Meribella (Dear Mermaid) Chapter 10

BY BLESSING SILVER

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B-Bella that’s enough” Maurice said when Bella didn’t make any attempt to get up. her head was now on his chest and they still laid on the floor.
“I want to stay like this”
“Ok-ay but uh, I have to make dinner first. It’s getting late, don’t you want to eat?” he asked.
“Food?” she raised her head up to look at him. “I don’t want food yet. I want to stay here”
Huh? Maurice brows flew, she’s rejecting food even after she missed lunch.. surprising!!
“B-But I need to eat, I’ve had nothing all day and if you stay this way for long, I might die..
“Die!” her eyes widened and she raised her head up again “You’re going to die”
“Maybe, if–
“But I don’t want you to die” she said, her heart beating a bit heavily. is Maurice dying and leaving her?
“If you don’t want me to die then get off me, you’re crushing me”
She stood up immediately and brushed hair off her face.
“I’m sorry. Please don’t die!” she pleaded.
Maurice got up, a long sigh passing through his lips. Bella had such a weight! geez, he almost thought he’d die, she didn’t look big but she weighed more than she looked. Diane didn’t even weigh such. well she’s a model, that explains why.
“I won’t,” he managed to say and Bella sighed. “I’ll make dinner now” he moved to the kitchen while Bella put on the TV.
He placed both hands on the counter and took rasp of breaths, wiped the hair off his face and smiled..Bella really won’t stop surprising him.
He took out an apron, a chef cap and washed his hand thoroughly.
He took out the ingredients for chicken soup and rice and set them down. He started first with chopping the onion and leafs.

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They had a silent dinner and he went to his room after clearing the dishes, he didn’t want Bella weird talks now. he spoke to Diane on phone, her project at Paris was gradually coming to an end. He had no idea how she’d react when she meets Bella. He shook the thoughts away, of course he knew how she’d react.. he’ll just have to find another home for Bella before then because Diane would definitely misunderstand everything.
He could tell Joliet but he didn’t know how to do it now, maybe when she sees Bella he’d know how and he had to do it before Diane gets back from the states.
He fell on his bed and released a sigh to the air, the rolling fan entertaining his eyes.
He set the bed , switched off the bed lamp, set the alarm and properly covered himself then drifted to sleep.
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Bella laid on her bed, a happy look on her face and a grin across her lips, almost getting to her ears.
She was happy, too happy; she couldn’t think of anything else other than the hug she had with Maurice, she had hugged people before; her mother, Keenan, Goldie and other mermaids but she had never hugged a humanity nor have bodily contact with one and now she did, she didn’t hug just an ordinary human but her first love.
She remembered how she had hugged Keenan and her mother, she had felt nothing but family love and a friendly attraction but when she hugged Maurice and listened to his heartbeat she felt something else.. it was a feeling more stronger than love, something new and intoxicating and she loved it.. she loves him too..
The feeling was indescribable but it was the best, he was the only one she felt it with.. love mixed with a stronger and connecting passion. she hadn’t felt it before but she didn’t want it to end. She had to stop when she realized Maurice was dying because of her, he was hungry and she was tensing it more. She had wanted to stay there all night and listen to the contacting sound his heart made, the sound that somehow attracted her. She wanted to be there because she knew it was the right thing, the right place to be.
She could die there and still be very happy; that is how much she loves Maurice.

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The next morning Maurice had enough time to do his morning exercise, he didn’t have classes until 2:00pm and he had evening shift at work today..
He set the water on fire for tea and took ingredients for coffee and pancake, he mixed the pancake ingredients and fried them in small pieces, the meal was almost ready when Bella came into the kitchen, calling his name.
“Yes,” he turned to answer her and his eyes caught a toothbrush in her hand.
“What’s this?” she raised it up.
“You don’t know what that is?” he asked, a bit surprised and she shook her head. “So you haven’t used it before? like you’ve never seen it” she shook her head.
He first of all took the hot pancake down then completely lowered the stove before moving to her, he took the brush from her.
“This is a toothbrush,” he started “It’s used to wipe dirt and food particles that might’ve got stocked up in you teeth holes and gums”
The look she showed his told him she didn’t understand anything he was saying.
“Okay, you use this” he raised the brush to her “To clean your teeth. Like this” he pulled his lip apart and took the brush up and down, without letting the brush touch them.
Bella took it from him and did the same thing he did for his teeth, the brush touched her teeth and she smiled when he nodded.
“I got it!”
“You did. Come” she followed him to her room and to the bathroom in her room, he shifted her to the sink and she saw her reflection in the wall mirror placed above the sink. She smiled and it smiled, she had seen something like this so she wasn’t surprised.
Maurice took a toothpaste pack and squeezed some paste out of it and onto her brush. He took another brush and squeezed toothpaste onto it too, he stayed close to Bella.
“Watch me and copy” he said and waved her hair off her face first, he needs to get her a band for it..
He turned the faucet and water rushed down, Bella wowed. He scooped some with his cupped hand and rinsed his mouth with it and poured it out, Bella copied. He took the brush into his mouth and washed his teeth..
“Up, down up down up down…
“Up down up down up down..
Bella sang along and washed her teeth took, Maurice poured the foamy thick liquid out and Bella poured her out too.. he started washing his tongue and Bella followed.. he poured it out, a bit of the liquid unintentionally got into Bella’s mouth and the taste was sweet so she swallowed it all.
“Huh?” Maurice turned to her as she breathed out with her mouth.
“It’s delicious!” she said,
“You can’t swallow that Bella”
“But why?, I like it”
“It’s dangerous.. it’s always safe to pour it out” he said.
“Uh” Bella frowned “I’ll get it out”.
She grumbled and groaned for it to get out but it didn’t, she slapped her chest and made funny sound with her throat..
“That’s enough, it won’t get out. Just take some water” Bella scooped water into her mouth.. “And spit it–
He hadn’t completed his statement when Bella swallowed it and sighed.
“You’re supposed to throw that out too” he shook his head.
“Oh,” she scooped another, rinsed her mouth and spit it into the sink. Maurice rinsed his mouth and taught Bella how to wash the brush, she did it and he set them aside they went back to the living room and he gave her a mint to chew, he took one too after warning her not to swallow it but throw them out once the sweetness were out.
He dished the pancake into two flat ceramic plates placed two cups filled with coffee beside it..
“Mmhh, the smell’s tasty” Bella said, coming into the kitchen.
The smell is tasty.. really Bella?
“Odors can’t be tasty Bella, they’re either nice or bad”
“Okay.. The food smells nice” she corrected.
“That’s more like it” he said “And this is called pancakes, they’re made out of flour”
“Pancakes,” Bella repeated and shifted to it “You smell nice pancakes” she said to it and Maurice chuckled silently.
Bella took her seat and he took his,he helped her butter her pancakes with jam and she cut a forkful then dished it to her mouth. A loud moan came next.
He buttered up his and had his breakfast..
After breakfast he cleared the dishes and wiped the breakfast table then set the chairs in order.
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He was on the couch, typing away time on his phone to his girlfriend. It was better than doing nothing, and Bella? he guessed she’d be in her room since she isn’t in the living room with him.
He was about replying a text that came in from a colleague and friend when Bella rushed in.
“Maurice!” she called in some kinda enthusiasm and he turned, thinking it was an emergency, seeing her smiling face and noticing nothing unusual he calmed and faced back to his phone, quickly typing a message to Diane.
“I saw something!” she said and he gave her a quick glance then returned it back.
“What’s it Bella?” he asked, absent minded.
“Come!” she stretched her hand and he rolled his eyes before taking it, he dropped his iPod on the couch and followed her.
She led him to the back of the house and opened the door that led to the backyard, just what he expected came into full view and irritated his sight.
Water! lots of water, his pool!
She dragged him to it and he realized she had taken off the trampoline Joliet had used to cover it and unscrew the screws, she had taken the rocks off too.
She left his hand and moved to the water, a happy smile on her face.

memories! memories flooded back, lots of it.. He took a step back ward and his lips parted.
He remembered how he and his mother with Joliet had played here, during the day they always watched the sun with their legs covered in it.. he had loved it so much, he visited the pool whenever he wasn’t doing anything.
He remembered how his mother died in the sea, the evil sea! he recollected how her body was brought out. Soggy and disgusting. The water had eaten her up.
His fears for big water began, at first he had refused going near anything that was water. He took drinks for days until he fell sick because of it, he was advised to avoid it and take water instead. He had started with a cup of water, he remembered how his lips had trembled, his eyes ran with tears , his throat clogged as he gulped the water. He realized little water did no harm even though they raised his unforgettable memory sometimes but when he had tried to swim in the pool he realized he had this great phobia for pools. No, not pools but huge waters..
He fainted the first time he tried it, months later he tried again and he fainted, his whole body trembled, it was like he saw his mother calling him into it.. He had heavy phobia for big waters, they irritated him and made the hair on his skin rise.
And now he was here, he couldn’t recollect when last he had visited the pool. He had wanted to take it out but Joliet insisted that he shouldn’t, so instead she covered it up and paid some guys to build a door to demarcate the pool from the main house. It must’ve been three years ago since he has been here last and everything looked the same. He could still remember, he’d sit with his mother and she’d feed him and wash his legs, she treated both he and Joliet like kids even though they were more.
He felt his throat getting clamped, the phobia effects were happening. His whole body was trembling and his eyes was getting misty, his whole being going down.
He thought he’d faint but as soon as the effect started they fled, he was back to himself. He thought he was hallucinating, he felt a palm on his, holding him tight and intertwining their fingers. He looked down slowly and saw Bella, her palm was on his and she stood right beside him, her eyes comforting.
He wondered why he hadn’t fallen, he always fell but now it was like another force had taken over him.
Bella had seen the way he looked at the pool, she had known right from time that he hated the sea but she had no idea he hated little ones too. she had seen how he shifted back, drove into thoughts with his palm tightening into fists at intervals. She knew something was wrong so she went to him and held his trembling hands, something she had always wanted to do right from the sea; to comfort him. She saw the teary eyes turning into shock.
She didn’t know why but she was glad she could comfort him, When he looked at her and she saw the sadness she couldn’t withstand the urge to hug him and she did, her hand wrapped around his neck.
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