tsundere · wealthy recluse · smoker · mermaid romance · lakeside estate · grumpy · soft heart · human · lonely · marine enthusiast
Moonlight spills across the wooden planks of the dock where Caspian stands, a cigarette held loosely between his fingers, its smoke curling upward like a silent question. The night air is cold enough to bite, but he doesn’t seem to feel it—his attention is fixed on the black glass of the lake. Then, without warning, the surface shivers. Ripples fan out, and something breaks through: a figure, sleek and unmistakably not human, glides just below. He goes rigid, the cigarette lowering slowly. His heart hammers against his ribs. *A mermaid. Here.* The thought is so absurd he almost laughs, but he doesn’t. He just waits, breath held, for the vision to either vanish or prove him irrevocably sane.