“Sungmin! It’s already time to feed Lucius! He’s already barking so loud outside!”

I was still in a middle of an important work that I thought no one should bother me.

“Sungmin! Hurry!”

That was certainly not the time for me to stop. I decided to continue.

“Hey! When do you plan to go out of your room?!”

She was already yelling so loud that I think my eardrums were going to pop in any moment. Oh well, I thought she could wait for a few seconds so I just ignored her.

"Hey!!!”

I shaded it. Erased something. Shaded again. Colored it. Erased the exceeding lines. Blew the small particles of the eraser. Then – finally! My work is finished!

“YEEEE – “

I was about to pronounce the letter “s” to finish my resounding and joyous “YES” but someone banged the door of my room loudly that even the sleeping spirits inside of me woke up in terror.

“CHO SUNGMIN! Are you deaf or something?! I’ve been yelling to you ever since yet you still haven’t got out of your room?!”

Bloody hell. I heard my name being yelled out. My FULL NAME being yelled out. And that only means one thing – I’m so dead. Out of my fear to be beaten by Aunt Narcissa, I froze at my chair in front of my working table, my back faced to her. I was ready to receive any attacks from her but she suddenly grabbed my right hand and led me outside of the room until we reached the front yard of our house.

She withheld my hand as we reached the front yard and yelled at me yet again. “Don’t ever enter the house unless you finish your work here! Understand?!” she said as she shut the door of the house close. I just rubbed my hair out of annoyance with a subtle mix of regret.

I’m now out here under the rays of the moonlight, with the dark night and hundreds of star covering up the sky, I feel so relaxed and wonderful and I don’t even know why. As I was appreciating the beauty of the things around me, Lucius, my dog, barked and that signalled me to stop slacking and to start entertaining my dog’s need.

“Urgh, Lucius. It’s your entire fault. If it wasn’t for you I should still be doing something more important now. Tch.” I just heaved a sigh as I reached out to get the dog food on the cabinet not far away from Lucius. I opened it and poured plenty of it so that he won’t bark again and would be finally satisfied.

Wow. I’m sitting on the ground opposite of Lucius and I can see that he have grown so much. I just saw him on the road in front of our house when I was still a kid, and now he’s eating so much now like there’s no tomorrow! Woah.

But wait, what’s that creature flying a few inches above Lucius?

I lifted my head to see what that thing was and I saw this spectacular thing hovering over my dog. It was a blue butterfly, looking like it was lost and just decided to stay for a little while above us. It was undoubtedly beautiful. My eyes were glued to its elegant wings, treasuring every second I have just to watch the magnificent beauty above us.

“Woah,” I said, trying to find the exact words to describe it. But I failed. I was just there sitting on the grassy ground, my eyes still on the butterfly, my mouth open in absolute awe. I have never seen anything as beautiful as that in my entire life, well, not entirely but still, it was definitely magical and amazing.

As I was still watching it, it gracefully flew to the direction towards our gate, but I was so engrossed in watching it that I even followed it. It flew farther and farther, and there was I, running behind it. I went out to the road, ran as fast as I can, followed it, crossed many obstacles like rocks down on the pavement, but I did not disconnect my eyes from the flying butterfly. I was dashing the path like I was chasing a criminal who just illegally got out of the prison.

“You finally stopped!!!” At last! It came to a halt! “Whew! I can finally breathe the fresh oxygen out here in the... wait, where am I?!”

I just followed this butterfly out here and I got an immediate trip to the village park. Woah, I didn’t expect that insect to bring me here. And the fact that it’s already late in the night, I’m surely getting a memorable and heart-breaking sermon from my aunt when I get home.

“Oh wait, where’s the butterfly?” I looked around but it was nowhere to be found. Tss. I ran all the way from our house up to here just to look at that wonderful creation of God then all of a sudden it will just disappear like that?! Blimey.

Because of the butterfly’s unexpected loss, I decided to go home.

“Starting from the first day that it rained / Till the last soaked day / The darkness of the long tunnel / In my dream, it soaks up slowly”

I was about to take my very first step out of the park but a voice – a singing voice – caught my attention.

“Slowly, slowly, the stacked up emotions / Slowly, slowly, the gathered memories / I will slowly, slowly forget them / Slowly”

My mind was still processing as to whom that voice came from, and it told me that it was a male, and he’s just near me. His voice was so soothing to listen to that I barely noticed that I was still standing there as to where I was moments ago.

“No matter how much I turn back the memory of that day / That place, I cannot avoid / In front of your house, / I turn around, I turn around”

It was relaxing to hear his voice that my eyelids were starting to get heavier and heavier. The wind was blowing hard at that moment, so I raised my head up high, eyes closed, cherishing the pleasant music my ears could hear, the refreshing wind my face could feel and the moon guarding the stars up in the gloomy sky.

I realized that I looked stupid doing that weird pose, so I opened my eyes and a few meters away from me was a teenage boy looking at me and then heaving a sigh.

“Whew! I thought something bad was happening to you,” the person told me, still confused from what he was uttering.

“Uhm, excuse me, what are you talking about?” I said out of curiosity.

“You were standing there and doing a weird pose just awhile ago,” he said while making small gestures with his hands and looking at the place where I was, “so I thought something’s got into you or... oh nevermind,” rolling his eyes, he added.

“Ah,” I said while looking at the ground, feeling the awkward atmosphere around us.

“By the way, it’s getting late. I should go now. Bye!” he bade goodbye, but I cut him off soon enough to make him stop walking.

“Ah wait! Awhile ago... the one who’s singing... was that you?” I suddenly blurted out.

He brushed his hair using his left hand first before he answered my question. “Uhm, yeah,” he shyly said, barely looking at me.

“Oh so it’s you,” I nodded repeatedly. “I just want to say that your voice is good and nice and... oh well it’s late. Bye,” I didn’t have an idea why I did that. I even ran out of words to say so I just bade farewell to him. He just smiled and walked out away from me, his shadow disappearing as every second passes by.

As he was completely away, I started to investigate as to where he was hiding awhile ago. I was wondering how he was just singing and the next moment he just appeared in front of me like that. Weird. Because I didn’t have any idea about where his hiding place is and trying to find that out would not benefit me, I just shrugged and finally made my mind to just go home.

I’m finally here! But I remembered that Aunt Narcissa was still angry at me, so I think I should not rejoice now.

“SUNGMIN! WHERE IN THE WORLD WERE YOU?!”

As expected. “Uhm, I just had a little...little stroll at the park. The weather’s nice so... so I thought it would be nice to go there,” I replied, with my hands at my back, my right feet circling the grassy ground, my head bowed down in regret. I just stayed in that position because I know that if I more just an inch, I would surely get a painful smack from her.

“Whatever Sungmin! Argh... just get inside now, it’s getting really late. Quickly, quickly”, she said with a hint of worry in her voice. Aw, though she was angry at me awhile ago, she still cares for me. J

“Thank you Auntie Narcissa! I love you!” I uttered happily while running to her and giving her a very big hug.

“Ya, ya. Get inside now, it’s cold here outside,” she stated as she hugged me back.

“Thank you! Goodnight!” I exclaimed as I waved goodbye to her and ran to my room. She also waved at me goodbye.

As I entered my room, the piece of paper where I drew moments ago caught my attention. It showed Lucius eating from his bowl of food. Well, drawing‘s my hobby so I drew just anything I feel like drawing. I got the paper from my work table and placed in a folder where I usually keep my other drawings. As I was about to lay my back on my bed, my mind had a bright idea.

“Aha! I’ll just draw that butterfly! Haha!” I uttered, but then I realized that I look like a crazy person talking alone in my room so I decided to do my wonderful plan tomorrow.

I turned off the lights, arranged my bed and laid on it. I closed my eyes but then I remembered the voice from that teenage boy who’s maybe just a few years older than me. It was still ringing form the corners of my head. I don’t know why I got so captivated with his voice.  But wait, we just talked awhile ago and I got a free ticket to hear his singing voice but I forgot the most important thing to ask whenever you meet a new friend.

I forgot to ask his name. It’s not like I’m gay or something. I just through that it was somehow rude because he even asked me if I was alright when he saw me standing there at the park.

But wait – he also forgot to ask my name. So I think it’s a par.