"Wow, what a beauty..." I heard someone say from behind me.

I turned around and made eye contact with a pair of blue eyes. "M-Mr. Luis...." I cursed myself for stuttering as I watched him walk towards me. I took an involuntary step back as he neared me.

I suddenly thought about his earlier statement.

"Yes yes it really is beautiful," I said and turned around to watch the view, giving him my back. He chuckled.

"I was talking about you, not the view." My breath hitched at his words.

"Mr. Luis...t-thats inappropriate!" I exclaimed as he kept on staring at me, making me even more uncomfortable and nervous. 

"How's that inappropriate? I find you handsome so I spoke my mind. Tell me, did I lie?" He said nearing his face to mine, making me move my face away from him.

"No, you did not but I'm straight!" I exclaimed, annoyed with his actions now.

I stepped back and glared at him, and he chuckled "How do you know you are straight? Have you ever dated a guy even?" He raised an eyebrow, expecting me to question myself but he doesn't know I have a confident personality too.

"I know what I want, so please stop pestering me or else I'll complain to my seniors." I threatened before rushing downstairs and into my shared room.

"What's got you so hyped up, hmm?" I heard Kengi ask me as I took deep breaths to calm myself down. 

"That-that senior Antonio-" 

"The gay guy who keeps staring at you?" Kengi said looking up from his book.

My face morphed into a shocked one as I stared at him wide-eyed. 

"H-How do you know?!" Kengi chuckled. 

"It's so obvious from his stares that he has taken a liking for you," Kengi mumbled as he got back to reading his book.

I sighed and sat down beside him on his bed. "But I'm straight!" 

"Keep on rejecting him then, he's bound to give up at some point..." Kengi mumbled.

I sighed again, before returning to my bed. "If you sigh too much you'll get old faster and have wrinkles too," I heard Kengi say.

Instantly, I palmed my handsome face and gave it some massages and pats.

I did not sigh for the whole day then.

"Mr. Akabane! Mr. Kim! We are here!" I heard Professor Rain shout from the hallway. Both of us put away our things before leaving our room and going up the deck with our professor.

Dr. Costa was giving some instructions to the skilled divers before they jumped into the water. She turned towards us and held up two diving suits. "Here, these are custom-made to fit you guys."

We quickly put on our suits and waited for further instructions.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Antonio also in a diving suit and eyeing my figure in the bodycon diving suit. I brushed him off and focused on the task ahead.

Even though I have dived before, not to see sharks but to study coral reefs, I still cannot stop the nervous feeling from building inside me. I was getting the same feelings I got when I first went for a dive, a slow fall into the mysterious waters of our Earth.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves, and missed Dr. Costa's warnings.

"Alright! Everyone, good luck!" I heard her say. I put on my mask and fixed and checked all the pieces of equipment before signalling my professor and Kengi, and dove into the water.

It took me a few seconds to get adjusted to my surroundings and when I did, I was awestruck by the beautiful view.

Yes, it was all blue and green but the colours mixed all so well along with the tiny colourful fishes swimming here and there in a rush.

I snapped out of my senses when I saw a diver wave at me from a distance. I waved back and he gave me a thumbs up. Then he made some motion with his hands and swam forward.

Come, I found a shark!

That's what he said.

I swam forward with expertise and looked behind to see Kengi and Antonio swimming behind me. I made the same hand movements to them and they gave me a thumbs up which I returned with a thumbs up of mine.

I looked forward and followed the diver who was going a bit deeper into the ocean now.

The "Golden Rule" of diving. Never hold your breath underwater. It's a big fat NO.

I suddenly stopped as I felt a shadow overhead. I looked up to see a shark swimming towards Kengi and Antonio. They immediately stopped moving as the shark went around them, sensing them before it swam a bit more calmly now.

I slowly swam towards it, while trying to see its underbelly.

It's white!

Immediately, I pressed the small button on my wrist, which sent a signal to the divers who went in before us and also our seniors on deck.

I swam towards Kengi and stood or float in this case beside him. The shark this time sensed me before going back to its calm self.

I looked at it as it swam freely around us, my eyes shining with excitement.

Kengi and Antonio swam a bit further away from me so the shark was now only circling me.

I did not have an ounce of fear in my body instead, I was brimming with excitement. I touched the shark's skin with my gloved hand as it began to swim away somewhere else.

Big mistake.

I hissed as I felt its scales pierce my glove and then my skin.

Shoot shoot shoot! I'm gonna bleed!

I quickly swam to the surface and raised my cut hand above the water in time. Kengi and Antonio noticed my movements and immediately understood what my idiot self did.

My blood ran cold as I felt the blood from the cut run down my arm and drip into the water. My head was still underwater and I saw the shark move its head, smelling the blood in the water.

It turned and swam really fast towards me.

This is it. I'm gonna die today, right now. Thank you my parents for taking care of me and Miguel and Kengi for being my friends even though I'm a really big introvert.

Many will close their eyes at this moment but I looked the shark in the eye as I watched it swimming towards me with its big mouth open, rows of its jagged teeth staring back at me with hunger.

Come on you stupid shark! You should be honoured that I'm allowing you to eat such an ethereal beauty like myself.

When it was a meter away from me, it suddenly turned around and swam in the opposite direction. I frowned as I saw it swim away. Taking the chance, I quickly swam towards the yacht.

Suddenly, I felt an arm wrap around my waist and a hand gripping my wrist and pulling it out of the water. I felt the speed increase as Kengi, Antonio and I all together swam towards the yacht.

Within a few seconds, we reached the boat and I was immediately pulled out of the water and laid on the deck. I pulled off my mask with my good hand and coughed a few times.

"What the hell were you thinking Jin?!" Kengi was the first to yell at me as he rushed to my side. I sat up and removed the tank and gloves from my hand and inspected the wound.

The scales did not go much deep thanks to the gloves.

I quickly took off my fins and stood with the help of Kengi. I gave a slight apologetic bow to my seniors. "I'm sorry seniors I was not thinking before I touched it."

I heard them sigh before I felt a pat on my shoulder. "It's okay Mr. Kim, go clean up," I heard our professor say before I was dragged from there.

Kengi pulled me into our shared room and made me sit on my bed before grabbing the first aid kit and sitting beside me while pulling out the tweezers from the kit. I moaned in pain as Kengi gripped one of the scales with the tweezers firmly. "It's gonna hurt..." I heard him say before he pulled out the scale in a quick motion. I screamed in pain gripping my wrist tightly to stop the feeling. "A lot," Kengi finished his sentence.

I cursed at my idiot self and then my miserable life.

"I might have to gag you Jin..." I glared at him and moved my hand to the tweezers. I bit my lip as Kengi held another scale with the tweezers.

Just know, the evening and night were filled with my screams and groans of pain which I am sure even the sharks heard.

A/N:
Because I need to make the book looonger. 😊 The plot's slow but it's okay, r8?

- K.I.

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