I’m not really sure which led me to this place. Could it be the scent of the variety of flowers or could it be the breathtaking view of blossoms blooming beautifully all over the branches of every tree in my surrounding? I couldn’t really tell. I could ony remember that I’m in the midst of cherry blossom trees. It was almost evening i guess, I couldn’t tell the exact time since I was merely in the forest full of cherry blossom trees. As I looked up the sky, everything was painted pale pinkish and somtimes painted white. I saw some seemingly orange clouds betweeen those pinkish white blossoms. I couldn’t differentiate which color i was seeing was my favorite but I knew it was the most beautiful scenery I would never forget for the rest of my life. As I stopped under a big tree and looked afar, I saw a river that flows naturally  in sweeping meanders. The sound of flowing water, the cool breeze which touched the warmth of my cheeks, the falling pinkish petals of cheery blossoms dancing in the wind made the evening even more romantic. 

I took off my flat sandals, wanting to step on the fallen petals all over the grassy ground with my bare feet. I could feel the softness of the petals touching my feet, tenderly. I sat down to pick up the petals. Me, who has only been familiar with the nosies from the crowded city, fell in love with all those beautiful things in this so called garden at once. 

I know it was crazy but I couldn’t suppress my desire of wanting to lie down there, under the cherry blossom tree, on the beds of soft fallen petals so I actually lay down. I gently closed my eyes as I lay down there, enjoying the melodies of the nature. I forgot almost everything as I was enjoying there. I forgot the reason I came here, I even forgot him who is a workaholic, lives in Seoul. My soul was totally  trapped in this beautiful garden. 

There, the very first chapter of a tale began..

”Once upon a time, a train stopped accidentally at a village which is situated on a hill, due to technical errors. A young man came out from a unit of that train.”

It seemed to be the voice of a young, but not very young man, probably a man in his mid-twenties. The voice came from the other side of this cherry blossom tree under which i was lying down. The voice was soft, crystal clear, soothing and manly at the same time. The thoughts of who he is, where he is from, is he a visitor like me invaded into my mind. I was also curious if he knew that I was lying down there or is he just talking to himself without knowing I was all ears. However, my sixth sense told me, he couldn’t be the one who might harm me. 

“He came out just for a walk at first. As he was walking around, he saw a yellow little bird. The bird looked pretty so he approached it to take a close look at it. He tried to touch the bird but the bird flipped its wings and flew but still flying around the man’s head. He showed his palm in the air, to make sure the bird would want to rest on his palm but the bird released a seed that it carried between its beak onto the man’s palm.” 

The surrounding became darker as the time passed. I still didn’t want to get up or open my eyes.

“The seed was brown and tiny after all, just like a bean seed. It looked like a brown mark on the man’s palm. The bird flew higher up to the sky till it could no longer be seen.” 

I smiled as this tale reminded me of a story, my grandma used to tell me every night in which a bird gave a seed which later became the plants full of gold and made the boy rich at the end of the story. 

“Actually, that seed was just an ordinary seed, which won’t make any gold but it somehow changed the life of that man in the future. The man kept looking at the seed in amazement meanwhile the train started to play its horn, telling it will depart soon from this village. At first he ran to the train but then he changed his mind and stopped immediately. He locked his gaze at the moving train. At a destination, he knew there would be his bride waiting for him. But he wasn’t really sure he wanted to marry that girl or not.”

I started to pay interest to his tale. He paused for a while like an expert storyteller like my grandma, who knows where to pause and where to continue the story again. I’m not so sure whether the voice came from my above or behind the tree. I couldn’t hear any sounds like the sound he stepped on the grass, his breath and such. All I could hear was the tale he was telling in his soothing voice and sometimes the sound of the river flowing and the melodies from birds. It was so pleasant to lay down in an almost silent place, listening to all those sounds of nature and a tale. I was so immersed in my work these days and this moment was totally relaxing for me. It kept remin