CATCHING MERMAIDS.

Malaika’s POV.

I continued to dance, blasting ‘MY GOD’ by a Korean worship group called Levistance as I walked along Sewha beach at jeju islands. We had got free time off work and so had the boys. So when Ji-ho decided to visit Jeju islands, I wasn’t going to refuse.

I breathed in the morning air, it was 2am in the morning and since I couldn’t sleep I decided to take a walk along the beach. Being out alone is nice, the water, the breeze, the music I can dance to alone, breathing a sigh I continued to dance knowing if this was Uganda, people would think I am a night dancer.

Night dancers were people in Uganda who waited for nightfall then danced naked and if you were unlucky enough to get caught by them wondering during the night, they would enjoy eating you. But during the morning they were back to their normal selves, dressed and tidy. Some probably had good paying jobs, the devil really was a liar. Shaking unpleasant thoughts out of my head, I remembered my purpose for coming here just as I spotted a lone figure sitting in the dark by the beach.

I didn’t expect to find anyone here, the person looked like they were reflecting on life and maybe needed someone to talk to. OK I am gonna go talk to them, God probably wanted me to find you, I approached him.

“Hey ah, brother in Christ, there’s no need to be sad na God loves you ooo.”

I giggled at myself, my Nigerian accent was the worst, but the guy didn’t turn.

“Oya! Boss man.” Ignored again, I moved closer.

If this guy turned out to be a serial killer, Ji-ho would find me right? Then I noticed that he too was wearing headphones. No wonder he couldn’t hear me.

“Hey.” I patted his shoulder, this guy smelt soooo nice, it's funny he smells kind of like…

My eyes widened as the nice smelling guy turned to face me.

“Hyunjin.”

He, too, was surprised to see me.

“Oh hello.”

He said in Korean as I fell to my knees, humbled myself and started to pray.

“Hello?”

God, I think I have stayed on earth long enough…

“Malaika?”

I have lived a very fulfilling life, but as of right now, I am ready to see your face.

“Are you okay?” Hyunjin switched to English.

I saw him in my partial vision looking up at the sky hoping to see what I was looking at, he probably thought I was crazy, and it seemed like God decided to abandon me to deal with this situation alone.

“Hmmm so you ditch me at my most critical time, I see.”

“Bo?”

“Aniyo,” I brushed off and sat down beside him. “Why are you here so late, this is very dangerous if anyone spots you, it could be terrible?”

“Wouldn’t it be the same for you?”

“No, people don’t like me as much as they do you.” I said fixing my long spring dress, it was light, so the wind was blowing it about, I thanked God that I had braided my hair yesterday, or it would be a disaster right now.

“Are you here alone?”

“No, I came with my brother, but I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to take a walk.”

“That’s dangerous for you to be doing.”

I took a good look at him. He was tired, he had dark circles around his eyes and looked very troubled, I tried to look around for security but couldn’t find any. He probably was really alone and that was very dangerous but looking at him staring at the water I guessed he came here to escape and the last thing he wanted was a lecture from me. At the same time I couldn’t really ask him to confide in me because we had no trust between each other, even though I talked to the other members I had made it a point to avoid Hyunjin because I was ashamed of the things I said about him in the video he saw.

“You look very tired, but at the same time I know if you wanted to sleep you would be in your bed not out here.”

“I just wanted some fresh air.” He said.

“Well,” I got up. “Do you want to join my quest?”

“What quest?” He got up.

“Catching a mermaid.” It was the first time I saw evidence of a smile tonight.

“You believe in mermaids?”

“I think it’s very ignorant not to.”

“Why?” Oh, God! His smile.

“Well, in the beginning God created man in His own image, right?”

“OK?” He was confused.

“The keywords there are ‘in His own image.’ that means there could be other creatures that weren’t created in God's image, such as mermaids.”

“Really?”

I don’t know why he was smiling, this was a serious matter.

“YES! God created all the creatures of the sea, air and land. Plus, we barely know our own ocean, so we can’t say what does or doesn’t live there.”

“So, how are we going to spot one?” we began to walk on the beach.

“God will show us one.” He laughed at me. “Excuse you, I am serious the bible never mentions mermaids, but it doesn’t disprove their existence either, there are many creatures that were never mentioned in the bible and yet God spoke them all into existence.”

“Okay, but why do you want to see a mermaid?”

“So that I can see it.”

“That’s it, what if it calls out to you in its siren voice?”

“It won’t affect me.”

“Why is that?”

“Because God will protect me and maybe the cure for cancer is at the bottom of the sea, maybe they could share it.”

“You know Asian mermaids, they aren’t pretty.”

“What do you mean?”

“Mermaids in Asia are actually ugly, they are all fish apart from their heads.”

“Wait for real?”

He went on to tell me all the folklore regarding Asian mermaids that he knew about, and some crazy stories about people who had supposedly spotted mermaids. We talked until the wee hours in the morning and I learnt a lot about him. I learnt that he liked painting more than drawing, he was very talented. I learnt that he liked flowers so much he got a tattoo of them, I learnt he was an only child. Likewise, I also told him some things about me as well, but none of us went too deep as we didn’t completely trust each other yet.

I was telling him about how the time I was convinced I could bound with a seal on the beach and ended up getting rejected by it when my phone began to ring, I pulled it out thanking God for the blessing of dresses with pockets.

“Hi Ji-ho, no, I am not dead.” I said in one breath.

“Where are you, it's 6am in the morning?”

Where had the time gone, I looked at Hyunjin who was looking out into the ocean, he was good company. And also very good-looking with his hair blowing about and all-

Think holy thoughts brain, think of Jesus.

“Give me 20 minutes I will be there.”

“Where are you, Malaika?” I messed up.

“I will see you later, byeeeeee.”

“Malaik-

I hung up before he could finish, I was in big trouble. I looked back at Hyunjin.

“Do you feel better now?”

“Yeah.” I guessed he knew that I had realized something was wrong with him.

“Well, it's been nice talking to you, but I have to get back now.”

“Me too, I am leaving the day after tomorrow.”

“Where are you going next?”

“Home, I miss my dog.”