I promptly sat up in reflex and jumped into the water, searching around crazily. Even so, all I found was the vague illumination of the lights from both sides of the canal, and no glimpse of a fishtail.
Realizing that the glimpse I had a moment ago could be an illusion, I was crumbling inside and started to flail my arms wildly against the water like a child throwing a tantrum, but I just couldn’t care about the weird looks pedestrians nearby were throwing at me.
“Dicken! Get out here, you bastard! “ I yelled maniacally. “I know it’s you! It has to be! Are you punishing me? Did you want me to see me lose my mind thinking about you? Or did you just want to see how much I yearn for you? Well, let me tell you this—you’ve totally won! I’ve been searching for you for over a year… A whole year! If I can’t see you again… F*ck, I’ve really gone crazy…“
I lowered my head in despair and buried my face in the water, feeling as if something was stuck in my chest as despair overcame me.
But suddenly, a crazy thought occurred to me as if I was given guidance.
I had no idea if I was really crazy, but I climbed back on the gondola and rowed it as close to the iron gate as possible, so that pedestrians wouldn’t see the craziness I was up to.
After all, it was actually a little crazy, and anyone who saw me would definitely think that I was a woman with a disgusting, obscene fetish.
Having hid the gondola in the darkness, I lay on my back and undid the buttons of my thoroughly soaked shirt, one by one.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: The merman, my man