My Fiancé Bought a Mermaid, and She's Obsessed With Him

1: 1

My fianc paid millions for a stunning mermaid, built her a heated pool kept at a perfect temperature, and had the finest fresh seafood delivered for her every single day.

But that little seafood really did think she was the lady of the house.

The moment Nathaniel Henson left on business, she ordered me out.

"I'll be honest with you. Every night he brushes my scales himself, one inch at a time."

"The way he looks at me, it's pure possession."

"I've already decided. When he gets back, I'll drink the special serum and shed my tail for him."

I sighed, exasperated, and uninstalled the short-drama app off her phone.

"You're overthinking it. Nathaniel wouldn't spend that kind of money chasing a fish."

"Take my advice. Eat what you're given, drink what you're given, and stop knocking yourself out trying to please him. Otherwise you'll regret it."

She twisted my goodwill into jealousy and insisted on being the lady of this house.

What she didn't know was that Nathaniel messaged me every day to report in:

"Babe, every one of her scales, I've scrubbed clean and sweet-smelling with the fishy-odor-removing body wash. Once they're made into the mermaid-scale wedding gown, you're going to look gorgeous in it."

"But this fish is still too skinny right now. Let's fatten her up a bit more."

"Once she's plump, the mermaid pearl inside her is bound to be big and round, and then it'll cure your migraines for good."

I honestly never expected a fish to be a hopeless romantic too.

So I just held Nathaniel's messages up for this silly fish to read.

"Wake up. The only thing about you he's interested in is your scales and your pearl."

But the silly fish didn't believe it. She even threw my phone into the pool in a huff, flicked her shimmering rainbow tail, and looked smug.

"I know what this is. You're scared I'll replace you, so you're using cheap tricks to drive a wedge between us."

"But I'm the rose Nathaniel raised with his own hands. Unless he says it to my face, I'll never believe you."

I couldn't be bothered to argue. I just pulled out my tablet and video-called Nathaniel.

The call connected, and I gave him an order, no patience left in my voice:

"Tell this fish, right now, to her face, why you're keeping her."

On the other end of the screen, Nathaniel first gave the silly fish a little wave, and the words came right out of him:

"Because Sabrina's prettier than all the other fish, of course."

"Be good, Sabrina. Eat a few more helpings of calamari later. You have to get all nice and chubby, that's when you're cutest."

I nearly blacked out.

So this was the exact patter he'd been using to sweet-talk a fish.

Forget a fish. Even a dog would've been in heat for three days after hearing that.

I lost my temper at the Nathaniel on the tablet.

"Nathaniel, be a decent human being. You're actually toying with a fish's feelings."

Nathaniel pointed at himself, the picture of innocence.

"Babe, I'm being wronged here..."

"The keeper's manual says a fish loses scales when it's unhappy."

"And if I just told her I'm keeping her to harvest her scales and dig out the pearl to cure your illness, wouldn't a fish that cost two million drop dead of fright on the spot..."

He'd barely finished when, on the other side, Sabrina asked the caretaker for another fifty servings of calamari.

She was getting ready to film a video of herself eating like a good girl to send to Nathaniel.

The corner of my mouth twitched. I looked down at the screen.

"Nathaniel, your two-million-dollar fish already showed off thirty pounds of tuna half an hour ago."

"At this rate, she won't die of fright. She'll burst from overeating first..."

Before I could finish, the tablet died and the screen went dark.

I rubbed at my temples and watched Sabrina chewing away in front of her phone.

Fine. Whatever she said, for the next few days, it was true.

She was just a fish. Why should I stoop to arguing with her.

But I never imagined Sabrina would turn out to be one ruthless fish.

In the middle of the night, she actually dragged the caretaker into the pool and forced him to order a bottle of the special serum.

When I woke again, all I saw was pool water gone dark red, a layer of broken scales floating on top.

And when she crawled out of the pool, half dead.

There was no tail on her lower body anymore. In its place was a pair of long, snow-white legs.

Except her face was ghastly pale, and she sucked in a sharp breath of pain with every step.

But seeing my shocked expression, she looked quite pleased with herself.

So pleased she didn't even care about the pain, straining her voice to spit out her threats:

"Before, I had no legs, so it wasn't easy for my Nathaniel to get close to me."

"When he comes home and sees me like this, he'll be over the moon."

"Be smart. Get out on your own, before he has to spell it out."

With that, she deliberately shoved me aside.

Copying the way humans did it, she went and picked out a nightgown for herself.

Then she flopped straight onto Nathaniel's bed and waited, eyes shining, for him to come home.

The caretaker stood before me, soaked through, head bowed in apology:

"Miss Summers, that special serum has a side effect. If she doesn't return to the water within seven days, she'll burst and die."

"Don't worry. She won't be able to stir up any real trouble."

I looked at the grayish-white flecks of scale drifting in the pool and went quiet for a few seconds.

Nathaniel might look easygoing and offhand, but the truth was he had a powerful need for control.

Once he decided on something, he wouldn't tolerate the slightest deviation.

He came home on the dot every day, scrubbing those scales so carefully, for so long.

All to make me that custom mermaid-scale gown, to leave behind a one-of-a-kind memory that belonged only to us.

And now the quality of these scales had ended up worse than something freshly scraped off a fish at the market...

I sent Nathaniel a message right away:

"When it comes to fish, do you like it grilled or steamed?"

Nathaniel shot back in a second:

"Babe, I like it braised. Why do you ask?"

I sent back a bitter little smile of an emoji.

"Nothing. Just see for yourself when you get home..."

2: 2

By the time I'd nailed down the wedding venue and got home, I found out the caretaker had spent the entire day trying to talk her down.

But Sabrina flat-out refused to go back in the water. She was dead set on being the lady of this house.

To stake her claim, she'd smashed every wedding photo in the place.

The frame styles, the exact angles they were set at, all of it was something Nathaniel had designed piece by piece.

The moment she saw me back, she jabbed a finger at my face and started screaming.

"You're doing this on purpose to force me back into the water, aren't you?"

"You're scared Nathaniel will fall hopelessly in love with the me I am now, aren't you?"

I sighed and reached out to rub her fish head.

"Little seafood, listen to me, hurry back into the water."

"If Nathaniel finds out you're the one who wrecked the wedding photos, he really won't let it go."

I wasn't just trying to scare her.

If she'd only behaved, then after we pulled the scales and took the pearl, I'd still have talked Nathaniel into releasing her back into the ocean to live as one happy little seafood.

But no, she had to come ashore and be human for Nathaniel's sake, and the disasters just kept piling up one after another.

I already had my hands full with the wedding falling apart on me. I honestly had no energy left to clean up after her.

The caretaker was frantic, pacing in circles, begging her.

"Fish lady, I'm begging you! I'm just a lousy hired worker, and you cost twenty million."

"You've ruined all your scales yourself. What am I supposed to pay that back with?"

"Get back in the water before Mr. Henson returns. There's still time to grow new scales."

"Once tonight passes, your scales will never grow back again!"

Sabrina flung the caretaker's hand off and would rather die than get back in the tank.

I sighed.

"If the soft way won't work, then we do it the hard way."

The caretaker, who a second ago had been pleading his heart out, pulled a stun baton from his pocket the next and knocked Sabrina out cold without missing a beat.

By the time she came to, the fish tank had become a water prison.

She was on the other side of a pane of tempered glass, looking like she wanted to lunge through it and tear me apart.

"The caretaker said you can only grow new scales in the water. That's the only way you'll survive."

"Also, I don't want your scales or your pearl anymore. Once you're healed, I'll send you back to the ocean."

Hearing that I meant to send her back to the ocean, Sabrina fought it even harder.

Her hands slammed against the glass over and over until her knuckles split and bled.

"Nathaniel brought me here. You have no right to drive me away!"

The caretaker stamped his feet in a panic.

"Quit while you're ahead. Fish that get hauled up out of the sea never get a chance to go back."

"You should be thanking Miss Summers. She's handing you a way to live!"

But she wouldn't take in a word of it, choking up as she went on about how good Nathaniel had been to her.

"Nathaniel gave me my name, so I'm his fish!"

That name almost made me laugh out of sheer frustration.

Ever since Nathaniel named this fish Sabrina.

This dumb fish's eyes had gone softer and more lovestruck by the day.

But it was all thanks to Nathaniel's smart mouth.

He'd teased her that it meant she was as lovely as a goddess.

Only I knew just how twisted Nathaniel's naming really was.

The name he'd actually been saying wasn't Sabrina at all. It was "Serving," as in his freaking little serving of seafood.

I couldn't bring myself to shatter a fish's girlish little heart, so I kept quiet.

But she just got more worked up.

"And if Nathaniel didn't care about me, why would he come tell me stories every single night?"

I rubbed at my temple, feeling the migraine start to flare up again.

Still, to knock some sense into her, I laid Nathaniel's true face bare.

"Sabrina, haven't you noticed every story Nathaniel tells you ends in tragedy?"

"It's because the two of us made a bet. He bet that a fish's tears could turn into pearls."

"That's why he came around day after day, tirelessly making up stories to trick you into crying."

Sabrina froze for a moment, then quickly shot back, unwilling to give in.

"Impossible. You're just jealous that Nathaniel likes spending time with me more."

"He comes to drink with me every day. It's obviously because being with you is so suffocating that he comes here to drown his sorrows."

At that, I turned to the caretaker, dubious.

"Drink? Can fish even drink?"

The caretaker gave a bitter little smile and leaned close to my ear, dropping his voice.

"That's Mr. Henson's own homemade way of getting the fishy smell out."

"What he's actually been giving her is... cooking wine."

Now it was my turn to be stunned.

I sat with it for two seconds, then couldn't help blurting out:

"Damn! Is Nathaniel even human, or is he a dog?"

Hearing that, Sabrina slammed her own head against the glass and knocked herself out again.

Right before she passed out, she was still muttering under her breath:

"Don't you dare insult my Nathaniel. He clearly loves me to death..."

3: 3

Three in the morning. I got up for a painkiller and walked straight into the caretaker, still stationed by the tank, dutifully tidying up.

He knew that Nathaniel had kept this fish mostly to harvest a mermaid pearl and cure my migraines.

When he saw the pills in my hand, he hesitated, then ventured carefully,

Miss Summers, why don't I take the pearl first and treat you?

I swallowed the pills and waved him off.

Forget it. Harvesting it must hurt like hell.

Besides, I already said I'd release her back into the ocean. I'm not going back on my word.

There was another reason I didn't mention.

I was afraid this little seafood would start wailing to the heavens that I was bullying her while Nathaniel was away.

Sea fish already have louder voices than people.

Let her howl all night and I'd have no chance of sleeping.

Mid-thought, I noticed the quiet by the tank felt wrong.

I looked over. The tank was empty.

Where's the little seafood?

I caught the caretaker's darting eyes, and something dropped in my stomach.

Like a schoolboy caught in the act, he pointed a finger toward that shadowed corner.

Miss Summers, I'm not trying to go against you on purpose.

But not only did she fail to grow new scales, she slammed into the glass during the day and scraped her skin raw.

I had to get her out and disinfect her, or she wouldn't have made it. Then there'd be no mermaid pearl, and not even a whole fish left

Only then did I let out a breath, telling him over and over it was fine.

This caretaker Nathaniel had hired had more than a decade of experience.

Running into this little seafood counted as the biggest Waterloo of his career.

But as long as the fish didn't die, it wasn't a real disaster.

Still, I couldn't just brush myself off and go back to sleep, leaving the caretaker alone to clean up the mess.

What I never imagined was that in this life I'd end up crouched on the floor in the dead of night, dabbing iodine on a fish.

By the time the tenth bottle of iodine ran out, I was tired enough to start cursing.

At the root of it, everything that had happened these past few days was the fault of Nathaniel's big mouth.

I fumed and pulled out my phone, ready to call him,

ready to tell him to get his ass back here and break up with this stupid fish to her face, or else forget marrying me!

But his phone was switched off.

I was about to blast him with a message when the caretaker suddenly looked at me, his face grave,

Miss Summers, this fish seems to bepregnant.

4: 4

My hand jerked. I thought I'd misheard.

Then I gave a flat little laugh.

Told the caretaker he was hilarious, cracking jokes this late at night.

But he pressed his ear back against the little seafood's belly, listened carefully, and his tone was absolutely certain.

In my experience, this fish is pregnant.

AndI'd guess she got that way right around when Mr. Henson first bought her.

In that instant I turned to stone on the spot.

Terrible images came flooding into my head, one after another.

Nathaniel and a fish? When? How was that even possible?!

What snapped me out of it was the little seafood, who had just groggily come to.

She'd caught that last part, and let out a shrill blast right where she lay.

You mean I finally have Nathaniel's flesh and blood in my belly?

Hand me the phone, now. I have to tell Nathaniel the good news!

Her eyes locked instantly on the phone on the table.

And with that eerie gait, like a rat that had eaten poison but hadn't quite died, she inched her way toward it, one step at a time.

I was sweating everywhere. I pinned her hand down.

Sabrina, calm down first.

Nathaniel probably isn't that kind of scumbag, so the baby in your belly isn't necessarily his.

Out in the ocean, did you have an ex-boyfriend or something?

I tried hard to look composed, but inside I was a total mess.

Sabrina yanked her hand free, wary, the corner of her mouth curving up in triumph.

What, do you finally believe now that big brother Nathaniel loves me?

Since you know we have the fruit of our love, I hope you've got some self-awareness. Get out, fast.

I sheepishly pulled my hand back, but still, hard as it was to say, I kept pressing.

Sabrina. I'm not sowing discord, and I'm not jealous, I swear.

Just tell me, how exactly did the two of youumyou know, do it?

The words were barely out before the room went so quiet I could only hear my own heartbeat.

Sabrina's face flushed red, and she dodged the question.

None of your business!

Since I couldn't get an answer out of her, I couldn't exactly pretend nothing had happened and go back to sleep.

So I turned and asked the caretaker,

How about we get a vet to take a look?

The instant she heard the word vet, Sabrina flew into a panic.

Don't even think about it! I am not getting spayed!

She opened her mouth wide, chomped down hard on me, and with the same motion shoved me into the tank.

To save me, the caretaker jumped in right after.

But how could a person in the water ever fight a fish?

Sabrina flung out seaweed and trussed us up tight, then chucked us into the storage room like a couple of packages.

Before shutting the door, she leaned against the frame and sneered,

I figured even if I chased you off, you'd never give up on Nathaniel.

So let's just wait for big brother Nathaniel to come home, and let you see with your own eyes exactly how much he loves me.

I wanted to shout at her to get back in the water, that it was her only chance to stay alive.

But I opened my mouth, and not a sound came out.

God, had I left my vocal cords back in the water?

Seeing the terror on my face, the caretaker dragged himself over with everything he had, and forced out an explanation.

Once a fish bites you, the fish venom kicks in. You won't be able to talk for at least half a month.

Soon enough, the caretaker went silent too.

I looked down and only then saw blood seeping out on his backside.

I struggled in the storage room until I was completely drained.

Just as I was about to give up, I heard the door open in the distance, and Nathaniel's smug, sleazy laugh.

My darling wife, I'm home early!

Where's our chubby little fish? How are those scales coming along?

Hearing Nathaniel's cursed racket, Sabrina was of course the first one to rush out.

Through the crack in the storage room door, I watched her twist that snake-slim waist with all her might and make her way toward him.

She was still wobbling all over the place.

But in her own eyes, she was probably the picture of allure.

In that instant, Nathaniel froze.

The air held still for a few seconds, and then came the one question that burst out of him.

Huh? Where are your scales?