Chapter Three: The Mermaid and the Billionaire

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

"You're awake."

Her gaze trailed to the direction of the voice. On the side of the bed stood a man dressed peculiarly, his hair falling to eye level and messy in a way that suits him making him more attractive. A human.

Her brows furrowed in confusion at the events that happened. How did she get 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 noticed the fact that he's vertical and he has legs! Bloody pair of legs! She gasped. "You're human!"

Joseph looked around the room before his confused gaze settled back on her. He found her statement silly as if she had finally found the perfect solution to a frustrating equation. "Glad you noticed." He said, playing along with an amused smile.

"Oh!" Meria said remembering the reason why she's on land. She needs to find her mother as soon as possible. She looked 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. She should have listened to Agnes more when she explained things to her. Joseph is already on her side in 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 couldn't understand anything, but he tried to calm her down. When she finally came back to her senses a voice inside her head said, "Hey! It's okay. Calm down. I won't hurt you."

"Agnes?" She called, confusing Joseph even more.

"What?" Joseph asked, but his question fell on deaf ears when Meria 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 about the weird things that have changed in your body."

She instantly searched for anything weird in her body and noticed that her gills were gone too. She's human. Joseph on her side regarded her warily. Contemplating whether she's going crazy or he is.

"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, but Meria's mind could not catch up.

Before she could ask again she felt the voice's presence in her head already vanished. She almost jumped in surprise when her hand touched her shoulder. "Are you surely fine?" He asked, helping her up back to the bed.

She met his gaze; their faces inches apart and she can't help but to study him. His pair of deep emerald eyes contrast the light of her blue ones. His jaw cut perfectly. He looked like the human Agnes talked about inside a box. She should admit that it's the first time she saw such beauty in a man. Agnes was right.

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

"Excuse me, human..." She asked. "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 does. He asked his employees to look for her record but they found none, they thought she boarded the ship and jumped off, but the theory vanished as soon as they didn't find any record of her boarding the ship. He didn't think twice of taking her in one of the ship's cabins and now she's here acting like everything isn't normal. Could she be mad? He couldn't help but laugh at his 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 on a cruise ship back to the port of California."

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

"Joseph. I am Joseph Huntington. May I know yours as well?" He casually offered his hand which she just stared at not knowing what the act meant.

When he realized that she's not going to shake his hand, he took it back without showing awkwardness. She doesn't seem like she's being rude, more like, not knowing what to do, he observed.

"Meria…" She said.

"Meria..." He said, waiting for her to say something next but she just nodded. "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 feels like he's in another world. Is he? How can a person don't have a surname? Where did she come 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? Maybe she hit her head somewhere. His brain spiraled to getting a doctor, to fatal sickness, to insanity. Before he could hit rock bottom, he managed to shake his head.

"Are you sure you're alright, Meria?" He asked 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 drowned. 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. She remembered 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 knows the path to where she's going but 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 tried her best to smile as humans and extended her palm on Joseph. "I am Meria"

Joseph looked 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.