In the Eyes of the Mermaid - Taehyung x Reader

Chapter 44

February

Facing the end of another month somehow didn't surprise you anymore.

You were truly starting to believe that Taehyung was never coming back for you.

The pain that wracked your body was saying that you should be angry.

But somehow you just couldn't bring yourself to feel that way.

He had such a fantastic successful life, a family, an amazing career and even more amazing friends.

How could he tear himself away from that?

And for you no less?

The fact that you could be so blindingly selfish to even believe he would come back to begin with was astounding.

You walked your usual route to work, bundled in three layers of heat tech and an almost ankle-length down jacket.

You must have looked ridiculous, with your hat and mitts and total arctic attire.

It rarely dipped below 5 degrees here in the dead of winter, and today was an especially warm winter day.

Yet here you were, chattering like it was -50 outside.

Your stiff movements made getting to work a chore, the last of the moon pool water Soon-ja gave you only alleviating the pain for a mere ten minutes after you stepped out of the bath this morning.

You glanced down at the purple crystal heart dangling out of the sleeve of your coat, sighing deeply to yourself.

At least he'll always be a perfect memory...

You rounded the corner to the shop, a pained half-smile appearing on your face at the first sight of a worried-looking Soon-ja.

"Come on dear" She hushed, wrapping a blanket around your puffy coat, "I bought another heater, it should help."

You shuffled over to your spot behind the cash register, sighing in relief as the first wave of the three electric heaters hit you.

"Now, we don't have any orders yet today so I want you to unpack and price the new shipment of the Oceanic Tides trinkets that were delivered this morning." Soon-ja softly demanded, pointing a shaky hand to the small stack of boxes beside the cash.

You nodded weakly, immediately getting to work.

This was oddly your favorite part of the job, it was like Christmas morning, getting to be the first to see the new items in the shop.

Not even Soon-ja knew what was coming, the orders being the result of a Jeju souvenir bulk-subscription she signed up for a few years ago.

Not that it mattered to you, the only thing you cared about was that she sometimes let you keep one or two of the items if she was in a good mood.

You struggled to set the first box on the counter in front of you, fighting against the cold stiffness in your hands to undo the packing tape.

You admired the stacks of new postcards that greeted you.

A sunset on the beach, a drawing of the boardwalk and an aerial shot of the island from a drone.

If you didn't already have a copy of each of these you definitely would have wanted to keep one, you knew how much your family loved getting the odd postcard from you on your travels.

You quickly entered in the standard postcard price into the system and moved onto the next box.

Hand-painted seashells and beach 'snow' globes followed the postcards, nothing out of the ordinary by any means, which meant you probably wouldn't be keeping anything from this shipment.