𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒟𝑒𝑒𝓅 𝒲𝒶𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓈 𝑜𝒻 𝒲𝑜𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇𝓈 (𝑀𝑒𝓇𝓂𝒶𝓃 𝒜𝒰)

Chapter 1: Family Business

Present Day

Lukas' POV

Being the reason why you have more female customers here sometimes got me feeling unlucky. Because of this, my dad, who happens to be the owner of the music bar that's right on the boardwalk, insisted to take my shift on weekdays. I'm cool with it since it's family business. My dad was lucky to marry a mermaid with a great singing voice, which is her now, made it into her gig.

Singing's her way to bring people and merfolks together as a way to keep the spirits of the sea alive, which is what mermaids have been doing for years. It's their way of bringing peace and harmony from the 7 seas.

Mermaids are often mistaken as sirens simply because we have human upper body with scales and tails. The first generations of sirens, our ancestors, used to find it thrilling to bring human to their worst end, but over the centuries, they begin to evolve as they learn more and fond of humans and experienced life on dry land.

Guess you could say I'm one of their descendants, kinda.

Though I rarely even sing, it's pretty much people see me as a celebrity, who only serves drinks, that's all I ever do.

However, my dream is to become a writer. After swimming with my mother to witness the life under the sea as a kid, I was moved to the point where my discoveries motivated me to write stories through my experience.

I even imagined it would be a big twist for my future readers to learn the author is actually a half-merman.

"Don't you ever get tired of these same customers who keep coming here for you?" Scoffed one of my coworkers, and friend, Maya, who's also a mermaid

I shrugged as I wiped the counter, "Eh, you already know I'm used to it."

"I mean we're already in college, summer break, and yet your social status didn't seem to change either."

"If you're jealous, at least you're the one getting paid and not them!"

"Ugh, I should've known to stay at Aquatown when I had the chance."

I looked around the music bar only to find our other coworker isn't here, "Wait...where's Axel? Did he left early?"

Maya shrugged, "I don't know! His shift hasn't even ended yet!"

"Wait a minute-" A sudden realization has hit me as I went into the kitchen before going straight to open the freezer door. I groaned in disappointment when I found him, "Really? Again Axel?"

The bulky guy was shaking, "I-it's f-freezing in here m-man! The d-door got no handle from this s-side!"

"You know you can actually push it right? It's like being inside a giant freezer."

"A-also, we running out of s-seaweed."

"What?" I checked the boxes and crates labeled "seaweed" only to find there's none left. "Dude! Did you even checked the food storage last week?"

"Yeah but too be fair, too many customers either came for you or the seaweed smoothie. Almost everyone liked that flavor on the menu!" Axel responded.

I sighed as I was about to walk out of the bar, "Oh well, guess I gotta go out collecting some more."

"It's getting late, plus our shift's almost over!" Said Maya.

I shooked my head, "Nah, you guys stay at the bar until closing time. I don't want my dad kick my ass again if he finds out."

~

At the beach

Since it's sundown, I'd say this is the right time for me to swim all the way to my grandma's island.