He's not a Merman

Chapter 8 That's Not My Leg!

Chapter 8 

I sit with my hands folded over my lap in a behaved manner. Myrr is sitting across from me, looking as nervous as I am. He is sitting on the edge beside me with his tentacles playing on the water. I don't even know why he looks rattled when I am basically the one who should be freaked out here.

I could not freak out! I do not want to be rude to the person—or creature—that saved me. How dare I make him uncomfortable when I am indebted to him?

Calm down, Arie. Keep your thoughts to yourself and don't be rude.

"So...your legs." I try to break the silence by trying to act casual about his tentacles. "They're nice."

Stop thinking about his legs! Stop thinking about his legs!
"There are eight of them."

"I see that. They look healthy."

He has tentacles for legs! How does that make sense?!
I know that Carter not being human doesn't make sense either, but tentacles for legs?! How does he control them all?

"Seafood diet."

I thought that he was making a joke so I forced myself to laugh. From the moment I saw Myrr giving me a confused look, I realized that he wasn't joking about the seafood diet.

Damn.

I have to come up with another subject before this gets more awkward. "Back at the market, your legs look different."

"They end up that way when they're dried." He answers vaguely.

So from controlling eight legs underwater, he has to adjust to using two legs on land? I wonder how that works.

"Do you have business on land?"

At my question, Myrr stares at me for a long time before looking away as if he's being shy. "It's nothing. I just found something so interesting that I wanted to check it."

I recall the time when he was accused of stealing a shirt from a vendor. It makes me wonder if he is interested in human fashion. Now that I think about it, he doesn't seem to be wearing any clothes. At the moment, he is just flexing his tanned, muscled skin.

"You asked me a question so I guess it is my turn now." Myrr crosses his arms strictly and looks at me. "Why did you jump in the raging sea at night? That was stupid. You could have died if I weren't around." I did not expect him to scold me, which is why I was surprised that it took a while for me to gather my thoughts.

"That's..." I paused when I recalled the events of that night. "It's difficult to explain."

"Is it?" He sounded doubtful. "Or are you just afraid that it might be unrealistic for someone normal to comprehend?" He gives a teasing smirk at the end and I know what he was implying with his words and gesture.

I feel stupid. How could I be thinking that Myrr wouldn't understand if I told him about the supernatural physique of my fiance? Myrr is the person I know I could tell my story to without fear of being called crazy.

"If you are willing to lend me your ear, I'll tell you."

"I was hoping that you would tell me from the start." With his reassuring grin and words, I start to tell him everything that happened.

Telling Myrr about my supernatural encounter felt easy. I don't have to worry about him branding me as crazy. He listens to me intently and with great interest. From time to time, he would not, and that was about it. I could not figure out what he was exactly thinking because his face was blank. Him nodding is more of his way of silently asking me to continue my story because I often get distracted with a lot of things—his eyes, hair, abs, tentacles.