THE OTHER SIDE. aa

siebzehn.

     the mermaid nodded in understanding but his eyes were suddenly trained on your arm that blocked his view, his brows furrowed in interest. "what's this?" he questioned to himself, grabbing hold of your wrist that was currently playing with his hair before prying it away to look at your skin. 

     the same warmth of his hands was back again and the goosebumps on your skin reappeared once more as you tried to calm yourself down. he stared at something on your arm, obviously curious. you peered over and eyed what he was looking at, spotting the now fading saturn drawing you doodled on your skin hours ago.

     "oh, it's just a drawing. i was bored earlier in my class so i just drew." you explained, finding no interest to it anymore considering that it was already fading.

     armin gaped and tilted your arm, clearly amazed. "wow! you're very talented!" he complimented, pulling your arm closer to take a look. "can you write on my skin too?" armin pleaded, eyeing you with sparkling puppy eyes that you couldn't exactly decline to.  

     after moments of consideration, you laughed and nodded. you grabbed your pen from your bag and grabbed his arm, wiping the sand and dirt on his skin, "what do you want to write?" 

     "uhm, i don't know..." he mumbled, "i can't think of anything!"

     "well, we can draw your favorite thing!" you suggested, opening the cap as you waited. 

     "how about a favorite word?" he questioned, tilting his head. you found it out of the ordinary but you nodded nonetheless. anything for armin.

     "my favorite word is... epiphany." 

     with that, you got to work. your handwriting was neat but writing on the skin was kind of hard to do, with the ink breaking off or the limb moving too much. however, when you told armin to not move to an inch, he sat still like a statue which you were thankful for. 

     "what made you choose this word as your favorite?" you questioned out of curiosity, carefully writing each letter in pretty cursive writing.

     armin hummed as he smiled, "well, i think the meaning is beautiful... you find the answer, but to what?" he replied while making sure not to move too much, "you find answers in many things. like 'what should i do today?' or 'what would happen if i do this?'. i'm sure mermaids and humans have this one big questions they still have to look for the answer for and once they do, that would mean that their goal in their life is done. they found their epiphany."

     you already finished the word but you couldn't help but stare at it in wonder, surprised at how wise and open-minded the mermaid was. not only was he innocent and a gentleman, but he was also smart! "i have a question, too, and it still needs to be answered. i don't think it's my 'goal' in life, it's just a question that i think would change the way we mermaids live."

     "well, what is your question?" you asked, pulling your eyes away from his arm to stare at the mermaid.

     armin was suddenly quiet, his eyes downcast in what looked like to be an embarrassment. he was unresponsive at first but finally, he answered. he didn't look at your eyes, just stared at the ocean with a longing, calm look in his eyes.

     "do... do you think it's possible for us to fall in love?"

     totally not the question you were expecting. 

     you could feel your face heating up at his sudden question as if he was asking you, your mind muddled with hundreds of questions and answers to it. "u-us? like, we--"

     "like humans and mermaids... do you think they can love one another?" armin explained, letting out a deep sigh before continuing, "humans can love humans and mermaids can love mermaids. if they knew about our existence and--" armin paused, his brows furrowed and eyes narrowed down that clearly showed signs of conflict.