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Hongjoong likes to think he is a great single dad of an active six year-old. Really great. And he’s had so many people outside of his friends and family tell him such. But if he is being completely transparent with himself, there are times when he feels like he is lacking as a parent. Especially when he shows up alone to all the school events and the other couples are looking down their noses at him, a transplant from Seoul with all of his piercings and his bright hair and “remote job” that allows him to now spend more time at home more than slogging to work like the rest of them. How dare he amicably divorce a wife who was more interested in moving abroad than to their little house by the sea. Why, the nerve of him to ask for custody of his son so as not to disrupt Wooyoung’s life and end the deep friendship with the boy next door named San… Who does Kim Hongjoong think he is? Some kind of Best Parent?
Actually, yes. And so, Hongjoong decides to prove himself as the Best Parent in front of all the other parents. This year, he wants his son, Wooyoung, and his son’s best friend, San, to have the most memorable combined birthday party in the entire class. He just knows that this will show the other parents how much Wooyoung means to him as a son, and everything he would do for the boy.
So Hongjoong plans an albeit detailed pirate-themed (WooSan’s favorite) birthday party at the nearby beach. He even recruits a few “pirates” (mutual friends of his best friend Yunho who once dressed up as swashbucklers for Halloween: Jongho and Mingi). But when San’s father, Yeosang, tries to uncomplicate a lot of the scheming by telling Hongjoong he’s heard of other parents doing that theme before, instead of abandoning his planning, Hongjoong decides to up the ante.
“But no one else is going to have a live mermaid there!” he says victoriously, ignoring the exasperated groan from the speaker on his cell phone.
And so, Hongjoong puts out an ad online and fliers in the convenience stores for an actor that could dress up as a mermaid. He is optimistic that something will happen in the two months left until the September birthday party. However, no one bites. For weeks .
To make matters worse, during the on-going search period, San overhears the adults talking about mermaids, and of course he tells Wooyoung there is going to be one at their birthday party. So now all the two kids talk about are mermaids, both at home and at school. Now all the children want to come to WooSan’s birthday party to see the mermaids ( Shit). Now if Hongjoong doesn’t deliver, he’ll look even worse in front of all the other parents and children.
With only two weeks to go, Hongjoong is obsessed with thoughts of finding a mermaid actress, despite having no leads. In Seoul, this would not be a problem at all. There, hopeful actors post up on street corners daily, hoping to catch the eye of an agent. But in this town, unless he wants the halmeoni up the way, who used to be a pearl-diver in Jeju, his mermaid isn’t going to be a fresh-faced, pretty young thing waiting for a paycheck.
Hongjoong goes to take out the trash one night and ends up wandering down to the beach until he reaches the pier. He remembers coming there to unburden his worries some time before, back when he was still making long weekend trips back to Seoul for his then-wife, who refused to move south, but still wanted to see Wooyoung as much as possible.
And so, with the familiar, soothing sound of waves and the inky night as a backdrop, he airs his concerns to his favorite listener: the moon. He laments about the weight of parenting alone, about working enough hours to provide for his son but also be there for him at home, about showing Wooyoung that while he was only one parent, he had enough love for two. He shares his concerns about Wooyoung bragging to everyone that there are going to be mermaids at his party and his ill-fated wish to make it happen. Nevermind that mermaids clearly don’t exist… Hongjoong still hates himself and the eventuality of probably breaking his little boy’s heart when he cannot deliver the one thing Wooyoung seems to want most.
And maybe he cries a few bitter tears at the thought.
(No he doesn’t–no one saw anything).
In his wild desperation, Hongjoong feels an urge to clasps his hands together and stare imploringly up to the moon. He has never been religious or particularly devout in anything, but he knows that his wish to avoid being a huge disappointment to his son will reach… Somewhere. Someone. And so he spends a few minutes, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to will a solution into existence. When he starts to feel the pound of a mild-headache, the father concedes and leaves the pier to walk back home, the disappointment held in the droop of his shoulders.
Back inside the small house, he kicks off his shoes and goes immediately to check on a sleeping Wooyoung. Hongjoong kisses his son’s head and then after a moment’s hesitation crowds into the tiny bed, cuddling the boy until he falls asleep himself. That night, in his dreams, he imagines he and Wooyoung in a little row boat, the moon’s light and the smell of the sea around them as they are rocked.
A few days later, just a week shy of the party, Hongjoong receives a phone call from someone claiming to be answering the ad. He puts it on speaker, making a motion to Yeosang to remain silent as he speaks to the possible actor or possible scam artist. The person claims he was a collegiate swimmer once upon a time and is now doing shows abroad, posing as a “Mars the Merman.” Yeosang frowns at the name and mouths wordlessly what both fathers are probably thinking.
“Doesn’t he mean Neptune, hyung?”
Regardless, Hongjoong is ecstatic his literal prayers have been answered. He arranges a time for Yeosang to watch the kids, and texts to confirm a time to meet. He definitely wanted to vet the performer personally. While the man’s low and smooth voice didn't sound like a fraud, these days you never knew for sure.
That weekend, Hongjoong meets the “Professional Water Show Actor” (according to the very simple and largely empty resume) named Park Seonghwa. The resume is as suspicious as it gets, but then again, when you look like Park Seonghwa, it’s little wonder why he had zero references. The tall man certainly looks like a merman. His visuals are almost unreal, with beautiful golden skin and dark brown eyes that seem deep and thoughtful, just sitting in a sky blue button up and chinos, the actor looks like he could sell face cream or something instead of holding his breath for three minutes (one of the more impressive bullet points under the ‘Qualifications’ section).
Listening to Hongjoong’s request, Seonghwa happily agrees to do the party (barely discussing payment) and assures the father he just finished swimming for a show in the area, and knows it will go extremely well. Hongjoong is comforted by the man’s calm confidence. And if decides he has a bit of a crush on the performer… It’s nothing once the father gets a look at the printed selcas of him dressed up in full costume, lounging on sand, sun-kissed and smiling wide. Without further hesitation, he hires Park Seonghwa for the job.
~*~*~*~
On the day of the party, Hongjoong is a knot of worry. The picnic tables are already decorated with cute pirate characters, his friends are in costume and speaking oddly, they’ve played a few themed games, and already eaten the delicious foods. But he hasn’t heard from Park Seonghwa since the night before. The performer confirmed he would show up to the beach around 4:00 p.m. during the last hour of the party as a surprise. However, it is already 4:57 p.m. and not a single sighting. Hongjoong wanders down the beach towards the sea to make another phone call to the number Seonghwa had used, but the call only ends abruptly without an option to leave voicemail. Could it be possible he just got scammed by a gorgeous fraud?
Wooyoung runs down to Hongjoong at the shoreline and reports very seriously that kids are now being served ice-cream by Mr. Kang while the “piratey-looking Uncle Mingi, Uncle Yunho and Jongho-hyung” have been giving piggy-back rides to Sannie and the other children. It sounds like a “secret mission” Mingi gave him because he salutes afterwards, causing the father to mimic the motion and give him a thumbs up. Hongjoong knows his friends are trying to stall the end of the party and prevent the few parents attending from taking their kids home prematurely.
When Hongjoong asks how the party is going to feel out his son’s expectations, Wooyoung exclaims all the reasons he is having fun. Although it is obvious from his occasional moments of solemn silence that both he and San are clearly dejected from the lack of mermaid sightings all day.
Hongjoong hates to see his son holding out hope, so he is just about to fess up about his plans and explain the lack of mermaid when Wooyoung interrupts him with a shriek, pointing into the sea. Hongjoong spins around to look where his little finger is pointing but he doesn’t see anything. Despite that, Wooyoung starts pulling on his pant-legs and babbling over and over, “I saw her, Daddy, I saw her!”
The child turns around and screams at the top of his lungs for San, who looks curiously down the beach to the shoreline for his best friend. After a few moments of confusion, Yunho brings over San, still on his back, along with the other children and some parents. Soon, the father and son are joined by the entire group staring out into the sea expectantly.
After a couple of minutes, in which they cannot get Wooyoung to calm down, Jongho says in surprise, “Hey, look at that, someone really is out there.”
Just above the choppy waves is a familiar face to Hongjoong: Park Seonghwa. The swimmer raises both of his hands out of the water to wave to the children, and impressively does not sink one bit, as if he is standing on a platform. Hesitantly, a few kids wave back as Wooyoung flaps his arms wildly and San shouts, “We told you!” to no one in particular.
Behind the group, one of the parents snorts condescendingly to their spouse.
“Yeah, some mermaid he got. It’s just a guy swimming in the sea.”
Hongjoong is just turning around to address the snide remark when the children collectively gasp. A few start screaming happily, and others like San begin jumping up and down. Though he is late turning back, Hongjoong catches the tail end of… Well, a huge black, fish tail descending below the water’s surface.
Sure enough, Seonghwa delivered. There is Wooyoung’s mermaid, in the fin.
Yeosang looks over the children’s heads and gives Hongjoong a wide-eyed, thumbs-up before he must go back to resting his hands on San’s shoulders, his son clearly about to jump into the atmosphere with how happy he is to see “a real mermaid.”
Out in the water, Seonghwa breaches the water's surface in rapid succession now, really showing off his strength and the entire curve of his long body for the crowd on the beach. The children go wild and even some of the parents begin to clap and express wonderment at the unexpected performance.
Hongjoong, despite planning all of this, is also stunned into silence. Seonghwa looks utterly amazing breaching out of the water. He looks so much like a real merman that Hongjoong almost believes it himself. When the performer calls out “happy birthday Sannie and Wooyoungie” and waves the tip of his tail above the surface, the children are aghast that the merman knows the names of the guests’ of honor. Suddenly, they start pestering the birthday boys to request more and more tricks out of the merman. Seonghwa happily complies, swimming closer to shore each time to receive the request, and then returning to the deeper depths for his flashy stunts.
After about ten or so minutes of watching the arching jumps and twists, Hongjoong realizes Seonghwa must be getting pretty exhausted with the continuous acrobatics. He reminds the group that everyone’s ice-cream is melting back at the tables to take the attention away so the merman can make his escape. Most of the children, having completely forgotten about the piled-high mounds of sweetness, start screeching as if a crime has been committed and run back towards the food ahead of the adults. Wooyoung and San linger, their bare feet actually moving closer to the water’s edge, but after another two-handed wave and final backwards flip, the merman does not resurface. As they are marched up the beach back to their own melting dessert, San waves over his shoulder to the general area of where the merman disappeared and Wooyoung’s chatters excitedly in his best friend’s ear.
Once the children are back to their sweets and fully distracted, Hongjoong sneaks off to the far pier to meet Seonghwa as pre-arranged. In the full sun, the pier looks almost the same as the night when he confessed to the moon, albeit more easy to see the well-worn worn and faded mint-colored paint on the lamp posts. At the very end of the landing, some new additions let Hongjoong and Seonghwa both know they are in the right place. Hours ago, he left two brand new beach-towels on the planks, helping the swimmer to mark where they should meet after the party. Now he notices that a large duffle bag with clothes spilling out of the open top is sitting next to the stack–probably for when Seonghwa folds up his tail afterwards. Hongjoong watches as Seonghwa easily launches up out of the water, clears the small portion of the pier without a railing, and plops onto its deck with a heavy, wet smack. The performer is still a little winded as to be expected, but considering everything they just saw, one would have thought he was only doggy-paddling earlier.
Hongjoong hands the other man a towel distractedly as his eyes drop down to stare at the most realistic, prosthetic tail he has ever seen. The tail itself is about two meters long, full of glittering black scales that reflect so much light they almost look silver. Even the transition from his hips to the beginning of the appendage look flawlessly blended without a visible seam. One moment his eyes are traveling from the well-cut abs to smooth, scaled flesh.
Wow, the technology for these sorts of costumes is mind-blowing nowadays, Hongjoong thinks. I cannot believe I was able to afford him.
As Seonghwa continues to catch his breath on the pier, toweling off his well-defined arms, Hongjoong wonders vaguely how all of that tail will fit in that comparatively tiny duffle bag.
“You should go back to everyone and the party–I will be more than fine here by myself.” Seonghwa says with a warm smile, interrupting Hongjoong’s thoughts. “I am just going to rest and dry out. Sometimes it can take a while to get my legs together after a swim, so you should not wait on me.”
Hongjoong catches the tips of the tail twitch suddenly out of the corner of his eyes. He begins to turn his head to look again but the swimmer pulls his attention back by firmly patting the towel over his neck and chest. Hongjoong’s eyes are instantly drawn to the motion, and he has to tell himself to not to stare at the pert, brown nipples flashing between pats.
“Thank you so much for the beach towels, I love how soft they feel.”
“Of course, please keep them!” Hongjoong says, watching Seonghwa appreciatively rub the aqua blue cloth around his shoulders. “I thought you might be cold afterwards. You can use it for your next party in case you come back to this beach.”
The actor looks like he is going to say something but thinks better of it at the last second.
“That was very considerate of you, but I doubt they will get much use. I do not usually do private parties, Hongjoong-ssi. I only felt moved to do so after hearing you explain the situation.”
“Ah, yes, that makes sense. I suppose you don’t typically have time to stop and explore the towns when you’re traveling so much between countries…”
Seonghwa shakes his head shyly and averts his eyes. He sweeps his still-dripping fringe off his brow with one hand with a sad smile
“No, I really do not stay long anywhere.”
This new information makes Hongjoong feel a bit funny. But not in a bad way. He feels a little giddy, especially in his stomach where there is a fluttering feeling that is radiating with warmth. Seonghwa chose him after all. And he is honored that the presumably busy actor would choose to show up here again today with what little time he had between traveling and performing. The moment Hongjoong realizes he’s just standing there and staring down at the beautiful man without speaking, the father feels his face heat up. Seonghwa chuckles and begins to towel his hair, surely noticing the blush.
“We can meet up another day to finish out things and provide payment, Hongjoon-ssi. Please go enjoy your son’s birthday to the fullest.”
Hongjoong bows gratefully, and murmurs his thanks. After checking to see that everything is fine with Seonghwa once more, he heads back to the party with a single backwards glance. The swimmer waves to him slowly, the black tail curling upwards and flapping a secondary goodbye as well.
Much later, as the sun is setting and the guests are dispersing, Yeosang tells his friend how he overheard one couple getting in a fight by the walk-the-plank game. They were trying to be discreet but Yeosang clearly heard them complain about it being impossible to top this party for their bratty and demanding son’s upcoming birthday–especially now that the boy was obsessed with mermaids, too. It causes Hongjoong’s chest to puff out noticeably, and as the two continue to clear the tables, the rest of his close friends tease him endlessly about his newfound pride. Fortunately, Hongjoong doesn’t care one bit. That night, when he tucks in Wooyoung and San and closes the bedroom door, it is to the sounds of the two best friends discussing in elaborate detail how they also could grow fishy tails like a pretty mermaid named Seonghwa.
~*~*~*~
It is just two days later, when Hongjoong meets up with his merman for hire at the same cafe during his lunch break. The man is wearing the same outfit, but with one significant difference. Today the man’s wavy black hair is pulled into a half-ponytail that Hongjoong discreetly steals glances at after he pays Seonghwa the cash he was expecting, plus a generous tip. Seonghwa thanks him graciously for the large tip, and then to his surprise, orders a lemonade and stays to ask Hongjoong how the rest of the party went. Surprised at the continued conversation, the father admits to him about the near heart-attack he was about to have when he thought there was no mermaid. The performer laughs and says he’d been swimming out there for over an hour. Apparently no one had noticed him because the pirate piggy-back rides had everyone’s attention for the longest time. Seonghwa pouts cutely about almost being shown up by Yunho’s broad shoulders and they laugh about the situation before easily transitioning into discussing other things. Many other things. What kind of foods Seonghwa has tried in other towns, the performer’s favorite things about the ocean, what Hongjoong thinks of being a father, the tough times he endured to raise his child. Even San and Wooyoung’s not-so-mysterious new interest in swimming.
Before Hongjoong realizes it, two hours have already passed, and they’ve covered so many topics and yet not enough. It feels intimate in a way the single-father hasn’t experienced in a while. And if the way the taller man is looking at him with unwavering fondness, he can tell perhaps he is not the only one who is thinking the same thing. He likes how Seonghwa is surprisingly funny and charming and kind–everything he would want to find in a partner, now that he has finally moved on from Wooyoung’s mother. Hongjoong wishes suddenly he knew how to make a move–to take this employer-employee situation and make it more. But then a voice reminds him this is a small town and Seonghwa is just passing through. The other man is probably like this with everyone–just being nice to the locals. Besides, what are the chances someone like him would be interested in getting to know a single father in a sleepy, coastal town, let alone one who is into other men. It was better he didn’t make a fool of himself by doing something silly like asking Seonghwa to have dinner. Asking him to keep in touch. Asking him to stay a little longer.
So as they say their goodbyes, Hongjoong stands to thank the performer again for his work and resists the urge to mention how he wants to see Seonghwa again, even though he nearly blurts it twice.
“You also did a great job, Hongjoong-ssi,” Seonghwa says warmly. “From what I could see, the children all enjoyed themselves. And your little Wooyoungie looked like he wanted to tell everyone he has the best dad ever.”
“Oh, he has told people,” Hongjoong laughs self-consciously. “Every day since the party.”
“As he should. You are a wonderful father, Kim Hongjoong, and the furthest thing from a failure. There are not many single fathers who would go through the lengths you did to avoid breaking their son’s heart.”
“Nah, I am sure there are plenty more...”
“Hmm, perhaps so. But I am looking at the only one I know.”
Hongjoong blushes in surprise at the comment, trying to fight the grin off his face. Seonghwa is speaking familiarly, like he knows him so well. As they stand and move towards the exit, the taller man touches his hand briefly on Hongjoong’s elbow in a tender gesture, and the father can feel his face flush even hotter.
“Take care, Hongjoong-ssi. Hopefully we will see each other again.”
Hongjoong enjoys the way it sounds like a promise.
As he walks happily home with the rest of his melted iced latte in hand, long after Seonghwa walks out of the cafe, and the warmth of that brief touch has faded, Hongjoong’s smile falters and he stops short when he realizes something.
When exactly did he tell Seonghwa about breaking Wooyoung’s heart?