“Yah! Kim! If I ever catch you on my property again, so help me…” the old ahjussi yelled from his porch shaking his fist madly.

“Or what?” a young and mischievous Kim Jaejoong laughed back feverishly as he shoved both handful of various fruits he had stolen from the ahjussi’s farm before dropping one hand and popping a few jujubes into his mouth. He paused for a second before turning and running down the road as fast as his twelve-year-old legs could take him, and before the ahjussi could chase after him, Jaejoong was already out of sight.

Little Jaejoong continued to run to his favorite place in the small village. It was a secret place his mother had taken him for small picnics or to just sit and watch the clouds go by when he was little.

Secluded among leafy trees and bushy greenery, Jaejoong made his way to the undisclosed opened field where he spend the past few years after his mother passed away as a place of solitude.

He found the blanket he kept hidden between the crevices of a pile of rocks and laid out his afternoon snack on it. Arranging them into ten small piles accordingly as if he was king and this was his ten course meal, he was about to feast on his banquet of food before he heard the crunch of feet against the ground behind him.

He quickly got up, and hurried to hide behind a tree off to the side, but not before taking a handful of fruits with him.

“Damn, that ahjusshi must have found me.” Jaejoong cursed with annoyance as he peeked through the openings between the tree branches.

However it wasn’t the ahjusshi, it wasn’t even anyone Jaejoong recognized from the village. To his surprise, it was a girl around his age, maybe even younger.

She stumbled her way past the barrier of trees and bushes that kept this place hidden and was surprised to see a blanket of food.

“Oh, food!” She breathed kneeled down towards the blanket of goodies, but before she could touch the persimmons she was eyeing, a hand roughly shoved her and knocked her back.

“Hey! Get away! This is my food! Go find your own!”  Jaejoong cried selfishly said as he turned to his blanket of food and quickly pulled in all four corners and tied a knot, securing a makeshift pack to hold his food without the grubby hands of others.

As soon as he saw that the girl was alone he knew he had nothing to worry about. But when she made a move for his food, Jaejoong found himself jumping out from hiding and shoving the girl out of the way.

“Look I’m sorry, but if you’re hungry, you just gotta get your own food.” The twelve-year-old mumbled as he cradled the pack of food in his arms. He still hadn’t turn to face the girl.

“Hey, I mean-” Jaejoong began as he turned around only to she the girl on the ground holding in her knees , her head kept low, and her whole body was shaking .

“Hey, are you-” Jaejoong asked but a sudden cry surprised him.

“WAHHHHHHHHHHH!” the girl cried as she finally lifted up her head and bawled uncontrollably, tears rained down her quickly reddening face.

“WAAAAAAHHHATS WRONG?” Jaejoong cried as well as he ran to her side, dropping his precious bag of goodies. Seeing the little girl cry made him freak out. He didn’t know what to do.

“S-s-stop crying!” Jaejoong yelled, because her bawling was so loud. But him yelling only made the girl cry even harder.

“Aiiish.” Jaejoong scratched his head turn around. Seeing the girl crying so intensely made him uncomfortable. As he looked down at the ground, and noticed the blood stain against the rough gravely patch of land.

“Hey, are you hurt?” Jaejoong asked quickly, as he began to feel guilty for pushing a girl. His mom had taught him better than that. He turned back to the girl and finally noticed the awkward way she was holding her left knee.

“Let me see-“ he began as he kneeled beside her.

“NO!” she shrieked and pulled away as he tried to grab her arm to uncover the wound on her knee.

“Oh, come on now, don’t be a big baby.” Jaejoong rolled his eyes.
 
“I AM NOT A BABY!” the girl cried out.

“Well, all I know is that babies like to cry on the ground and don’t listen to people that are older than them! And you’re doing them both! That makes you a baby!” He reasoned out.

“I AM NOT A BABY!” the girl cried again, but this time it was more of a defiant shout. “AND YOU DON’T LOOK OLDER THAN ME! I AM TEN AND A HALF YEARS OLD!” she continued, wiping the remaining traces of tears from her face.

Good, at least she stopped crying, Jaejoong thought optimistically.

“Well I am 12. A whole number. Do you even know what that is?” Jaejoong said with a smirk.

“Of course I know I go to school everyday!” the girl continued, but her voice had toned down.

“Well I guess you can prove me wrong than, if you let me take a look at your leg” Jaejoong proposed as he etched forward.

“Why should I? You’re the one that pushed me down in the first place! Don’t you know that you’re not suppose to hurt girls?”

“Well I wouldn’t if you hadn’t tried to steal my food!”

“I didn’t see your name on it!”

“I don’t need have my name on it; this place is a secret place! No one knows its here!”

“Well its not much of a secret! I’m here! And who leaves food lying out any ways? Bears could eat it!”

“Bears? There are no bears here. That’s the stupidest idea ever!”

“YOU’RE STUPID!”

“NO, YOU’RE STUPID!”

“NO, YOU’RE STUPID!”

“NO, YOU’RE STUPID!”

After a couple more rounds of ‘no, you’re stupid’ Jaejoong was getting tired of this arguing.

“Aish, I’ve had enough of this. If you don’t want my help, then I’m leaving.” He said as he began to get up.

By now, it was getting dark and the girl began to realize this.

“Uh, wait!” She cried and grabbed onto his shirt.

“What?” he asked tiredly. The past argument had really knocked the rest of today’s energy out of him.

“Help me.” She whispered reluctantly and uncovered her knee wound.

With a sigh, Jaejoong bent back down and examined the wound.

It was pretty bad, he would probably have to have an adult look at this.

“This is pretty bad, you probably have to go home and have your parents bound it.”

With the mention of parents, the girl began to tear up.

No, not again, Jaejoong mentally groaned.

“What? I’m sure your parents won’t be mad, I’m sure they’ll just be glad you’re safe.”

Silence.

“Well, ok… Um, can you stand?” Jaejoong asked breaking the awkward silence, and she answered with a light head shake.

“Ok, here, get on my back.” He offered as he turned around and crouched down, but when she didn’t get on he turn to look back at her.

She just stared back at him, hesitantly looking into his eye, she seem to search if he was being truthful.

“Are you still hungry?” He asked all of a sudden.

She looked at him and nodded.

He picked up his makeshift food bag and untied it.

He searched through the mix of fruits and nuts and found the treat he was looking for.

“You see this, it’s a pear.” He said as he held up the fruit. “It’s really hard to find one of these this time of year, but I found it on the very top of the tree it was hanging on. I had to climb very far up and I even got scrapped by some of the branches” He moved his arm over to show the long scrap he had under his arm. “And I could have gotten a handful of jujubes, but instead I chose to get this one pear.”

“You must really like pears.”

“No, not really. But my mom loved them and I wanted to bring it to her.”

“Oh-“She said but Jaejoong continued.

“But I want you to have it.”

“But didn’t you say you wanted to give it to your mom?”

“Yeah, but thats ok, I can give her more next season. You’re hungry now, so here.”

“Really?”

“Really.” He said as he pushed the pear into her hands.

She smiled a took the pear.

He turned back around and motioned for her to get on his back.

“Come on now, you wanna stay out here? With the bears?” He teased.

“I thought you said there weren’t any bears” she laughed softly as she slowly climbed onto his back.

“Well what do I know, I’m stupid.” He laughed as he slowly got up, balanced the girl on him and grabbed the bag of goodies and held them in between her right leg and his right hand.

He began to walk, but suddenly looked back at her.

“Hey, I thought you were hungry, aren’t you gonna eat the pear?”

“I’m afraid.”

“Of what? Its not poisoned or anything, I mean its not like the apple in Snow White.”

“If it was, would you be the one that wakes me up?” she whispered quietly with a smile.

Jaejoong blushed, remembering that the prince had to kiss Snow White to wake her up.

“Aish, just eat it already will ya.” He spoke roughly as he tried to get warmth out of his cheeks.

“Fine, fine.” She said, taking a bite out of the fruit.

“By the way, my name is Jaejoong"

“My name is Boa"

Seconds passed as the sound of Boa biting into the succulent fruit’s flesh and its sweet juice echo through the air.

“So, how is it?” he asked as he continued to walk.

She smiled a toothy smile

“It’s the most yummiest thing I’ve ever eaten."