The picture in her hands couldn’t change, even after some time has passed: the girl still had a confused, but glowing as portraited in the end of the fall. Or autumn, as some preferred to call, with its leafs falling and decorating the ground beneath the three of them: Soojung, Taeho and Hana.
The first one - Soojung - remembered well about this occasion; and how would she forget? It was the beggining of a new age for her, a better age with better days to come - days with humans! Mundanes, from all the parts, all the type of them, so much variety for her to know and to interact with! Just the thought of it would make her so happy, and the first ones that she met were the others previously mentioned.
The boy, majoring in Photography, and the girl, in Administration. The three of them were freshmen, indeed as fresh as the name indicated, and as happy as one could be. For one week they were together, waiting for a class they could meet and just chat, about everything and anything; no one would say they were actually adults, because to be honest, they looked more like kids. But there was a day when it happened.
No more fall, or spring on that year, or Taeho or happiness or Hana. It was like the woman had disappeared, and the only contact that had left for Soojung was the man, and he had vanished in the exact same way (but days later there was a rumor around the halls that the new cute photograph had hanged himself).
And now, every time the mermaid had to come across these trees, the same feeling would hit her and her hand would always reach into her pocket to look for the immortalized moment in form of such a thin paper, and in a few minutes, she’d be in front of a building she had been at so few times when Hana was there, but so many more when she wasn’t.
It was like a routine, an endless routine that had taken over the Fable, and she would always end up stopping in front of the tall edifice; lights from the room open and bright as another family had moved in and Hana was long forgotten - but not to Soojung. A deep breath was taken in order for her to calm down - tears weren’t produced by the mermaid, but the anger inside of her needed to be held in, controlled until there was nothing left.
Putting herself up to her feet, after a few deep breaths, the mermaid decided it was time to let it go and go home already, and so she started to do, taking some steps to the road when something - or someone - caught her attention. Not for the height, or weight, or much because of the features but mostly because of the expression, even if his traits were a thing: dark pitched hair, as well as eyes, glowing with something dead she had never seen before; dark was present in his clothes, and as well as under his eyes, at the bags of probably sleepless nights.
Everything screamed for her to run away, but her feet seemed to be frozen into the asphalt, and could only move when she decided to change her direction to meet his. No trembling steps, determinate eyes hidden by a layer of sweetness so natural from her - Soojung probably looked silly, but that wasn’t important for her, and with no second thoughts and only a few steps, she was close to the male and her hand was stretched out, photo as well. “Excuse me, but have you seen this girl?”