earnestly. I didn’t want him to leave. I wished he stayed a little longer so that I could get comfortable enough to talk to him. He looked down at me and said, “Don’t worry! I won’t advise you to go back home.” Then he muttered to himself, “I doubt if it was even a home.”

He looked back at me and said, “I hope you know the stranger danger rule already. That’s a good tactic that you didn’t talk to me just now. But I hope you won’t accept food from any strange man in the future. And don’t stay at a place long enough for people to notice that you need help. Get moving.”

Then he bowed his head a little before walking towards his jeep. He was going away. Suddenly, all the uncertainty regarding my future hit me hard and I started to panic. What should I do now? I had to stop him.

I jumped on to my feet and pulled my backpack on my shoulders before running towards him. He was about to open the door to his car when he realized I was behind him. He looked back with a confused face, “What happened?”

I cleared my throat to say, “I wish to go with you.”

His small eyes grew larger at my response. “Wha…what do you mean?”

“I meant what I said. I want to go with you. Where are you heading to?”

I knew I wasn’t the best judge of character. But I decided to listen to my intuition. Something told me that he was a guy (perhaps the only one) I could trust.

He shook his head and said, “Didn’t you hear a word I said? Don’t talk with strangers let alone get in their car. Are you stupid or what?”

His words sounded harsh enough to make my eyes prickle. I shifted on my legs and said quietly, “But I’m really scared. I don’t know what I was thinking when I ran away. I have no experience of the real world out here. I’m afraid something might go wrong. Please, don’t leave me alone here.”

“I know the world’s terrifying.” He said with a gentler tone than before, “I’m pretty sure you’re aware of it too. But I could be just as terrifying. How are you so sure to trust me, huh? Do you even know my name?”

I shook my head and asked, “What’s your name?”

He let out a frustrated grunt and said, “Just go away, please.”

I tried to smile, “It’s okay! I can just call you ‘oppa’!”

He looked at me as if I just swore at him. He shook his head again, opened the car door and got in. He signaled me to move away from his path so that he could drive. That was when I couldn’t control  my tears anymore. I stood there, looking at him while tears poured down my face like a waterfall.

His brows knitted together to form a frown. He closed his eyes, shook his head and sighed heavily. Then, he looked at me and said in a way that suggested he was really pissed, “Alright, c’mon! Hop in.”

I smiled and wiped away my tears as I ran to sit beside him. I pulled him into a hug and said, “Oppa! Thank you so much.”

“Aish!” He spoke while pushing me away, “Stop making a fuss.” Then he went on muttering to himself, “I don’t even know why I’m doing this. I doubt you're ever going to listen to me.”

And he was right to have doubted that.

"Don't ever call me Oppa. My name's Min Yoongi and you'll call me by that name only. Understood?"

"But I like Oppa more."

"And don't do that again. Don't hug me. I'm intolerant to touch."

"But I can't help it when I get excited."

“Don’t talk back like that either.”

“But I…”

I stopped myself quickly and nodded my head enthusiastically. I needed to show him that I could be a good girl if I wanted to. Yoongi didn’t talk further and kept his eyes fixed on the road.

I noticed that we were driving away from the small town of the desert to… well, it could be said that his house was in the middle of nowhere. It was a cube shaped small one room house with a large patio in the front. Everything around it clearly suggested that Yoongi lived here all alone. But nonetheless the place was neat and clean for a bachelor living here. The best thing about the house was that it looked like a place that could be called home.

My chest swelled up with overwhelming emotions. I was already in love with it all. I could never imagine living in a place like this. Not even in my wildest dream. But then, a sudden thought crushed my dream into pieces. Yoongi never said I could stay at his place.

When the car was parked, Yoongi got down quietly. I followed him to his house. He nodded at the big couch on the patio for me to be seated and I sat down obediently. I had to make sure he found my behavior tolerable enough to let me stay.

He went inside the room and there was the barking of a dog. I could guess that he was walking around placing his groceries at convenient places. After a long time, when the sun was almost setting down, he came out with food ingredients. The dog also followed him out.

“It won’t take long. I hope you’re not too hungry.” He said while lighting up the stove. I shook my head. He nodded and continued to cook.

The dog came towards the couch to inspect me. I smiled and patted its head carefully. The dog didn't retreat. Instead, it climbed onto the couch beside me. It made me laugh with its adorable behavior.

Yoongi finally arranged the hot food on the table. I tried to help him but it didn’t seem like he needed any. When everything was done, we sat down opposite each other. The smell was delicious. But I still couldn’t bring myself to eat. I needed to let out the uneasy feeling I was having.

Yoongi definitely noticed that I was struggling to say something. He didn’t start eating but didn’t urge me to talk either. Instead, he waited patiently for me to open up first.

“Oppa!” I stuttered as I said, “I was won… wondering if you’re going to… I mean let me…” I shook my head before stating directly, “Please, let me stay with you.”

“I think we can decide upon the matter after dinner.” he replied politely.

I shook my head again, “Just give me one chance. Just the one. I promise, you won’t regret it. I will be a great help to you. I’ll do all of your house chores. I can wash the dishes and your clothes. I will wipe the floor clean. I can learn to cook if you want me too. Please, keep me as a maid. Don’t send me away.”

Yoongi handed me a pair of chopsticks and said, “Eat before it gets cold.”

With a lingering fear in my heart I had to withdraw.

I got up immediately after Yoongi finished his food. I decided I would give him a demonstration of my will and the hard work. I started to take everything inside the house to the sink. Yoongi silently joined in to help.

“I’ll do the dishes tonight.” I announced and proceeded to get the job done as quickly as I could.

Yoongi didn’t complain either. He sat down on his bed and moved his attention to a comic book. I started with the small things like spoons, chopsticks etc and gradually took the bowls and the plates.

“I have years of experience in household work, you know.” I boast about myself. But Yoongi didn’t budge. So I said louder, “I’m sure you’ll find me a useful maid.”

Yoongi turned to the next page to read. I tried to joke, “Who knows, maybe you’ll have to start paying me for the…” I couldn’t finish my sentence.

The plate slipped through my fingers and shattered on the floor making a piercing sound. I froze in my place. Yoongi looked up from his book. The barking of the dog was deafening my ears.

“Oh no!” I thought to myself, “I had done it again.”

I saw Yoongi placing the book on the bed and slowly walking towards me. I tried to defend myself, “I’m so sorry. Please… Listen to me. I… I didn’t mean to. It won’t happen again.”

Yoongi walked past me. I saw his hand reaching the sink to grab something. I shrieked and fell on my knees. I shielded my head with my hands as I begged him to not hurt me.

“Please… I’m sorry. I… please.”

Tears streamed down my face as I paced to and fro. My head was still bowing towards the floor. I could feel my whole body shaking. I felt like I was going to throw up.

Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder and I jerked away from him as I yelled, “No! Don’t!”

“Hey!” I heard him say, “Calm down.”

I looked up at him slowly. He was kneeling down beside me. His expression confused me for a while. He didn’t look angry. What was it again? Yeah! Worry. I saw worry in his eyes.

I slowly raised my head to face him when the dog stopped barking. He spoke carefully, “It’s just a plate. You don’t have to worry about that. I’ll take care of it, okay?” He was moving a little closer to me with each sentence.

Finally, he reached to rest his hands on both of my shoulders. My tensed muscle relaxed at his touch. I leaned forward and he caught me before my head could touch the ground.

I sobbed on his shoulder while he gently patted my back, whispering reassurance that it was really no big deal. I tried to bring myself to say something. But my breath was hitched. It made me cry even more.

“Don’t say anything. I understand.” He whispered softly.

I wiped my tears away to look into his eyes clearly. I didn't know how I had believed that these eyes could hold rage. There was nothing but comfort in his deep black twinkling eyes. I knew immediately that I had made the right choice to have put my trust on the bearer of these eyes.

Minutes later. I sat quite motionless at one corner of the room watching him do all the work. Yoongi carefully picked out the pieces of the plate, broomed the place, did the remaining dishes and made the bed.

At last, he walked to me and kneeled down to say, “You need to sleep. You must be exhausted. Come.” He extended his hand towards me. Hesitantly, I took it and he led me to the only bed in the room.

Carefully tucking me in the soft blanket, he asked, “Do you want me to turn the lights off?” I nodded my head. He turned it off and walked to the door.

He stopped and turned to me. He looked as if he was deciding how to put his thoughts to words. Then, he carefully spoke, "Next time, anything goes wrong again, you don't have to freak out. Instead, you can help me make it right. Okay?"

My eyes started to get blurry. I barely managed to let out the words, "Next time?"

Yoongi replied with a ‘hmm’ almost inaudible to my ears.

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Are our own parents any different than the step mothers in the fairy tales?

I was watching a documentary series on Netflix called ‘Myths and Monsters’. At a point where they were discussing about ‘The Grimm's Fairy Tales’, which is a book of collected folktales of Germany by the Grimm brothers, they said that the brothers had actually modified the stories to make it acceptable to the children. And one such particular change was that in the story of ‘Hansel and Gretel’. Though worldwide we all know that the siblings were a victim to the cruelty of their stepmother, the original story tells otherwise. They were rather abandoned in the woods by their poverty driven parents.

Now the questions come: Why did the brothers exchanged the real parents with a stepmother? If it was so unrealistic or unacceptable for the real parents to have abandoned their own children, why would the original story has them in the first place?

The series also gave an idea to that. Basically the myths we know have some really deep morals into it. They usually portray the inner dark nature of humans through the images of monsters. So, it is not unlikely to put the real parents’ images as some cruel versions of humans. Because we humans, are capable of such cruelty. It is embedded inside all of us.

But since the civilizations started, we are trying our best to tame such nature within ourselves. As if the wilderness inside us is considered a taboo in the modern world we live in. So, we made another character to drive away this from ourselves. In this case, it is the stepmother. The stepmother has become a disguise for all the dark parts of a parent. Hence, we see this character in almost every fairy tales in the place of a cruel guardian.

Writing Tips

Punctuating Dialogue

✧

➸ “This is a sentence.”

➸ “This is a sentence with a dialogue tag at the end,” she said.

➸ “This,” he said, “is a sentence split by a dialogue tag.”

➸ “This is a sentence,” she said. “This is a new sentence. New sentences are capitalized.”

➸ “This is a sentence followed by an action.” He stood. “They are separate sentences because he did not speak by standing.”

➸ She said, “Use a comma to introduce dialogue. The quote is capitalized when the dialogue tag is at the beginning.”

➸ “Use a comma when a dialogue tag follows a quote,” he said.

“Unless there is a question mark?” she asked.

“Or an exclamation point!” he answered. “The dialogue tag still remains uncapitalized because it’s not truly the end of the sentence.”

➸ “Periods and commas should be inside closing quotations.”

➸ “Hey!” she shouted, “Sometimes exclamation points are inside quotations.”

However, if it’s not dialogue exclamation points can also be “outside”!

➸ “Does this apply to question marks too?” he asked.

If it’s not dialogue, can question marks be “outside”? (Yes, they can.)

➸ “This applies to dashes too. Inside quotations dashes typically express—“

“Interruption” — but there are situations dashes may be outside.

➸ “You’ll notice that exclamation marks, question marks, and dashes do not have a comma after them. Ellipses don’t have a comma after them either…” she said.

➸ “My teacher said, ‘Use single quotation marks when quoting within dialogue.’”

➸ “Use paragraph breaks to indicate a new speaker,” he said.

“The readers will know it’s someone else speaking.”

➸ “If it’s the same speaker but different paragraph, keep the closing quotation off.

“This shows it’s the same character continuing to speak.”

Star-Crossed

Fandom: BTS Pairing: Human!Seokjin x Mermaid!Reader Genre: Fantasy/Fluff/Angst Warning: Disturbing dream, mc questioning his sanity, mention of killing, death, mention of clash between humans and mer-people, light teasing and bullying, some angsty moments, some dumb moments (sorry people), slight smut, kissing, mc dying, heartbreak. Word Count: 5.5k Words Note: A reincarnation love story between a mermaid and a ship captain. It is a dual POV story; one for Seokjin and the other for the reader. The story contains two different timelines; the 18th century and the present. The parts in italics indicates the past timeline.

Summary: The dream is repeating for many times for it to be called just a dream. Seokjin wants to find the answer while you wait patiently for him to come back to you as he had once promised...

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Jin’s POV:

I assumed her to be an ordinary girl the first time she appeared in my dream. I was only a teenager at the time. It had been seven years since then. I was experiencing the same dream on repeat. Now, I knew that she was no ordinary girl but a mermaid.

It might sound ridiculous that an adult was dreaming an unhealthy amount of time about a mythological creature. I used to get mad at myself too. There were even times I thought I had gone crazy. I even had a theory that my obsession with the sea and fishing could have something to do with it.

But after years, I had come to a specific conclusion. It was not just a dream. I believed it to be a vision. A vision that was supposed to lead me somewhere. But where to, I didn’t know.

The content of the dream was always the same. She would ask me the same two questions every time. “How long should I wait for you? When will you come back to me?” And the dream would always end up with her calling my name, “Jin!”

I would wake up frustrated even if it was the same dream I’ve been having for the past seven years. I wanted to change something, anything, from it desperately. I would readily sell my soul to the devil to get an idea of her true identity or the whole purpose of this dream.

Surprisingly, I had never talked about it to anyone. I had planned to visit a psychiatrist once. But the idea of me telling them that I believed in her existence sounded too absurd to be told. They would immediately diagnose me as insane. Maybe, they were right to do so.

Today, I woke up in the middle of the night. It took me some minutes before I could make out my surrounding properly. I was on my ship, which was on her way back home. It had been a long week of us fishing on the west and the results were quite satisfactory.

I wasn’t really happy about getting back to the land. I was a man born to be on the sea. I could call it my one true home. I could relax and be surrounded by my own thoughts whenever I was on the sea. Whereas the only thought that occurred to me on the land was when we were going back to sail again.

But the comfort of the sea came along with a price. I couldn’t deny it even if I wanted to. The sea had brought this dream to me, whatever the reason behind it was.

Reader’s POV:

I knew, he would find his way to me one day. He told me that himself. He would have never lied to me. I knew, he was a man of his words. He would most definitely come back. Until then, I could wait.

Waiting was not very hard for me. It was probably the simplest task I had ever been given. It literally meant to not do anything. I was glad that I was not asked to do something much more complicated that humans do in their everyday life. Like; cooking or knitting.

So, I had been waiting for a long time. 300 years could be called a long time for humans, I suppose. Because, being an immortal didn’t allow me to have a good sense of time.

Yes! Mer-people were immortals. It didn’t necessarily meant that we could never die. It only meant we could not die by natural causes. Of course, murder could be a way of killing mer-people. And it had been done too.

But being an immortal had also given me an opportunity to be reunited with my lover who had been death for more than 300 years. Even though I missed him more and more with all the passing moments, I was a patient being by nature.

The mer-people community had decided to migrate from the sea of the ‘Mariachi Island’ to the deep water of the Pacific so that the humans could no longer interfere in their lives. I was the only one who had stayed behind.

I had to. Or else, how would my Jin find me when he would be reborn?

Jin’s POV:

“This is interesting!” Yoongi said eyeing the newspaper on the table while sipping on his coffee. “Hyung, you should see this.”

Yoongi was an old friend. We used to go fishing together when we were younger. Yoongi never had any passion for the sea. The only reason he would accompany me was because it made me happy. He never said it out loud obviously.

Somehow he ended up being on the crew of the ship I was the captain to and our journey of the sea had continued. But it was not an unknown fact that Yoongi liked it better on the land whenever we were on a break.

“What is it?” I asked him suspiciously.

“A mermaid had been spotted.”

My eyes grew larger at the mention of it. Yoongi noticed that at once and laughed, “Chill! It’s just a rumor. They print stuffs like this every now and then.”

“What do you mean every now and then?” I snatched the newspaper from the table to read the article myself.

“Mariachi Island, it is. Nothing interesting goes in there. So, they had made up this tale of a mermaid living near it.” Yoongi informed.

I checked the location carefully and put the newspaper down, “Shouldn’t we go there to check it ourselves before judging?”

It was Yoongi’s time to grow his eyes larger. “Hyung, it’s just a stupid conspiracy theory.”

“Be it, then. We’re on a break anyway. Spending the time at a resort in the famous ‘Mariachi Island’ doesn’t sound too bad, does it?”

Yoongi shook his head fervently. I knew, it would take a lot of time before I could convince him to go with me. But I was still confident of doing so.

I couldn’t let this news slip away so easily. It seemed like a once in a lifetime opportunity. It could be a stupid story. But it could also be not. Who knows? I might get closer to my answer to the unknown question.

Reader’s POV: (The Past)

There was a secret cave at the end of the ‘Mariachi Island’ near an abandoned forest. The forest was said to be haunted by spirits. So, people usually avoided going there. Jin had fixed that cave to be our meeting place. So that nobody could find out about us. Every day during the sunset, Jin would come to meet me away from both the humans and the mer-people.

Since the beginning of time, humans never got along with the mer-people at all. Humans were considered to be our enemies. And the pirates were worst of them all. But Jin and I had managed to found a kind of love in each other despite being a pirate and a mermaid. And that was enough for us to disobey all the made up rules to be together.

But there were times when Jin would have to go away to the unknown sea with his beloved ship and her crew. I wasn’t allowed to travel with them. Jin told me that he had many enemies who would not think twice before hurting me for their benefit.

I still came to the cave and wait patiently for Jin every sunset. Today, I had been sitting on the sand for a long time. It made me dizzy and I didn’t notice when I had fallen asleep.

I woke up suddenly by someone’s touch. It was Jin. He was running his hand through my hair. He smiled as soon as I opened my eyes and I sat up, smiling myself.

“Oh, Jin! You’ve come back. I missed you.”

Jin sighed, “The same old words. Can’t you say anything different?”

“But I really miss you when you’re away.” I tried to prove my sincerity.

“Don’t get too used to me. I can’t be with you forever.”

I frowned at his words, “Are you going to leave me for good?”

“No, jagi!” Jin shook his head, “But I’m not an immortal.” I couldn’t digest the bitter truth that I have known since the first day I met him. Then, Jin added, “Anyway, I’m back now. Stop being over dramatic, you pathetic fish.”

Jin took out something from the pouch attached to his waist. It was a line of pearls attached by a string together and it looked beautiful.

“What is it?” I asked eagerly.

“I made it for you.” Jin said, “It’s a gift.”

I was surprised by the word. I had never been gifted before. Among mer-people, only the king was allowed to gift the most precious thing to his queen at the day of their wedding. It was a tradition we all followed.

“What happened?” Jin frowned, “Didn’t you like it?”

“I like it very much. But I don’t know what to do with it?”

Jin chuckled, “You wear it, silly.” He proceeded to go sit behind me. The pearls were sat around my neck.

He came back to face me again, “It’s called a necklace, jagi. People wear them to look beautiful. Since you’re uglier than a pig, this will make you look a little more bearable!”

Then, he started to laugh. The sound that it produced was very interesting to hear. It never failed to bring a smile to my face.

Jin’s POV:

We reached the island two days ago. Yoongi was sleeping in his room while I sneaked out of the hotel to enjoy the dawn. I was too excited to get a proper sleep these past nights. I hadn’t found anything unusual so far other than the fact that my dream had returned. It was the first time of me experiencing it on land. Perhaps it was because the island was a part of the sea.

The cold air of the dawn was not comfortable. But I was too tired to go back to the hotel and grab my hoodie. Instead I kept standing still on my boat which was rocking to and fro by the waves.

“Jin!” someone called me from behind.

I froze. I knew this voice well. I heard it calling my name thousands of times before. But I still found it hard to believe. “Was I hallucinating due to lack of sleep?” I thought to myself.

“Jin!” It had to be her. There was no way I could be mistaken twice. I slowly turned around with an unknown fear in my heart.

It was indeed her. I was relieved to have found her finally. But the greatest was the relief of knowing that she was real. And I was not crazy to have believed in her existence.

The mermaid was floating. Her waist met the water from where the tail had started to be visible. She had long and thick hair that covered her upper body. It covered not just her bare chest and the back but also most of her face. I still knew that it was her.

“It’s you, isn’t it?” I said walking toward the railing of my ship to get a closer view, “I’m not dreaming.”

She nodded frantically as if she was excited to meet me as well. A part of me was telling me to be afraid of the new discovery I had just made. But another part of me was always aware of the fact that we were destined to meet someday. Surprisingly, I let the latter get the hold of me.

“Do you know me?” I asked.

As much as I could make out from her hair covered face, I could tell she was frowning at my question. So I asked further, “How do you know my name?”

She didn’t say anything. Rather she was backing away as if she was suddenly scared by me. I tried to convince her that I was harmless.

“No!” I said, “Don’t go away. I won’t hurt you. I have been looking for you for a long time. I believe there is a connection between us. And I’m willing to figure it out. Please help me. I promise, you can trust me.”

She kept looking at me with the same frustrated look on her face but didn’t utter a word. I wondered what else I could say to make her comfortable around me. I decided that the dream can wait. I should rather start by making a small talk.

“Um… My name’s Jin, you know!” I said to which she nodded with enthusiasm once again. I was encouraged to make another move. So, I asked her, “What’s your name?”

“We don’t have names.” She replied. I noticed that her voice was low but it was also beautiful.

“Oh, is it so?” I continued, “then, what should I call you?”

“Jagi!” She said without even thinking, “You always call me jagi.”

“Um… Can I call you something else?” I said, not sure if I could call a stranger by such an intimate term.

To my surprise, she shook her head with even more emphasis.

Reader’s POV:

My long waiting had come an end. Jin had finally found me. For some reason, I wasn’t as happy as I thought I would be. In fact I was miserable. Meeting Jin for the first time made me realize that the waiting was more beautiful than the meeting itself.

I tried to reason with my own mind. Why was I feeling this way? Wasn’t meeting Jin the only thing that I longed for all these years? Hadn’t I been dreaming about finally being reunited with my lover?

Maybe, the reason behind my disappointment was that I had never gave a thought about how the Jin I was going to meet would not be the exact Jin I used to know. He was the reincarnation of my past lover. That didn’t mean he would be reborn with all of his past memories or feelings.

The new Jin didn’t know me. He didn’t remember the moments we shared. He didn’t know just how much I loved him and how much more he had loved me back.

And that realization was painful to accept. What could I do now? I couldn’t just give up on him completely. Jin was my life. He was the reason I kept going forward. If I had never met him in the first place, things might have been different. I would have been satisfied by living like an ordinary mermaid.

But that wasn’t the case. I had met Jin and he had made me realize a lot of things I was unaware about before. He had showed me what love really was. Even if he didn’t mean it to happen, I grew used to him. Too much that I couldn’t accept his death and had been waiting for him ever since.

Now, my waiting was over. Jin had finally found me. Even if my own feelings were hurting me, I still decided to take a chance with the new Jin and see where it would lead me to. After all, I had no one else other than him.

Jin’s POV:

The mermaid was too impatient to stay. I practically begged her to meet me again so that I could finally talk to her about my dream. Hesitantly, she told me about an abandoned forest at the end of which was a cave. And I was to meet her there during sunset.

I didn’t have any trouble finding the place she had mentioned. I was glad that she had kept her promise. She was already on the surface busking in the sun when I reached there. For the first time, I got a complete view of the mermaid I had been dreaming obscurely about these past years.

And just like that, I kept meeting her every day. It became a routine. We would talk for some minutes, the sun would set and she would dive back to the water.

I couldn’t describe exactly what we talked about. It was mostly nonsense. Because I knew, it wasn’t time to raise the most obvious questions. At first, she was hesitating to be around me. I could tell that by her body language. By the time, she was comfortable enough to ask me random questions you would mostly hear a toddler ask.

I noticed that slowly she was growing very fond of me. She started to act quite happy and wouldn’t want to leave even when the sun was down. Honestly, I started to like her too. She was probably the only person I could talk to for hours and still couldn’t have enough.

But I didn’t forget about my dream. It was true that the dream had stopped ever since I met her in real. I was still curious to know how exactly we were connected. And I knew for sure, she had clues about it.

I approached her about the topic very carefully. Once I asked her how she had known my name without my telling her. She didn’t respond and went silent for a while. It wasn’t the only question she was avoiding. There were other things I asked her about to which she either stayed silent to or changed the topic immediately.

For instance, I asked her about the other mermaids and she told me that they had all gone to the pacific to hide from the humans. When I asked what she was doing here all alone, she was frustrated and mumbled something inaudible.

When I asked about the pearl jewelry she always wore around her neck, she avoided that topic as well. She even refused to tell me why she was trusting me so much whereas she was really afraid of the other humans.

I believed all these things had something to do with me. And she was keeping some real secrets. And she was doing it on purpose.

Reader’s POV:

It was the little things that he did. It reminded me of my Jin. The Jin I was familiar with. The Jin I had loved.

The new Jin had the same kind of way of talking. I didn’t really understand how people talked in different ways. But I could certainly understand the way my Jin used to talk. Jin would say things which should usually hurt but they never did actually hurt. Jin used to say that was his sense of humor and I was too dumb to understand that. But he didn’t know that I did understand.

The new Jin laughed just like my Jin too. His laugh would make that very interesting kind of sound which made me laugh along with him.

The new Jin would talk a lot about the sea. Even if he wasn’t a pirate like my Jin, I learned that he also owned a ship of his own. His love for the sea, my own home, always fascinated me.

The new Jin would actually care about me even if he never said it out loud. He thought that I didn’t notice him struggling to ask me about things he was dying to know. But actually, I did.

I knew, the new Jin was confused about some things. He wanted to know the answers. The answers only I could offer him. But I was scared.

“Is it too early to trust him?” I had been asking myself every day. But I had been wrong about him too. He was in a different body in a different time period. But there was no denying that he was indeed my Jin. And he deserved to know the truth.

Jin’s POV:

“I’ll tell you everything you want to know.” The mermaid suddenly said one day.

“Umm… Okay!” I said, now very nervous to know it all.

“The truth is I knew you from a long time ago.” She said flatly. “You are reincarnated.”

“What?” I said. Among all the wild theories I had, this one was, perhaps, the wildest. “Reincarnation?” I thought, “Is that even a real thing?”

She remained silent again, giving me the time to process the information she had just thrown at my face. Looking at her serious face, I knew that she wasn’t lying.

“It’s not a big deal, right?” I tried to convince myself, “If mermaids could be real, so could be reincarnation.” But the idea of me living a complete different life before and in which this mermaid was a part of, sounded too much to take in.

“Did I die?” as soon as I asked that, I knew it was the dumbest thing I could have possibly asked in this situation. Well, my head wasn’t really working properly.

But she wasn’t the kind to judge. She simply nodded her head and said, “You promised you’d come back for me. That’s why, I have been waiting for you.”

She was speaking as if it was actually me. I wanted to correct her by saying that it wasn’t really me but my past self. But then I remembered how her eyes were twinkling with happiness and hope the first time she saw me. The next moment, it transformed into despair as soon as I showed no sign of recognition.

I didn’t want to ruin her new found hope once again. So, I smiled at her instead and said, “And I did, jagi. I came back just for you.” She smiled back.

We sat across the surface and were facing each other, with genuine smiles on both of our faces. After a while, I shivered as a sudden cold air blew past us.

“What happened?” she asked.

“It’s cold.” I said while rubbing my hands together to produce some heat.

She gently took my hands in hers and hold it. It had the kind of warmth that could melt my whole freezing body right at the spot. I realized that I wasn’t regretting coming here at the island at all.

Reader’s POV: (The Past)

He came to sit closer to me. His hand reached for the hair on my face, softly touching it first, then he tucked it behind my ear. I could feel the heat rising on my face at his sudden touch.

He leaned on slowly and carefully. I was a little confused by his actions. Before I could say anything, his soft lips were already upon mine. His hands grabbed my head from behind to pull me closer so that our lips smashed onto each other’s with more friction. He opened his mouth, letting my lower lip slide inside while his tongue did crazy things inside mine.

The hands those were tangled up on my hair all this time were let loose. He made it run through my back before it made it’s way to the front, pushing my thick and long hair to the back. For the first time in my life, I felt the cold air of the surface touch my bare chest.

His mouth travelled further onto the side of my face, rubbing his lips on my cheek and mumbling sweet nothings on my ear. Then, it went slowly down through my neck to my chest.

The more his lips were touching my skin the more I wanted him to do so. I felt something very foreign inside me going on. But I didn’t complain. Whatever it was that he was doing to me, I was loving it. Maybe this was how humans treated others they loved.

Jin’s POV:

The sun was already going down. As I looked at my companion, I suddenly felt an urge to see her face clearly without her hair’s interruption. “Could you please move your hair out of the way so that I can see you properly?”

She was startled by my sudden request but immediately nodded. Then, she proceeded to move all of her hair covering her body instead.

“No, no, no!” I yelled, making her jump out of fright. “I’m so sorry!” I apologized. I tucked the hair out of her face behind her ear myself and said, “I only meant to see your face, that’s all.”

She looked down for a while and remained silent as if she had been thinking about something. Looking at me, she made an unusual request, “Can you do those things people do to show they love each other?”

I was taken aback. What could she possibly mean by that?

“Umm… Sure!” I said, “What do you want me to do?”

She simply shrugged as if to say that I was the one who should have known that. I thought for a while. Perhaps, she was asking me to caress her hair to show affection.

As I was about to touch her head, she moved away slightly and said, “Let’s do it in my place this time. You can swim, can’t you?”

She jumped into the water as soon as I nodded in affirmation. I was dumbfounded. Not sure what I should be doing, I took a deep breath before following her to the water as well. Thankfully the water was warm. But it was darker inside. It took some times for my eyes to get adjusted to the surrounding. And then, I saw her.

She looked ten times more beautiful than she ever did on the surface. Even though it were comparatively darker inside the water, I could still make out her smiling face in front of me.

The next thing that caught my attention was her hair. They were floating above her head. It almost looked like a fancy crown.

“Wait a minute! Does that mean…” my thoughts trailed away as my eyes travelled down to her bare chest. I would have said that the sight took my breath away. But I was somehow still able to hold it.

She swam towards me, closing the distance between us. Her smiling lips parted a little before it came crushing down onto mine. She was kissing me. But what surprised me more was that I was kissing her back. We hold onto each other while we did what she had meant by people doing to show their love.

When I came back to the hotel it was already dark everywhere. Yoongi came running to me. He had noticed that I was soaking. He asked, “Did you fell into the water or something?” He looked genuinely concerned about me.

I smiled at him instead and said the most unexpected thing I had ever imagined I would say. “Yoongi-ah!” I said, “I think, I’m in love.”

Yoongi raised one of his eyebrows suspiciously, “Hyung! Are you sure you’re okay? Do you want me to take you to the doctors?” To which I only replied with my infamous laughter that sounded like a windshield wiper.

Reader’s POV: (The Past)

There was a fight, not so far away from where I lived. It wouldn’t have bothered me as much because I was used to the pirates fighting all the time. But this time, one of the ships was Jin’s. So, I couldn’t stay still and not interfere, even if it was exactly what Jin would have wanted me to do.

Unfortunately I was too late to arrive. I could tell that the fight was already over and the winning party was definitely not my Jin. Some were already dead on deck by the time I had reached them while the others were held prisoners. Perhaps the most frightening thing I saw was how they blew the knife through Jin’s chest and kicked him into the water as if they didn’t care at all.

But I cared. I got hold of him and took him to our most familiar place. There was still a little life left in him by then.

Jin spoke to me as if he wasn’t in agonizing pain, “I’ve never told you this but, jagi, you’re beautiful.”

I felt like I wanted to cry. But I still managed to reply, “No! You always told me that I was ugly.”

Jin laughed through the pain, “I only joked about it, silly. I would never have loved you if you were ugly.”

“But you do love me.”

“That’s because you’re beautiful.” A moment of silence. Then a sigh left his mouth, “I can’t believe this is what we’re talking about when I’m literally dying.”

I panicked at his words. “No, Jin! Please don’t die.”

“It’s okay, jagi.” He smiled warmly. He raised his hand to touch my face and said, “I promise, I’ll come back to you in my next life. Wait for me till then, will you?”

“Yes! I’ll wait for you.” I nodded.

“And don’t get caught.”

“Okay! I won’t get caught.” Another moment of silence, “But how long should I wait for you? When will you come back to me?”

Silence.

”Jin?”

Jin’s POV:

Yoongi was lying on the couch and peeling a tangerine as I entered the room. “Hyung, there’s good news for you.” Yoongi smirked. There was a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “The scientists, too, have started to believe in the existence of mermaids.”

I didn’t mind the teasing at all. So, I shrugged, “See! I told you it was possible.”

“I mean, yeah, well, theoretically.” Yoongi looked annoyed, “But I’ve never thought they would go so far as to search for a real one to experiment on.”

“What do you mean? Search for?” This time, I took it seriously.

“Aren’t you seeing the news?” Yoongi asked, “It’s all over the place. They are going to send the first search team here by tomorrow.”

“Here?” I was beyond shock, “You mean the ‘Mariachi Island’?” When Yoongi nodded in affirmation, I shook my head in denial, “It’s absurd.”

“I know right! I mean, why bother spending the money and time on a mythical creature? Specially, in this economy…” Yoongi trailed off as I ran out of the room without paying a heed to him.

I needed to alert her. She was in real danger.

“No! I’m not going away from you.” The first thing she said as I explained her the whole situation and asked her to leave the place for good to join her community at the pacific.

“You are not understanding. It’s really dangerous. There are people out there who are determined to cage you. And God knows what they’ll do to you.”

She still refused to see the risks. “But you had promised you’ll come back to me. So, I’ve waited for you. Why are you asking me to leave you now?”

“Because it’s… Oh God! Jagi, I wish I could explain it better.” I was mad at myself for not being able to say the right words.

“Then, explain it to me.” She almost screamed at me. It was the first time I saw rage in her eyes which left me silent for a while.

“I’m so sorry, jagi.” I began to speak slowly, “The past me was a selfish and an asshole. I shouldn’t have asked you wait for me in the first place. It’s so messed up.”

“But it’s okay now.” Her voice softened, “The dreams have brought you to me again so that we can finally be together. It’s our fate.” The desperation in her voice made me tear up.

“No, Jagi!” I shook my head, “The day we were born as two different species was the day it had been destined; we were never meant to be.”

Reader’s POV:

I couldn’t understand why Jin was so eager to send me away. I knew the humans were dangerous. So, I had been hiding from them well. I didn’t see any problem in staying in the island for some more time. I was sure I could manage this much for my Jin.

But one thing had stricken me like a lightning blow. Something that Jin had said. And I knew I would never be able to forget it for the rest of my life.

Jin told me that we were never meant to be. This line was enough to make me realize there was no point in staying in this island. Not even for my Jin. So, I decided I would grant his wish and leave for good.

“Why are you crying, Jin?” I asked as it was the first time I ever saw tears in his eyes. But there was no reply.

I took the pearl necklace off my neck. It didn’t shine as much as the way it used to and looked very old. But it still was the most precious thing to me.

I handed it to Jin, “Will you promise me something?”

“What is it, jagi?” He asked in a whisper.

“Promise me that you’ll never forget about me.” I requested.

Jin shook his head, “It’s impossible to forget you.”

I turned towards the water. “So, this is how we part.” I thought to myself.

The sun was setting already. The sunset, I realized, was my most favorite time of the day. I knew, it would no longer be. I couldn’t bear to look at it anymore. Because, every time I did so, it had reminded me of my Jin. But once, there was hope. And that hope was gone now.

I took a good look at the setting sun for the last time before diving into the water. Away from the danger. Away from the people. Away from my Jin.

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Found something in my draft and wanted to share it...

So, I just read Johnathan Swift’s Meditation Upon a Broomstick. Honestly, I barely knew its context yet the finishing misogynistic tone kind of threw me off. So, I did some digging and here’s what I could gather so far.

Let me give you some quick summary and the background context of it. Apparently, Swift had to do some reading of Occasional Reflections Upon Several Subjects by Robert Boyle to the ladies of the house. These are usually some observations of Boyle’s of the regular objects and his attempt to link a philosophical connection with the said objects using biblical references and such. Swift found them to be absolute nonsense and in an attempt to criticize Boyle he produced his very own lamentation on a regular object such as the broomstick which he called some kind of ‘meditation’ from his part. At the beginning, the ladies could not catch on to that but soon realized that the rant was taking an absurd turn instead of a philosophical one.

Now, upon reading some analysis of the text (Swift’s), I came to find out that not only he meant to ridicule Boyle but also his readers. And I took it personally. What kind of person mocks other people just because they take pleasure from certain kinds of entertainment that doesn’t appeal to this particular person personally?

Now, I might have considered that Swift genuinely believed that Boyle’s ideas were trash if I hadn’t read something in another article. There are hints that Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels were inspired by Boyle’s idea of creating such a romantic story. So, I would have loved to question, why Johnathan, why? Why did you despise Boyle so much? Is it because his works entertain more ladies than yours? Because he’s more popular among women than you are? Are you jealous?

I also came to another conclusion upon this matter. It is not new that we are ridiculed for our liking for anything. Women have been insulted time after time for something they are interested in, something that they can relate to, something that gives them comfort. Whether women enjoy romantic movies or K-pop or anything at all, they are sure to be made fun of. Because long before, they were even insulted upon liking someone who is now known to be the first modern chemist. In this context, Swift's witty nature seems bitter, doesn’t it?

I loved A Modest Proposal, which is the first and the only thing I read by Johnathan Swift. I really expected something better from him. Now, some of y'all might come at me saying it was only meant to be a joke. Swift and even the ladies might have had some laughs over this event. Of course, that could be the case. I wouldn’t even have to know about it then. The fact that he esteemed this manner was right to be made public in writing is what bothers me.

That was just my thoughts. Let me know if you have something to say as well. Also, feel free to correct me if I get anything factually wrong.