Sanctuary
Kings Of The ForestA boy. With stunning lips. Wind blew on his hair. Riding the bicycle despite the cold. Ah, what is he doing in the middle of the night like this? Did his mother scold him? did he forget something important and came to brought it back? So weird, so weird. Look at those shivering lips. Yah, it must be really cold. Hahaha, he's so ugly like this. Everyone is already asleep in this small town. It's not a hustling-bustling city like Seoul, there's forest surrounded this town, actually that's where this y lipped boy is heading to. Seriously though, was I that skinny back then?
Hi, I'm Ahn Daniel. This boy was me, when I was 15. Riding my bike accross the night. Why did I do that? When we're younger we did things that our present selves wouldn't understand. But that's the beauty of being a teenager. Doing something that unreasonable.
Well, I had a reason, though. It was a call from my two bestfriends, Jonghyun and Byunghun-hyung. We had this little tree house in a forest near our neighborhood. We built it ourselves. It was not the most sophisticated architectural piece the world would ever witnessed, but it was enough to protect us from the sun, the rain, and probably our own reality. It was a sanctuary for us. To escape, to share, to lend each other's hand.
"Nielie! you're here". I looked up to the tree house above, a little boy with black hoodie stuck his head out of the window.
That was Byunghun-hyung. He couldn't help but to yell at me. That was how most of our conversations going.
"Seriously, though! it's 12 AM! I have tests tomorrow, hyung!", I yelled back at him, struggled with my bike that wouldn't lean properly on the tree trunk.
"You think I didn't have one?!", said Byunghun-hyung.
We went to the same school, but he was my senior. I climbed to our tree house after I succeeded "parking" my bike. I went to our so called living room, well, our tree house only head 2 rooms though, the one is this living room in the first level, and the second one is an observation room, it wasn't even a room, just an extension hanging on our roof, built on series of branches. It had a clear view of the forest ahead.
I walked inside and Jonghyun was there, sleeping with his iPod on.
"Jonghyun-ah", I called him and patted his head so he would wake up. We were in the same year, same highschool, but different classes. Jonghyun groaned and put off his earphones.
"Uhh so, what are we gonna do now?", he said, stretching his arms.
"It wasn't you who's calling?", I asked.
"No. It's me. I can't sleep", said Byunghun-hyung.
Me and Jonghyun went silent. We both knew that it means his parents were fighting... again.
"For how many times already this month?", I asked.
"Countless times? Ha... it's getting louder and louder", said Byunghun-hyung.
I wrapped my arm into his shoulders.
"Wanna watch some movies?", I asked.
"I don't wanna go to the cinema, though", he said.
It was so rare that he refused to watch a movie. Though he acted like a big deal most of the time, he was actually an over-sensitive movie geek. He cried from watching sad movies. He was sad about many things so easily. But, parents fight. What could we do about it.
I sighed and leaned my back on the wall. It made a rather frightening creak sound.
"I'm so sleepy, hyung... I have Physics test tomorrow! how about you teaching me those things? enough to distract your minds, right?", I said excitedly.
Jonghyun chuckled. "That will do", he said, supporting my suggestion with his ever poker face.
"Aaah~!", Byunghun-hyung stood up and stomped his foot, creating another frightening creak in our treasured house.
"Is this what I got from calling you both out?", he continued to whine.
"Alright, what do you wanna do then? we'll be right here listening", said Jonghyun, understanding as always.
"I don't know. Just chat maybe", Byu
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