Chapter 1

I rested my arm on the edge of the tank. On the plate in my hand lay the finest cuts of the freshest fish.

But as time passed, my arm started to go numb and sore, while the figure in the tank remained motionless.

Just when I thought he was going to ignore me again, Lance suddenly moved.

He swam down beneath my arm. I calmly watched as he flicked his tail, aiming a sharp swipe at my hand.

But I let go just before the strike. The carefully prepared fish slipped into the water.

Surprised, Lance glanced at me, then caught the fish and backed away, as if his earlier malice had never existed.

Moonlight poured through the viewing window, casting a glow on his blue shimmering scales.

As I watched him swim away, I shakily pulled out my phone.

"How do you handle the returned merfolk?" I typed.

"Ma'am, merfolk that are sold don't get resold. They're usually broken down into ocean fertilizer."

I looked at the monitor where Lance was elegantly playing with a smart water polo ball.

My fingers typed steadily. "I want a replacement. Right now."

No reply came, but the typing indicator flickered incessantly.

I stared in a daze at the same question I'd asked long ago.

Lance was a custom-ordered merman I got from AquaGene Corp. But since he arrived, he had refused all closeness.

I tried to check him out, but he hid in the reef crevices for two days straight. I played the sound waves merfolk supposedly liked, and he just turned off the receiver.

When I held out food, he waited until my arm was numb before finally gracing me with his presence. But he wouldn't just take it. Instead, he'd lash his tail against my arm, knocking the fish loose just so he could catch it as it fell.

But I wasn't discouraged. The merfolk guide said they liked gentle touches on their cheeks to build trust.

However, the moment my fingers reached his face, he slammed his tail hard on the water's surface.

A huge splash soaked me.

His ear fins flared wide, and his eyes burned with a mix of anger and fear. Those were signs that a merfolk was extremely upset or scared.

"I don't like being touched," he said coldly through the communicator.

That night, I opened the customer service chat again.

"How do you handle the returned merfolk?"

"Ma'am, merfolk that are sold don't get resold. They're usually broken down into ocean fertilizer."

Watching the monitor, I saw Lance swimming elegantly. He was playing with a ball, looking perfectly content.

But that happiness had absolutely nothing to do with me.

"Never mind. I'll observe for a while longer," I replied.

The agent sent a smiling emoji. "Okay. Merfolk's emotional bonding takes patience. Sometimes they just need the right moment."

At the time, I didn't understand.

For three months, I endured his cold rejections every time I tried to win him over. Then, in the middle of the night, I saw something on the monitor that made my blood run cold.

Just past midnight, Lance didn't go to sleep. He hovered in the center of the tank, waiting for something.

Soon, the side door opened. My adoptive sister, Vivian Ross, slipped in like she belonged.

She walked to the main viewing window, and Lance immediately swam over. He pressed his forehead against the glass where Vivian's palm rested. That was the highest sign of trust and intimacy for merfolk.

That face that always turned cold on me now bloomed with a warm, bright smile I'd never seen before.

Vivian whispered something, and Lance listened carefully, nodding now and then.

Then, he turned and carefully pulled from the coral a deep-sea black pearl bracelet I'd specially ordered for him last week. The design alone had cost 50 thousand dollars.

Vivian took the bracelet and skillfully angled the pearls against the faint light to judge their quality. After a quick appraisal, she squeezed them tight in her palm with a sweet smile.

She said something else, and Lance's ear fins flushed faint pink.

As I watched all this, I felt like I was plunged into an icy sea.

This scene was like a jagged blade, thrusting straight into my heart and tearing through every last shred of my hope and love.

I'd never understood why Lance hated me so much. I thought if I tried hard enough, he'd warm up.

Now that I thought about it, his loathing was blindingly obvious. He played me but never outright rejected me simply because I was the perfect shield for him to stay here and meet her.

I shut off the monitor with trembling hands.

It must have been tough for him to put up with me all this time just for Vivian's sake.

Just then, my phone buzzed with a message.