A green, empty hill filled his eye sight and had been in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but a pile of dung and soil surrounding it.

He had walked by foot for hours and hours to find anything familiar to him in this cluster of unfamiliarity and loneliness, but a rough edged gray tombstone caught his attention and it had read out the name “Park Yoobin”, which was his father’s name.

It had confused him that nothing else but his father’s gravestone had been found in this isolated landscape, as he was sure that his father would have been buried beside Yoochun’s own grandparents and his aunt at their own native hill they had in possession for centuries, but it seemed otherwise.

            The dusty wind blew into his eyes and formed pearls of tears in between his irises, wiping them off furiously as he quietly sat in front of the gravestone defensively like a shield to a soldier and stared at the surface of the carved stone for what seemed like an eternity.

The sky was clear from any sight of clouds and the warm sun hovered over him and a shadow from the large, okay tree that was rooted right next to the gravestone created a large shadow over the tomb.

Yoochun assumed that the police and investigation department had difficulty finding where his family’s ancestral hill had been located and had instead decided to bury him in a distant, empty hill far off in the country where no one had ever decided to lay their dead to rest in a place like this.

            A bouquet of flowers had been placed beside the lonely looking grave where dirt had already been forming around it, with fresh daisies, roses and carnations circling placed in a ceramic vase and had seemed like someone had only recently visited the grave.

He held on the stem of a white rose from the vase that had been right next to his father’s grave and looked carefully into its petals and roots to make sure that the flowers may have just been recently picked and that probably someone else may have visited his father.

A sudden stinging pain had pricked his fingers as the watery fluid that drooped between his fingertips had turned scarlet red as he realized that his own blood had been flowing on the thorn hemmed rose.

Yoochun backs away and drops the rose on the ground, startled by the sudden discomfort and ache he had felt burn on his finger and wiped it against his woolen shirt. He stood up and begun his journey back home, even if he never knew where he was going and did not have any clue where he was currently found.

An eerie atmosphere had built around him, the sunny and warm breeze suddenly turning cold yet humid as a vague voice had echoed in his ears.

            “Yoochun-ah” He couldn’t believe his own eyes, his father in full form and flesh dressed in all white clothing had appeared in front of him.

Yoochun stared at his father in surprise and in fear, blinking repetitively to make sure he had been seeing things right.

            “I am so sorry father – I have fled like the fool I am.” Those were the only words he could shamefully spit out and tears flowed out of his eyes like a waterfall.

His father reached out to pat on his shoulder, a serene sigh that seemed calm and tranquil as he had laid himself to rest.

            “I have forgiven you, my son. All I want you to do while you live are to protect your sister, find your mother and live a good life.” Yoobin smiled sadly as he looked proudly down at his son, walking away towards the bright light of nothing but eternity.

            “Father no please- Come back!” Yoochun grabbed onto his father desperately, his voice throaty as he wanted his father to stay. Yet he could do nothing, as his father kept going towards the light and left Yoochun bawling and in pain on the ground.

“I just want you to remember that I will always love you and be a good boy, Yoochun – “

Crash! Yoochun’s eyes flew open as he realized that he had still been peddling on the bike Changmin had lent him and that he had fallen asleep on the way to school.

A throbbing pain had been boiling on the bone of his knee as an open knee had been sliced open as he had cut himself against the tangled metal wires that had been sticking out by the sidewalk.

He scratched his head and sighed painfully as he looked around to look for help and no one had been around to even lend him a hand. The grey fabric located near his knee area had been severely ripped as he had landed wrongly on the ground, his uniform ruined before the school day even started.

Yoochun stubbornly grabbed a ripped piece of cloth from his backpack and tied it around his knee, his eyes shutting tightly as he felt the bloodcurdling pain tighten around his open wound and the blood that had been flowing from it still dripping down his knee.

            His hands gripped on the breaks of the barely scratched bike as he struggled to stand up and lifted his body on top the plastic seat, sharply turning his legs on the pedals as the wheels started to go forward.

He takes a quick glimpse at his mud-covered watch and shook his head at the fact that school would have started in fifteen minutes, and that he was currently seven minutes away. Pedalling continuously as he ignored what he felt on his knee, he rushed just in time before the bell rung in six minutes.

            By the sidewalk, he saw Jaejoong and Junsu walking and laughing heartily as they were also on the way to school as they went there by foot.

            “Hey Chun-yah!” chirped Junsu.

            “Hey Junsu!” he replied.

Yoochun got off his bike and continued walking with Jaejoong and Junsu as they passed through the school’s heavily guarded metal gates.

He locked the bike by the bike racks and slung his backpack from the basket behind him on his back.

            “Where’s Changmin? I’m surprised I haven’t seen him yet today. He told me to bring his bike to school since he left it at the orphanage and lent it to me today.” Yoochun looked around and found it unusual that Changmin’s presence has left a void within the quartet of friends.

            “He recently got sick with the flu from last week. Mrs. Shim still wonders why he’s so sick and Mrs. Hwang just told her he stood out in the rain for a long time a week ago.” Jaejoong answered anxiously, still concerned about his younger friend.

A wistful smile appears on Yoochun’s face as he remembers that Changmin did stay out with Yoona out in the rain when she waited for hours for him. He may or may have not remembered hearing his sister say that she kind of did have a crush on the tall, intelligent student who was her brother’s friend.

            “I’ll probably just bring the bike over to his place when I get home after school.” He shrugged his shoulders and shifted his direction towards his home room with Jaejoong as the three splintered off to their different classes.

            “See you after school, hyungs!” Junsu waved before he ran into the swarm of people by the crowded hallway where they spotted Sungmin and Hyukjae with him as they immediately started a conversation.

The bell rung as Jaejoong and Yoochun hurriedly raced to the best seats found in the room.

….

The warm, spring breeze blew in the air as the flowers blossomed on the grounds and the trees had come back to life after they had all temporarily dried out in the winter.

He sat on the fresh and newly cut grass, his attention completely diverted from society as he listened to music through a precious, hand-me-down cd player which had been given to him by his mother for his birthday the previous year.

            Yoochun had been listening to his music in complete serenity as he eventually laid his body on the grass and closed his eyes as he absorbed himself into the music and ignored everything else that surrounded him.

S.E.S’s “Be Natural” blasts on his blue colored cd player, the jazz synths and the smooth voices of the girl group clearly a symphony to his ears.

He hears one side of the music stop playing on his left ear and panics shortly as the other side of his earplug had been pulled out of his ear, only to realize someone had been listening on the other side.

            “And what are you listening to?” Sooyeon asks.

Yoochun looked at her with a startled expression, moving away a few inches away from her out of surprise and shock.

            “I’m listening to S.E.S’s Be Natural, is it because you like this song?” He asks, still frozen in the moment on the ground.

She stares back for a few seconds, before continuing to listen to the song before it ended abruptly.

            “Well of course – Yunho oppa totally has a crush on the member named Eugene.” She rolled her eyes sarcastically, taking the earphones off her ear and taking out her backpack to take out a couple of snacks and a blanket.

He sets aside his CD player and earphones into his bag in plans to leave, but immediately puts down his bag and sits beside her as a container full of ham and cheese sandwiches are suddenly put in front of him.

Sooyeon takes a piece of tissue and wraps it around a diagonally cut sandwich and handed it within his hands, sitting right next to him as she decided to take a piece for herself as well.

            “And you brought food?” His eyes widen in surprise, though he willingly takes the sandwich into his own hands and bites slowly into it.

            “My mom wanted to thank you for bringing me home safely after school last week, even though I got scolded beforehand for staying in the rain for too long.” Sooyeon shrugs as they sit quietly on the freshly cut grass, the sound of birds chirping and leaves falling heard around them.

It makes him smile to think that even with the busy lives that both live, he’s still able to have placid and peaceful moments like this, even under a tree.

Yoochun may have kept this to himself for months, but the attraction and concern he felt for Sooyeon grew each day and it wasn’t just plainly that he was fascinated by her physical appearance.

From kindergarten, elementary and up to his old middle school, he may have seen much more beautiful and enchanting women that caught other young boys’ attention, but there was just something about her as a person that really kept him unable to stay away.

Sooyeon wasn’t very open to him or even Jaejoong and Changmin at first, only sharing slight glances and polite grins every time she would accompany her mother to the orphanage or deliver mail with Jaejoong across the other street.

It probably took a few more weeks or even months to even properly start a conversation with her, yet that’s what probably made it so special for him.

            “I- I hope you could please extend my thanks to your mother in gratitude, if you wouldn’t mind. You really didn’t have to do all of this for me.” Yoochun said sadly, looking into the empty void in the sky and had slowly shifted his focus away from her.

She frowned, noticing that his mood that significantly dropped and that talking about parental love was probably not the most appropriate topic to speak of, as not even a whole year has passed from the traumatic experience he faced.

            “I’m sorry, Yoochun-oppa – I didn’t mean to talk about it and I didn’t want to hurt your feelings in the first place – “Her voice turned solemn and silent as she looked away from him, scooting over to the other side of the mat.

            “I’m okay, really – Don’t worry about me!” He laughed as realistic and cheerful as he could; choking on the straw of orange juice he was currently sipping on.

Her roaring laughter was heard throughout the field, as she playfully threw a plum at him and hitting him right in the forehead.

In revenge, he grabs her by the waist and they giggle endlessly as they rolled down the high humped hill, being covered in soil and smudged in the scent and color of grass.

The two get tired of their endless tickling and teasing as they rest their bodies on the cold, itchy grass, both short of breath and cheeks red of tiredness and exhaustion.

A thrilling, poignant silence fills the void between the two of them, as they stared at the sky hopelessly with half-crescent eyes that nearly fall asleep and see the sun set and the sky grow dim.

            “Have you ever thought why the world was sometimes just horrible?” She interrupts sharply, voice mysterious yet curious in a quiet, careful voice.

Her words strike him personally, a pain stinging in the core of his heart. It seemed to himself that he was a complete different person from before his father had been wrongfully murdered and his mother being completely out of his sight.

It flashes before him the happy and loving family memories that Yoochun had celebrated and enjoyed with his parents and his younger sister, yet he eventually realizes that those days were over.

Tears unknowingly fall down his eyes, the melancholy and hurting pain of the past completely separating him from the moment. He blinks again and immediately wipes the tears away, not wanting anyone to see that he was suddenly crying after some random question.

            “And why do you ask that? The world has always been cruel and ruthless; it’s just that it’s just been time for us to realize its true façade.” Yoochun sighs sadly, looking away and closing his eyes.

She frowns, turning side wards as she notices his sorrowful disposition on the topic and nudges him by her elbow and hitting him sharply on his stomach, gaining a loud complaint from him.

            “Don’t hit me there! I just ate some food. “He complained as he clutched his stomach, holding in the slight pain she gave him.

            “How many times do I have to tell you that I’m your friend and not some random girl who lives near the orphanage? I’m not just here to watch you stay sad and let you cry about your problems as you sleep. If you ever feel down, never hesitate to talk to me and I will do my best to make you feel better.” Sooyeon angrily scolded him, pointing out how he had still been very closed and reserved when speaking to her, even when they’ve been friends for nearly a year.

            “Alright, Sooyeon-ah - I, Park Yoochun, swear and promise to always tell the truth to Jung Sooyeon.” Yoochun offered his pink instead, reaching it forward towards her and patiently waited for her response.

She smiles suddenly so shyly and coyly at him, slowly reaching out and clasping her pinky around his, laughing together without even noticing that her cheeks had started to flare in a strong red color and the warmth she felt while around him had increased as well.

A disruptive sound rings from a vibrating object found in her bag, painfully ringing even louder as she takes out what was actually her phone and answers the call immediately in panic.

He stands up and sets aside all the food and cloth that had been scattered on the ground, as she was busy dealing with the scolding and the complaints she had been getting from what sounded like her mother.

            “Yoochun-oppa, I have to get going before it gets dark – I’ll see you tomorrow, okay!” Sooyeon quickly threw all of her belongings into her backpack and began to rush off to run back home.

            “Do you want me to accompany you home? It’s dangerous that you might get home after the sun has set!” Yoochun shouts as loud as possible for her to hear, as she stops from her tracks and looks back at him.

            “It’s alright – My dad is sending our driver to pick me up from here, see ya!” She screamed back, shivering slightly at the dropping temperature and knees shaking though she stood straight.

He hesitated for a few seconds, and shook his head gently as he knew if he missed this exact moment – He’d be full of regret for the rest of his life.

            “Sooyeon-ah, would you be free in exactly three weeks from now to see West Side Story with me? I was given free tickets from a friend who wouldn’t be able to make it for the show, and I thought that you may have possibly been interested in those kind of musicals?” He asked firmly, though deep inside him he was nervous that she might reject him harshly instead.

Is he asking me out for a date? Sooyeon asked herself, eyes wandering off as she shortly panicked and bit her lip tightly. She wanted to giggle loudly like some elementary school girl and squeal to give him her permission, but she told herself she was much more mature than that.

            “Sure, just give our house a call so that I could know the time and all the other details.” She nodded calmly, grinning sweetly and she could have sworn the corners of have been hurting so much after that.

Sooyeon caught sight of the dark black limo her father had owned and entered the back door as held by her family’s driver, though before she entered the car she waved slightly at Yoochun, and naturally, he waved back.

Yoochun waited specifically till the limo was out of sight and that both Sooyeon and the driver would not be able to see his explosive reaction.

As soon as the limo had turned into a vague image of a moving spec of darkness, he jumped in joy and kept screaming out “Yes!” at the top of his lungs, not even caring that his voice may turn hoarse the next day.

He walked himself back home with a broad smile plastered on his face, earning confused and suspicious glares from Junsu and Changmin.

….