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I bought myself a companion merman, and pretty much every day, I practically glued myself to him, begging for cuddles.

But he was incredibly fierce. The second I touched him, he would bare his fangs.

I was just about to drain his tank to teach him a lesson when a message from Customer Support popped up on my phone.

"We are so sorry, babe! We checked our records and realized we shipped you the wrong order. He is an ornamental merman. He does NOT provide intimate services!"

"Please keep your distance! If he detects any boundary-crossing behavior, he will instantly go feral. Your physical safety will be at risk!"

Cold sweat prickled across my skin. I was terrified. I needed to run out of the bathroom right now.

But to my absolute shock, the man did the exact opposite of what I expected. His wet, slippery tail coiled aggressively around my waist.

He gripped my chin, his voice low and dripping with danger.

"You drained the water. Are you trying to dry me out, or..."

"I didn't mean to!"

My tongue tied itself into knots. I was too terrified to even process what Silas was saying.

His strength was terrifying. His tail wrapped around me like a vice.

Because of the lack of water, the scales on his tail fin flared open slightly. They brushed against my thigh, sparking a shivering, electric numbness that traveled straight up my spine.

"I will fill it! I will turn the water on right now!"

I flailed wildly, my hands blindly smacking the nearby valve.

The biting cold water shocked my system, making me violently flinch.

Feeling the soothing rush of the current, Silas's tense muscles seemed to relax just a fraction. The crushing grip of his tail loosened.

I scrambled frantically over the edge of the oversized tub, my knees slamming hard against the slippery porcelain tiles. Because I was soaking wet, I lost my balance and tumbled right back in.

A low groan rumbled in his chest.

His tail instinctively constricted around me again. His body temperature was rising rapidly, burning against my skin as if he was ready to boil me alive and devour me whole.

Was he about to go feral?!

Panic hijacked my brain. I scrambled out on all fours, bolting out of the bathroom and slamming the door shut. I locked the deadbolt, leaning heavily against the wooden frame, gasping for air like I had just run a marathon.

It took a long time for my heart rate to settle. Then I realized my slippers were still inside. I had no choice but to creep back in.

"I am so sorry!" I stuttered, my eyes darting everywhere but at him. "I accidentally hit the wrong switch earlier. I swear I will stay far away from you from now on! I will never touch you again!"

Through the thick, rising steam, he stared at me for a long time. His beautifully sculpted brows furrowed, but he kept his mouth shut.

I tiptoed toward the edge of the tub to grab my shoes.

Suddenly, his tail gave a tiny twitch. I shrieked and sprinted back out.

Whatever. I didn't need those shoes anyway.

Honestly, I had always sensed Silas's resistance toward me.

He hated it when I got close to the pool. He especially loathed it when I tried to touch his fins or his abs.

Whenever I leaned over the edge with stars in my eyes, begging for a cuddle, he would just ice me out and sink straight to the bottom.

To even get him to surface, I had to threaten to cut off his premium food supply. Only then would he float up, glaring at me the entire time.

I even tried pulling the "Master" card, warning him that if he didn't let me pet his scales, I would sell him to the underground seafood market. That was the only way he would reluctantly rest his tail on the edge of the pool.

Even then, every time I touched him, Silas would go completely rigid, looking like a martyr enduring torture.

I always thought I had just unlocked some ultra-rare, tsundere merman variant. I figured he just needed time, patience, and a slow burn romance.

Who knew he was literally an untouchable ornamental fish?!

Thinking back on how shamelessly thirsty I had been acting these past few months, constantly drooling over him and even threatening to drain his water to force myself on him... I felt my face burn with intense humiliation.

The customer support rep's message chimed again.

"We are so, so sorry, babe! It was completely our mistake. Please don't leave a bad review!"

"Can we process a return and a full refund for you?"

"No need," I typed back, feeling a heavy sense of loss. "Even if he can't be my companion, he is still gorgeous to look at. I just won't touch him."

Because the truth was, Silas was breathtakingly beautiful.

Whenever he stretched out underwater, that deep, iridescent blue tail looked like the most luxurious silk, refracting a mesmerizing, dizzying glow through the ripples.

He would even hum unknown siren lullabies with this hauntingly ethereal voice. It cured my severe insomnia every single time.

I was already a little too attached to him.

"Understood, babe! In that case, we will ship a complimentary companion-type merman to you right away!"

I stared at that offer, and a shameful wave of excitement washed over me. After all, from the very beginning, all I wanted was a companion merman who would kiss me, hug me, and sweep me off my feet.

If Silas was off-limits, there was no harm in touching a different fish, right?

When I woke up the next morning, muscle memory took over. I grabbed my specialized soft-bristle brush and walked toward the indoor pool. Just as I was about to crouch down, my brain rebooted, and I froze mid-motion.

I guess I was just too used to forcing Silas to surface every morning so I could scrub his scales. The sudden change in routine threw me off.

Accepting reality, I put the brush away and turned to leave.

Splash.

The water's surface broke.

The man's physique was long and perfectly sculpted, with broad shoulders tapering down to a narrow waist. Crystal-clear droplets rolled down his sharp, clean jawline, tracing the deep grooves of his eight-pack before disappearing into the vibrant blue scales below.

I cursed the breeders a thousand times in my head. Making an ornamental fish this outrageously gorgeous was a crime against humanity. Look but don't touch? Absolute torture.

I forced myself to look away and pivoted toward the door to head to work.

But out of nowhere, Silas glided to the edge. A large, elegant hand shot out and clamped firmly around my ankle.

"What are you doing?"

I panicked, stumbling a step backward, desperately trying to keep my distance.

Instead of letting go, Silas slid his grip up to my wrist. With a slight pull, I was forced to bend forward, my gaze crashing straight into his dark, unreadable eyes.

"No scale brushing today?"

Back then, I used to get so frustrated by his cold shoulder that I took twisted pleasure in giving him daily bonding tasks.

Aside from singing me to sleep, he had to let me brush his tail every single morning.

And he had to rest his tail right on my lap while I did it, inch by agonizing inch.

He would always tense up, his face a mask of bitter endurance, looking like he was suffering the ultimate indignity.

Seeing him like that only fueled my wicked side. I used the brushing as an excuse to cop a feel everywhere I could, until I was blushing so hard I thought my heart would give out, forcing me to stop.

At first, Silas fought it hard. He even bared his sharp, predatory fangs to warn me off.

But his resistance was useless. I controlled the food supply. I was the boss.

Eventually, he got used to it. Lately, he had been swimming over on his own when the time came.

But now? I didn't have a death wish!

I scrambled like a maniac, yanking my wrist free from his palm.

"No, no! You can take care of it yourself from now on."

He stared at me without blinking. It made the hair on my arms stand up.

"Are you tired of my body?"

I didn't quite catch that. I was just about to ask him to repeat himself.

"Do whatever you want!"

He threw those words at me, then spun around and swam to the furthest, darkest corner of the pool, aggressively scrubbing his own scales.

I knew it. He had hated it the whole time. I was just too blind to see it before.

I forced a dry laugh and muttered, "Also, you don't have to massage my feet after work anymore."

I used to make him rub my tired feet every time I got home from the office.

But now... I decided to stop torturing him.

His fingers, gripping the edge of the pool, tightened until his knuckles turned stark white.

Terrified he was about to lash out, I didn't even wait for a response. I practically bolted out the front door.

I stopped clinging to him. I stopped forcing him to do humiliating things. He should be thrilled, right?

I had only been at my desk for half an hour when a shipping notification popped up.

The support rep left a message.

"Babe, your companion merman has been shipped! Please keep an eye out for the delivery!"

"Also, here are his personal specs so you can prep his living arrangements in advance!"

I clicked the document attached to the chat.

Name: Finn. Specs: 6'0", 155 lbs, 10 inches, 3 hours, Pearl Pink.

That was way too detailed! And pink... how delicate.

Silas's tank was filled with hard, jagged volcanic rocks and dark, moody aquascaping. Finn definitely wouldn't like that. I needed to buy some soft coral beds and cute decorations for him.

After work, I hit the pet boutique and bought a mountain of aquatic supplies.

As I walked past an adult novelty store, a pearl tail chain in the display window caught my eye.

It was a gorgeous, intricate design. Tiny pearls linked together, ending in two incredibly fluffy little pom-poms with slightly curled tips.

If that was wrapped around a merman's tail... the visual alone was enough to spike my blood pressure.

My mind instantly conjured the image of Silas's powerful, deep blue tail. If he wore something like this...

Stop!

I violently shook my head, throwing Silas's image out of my brain.

But somehow, as if possessed, I walked in and bought it anyway.

The second I stepped through my front door, I felt an oppressive, suffocating drop in the air pressure.

The bathroom door was wide open. Silas wasn't in his tank. He had shifted into his human legs and was sitting on the living room sofa.

When merfolk stay out of water for too long, their tails split into human legs. But the process is agonizing for them, so Silas almost never did it.

Right now, his long, muscular legs were casually crossed, and he was staring at me with pure frost in his eyes.

"Where did you go?" His voice was colder than usual, practically dripping with ice.

"Just shopping," I replied, feeling totally baffled by the interrogation.

I set the shopping bags on the coffee table. Just as I reached in to sort the items, Silas suddenly stood up and snatched the bag away.

"What did you buy?"

"Hey! Don't touch that!" I panicked, reaching out to grab it back, but his reflexes were lethal.

His long, elegant fingers pulled out that highly suggestive pearl chain.

Silas's eyes instantly darkened to pitch black. He stared at the chain, then at me. His Adam's apple bobbed heavily.

"You... like this kind of thing?"

His voice dropped to a gravelly rasp, layered with an emotion I couldn't decipher.

I ignored him, pretending to busy myself with the other supplies.

A few moments later, he stepped out of the bathroom.

He had awkwardly wrapped the chain around his own torso. The silver wire pulled taut against his skin. The pearls rolled from his collarbone, digging into the swell of his pecs, trailing down the deep groove of his abs. With every flex of his muscles, the pearls bounced.

The final pearl rested right at the very edge of his V-line, half-sunken into the seam where his scales began.

He looked down at that pearl, then looked up at me. The corner of his mouth twitched downward.

"It's a little tight. But I can tolerate wearing it."

Silas's voice was low, husky, and dangerously seductive.

"Actually... I can produce pearls too. I could always..."

Oh my god! This was a massive misunderstanding.

I swallowed hard, forcing myself to speak. "It's going to damage your scales. Take it off right now."

"No need." I could hear a faint, almost imperceptible hint of pleasure in his tone. "I actually love it."

My face erupted in flames. I was so embarrassed I could have dug a hole through the floorboards.

I used to buy him all sorts of weird, kinky accessories, and he always outright refused to wear them.

"No! That isn't for you!" I rushed to explain, reaching out to snatch the chain back.

Silas's hand shot out, his fist clamping tightly over the pearls.

"Not for me?" He took a menacing step forward, backing me up. "Then who exactly were you planning to give it to?"

Midnight.

I got up to grab a glass of water, only to hear a low, mesmerizing melody drifting through the halls.

It carried a piercing, intoxicating allure that made my core run hot and my knees go weak.

Like a moth to a flame, I pushed the pool room door open.

Moonlight spilled through the skylight, illuminating Silas. Half of his torso was out of the water.

He was actually wearing the black leather collar with the tiny bell! The exact one I bought months ago, tried to force on him, and watched him toss into the bottom of the tank!

The dark leather strapped tightly right below his Adam's apple, contouring perfectly to his neck.

Every time he tilted his head back to sing, the movement of his throat pressed against the leather, leaving faint pink indentations. The little bell trembled non-stop, ringing with a delicate ding, ding, ding.

Water droplets slid down his flawless jaw, sinking into the deep valley of his chest.

He was an absolute menace!

I swore I was about to get a nosebleed.

Silas stopped singing. He tilted his head, locking eyes with me. His gaze was hazy and lethal, his voice dangerously hoarse.

"This one... this one has to be for me, right?"

I ruthlessly pinched my own thigh, forcing my brain to snap back to reality.

The customer service warning screamed in my head. Ornamental merman. No intimate services. Do not cross the boundary. He will kill you.

Looking at him right now, he probably just thought it was a pretty necklace. He had absolutely no idea what that collar actually symbolized!

If I lunged at him right now, he would probably rip my throat out with his teeth.

I forced my eyes away with sheer willpower.

"Take it off. It looks too tight. From now on, we keep our distance. You don't have to force yourself to wear these things anymore."

The bell on the collar instantly went dead silent. His facial expression didn't shift a millimeter. With a bitter, defiant edge to his voice, he whispered, "...Fine."

"Great!"

The emotion in Silas's eyes shattered into a million pieces, leaving behind a terrifying, empty void.

He coldly ripped the collar off his neck and threw it onto the wet tiles. The bell let out a sharp, pitiful crack.

"As you wish."

He sank beneath the dark water, completely vanishing from sight.