In a garden often visited by tourists, seven trees stood tall. They all grew in an almost mystical way, their branches intertwining with others, beautiful pink flowers sprouting in the spring time. Their leaves blocked just the right amount of sunlight, giving passing humans below shade from the harsh heat of the sun in summer or howling winds of the winter time. The seven trees were well taken care of, gardeners pruning their leaves and sprinkling the perfect amounts of fertilizers across their roots.

However, they weren't similar in every way. One tree happened to be a little more grand than the others. It stood taller, branches seeming to reach for the stars, and if one were to look at it from above, it would look like a whirlpool of baby pink. Vines draped it in green tendrils, not unlike the long willowy sleeves of traditional hanboks, making it look even more regal compared to the other six trees. 

There was one difference that stood out the most, and it was the hundreds upon thousands of red ribbons that decorated its branches, accompanied by pieces of paper on which human words were written. They covered the tree almost completely, vibrant red and the complicated swirls of written letters. 

Visitors of the garden found joy in writing wishes down on long strips of paper, and attaching it with a single strand of red ribbon. Naturally, they were only hung on the most majestic of the trees in the garden, and thus no other tree had the honor of being personally decked in such decorations. 

This tree had no power to actually grant these wishes. It couldn't even read the words on the papers, for goodness sake! But it found pride in the people trusting it to aid in the fulfillment of their aspirations. And by 'it', I really mean 'he'. 

'He', you ask? How could a tree have a conscious gender? Well...

All the seven trees in the garden were in fact inhabited by what could be considered sentien beings, all of whom humans couldn't see. Every day of the year they wound themselves around the trees, clinging onto the wooden appendages of their individual trees, except when it was Winter, during which they would hide in the trunks of the trees to hide from the frigid weather.

These creatures would be what humans considered 'dryads', magical beings that represented the spirits of trees. Their souls were known to be spiritually bonded with that of the trees', causing their lives to be entirely dependent on their host tree. They could also use their nature based powers to help their host tree through tough times, like during the winter when they used their magic to protect the trees from freezing into icicles.

And like all conscious creatures, they had personalities, emotions, and even a language. The seven dryads of the seven trees frequently held long conversations, what with being bonded with the stationary trees, they really had nothing much to do. They could fly, but it got old real quick since they couldn't exit the garden as going too far from their host tree drained their energy.

If I were to describe what they looked like, I would say...hmmm...uh... It's hard to explain. They mostly looked humans, but a little more curled in on themselves, shorter and with willowy frames. For one they had rather diverse hair colors of all the colors of the rainbow unlike humans. Out the seven, one had pink hair, another a bright orange and another a fresh mint green. Although it depended on season, since another one had white with violet undertones during winter. And the other two had a mixture of purple and maroon in autumn, which I thought were both dope and dangerous if you get what I mean.

They all seemed to resemble the members of a boy band from the same country, strangely enough. Scarily similar, in fact. Unfortunately no humans would be able to see that considering their inability to visually locate the dryads. Their appearances were so similar it was shockingly peculiar, wonder how that happened. Huh.

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On to more important things than their appearances, the dryad of the 'wish tree' was very proud of how he looked, especially since he was chosen to be dressed in entrancing crimson by humans themselves, while the other trees' branches were always bare unless it was flowering season. This caused a small feud amongst the dryads over time, as they slowly realized that the only tree getting those red ribbons was the host tree of the oldest dryad, Jin.

The seven trees were all planted at about the same time many many countless years ago, growing at about the same rates, with the oldest and youngest having a difference of at most five years, not at all long for dryads. This meant that the dryads all grew up together, and watched their host trees grow up together as well. And as each tree was planted one after the next, the older ones took it upon themselves to take care of the newcomer, making sure that he didn't fall off the thin scrawny limbs of his sappling. Of course, the oldest one had no such help, but he became the self proclaimed 'mom' of the group of dryads and he told himself that it was his responsibility to take care of the newcomers.

As the trees grew, becoming grand looking and tall, the humans that visited started leaving strange clippings(how gruesome it was basically their own skin cells, urgh)and pretty red ribbons on the eldest one's branches. At the time, the other dryads thought the odd decorations represented age, and waited patiently for theirs as well, but years passed and there were only new additions to Jin's tree.

It took several decades before the other dryads grew jealous of Jin. Why weren't they blessed by the humans with enticing ribbons too? Why weren't they wished upon like Jin? Was it their appearance? Was it that they were younger than him? What was so special about Jin?

The other dryads envied their own friend, and when life was all about hanging on trees and watching humans, him being their best friend wasn't enough to keep bitterness away. The friendship between Jin and his dongsaengs faded like flowers on their trees from summer to autumn.

Suga, the second eldest of the seven dryads, used to sit on the thick branches of Jin's tree, and they would talk endlessly about nothing, watching Jungkook, Jimin and Taehyung, the three youngest dryads, fly around playing some believe games that would keep them entertained for the whole day. Suga and him laughed together when clumsy Jimin bumped his head into a twig while the three rascals were playing a game of chase, complimented Jungkook's enchanting singing voice when he sang a pop song he had heard a human boy play from a mysterious device, wondered about what went on in Taehyung's head when he hung upside down on his tree and pretended he was a weird mammal called a 'bat'. They always said how they were 'too old' to be as active as the three youngest dryads, Jin recalled, a common phrase they used when the three asked them to join in their games.

Jin treasured times when he and Namjoon, the third eldest, took strolls together amongst the humans, invisible to everyone but themselves. They would hold hands as they walked on the grey cobblestone, admiring the new flowers planted by the gardeners, and playing with the little animals that lived in garden. They would lay on the grass on clear weathered days, pointing out imaginary shapes out of the clouds that drifted by("That's a rabbit! It looks like Jungkook!" "What! It CLEARLY looks like a pair of those trendy shoes that young humans keep wearing!")until they got grass stains on their tunics, and sweat lined their foreheads from the heat of summer,

If Namjoon was his day companion, the bright and fun dryad Hoseok was his partner in crime at night. Okay, maybe they didn't commit 'crimes', but drawing on the pathway with a piece of chalk a human left behind could pass right? Anyways, Hoseok liked to tell cheesy jokes to Jin, turning Jin into a rolling ball of joyful laughter, while he tried to muffle his laughter in the soft grass they sat upon. They would look up at the night sky, pointing out the same constellations every night("Right there! That's the Big Dipper!" "Is there a Little Dipper then?" "..."). Jin would even sing sweet lullabies to Hoseok until they fell asleep at about midnight every night, and then he would lift Hoseok bridal style and fly him back to the crook in his tree where he would find himself every morning with no memory of ever getting up.

The way he spent time with Taehyung was something Jin would never forget, and it was, dare he say, his favorite time. The two dryads would sit on a branch in Taehyung's tree and look down on the humans passing by below. Many a time, Jin was completely silent, absorbed in the complex facial expressions children made or how adults would pull out box like...things and squint into them while facing a pretty flower. Taehyung on the other hand was very loud, commenting constantly on the humans' behavior instead of quietly observing like Jin. As the day progressed from afternoon to twilight, Taehyung would become tired and lethargic, unconsciously leaning his head on Jin's shoulder, even daring to fall asleep at times. Jin, too kind for his own good, didn't mind at all, letting his shoulder become numb under Taehyung's weight. Jin would smile down at the innocent boy's face, brushing a stray hair out of his eyes, sometimes even give his forehead a tender kiss before falling asleep himself.

Jimin was a rather special case. Every day, a group of young boys came to garden with a large machine, which blasted fairly loud hard hitting music. One fine day, Jimin decided to watch these young boys. They would move in a unpredictable way to the rhythm of the music, and though strange, was also rather enjoyable to watch. Eventually, Jimin began to follow the movements of the boys and 'danced'(that's what he heard the boys call it) along with them, becoming quite good at it over time. How was Jin involved in his shenanigans? Well, Jimin had this habit of teaching Jin was he had learned after his supposed lessons, forcing Jin to 'dance' with him. Guess he didn't force him, more like beg him with puppy eyes shiny with fake tears, which Jin considered cheating. Either way, Jin allowed Jimin to teach him what ever routine he wanted, a decision that Jin thoroughly regretted making. His moves were as stiff as a baby bird learning to fly, robot was an understatement. 

Jin would always remember being woken up at 4am on spring days, by a muscular and baby faced dongsaeng. In return for his 'fun' dance lessons, Jin promised Jimin that he would listen to all him rant about life and it's problems(although he would have done it for free). Most of these talks consisted of Jimin crying to Jin about how he was hopelessly in love with Jungkook, how he wished he could hold hands with him like Namjoon and Jin did, how he wished he could kiss Jungkook on the forehead lovingly like Jin did to Taehyung. Jin would Jimin's orange hair, comforting him in the best way he knew how, a warm hug. One hug became ten and then hundreds, as Jimin became progressively depressed and insecure about himself. Jin felt the urge to punch Jungkook in the face for being blind as a what was it um...a bat! Aha! But it wasn't Jungkook's fault, he was still young... Jin found this predicament rather puzzling.

Speaking of Jungkook, Jin had made himself forget Jimin's poor soul while spending time with the maknae, in hopes of never spilling the secret and it had worked. He and Jungkook liked to learn how to sing soft ballads that poured from old ladies' radios, singing them together and basking in each other's melodious voices. He always admired Jungkook's voice, stable and strong, while he often ran out of breath and struggled to hold certain notes. Even so, he loved singing duets with the youngest dryads with the wind blowing through their hair gently and stirring the leaves of the whoever's tree they sat on. It was relaxing to drift on the melodies of these songs, letting them take his mind to a place far away, away from the world where he existed. Jin didn't know why the dryads and the humans spoke the same language, but that wasn't a question he needed answers to, all he knew was that the humans' music did something for him.

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Now, Jin sits upon the top of his tree, among the blossoming pink flowers, thinking to himself. He relives the memories he had with all his friends, or should he say, 'friends'. He sits on his tree full of red ribbons, staring down at the other dryads below. He sees the three maknaes playing together, the other three sitting together in a huddle, laughing and chatting like they had never known someone called 'Jin'.

He wakes up by himself at 7am, wondering why he no longer sees the sunrise, why he no longer sees fluffy orange hair floating above.

He watches the clouds pass by as he sits atop the crown of his tree, wondering why he can no longer see the shapes among them, why he no longer hears boisterous laughter erupting beside him.

He looks down at the people walking by, wondering why he no longer feels happy seeing children smile, why he no longer hears a loud voice commentating the world around him.

He watches the maknaes chase one another, wondering why he no longer feels the same joy they share, why he no longer hears a grumpy voice complaining in his ear.

He admires the constellations, wondering why he can no longer find the Big Dipper, why he no longer sees a beautiful smile when he turns to his right.

He sings ballads by himself, wondering why he no longer feels the music, why he no longer hears a melodious voice singing along with him.

The red ribbons were absolutely stunning, but Jin would trade them all away to have his friends back.