Cub Raising Association

Chapter 17: Into his arms

"Ah..." Hearing Xie Tao's words, the little mermaid made a low-pitched sound and shook his head. Even though the cub knew that he could not speak, he still tried to answer him with sounds as well as gestures.

Xie Tao had read in the "Cub Encyclopedia" that the mermaid race preferred the water temperature to be 18 ° C. After learning this, he had directly gone onto the Star Network  and brought a device that could regulate the water temperature. 

When he had gone onto the Star Network, he had of course first looked at the different prices and taken the club's economy into consideration. However, since the pool was not very big, they lucky only needed a small device which was not too expensive. He had therefore bought it without hesitation. 

But the package had unfortunately somehow been delayed and not yet arrived. Under normal circumstances, he would not have been bothered by this, however with the temperature dropping even further this week, Xie Tao felt a bit frustrated. 

He had read that even though the mermaid race preferred 18 ° C, lower temperatures would not harm them. But despite knowing that the mermaid race had extremely high tolerance for cold, he still felt uneasy.

Xie Tao reached out and gently touched the mermaid cub's smooth hair. Feeling the touch, the little mermaid gave a faint sigh and leaned against the pools edge. There was no way to get closer, he could only look up and reach out to touch Xie Tao's knee.    

The cub's hands were wet, but Xie Tao did not care about this and instead wondered about the meaning behind the cub's actions.

"..ah..pa..." The mermaid cub looked up at Xie Tao and as their eyes met, he said this. If listening closely, one would be able to tell that the second syllable was slightly harder than the first one. However the difference was too small and Xie Tao, who was not prepared, was not able to detect it.

The cub did not remove his hand after touching Xie Tao's knee and instead held on tighter as he continued to silently gaze up at him.

Xie Tao finally realized that the mermaid cub seemed to want to be closer. However the fact remained that the cub could not leave the water... Thinking about this, he decided to first try lifting the cub up. He did it very slowly and was prepared to put the cub back down if he showed any reluctance.

The cub wanted to be close to the youth, however he had once almost died from dehydration when he had been abandoned in that field, and the fear from that trauma was still strong. Against his will, he therefore instinctively shook his tail when he was lifted up from the pool.

The tail did not move as wildly as it had when Xie Tao had first met the cub and lifted him out of the bucket in order to change the water. But Xie Tao had made up his mind that if the cub showed any sign of distress or resistance, he would stop and he therefore started lowering him back down. However, when the cub, that was already halfway up, realized this, he stretched out his arms and grabbed onto Xie Tao's shirt. He didn't want to be put down.

Seeing the cub's action, Xie Tao first felt a bit helpless, but he then quickly thought it through and decided to do as the cub wished.

As he lifted him up, the fishtail's ice-blue scales hit Xie Tao's body and covered him with water. However, Xie Tao did not let go of him and instead continued to hold him as he repeatedly stroked his soft hair and comforted him. "Baby, don't be afraid, everything's okay, everything's okay..."

Because of the fact that this cub had a physical defect and could not speak, the parents had abandoned him and let him experience such a horrible thing... Why would someone do something like that, how could they throw away the cub as if he was a thing?