If I disappear

  Luo Lian finally entered the world she had imagined in her dreams many years ago. In the morning, she woke up to the sound of waves, birdsong, and whale calls outside her wooden window. Before the Whale King woke up, Luo Lian ran outside alone and discovered a few early spring flowers hidden at the foot of the cliff. She picked them and put them in a glass cup filled with water on the table. The sunlight passing through the glass cup created a rainbow that spread across the ceiling of their small wooden house, shining on the Whale King's face. When he woke up, he thought he had walked from one dream into another. The two of them were like newlyweds, taking care of their daily life together, and they seemed like divine lovers, leisurely spending their days in a paradise-like Rain Flower Crown. They didn't need to talk endlessly; just sitting face-to-face, holding each other's hands, they could feel their hearts beating as one. Neither of them would disturb the other; they would bask in the winter sun on the sea, and even fall asleep unknowingly in the peaceful silence. Their life was without pressure, worries, or a sense of time. They played with whales, stepped on waves, and dug up beautiful stones everywhere. When they were in high spirits, the Whale King would take Luo Lian to the deep sea on his whale-watching boat. Luo Lian, who had never been mischievous before, would suddenly jump into the icy cold spring sea from the boat, leaving the Whale King standing at the ship's edge, shouting: "Come back! Come back!" Later, he knew Luo Lian would always come back, so he leaned against the ship's pillar, smiling and saying: "No wonder people say you're a mermaid!"

  "If one day I leap down and really become a fish, swimming away and disappearing, what would you do?" Luolan gazed up at him from the water, bobbing up and down with the waves.

  "No way, you won't, you'll definitely come back." Whale King knew that Luo Lian was teasing him.

  He watched as she calmly and quietly dove into the depths of the ocean, not resurfacing for half a day. The sea was eerily calm, with only the whale king staring at the still surface, thinking she would emerge at any moment. But the entire world seemed to be waiting in solitude, just like him. He grew more and more frightened, shouting: "Whale... Whale..."

  The whale king was about to jump off the ship when Lotus suddenly leaped out of the water, her long red hair whipping out a curved splash of water that sparkled in the sunlight. She could hold her breath underwater for longer and longer periods of time, far exceeding the whale king's imagination. The whale king didn't know that if it weren't for the heart that feared the whale king's worry, she could have escaped for a while longer.

  The Whale King had fully anticipated the unbearable pain of losing his Whale, and as soon as he pulled her up, he tightly hugged her in his arms and refused to let go: "I've learned my lesson, don't scare me like that again!"

  Luo Lian had never seen Whale King so disheartened and pitiful, it was both funny and heart-wrenching.

  "Don't laugh," said the Whale King. "All of you can transform into fish and swim away, but I won't be able to. One person will have to stay on shore, and you're still laughing! My parents went to become mermaid couples in the sea, if you want to become a human-fish too, then you must take me with you."

  Laurie exclaimed, "Good, good!" and then dragged the Whale King to the edge of the deck, using all her might to push him into the sea. She herself also jumped in, and the Whale King emerged from the water, shouting, "The ship, the ship! What about the ship?"

  Luo Lian grasped the Whale King's neck: "Wait a bit before chasing again!" The Whale King hadn't even had time to struggle, and was already pressed underwater by Luo Lian.