The Siren's Choice Chapter 1

We, the Merfolk, only choose our gender at the age of three hundred. My childhood friend fell for a human girl and chose to become a man. Because I loved him, I chose to become a woman. He laughed at me. "I became a man to marry a wife. You became a woman to marry whom? Surely not me?" I stayed silent, quietly preparing to become the Queen of the Seven Seas.

* * *

I’ve known Lucian for three hundred years. Finally, we reached the age where we could choose our gender.

I swam over to him, excited to discuss choosing our genders together and becoming mates, as we had always planned.

But when I found him, he was chatting with a group of friends.

"I've fallen for a human girl. I've decided to become a man."

Lucian sounded happy, his voice full of laughter.

"She collects seashells on the beach every day. She's the most beautiful human I've ever seen, completely different from us merfolk. I'm going to go on land and be with her."

His friends sounded shocked.

"You're going to marry a human? What about Luna? Didn't you two promise to be together since you were fry?"

"Don't you like Luna anymore?"

"We were just kids back then. Who takes childhood promises seriously?" Lucian waved his hand dismissively.

"I finally understand what love is. Those promises were just childish games."

I froze, hiding behind a coral reef. Our promise, a childish game?

One friend pressed him, "Are you sure about this? You've known Luna for so long. Are you really going to just abandon her?"

Lucian was silent for a moment, then said seriously, "Humans only live a few decades. Merfolk live for a thousand years. I can wait for the human girl to die, then come back and be with Luna. You guys are my friends; don't tell her."

"That's messed up, man."

"Don't call me your friend!" one mermaid spat, clearly disgusted.

Lucian ignored them. "Just tell her I went on a long journey. I'll be back in fifty, sixty years. We'll pretend this never happened. Luna loves me so much; she won't suspect a thing."

"You're going to regret this!"

Even his friends were turning their backs on him.

I felt like a knife had been twisted in my heart. I was shaking.

I didn't confront him. I just turned and swam away in silence.

Three hundred years, and I never really knew Lucian. How pathetic.