Zhao Wen put down the sponge — much to Mei Ling’s regret — and went to turn on the screen on the other side of the lab. He used his smart brain to connect to it and then opened one of the popular channels on the reel of the network’s entertainment page. A video appeared on the screen that showed a man singing and dancing.
Mei Ling tilted his head and watched while Zhao Wen got back to work and brushed the scales. "That doesn’t look like a girl." Mei Ling finally came to this conclusion.
Zhao Wen looked up, mouth slightly agape. "No, that’s … that’s a man."
"Then what about the recording of that girl? Can you show me that?" The man wasn’t bad but he liked the song Zhao Wen had hummed. It sounded much nicer.
Zhao Wen hesitated but finally gave a nod and searched for an old file that had been uploaded several years ago. Considering that it was one of only a few videos on the channel, it had indeed gotten a lot of views. But naturally, it couldn’t compare to the kind of popular channel from the home page.
The video started and Mei Ling watched intently. Finally hearing the words of the song, his fin flapped once before it lay still. Surprisingly, this was a sad love song. She was singing about falling in love with somebody but not daring to tell them. In the end, the person walked past them and they never saw each other again. What stunned him even more was her appearance though. "She looks a lot like you."
He tilted his head in the other direction and looked at Zhao Wen. He hadn’t seen many humans so far. There were only Zhao Wen and Xiao Xin who came regularly and then a few 'assistants' that were changing every now and then. All of them looked more similar to each other than they looked to him but he had never seen two who looked so much alike like this girl and Zhao Wen.
The researcher smiled and reached over, tousling Mei Ling’s hair. "Seems like it. Now, what about your tail? Don’t you want me to scrub the back as well?"
Mei Ling flopped down again and obediently rolled over, once again narrowing his eyes in comfort when Zhao Wen scrubbed the other side of his tail. He couldn’t help but continue to think about that story though. "Xiao Xin told me that brothers and sisters are family. People you live together with."
"Mn, for the most part, that’s true. Although families don’t always live together."
Mei Ling blinked his eyes and looked over his shoulder. "Than what is a family?"
Zhao Wen paused and pondered the question. "Well, that’s … that could be the people you are related to. As in they have the same blood as you. Like your parents and other children of your parents or your own children. But they could also be a person you aren’t related to. For example, if you love somebody and then you marry them, that person is also your family."
"I don’t think I understand." Mei Ling furrowed his brows. "What about my family then?"
"That …" Zhao Wen hurriedly continued to scrub his tail. "I don’t know about that." And he couldn’t help but feel a little guilty about that. While he loved his research, he was very clear that this research on mermaids was precisely what had robbed this little merman of his family. He didn’t have the heart to tell him that.
Mei Ling once again propped his chin up on his hands. "I don’t know my parents or my brothers and sisters and I don’t have children."
Zhao Wen gave a low hum, hoping that he would leave the topic alone if he didn’t give much of a response.
Unfortunately, Mei Ling had other ideas. "Xiao Xin likes her family very much. What about you? Do you have a family? Do you like them?"
Zhao Wen paused and then turned the sponge again, once again scrubbing the last few scales with the soft side. "I had. But that was long ago. I loved them dearly though."
Mei Ling watched him with an ignorant expression but finally, his face lit up. "So you don’t have a family now. Just like me. Actually, that’s great. Why don’t we become a family then?"
Zhao Wen almost dropped the sponge. "That …" Looking up into the little merman’s eyes, he couldn’t bring himself to shoot the idea down though. "Eh, I guess that’s what we should do." He reached out and rubbed his head. "Anyway, I’ve finished scrubbing your tail. Do you want to get back into the tank? Your skin is going to become dry, otherwise."
Mei Ling looked at his tail and his face lit up when he saw the sparkling scales. He already wanted to nod and do as he was told when he spotted something else in the trunk next to Zhao Wen. He turned around and grabbed it and then held it in front of Zhao Wen. "Why don’t you also brush my hair? After all, it’s my anniversary."
"Didn’t I already scrub your tail for your anniversary?"
"Yes, but now it’s also the anniversary of us becoming a family. I want you to brush my hair for that anniversary."
Zhao Wen shook his head with a laugh but still took the brush from him. "Alright then. But after that, you have to get back into the tank. It’s not good for your skin."
"Mn." Mei Ling didn’t mind and just turned his back to him, closing his eyes to enjoy the brush strokes.
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