Love Deep Like The Sea (English)

INDIAN

He dreamed of the ocean.

Of the cool blue and rushing water that swept him down into the depths, where everything was silent and lonely. He had never feared it, and now that he could jump freely into the waves, he realized it again. Seasick he was not, only ship sick. Ships had no business on the sea.

The rough sea air stood in harsh contrast to the soft water that lovingly washed over him. Again, and again, in regular motions and an all-too-familiar rhythm, like a blanket that enveloped him....

At least the wetness was not a pure product of his dream, as he soon discovered. When Zhenhai opened his eyes, the curious creature from his bathtub towered over him, recoiling when it was disturbed in its secret observation. He toppled over to one side, but instead of retreating and crawling back to the floor, he remained there, narrowing his eyes suspiciously, as if to ensure that Zhenhai would not perceive him as curious. A quick escape was denied him with the fish tail, and so the few seconds it took Zhenhai to wake up could not serve to disguise it as a dream image at all.

The whole bedspread was completely soaked. How long had he been here? His skin and hair were still wet, so he couldn't have been here in his bed for too long. Zhenhai immediately straightened up in a daze. Upset, he ruffled his hair and held onto it.

"You can't just- get into bed with strangers!" he blurted out. His heart was racing, and the drowsiness that countered it didn't make it any easier to categorize the situation. He had probably just been curious. As curious as Zhenhai had been looking at him just now when he had been unconscious. That hadn't exactly been polite either. So he didn't really have the right to be upset about it.

The merman just looked at him. Hesitantly, his gaze crept further down, to Zhenhai's chest, which was no longer completely hidden by the blanket from sitting up. He hadn't finished his inspection yet. The alarm clock read 07:34, and no human should be awakened like that on a Saturday morning, in a soaking wet bed with an alien life form next to him, certainly not this early - Zhenhai threw the covers all the way off and reached for his sweatpants, hastily pulling them over his boxer shorts.

"You shouldn't be out in the dry for too long. It's bad for you, it dries out your skin."

He paused and looked at the sea creature, but again he found no clear sign that he was listening, or that he understood. He just lay there looking out of place, the way the huge tail fin flapped out over the bed. Zhenhai lightly gritted his teeth. Surely the wet had soaked through to the mattress. Hopefully it would dry by tonight, or he would be able to spend the night on the sofa. With the spring temperatures here in Shanghai, it could get quite warm, but the view out the window promised mostly that he would get wet. The light drizzle colored the weather gray, but at least it differed from autumn with fresh patches of green that didn't allow the rain to dampen the mood too much.

"Well, you - you're probably hungry. I'll drink my coffee, you go back to your tub, and then I'll go shopping for you." Zhenhai would have loved to grab him by the tail and tug lightly on it to signify him to get off the bed, but that seemed rude and kind of encroaching. He'd figure it out on his own.

And indeed - when Zhenhai left the room to put on coffee, the merman crawled after him, propped himself up on his elbows and looked at him. It looked so cute again that Zhenhai had to smile, even though he didn't really need company in the morning. Perhaps it had more to do with who that company was, and how much company was on his mind.

"This is coffee. Hot water with ground coffee beans. One of the best inventions of mankind," Zhenhai explained, pouring himself a cup and drinking from it. The merman looked at him skeptically. Had he understood him after all? Zhenhai took a cup, poured some coffee and handed it to him. What he seemed to see in it was mostly black water. He looked up at the human, looked back into the cup, and stuck his flat nose in as if he was about to take a sip, before putting it down after all and pushing back with his hands on the ground.