It was late-July - hot and sunny, but it helped that there was a trace of wind. It was Thursday, and she didn’t have any plans for the day. She packed her backpack with a light blanket, some food, her sketchbook, a book and her ipod.

“Dad, i’ll be back soon!” She yelled before leaving.

Taeyeon had a tendency of doing that; she would leave whenever she want to without asking for permission; she was always able to make an escape as she skipped out the door, leaving her father less than a second to prohibit or ask where she was headed. It didn’t matter to her though. Her father was always working on a project or out on a business trip. That left Taeyeon all by herself. She was always a self person. She didn’t talk to anyone, bother anyone. She just stuck to herself, but she kind of liked it that way. Therefore no one was able to hurt her.

Taeyeon walked past the bushes, past the flowers, past trees. There she stood in the center of was a hidden secret place she often escaped to - to scream, to cry, to calm herself down, and to relax from whatever was bothering her.

She laid out her blanket and propped herself against a huge tree trunk in the middle of the place. Between some trees, she saw the view of a small lake, water glistening as the sunlight hit the surface. She breathed in some air, “Ah.. it’s a nice day today.”

Taeyeon put her headphones on even though she was the only one there. She could have blasted the music and no one would have heard. Even still with her music on, she had it low enough so she could listen to the birds sing and the wind blow. There she sat in peace and sketched the two swans she saw on the lake.

Right as she closed her sketchbook, she heard rustling leaves and twigs breaking. She thought she was the only one who knew of that place. She slowly grabbed a big fat broken branch next to her and got up without a sound. Fearless Taeyeon walked in the direction of the sound, she could hear her own heart beat bump.. bump.. budump. Right when she heard the footsteps coming out of the bushes, she screamed as she raised the stick,

“Who’s there?!” She swung.
“AHHH!” A girl screamed, ducking - completely falling to the ground.

Taeyeon’s heart stopped for a second. It was just a girl holding a picnic basket. She threw her weapon into the bushes.

“What are you doing here?! Trying to get yourself killed, little red riding hood?!”
“Oh.. I’m sorry! I thought I was the only one who knew of this place.” The girl, who looked about her age, 16, with red locks stumbled back in shock from the volume of Taeyeon’s voice.
“Tiffany.. That’s my name.. not little.. red riding hood.” She responded getting up.
“I don’t care what your name is.” She scoffed.

Right as she was about to turn around to grab her things, she noticed something red. It wasn’t Tiffany’s hair. Blood was dripping from Tiffany’s hand. Tiffany groaned in pain, “ouch..” Tiffany turned to around to grabbed her basket to return home.

“T-tippany, wait!”
“huh?” The other questioned.

The two girls sat on the blanket as Taeyeon took out her first aid kit. She thought of helping the girl. She thought the girl had problems herself to be walking this far. No houses, no buildings were close to this place at all.

“You. How do you know this place?” Taeyeon asked, cleaning the wound. “This might hurt a little.”
“A-ah.. I found it. One day i was walking around and just stumbled upon this place. I thought no one else came here. Looks like i’m wrong.”
“Same.” She put the bandaid on. “Small cut, but a lot of blood. You should be fine though.”
“What days do you come here?” Tiffany curiously asked.
Taeyeon looked at her with furrowed eyebrows, “Why do you want to know?”

Tiffany didn’t know how to answer. She didn’t expect for Taeyeon to answer that way. She was just curious.

“I-I mean.. I mean. Both of us come here. I’ve been coming here for a few months. It’s just kind of funny how we never ran into each other. That’s all. Sorry.”
“Yeah.. That is kind of funny. I’ll let you know next time, but I’m going to head back now. Talk to you later, little red riding hood.”
“It’s Tiffany!”
“Whatever.”
“Hey! What’s your name?”
“Why do you need to know that too?” Taeyeon said.
“Well.. thanks for this!” She raised the wounded hand as Taeyeon walked away.

It’s been almost three weeks. Taeyeon and Tiffany had been at the same place at the same time for more than five times. Half of those times they didn’t even noticed each other’s presence. Both of them would be on the opposite sides of the tree, sitting and reading and when they left, they left the route they were facing, so they didn’t have any business looking back to the other side of the tree. Some of the time Tiffany would see Taeyeon crying, so she stayed hidden but waited until she saw Taeyeon was okay before leaving. Some days Taeyeon would see Tiffany having lunch by herself, reading and singing. On days they did notice each other, Taeyeon seemed rather annoyed by Tiffany’s constant talking.

Taeyeon woke up to an ambulance sound across the street.

“Oh my god! Can’t I get some ing sleep?!” She cursed. This wasn’t the first time it happened. The ambulance popped up once every two weeks for the past few months.

She walked to the kitchen and poured herself some orange juice. Looking at the clock, it striked 5AM. “Great,” she muttered. She sat in silence looking out the window. Flashes of red filled the whole window. She sighed with sadness. ‘I hope whoever it is, is okay’

She went to the place to do some self reflection the next day, bringing along her journal. She wrote about how thankful she was to have woken up that day and to be breathing that moment.

“Hey, what brings you here today?” She heard a voice call out.
“....” Taeyeon looked up to see it was Tiffany but decided to focus on her journal.
“Okay. Cool.” She sat a can of soda next to Taeyeon. “It’s hot out today. Don’t die.”

‘Don’t die.’ Tiffany’s word repeated in Taeyeon’s head. She wasn’t planning on dying. It was like Tiffany knew what Taeyeon was writing about - Death, and being thankful for being alive. Taeyeon drew her gaze to the cold can next to her.

“What are you doing here?” Taeyeon asked.
“Are you always like this?”
“What?” She took off her headphones.
“Answering questions with questions. That’s not fair.”
“.....I-I just come here when i feel troubled. That’s all.”
“What’s on your mind?”
“Can I not?”
“Why?”
“Why are you so nosy?”
“There you go again.” Tiffany pointed out.
“What about you?”
“I just wanted to read. Weather’s nice so i wanted to have a picnic. And i wanted to see if i’d bump into you.”
“Wha-” She started to question.
“See. It’s not that hard, actually.” Tiffany said bringing her basket in front of her.
“You know for a picnic..involves more than a person.”
“Who said?”
“um..”
“Doesn’t matter. That’s why i packed for two. Here.” Tiffany handed Taeyeon a sandwich.

That there, was how the two became friends.

“So tell me, what’s your name? Will you tell me now?” The red head said chewing her sandwich.
“Taeyeon. Kim Taeyeon.” She thought she’d answer now. It has been three weeks.
“Finally a name. Kim Taeyeon. Nice. I can finally call you a name instead of ‘mysterious girl’. Well.. not out loud. In my head.” She took another bite of her sandwich.
“Slow down. You have the rest of the day to finish that.”
“I just feel like I could be doing other things If i finish quicker with everything I do.”

Taeyeon tilted her head in confusion. ‘Now why would anyone want to do that?’ she thought to herself. She was the complete opposite. She didn’t like to rush things. She liked to live in the moment and not have to care about what needed to happen next.

“Life’s not long, Taeyeon. You know very little. I mean, it can be very long, but it can end any moment.”
“Oh god, that’s a depressing way to live.”
“I just have so many things I want to do in life. You know what I mean?”
“That’s why you should instead treasure every moment, instead of rushing and speeding through life.”
“Ah- I see where you’re coming from.” Tiffany winked to Taeyeon. Taeyeon nodded at her win.
“But.. how come i never see you smile?” Tiffany muffled between chewing, making it unclear to Taeyeon.
“CHEW, Tiffany.” Taeyeon said.
“I said, i haven’t seen you smile yet.” She opened her can of soda and swallowed it down with her sandwich. “Aren’t you happy with life?”

At that moment, she wanted to be alone. She needed space.. to think. She never had the thought of telling anyone her feelings. ‘That’s what journals and diaries are for, aren’t they?’ And her secret place, that has been invaded.. she can no longer speak out loud. Taeyeon took a sip from her soda nervously. She looked at the can with condensated water droplets, the very can Tiffany gave her earlier. She never thought that anyone would be interested in anything about her. Her name, her life.. or notice how she never smiled. For the first time, she did the most extraordinary thing. She answered that question.

“The world is a cruel place.”

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Author's Note:
I've decided to turn this into a two-shot story! ... maybe three.
Depends on how much more i want to write :)