***

I felt my consciousness beginning to find itself but before I could open my eyes, I struggled to breathe under the weight that sat on my chest and then eventually, I snapped my eyes open and turned around, heaving as the water came rushing out of my mouth, leaving a burning sensation on the back of my throat.

Once I could breathe properly, I collapsed back on the rock and closed my eyes, taking a moment to enjoy the serene silence despite the cold air that wafted around me.

"Are you alright?" I jumped up at the sudden voice, looking around me to see nothing but the ocean and the large rock that I was sat on, stranded in the middle of the ocean.

Only one answer rang in my mind. 

I'd travelled worlds. 

That would explain it but... What world am I in right now?

Sitting up, I perched one of my legs up, resting my elbow on my knee as I ran a hand through my hair, closing my eyes to think of possible scenarios that could lead me to my wife.

"I said... Are you alright?" And I snapped my eyes open, following the sound of the voice to be met with bright baby pink eyes. Was that normal in this world?

"Who are you?" I heard myself ask.

"Just a normal merman that saw a drowning man and decided to save him instead of eating him," He rested his chin on his hands that rested on the rock, a small smile on his face. From what I could see, he looked like a normal human man but all I could see was the naked top half of his body.

"What did you just say?... A merman?" He nodded his head, pushing himself up and I moved back when I saw that he wasn't lying. A blue tail was indeed there in place of legs, a blue tail that seemed to have been made of glistening crystals. He himself looked to be more beautiful than what words could describe but I wasn't about to say that.

"You... saved me from drowning?" I unsurely asked and he nodded his head, a proud, childlike grin on his face. Now that I think about it, I did fall into the ocean and start to disintegrate in that other world. Maybe that's how I ended up here.

"Where did you come from?" He asked this time.

"Another world," I answered.

"Wow, really!" I was taken aback by his excitement and shuffled back some more, if I kept doing that then I would eventually fall back into the ocean.

"Why did you save me?" I changed the topic. A confused look fell on his face as he sat on the rock not far from me.

"Do I need a reason to save a drowning person?" He tilted his head to the side as if thinking about it.

"You said you chose to save me instead of eating me,"

"Yeah, I was messing with you," He waved his hand, laughing at himself.

"Messing with me? How old are you?" I scoffed.

"I'm 17. Why? How old are you? Wait, wait, no. Let me guess... You're a gorgeous man. I think I might be in love..." I felt my brows twitch as he leaned in closer, making me feel like an object at some sort of exhibition.

"I'm 28," I answered before he could say anything.

"Really?" He raised a brow and I slowly nodded. He said he's 17 and he looked like it, but his personality said otherwise, I wouldn't have been surprised if he said he was 5. And yet, in some ways, he reminds me of Aria.

"But... You're a really handsome man," He complimented.

"You already said that," I pointed out.

"Why were you drowning in the middle of the Caribbean sea? There are no ships and no land for you to have jumped from. Unless you fell from one of those massive pigeons in the sky," He put a hand on his chin as if thinking about it.

"A massive pigeon?" What kind of world did I land myself in?

"Yeah, I heard some humans talking about them a few months ago when I was near the shore but I don't remember what they called it... A plate?... An air-oh-something-majig," He gave up, waving his hand as if to dismiss the thoughts which I was glad for, having no clue as to where this conversation was going.

"I already told you. I'm not from here... I fell into the ocean after chasing my wife in that other world and then before I knew it, I lost consciousness and woke up here," I found myself explaining to him.

"You have a wife!" That seemed to be all he understood from that sentence.

"Yes," I said anyway.

"Oh, chucks-" He pouted. "And I was hoping to get a piece of you first,"

"Excuse me?" I felt my brows twitch for the umpteenth time.

"You can't blame me. A man as beautiful as you only comes once every blue moon. And the merpeople in this world are just all too annoying. Humans are much better companions but the only problem is that very few of them are nice to look at... but that may just be because of my high standards since there isn't one physically ugly merperson in this world," He continued to rant after that, having forgotten about the current situation.

"Have you seen a woman with blondish-brown hair, light skin and blue eyes? I need to find my wife as soon as I can,"

"Is she a pretty lady?" He grinned.

"The prettiest. Now, have you seen her?" He thought about it for the longest time and I was growing more and more impatient until he finally snapped his fingers.

"I saw a blue-eyed mermaid today. That might have been her. If we go to the main reef then we might find her there. Oh, it's because you said blue eyes. The only mermaids in this universe that have blue eyes are the royal mermaids and there are only two of them; the princess and the King but the princess lives on land now and the King is all the way in the North Atlantic,"

"How certain are you that, that was my wife?" I raised a suspicious brow.

"Well, I've never seen your wife before but I know for certain that the blue-eyed woman I saw today was not an ordinary woman, she fits your description perfectly so I guess if I'm to say anything from a mathematical or scientific point of view, then I could be 38.09% sure," He paused for a moment but then grinned.

"So... Do you want me to help you find that woman?" He asked.

"One problem. I'm not a merman, I can't breathe underwater," I pointed out obviously.

"Oh, that's not a problem at all," Chuckling, he waved his hand then jumped up, taking me by complete surprise as I fell back on my elbows and he held my face, covering my lips with his.

He kissed me... He was kissing me!

It wasn't for long but he eventually moved back, a satisfied look sitting on his face as he licked his lips. "What was that for?" I glared, rubbing at my lips where his lips had touched and he laughed, shrugging his shoulders.

"Jump into the water and you'll find out,"

...

P.S. This world in this chapter is a little sneak peek of my upcoming book.

Hope you enjoyed the chap :)