Later into the night the forest restored its original silence, with no trace of human being wandering around.

Kyuhyun had long left with his temporary possession in hand- her iPod- still not quite processing what had happened in the past hour or so.

He had just arrived in inner Seoul, into the main street amidst the many roars of engines. Street lamps illuminated the night scene, substituting the moon.

It was just mere minutes past midnight, as he could tell from the many windows shone with light from the partying teenagers on winter break.

Can’t wait to get back to the dorms. Yay. He thought in bitter enthusiasm and shuffled his way slowly towards where he now was forced to call ‘home’.

‘Home’ was a widespread apartment that had successfully held 13 men for the past months. It was almost never full because of their hectic schedules. Stacked in a towering apartment building amongst the cumulonimbus winter clouds, the safe thick walls protected their incessant chatters and unnecessary voice practices from constantly being eavesdropped on.

A few footsteps near ‘home’ is a café. It held an inviting lure, the homely aroma of coffee singling in stranded pedestrians daily. Along with the strongly caffeinated drinks they served they had scrumptious, delicate food on plates that looked more expensive than the café itself.

Knowing he was in no hurry to return, he slid himself closer to the stain glass windows, and opened the door.

The familiar tingling of bells tickled his spine and he stood in silence, thirsting in the simple smell of everything wafting around him.

Taking a few subtle steps inward, his eyes swiftly surveyed the room as he always does. The booth he had always sat in and thought was his own was taken; taken by two quiet mannered girls.

“Can we have some more donuts please?” as if they heard him thinking of them, one turned around and smiled at a guy by the counter, a waiter with raven hair. He nodded to her gentle command and the other girl looked up.

He felt his heartbeat stop as she too stared at him, her already-large pupils dilating.

He raised a reprimanding finger, as if to tell her of his arrival, but she had already recognized him.

It was her.

He knew because as she bolted again, from the booth to the door, her white dress fluttered behind her, illusions of angelic wings. Her brown boots had helped in her mystical sudden escape, as she had a burst of energy and dodged Kyuhyun’s questioning grasps. Her hair whipped his cheek slightly, teasing his skin to their limit.

This time he could feel her, feel her anguished breathing and gasps and the finger that scratched his reached hand, feel the thudding of footsteps in his ears, stamping his nerves.

Time seemed to slow down for him.

He thought it sounded weird, but he caught a clue of her scent.

Unlike other girls his age, she did not smell like an overly ripe basket of fruits; nor did she smell like she had used up two bottles of honeysuckle shampoo.

She just…smelled like perfection. Everything she did were all so fluid and strung together without even meaning to, he was so shocked by the serpentine vibes of her attractiveness.

On second thought, she simply smelt like apples.

Fresh apples, baked apples, he did not care, he also did not comprehend, because it was just an imprinted word on his brain, Apples. That was all he registered.

He wondered if it was because she too spent as much time in the forest as him, lurching secretively around the apple tree.

Her friend let out a weak bleat as she too, threw down some bills and ran out the door frantically.

He heard her screech “Seo-!” before the bells on the door drowned them out.

“Dude, what happened?” the raven haired waiter came out, confused. He balanced a plate of donuts carefully at the booth the girls once sat in, his eyes widening at the excess amount of bills waiting for him.

“Uhm, if you don’t mind, can I have the donuts?” Kyuhyun’s head felt woozy with hunger, as he stared like an awaiting predator at the plate of donuts.

Surprised by the sudden change in conversation, the waiter blatantly placed the donuts in front of Kyuhyun and slid into the seat across from him.

“Wait, you saw them right? The two girls that just sat here?” Kyuhyun questioned as he nibbled halfheartedly on the overly sweet donut.

The waiter’s head bobbled in excitement.

“So I wasn’t imagining things?”

Kyuhyun’s pondering question was set for himself, but the waiter heard him and laughed heartily.

“Bro, are you drunk? Of course they were there. They left me extra cash, and the blonde one even winked at me!”

Kyuhyun somehow felt enlightened when he heard that it wasn’t mystery girl who winked at the unkempt-haired waiter.

As his fingers returned to the plate but to be treated with emptiness, Kyuhyun stood up. “Thanks for the food.” He tiredly dropped a few five’s into the satisfied outstretched hands of the waiter.

As he was about to head out the door, the waiter called out.

“Wait! You’re from that new boy group right? Super Senior?”

“Junior.”

“Yeah. I like your song. Icicle.”

“Miracle.”

“Yeah, that. Think you can give me an autograph?”

Kyuhyun was taken aback, but he realized that this must not be a fan but just a money freak, so he sighed and gave the waiter the messiest autograph he’s got.

The bells on the door now sound horrible to his ears, as they had just drowned out the name of the mysterious girl.

As he stared down the roads again he felt a renewed emotion. He felt drowsed in a rush of excitement and anticipation.

But when he thought of the girl’s forewarning he frowned, a cold and docile looking passing over his face.

Forget you met a girl in white tonight.

How could he, when he was already so entranced by her? Every detail about her already pulled him in so close, making him wanting to know more.

He could sense a huge amount of emotions devoted towards her, but couldn’t pause his thoughts and order out which. Was it curiosity? Anger? Jealousy?

Love?

He shook his head in despair, suddenly dispersed in the starless night sky. Does she know the secret of the apple tree?

His heart skipped an agitated beat just thinking of the secrets of the apple tree. He struggled to keep an unnerving smile on his face, ignoring the serpentine responsibility of keeping the apple tree’s secret.

As he strode down the tranquilizing grey sidewalks of Seoul towards the apartment, he pulled out her iPod.

His fingers working swiftly and experienced on the wheel of the iPod nano, he quickly got the iPod unlocked and switched to her playlist.

He felt a striking feeling of guilt at first, invading her personal choice of songs. But he was in dire need of entertainment and pretty soon forgot the fact that this was someone else’s possession.

Every single song on her iPod reminded him of her. He fantasized how she would dance gracefully to each one, adding her own touch of minimalism. How she would become a free butterfly again, dancing her heart out to what she thought was a crowd of blackness. The gentle way she landed on the soft patches of grass and the mattress like soil, the sorcery of expressing harsh feelings by using such careful dance steps.

He could hear her breathing in his ear, breathing the lyrics to the song, breathing her heart to him.

He liked the feeling of this.

Kyuhyun felt as if he was floating, supported by the weight of her songs. He had been craving beautiful ballads and acoustic songs lately after his hectic performance after performance of pop songs.

Just then the recent song he was listening to ended and a new song came on. This one was plainer than all the rest. He fell in love with the melodic intro already, his heart soaring as he listened intently to this song, a child finding a new discovery.

Unlike any other song he had heard, it was not recorded in the best quality. His musically oriented ears informed that this isn’t exactly the most sophisticated lyrics either, unlike many songs he’d occurred whilst training and targeting for the music industry.

But despite all that, he adored this song more than all the rest.

As soon as the pre-chorus began he declared it his favorite of all her songs to himself. It sounded just like her, the same rise and falls of the beat, the same hidden pain protected by the piano keys.

When the doorman opened the door to reveal the luxurious, pastel-peach lobby, the song came to a close.

Disappointed, he reached into his pocket and turned the song back into the last one he just heard.

Curious at the name of it, he peered at the title sitting demurely at the top of the screen.

It was labeled My Song.

The artist gave nothing away except one simple character.

Me.

It sounded ridiculous to extremes for some; a song named My Song and the artist being Me? It was simply unhelpful and a childish idea, but as he judged from the short time period she’d occurred in his life, he could tell that it’s how she fend off stalkers.

Stalkers like himself.

The first person his eyes landed on when he entered his bedroom was his radiant, fun-embellished hyung. Their awkwardness between each other had gradually learned to subside.

“Donghae hyung,” he asked from the single pathetic mattress on the floor, lying secluded away from the two majestic beds in the room.

“Yes?”

“Do you know anyone named Seo something in Seoul?”

Although Kyuhyun knew fairly well his hyung was from Mokpo, the root and cause of his prominent accent, he also acknowledged the fact that his hyung knows a lot of people.

“Seo is a last name, there are so many out there!”

The only way to mend his discouraged heart was to listen to her song. Feeling himself fly above the handful of visible stars, flying outside the range of a human eye, and just let loose free.

But then his mind rebelliously flashed to the fact that he did not own this iPod. He was only its temporary owner, and then right there, at night, in the dark room in an apartment in the middle of Seoul, he made a promise to himself.

I’ll find her someday.

I, Cho Kyuhyun, will find Seo-something one day.

That’s a promise of the apple tree.

--

second chapter! written while i was at a basketball game , so if there are missing words or some mistakes please feedback!

@raisin: thank you so much! im hoping i won't let you down . ^^ 

@kyuseo23286: im normally not an angst person , but there will be some in here if i dont cry too much. haha thank you for reading.

@eycha_ys83: if i don't mention the reason why she wants him to forget, i will inform you personally . thanks! i hope you enjoy this chapter as well. (:

@imsoinlove_seokyu: i hope this chapter answered your question , seohyun and kyuhyun are both mortals. thanks for reading! hope you like this story.

@superseokyushidae: ^ haha no, seohyun and kyuhyun are both mortals. 

@glamzchic: thank you so much! im glad you find this story interesting. hope you like this chapter as well. :D