The Mermaid and the Billionaire

Three: The mermaid and the Billionaire

[Three: The Mermaid and the Billionaire]

Rays of sunlight hits Meria's face waking her from slumber. Her eyes slowly flutter open and facing the white ceiling before her eyes. Her chest rise and fall realizing the fact that she's breathing air and not in water.

"You're awake."

Her gaze trail to the direction of the voice. On the side of the bed stood a man dressed in a pair of jeans and white polo shirt, his hair falling to eye level and messy in a way that suits him making him more attractive.

Her brows furrowed in confusion to the events that happened. How did she come there? She can't remember anything after Agnes sent her to land. And the thought hit her, she's on land! She once again shot at him and she now notices the fact that he's vertical and he has legs! Bloody pair of legs!

She came face to face with Joseph meeting his curious gaze and blurting out something that confuses him even more. "You're human!" 

It's now Joseph's turn to furrow his brows. He found her statement silly as if she had finally found the perfect solution to a frustrating equation. "Yeah?" he said playing along with amused smile.

"Oh!" Meria said remembering the reason why she's on land. She needs to find her mother as soon as possible. She look at Joseph with worry, "I am sorry, human."

Joseph blinks rapidly in confusion but couldn't take off his amused smile, "Wait, I can't understand why you're sorry." he said finally asking his thoughts, "Are you okay?"

Seeing the sheets that cover her, she didn't hesitate to take them off and stand but much to her dismay she immediately fell off the floor. She didn't expect that to happen as much as Joseph. How can she be stupid? Of course she's on land, things are different. Joseph is already on her side on a matter of seconds asking her how she feels but there's only one thing that caught her attention.

She has legs!

Freaking legs like he has. And before she could stop herself, she started screaming.

Joseph can't understand anything, but he tried to calm her down. When she finally came back to her senses a voice inside her head said, "Princess! Calm down!"

"Agnes?" she said confusing Joseph even more

"What?" he ask but his question fell on deaf ears when she started talking to Agnes' voice inside her head.

"Princess, listen carefully and calm down. I may not talk to you as often as you need me but I will do my best to reach you every now and then." Agnes stated and she nodded, "Since you are now on land, you can't use your tail for the time being, so please refrain from freaking out to the weird things that had change in your body."

She instantly search for anything weird in her body and noticed that her gills are gone too. She's human.

"You're a human now..." before she could ask anything, Agnes continued, "But just for the meantime. You need to blend right with humans to accomplish your goal. You'll recognize her when you see her. Good luck, princess. Oh! And the human you just met is such a beautiful man." she said with a chuckle

Before she can ask again she felt the voice's presence in her head already vanished. She almost jump in surprise when her hand touches her shoulder. "Are you surely fine?" he ask helping her up back to the bed

She met his gaze; their faces inches apart and she can't help but to study his face. His pair of deep emerald eyes contrast the light of her blue ones, his jaws cut perfectly his face with high cheekbones and a perfect nose and lips. She should admit that it's the first time she saw such beauty of a man. Agnes was right, he's a beauty.

She shrugged her thoughts of him when the she remembered her purpose. A beauty of a man shouldn't be on her mind right now.

"Excuse me, human..." she said to Joseph, "Where am I?"

Joseph looked at the beauty before his eyes. The first time he saw her didn't even fade, she has the same beauty in whatever she do. He ask his employees to look for her record but they found none, they thought she boarded the ship and jump off, but the theory vanished as soon as they didn't found any record of her boarding the ship. He didn't think twice of taking her in one of the ship's cabin and now she's here acting like everything isn't normal. Could she be mad? He couldn't help but laugh at her own thoughts. He is the one who's mad for taking in a stranger into his ship and not surrendering her to the police.

"We are in the Napoleon." he answered her question

"What do you mean?" she asked in complete confusion

"We're in a cruise ship back to the port of California." he explained

Meria didn't understand anything he had said but she held back herself from asking further question that would seem to confuse the man. "Who are you?"

"Joseph. I am Joseph Huntington. May I know yours as well?" he said casually offering his hand which she just stared at not knowing what the act means.

When he realize that she's not going to shake his hand, he took it back not showing the awkwardness. She doesn't seem like she's being rude, more of like not knowing what to do, he observed.

"Meria" she said

"Meria..." he said waiting for her to say something next but she just nod, "You don't have a surname?"

She shot him a confused look, "What's that?"

The more they go on to a conversation the more he felt like he's in another world. Is he? How can a person don't have a surname? Where did she came from? Why does he feel like there's something odd about her? Questions started to cloud Joseph's brain. How can she not know what a surname is? Is she sick?

"Are you sure your alright, Meria?" he ask again, trying to read her but he can't really think of any reason why. She could be a fugitive from a mental institution for all he knew.

She nodded, "Why am I here?"

"You almost drown. I saw you floating in the ocean last night." he explained

"Drown? How is that possible?" before Joseph could answer, her thoughts started filling her. "I mean, I'm truly sorry. I can't remember but I am grateful for your help." Of course it is impossible for a mermaid to drown but she's human when she took her path to land. She can't breathe underwater anymore, or just for the time that she has legs and not tail. She remember what Agnes told her, she's right. She needs to blend in with the humans and her lack of information about the human world is not helping her.

She know the path to where she's going but she she doesn't have a choice she needs to take it no matter what. Thinking about the little things she heard about the human world, she try her best to smile as how humans smile and did the thing Joseph did, She extended her hand to his direction "I am Meria"

Joseph look at her with confusion but still smiled, shaking her hand "Hi Meria, nice to meet you. I am Joseph."

Well at least, her first encounter with humans isn't that bad. She smiled, a genuine smile this time.