Hope we can always stay together, grow old together, and never be apart.
- N & V

"What are you looking at?" A man's voice startled Victoria as she looks at one of the bamboo sticks that are hanging on the giant tree. She looks down as she doesn't want the man to notice what she has been looking.

"Nothing.”

The man glances towards the bamboo sticks hanging on the big tree. "Is this a wishing tree? Do you want to write one? We can write one together." The man said as he intertwines his hand with hers.

She looks down to their intertwined hands. She doesn’t feel any warmth through it. "No. We should get going." She said, and they walk towards the parking lot. As they are driving away, Victoria glances back to the giant tree.

I miss you.

***

Nichkhun walks towards the giant tree and sit down on the grass in front of the hanging bamboo stick that he and his love wrote together. He looks at it again and again, never get tired of it. His thoughts went back to the past when she's here with him, carving their wish on the bamboo stick together and hanging it around the tree.

6 months ago

“This place is beautiful!” Victoria said as she stretched out her hands to feel the sea breeze. Nichkhun smiles at her reaction, knowing that he has brought her to the right place. He walked towards her and naturally wraps his arms around her waist. He rests his head on her shoulder and feels the sea breeze together.

“Thanks for bringing me here. It’s really beautiful.” Victoria leans against him and wraps her hands around his that are around her waist. She doesn’t remember the last time that she’s out to the beach, but she knows that it has been a long time ago. Now, she’s here with the man she loves, she can’t help but feel blessed and happy.

“You’re welcome. I’m glad you like this place.” He smiles as he breathes in the sweet scent of her hair. They have been dating for 2 months, and the places that they went on dates were the streets, malls, or parks. He wanted to bring her to somewhere else, where she would be happy if she visited the place. He heard from her best friend – Krystal – that Victoria likes to visit the beach, but she doesn’t have a chance to. That is the reason why he brought her here today.

They walked around the shore, and something caught Victoria’s eyes. Lots of bamboo sticks with strings attached are hanging on a giant tree. Perking her curiosity, she lets go of his hand and ran towards the giant tree. Before she could ran further, she tripped onto a small rock. With quick reflexes, he grabs onto her hand before she could fall over. “Be careful!” He says, raising his voice. He was worried that his girlfriend would get hurt, and unintentionally raised his voice. Victoria was feeling down when she felt like she was scolded by him.

Looking at her change of expression, he heaves out a small sigh. “Don’t let go of my hand, Vic.”

With this simple sentence, Victoria’s face slowly lets out a smile as she understands that he was worried about her. But her smile slowly faded again as she thought of something. Not wanting him to know what has been on her mind, she smiles again and looks at him. “Okay, I won’t.” She says, and intertwines her hand with his. They walked together to the giant tree as she tells him his curiosity when she saw that tree.

Nichkhun have already knows about that tree. It is included in one of the reasons why he brought her here today. The giant tree is some kind of a wishing tree. People carve their wishes on to the small bamboo sticks and throw it up to the branches of the tree. If their bamboo sticks hanged on to the tree with their first throw, it means that their wish would come true. This is just a myth, but many people believe in these things.

“Wow! A wishing tree!” Victoria said as she looks around the giant tree. She turns towards Nichkhun with a wide smile on her face, and Nichkhun knew what she wants. He sat his girlfriend down on a grass patch and went to buy 1 bamboo stick from a stall near the tree.

“Here.” He passes the bamboo stick and a small pen knife to her. She takes it and looks back to his hand. He looks at her, wondering why he gave her a questioning look. “Anything’s wrong?”

“Why did you only get 1 bamboo stick? You should get 2!” She says. Nichkhun now understands what she meant. She wanted him to write one as well. “I don’t have any wish now. My wish has been granted, as you are by my side right now.”

Victoria’s heart beats rapidly as he says. But at the same time, she feels a little upset. She doesn’t know what the future would bring them, but she knows that there’s a high possibility that it won’t be a happy one. She erased the thoughts as she felt his arms around her and his breathing on her ear. “I’m happy that you are mine.” He says, and nibbles her ear softly. Victoria flinched as she felt what he is doing to her.

“There are people here.” She turned around to face him and said. She was surprised again as Nichkhun gives her a peck on the lips. He knows she is blushing as she tried to adjust her hair to cover her cheeks.

“Don’t be embarrassed. We’re lovers. It’s normal for lovers to show their love to their partner.” He says, and slowly leans in again to give her another kiss.

They end up writing their wish together on the bamboo stick. They hold their hands together tightly and throw it up together. Seeing that it has hanged on the first time, Victoria hopes that this tree would really grant her wish.

“Nichkhun! You’re really here!” He heard a familiar female voice and running steps towards him. He didn’t turn around as he knows very well who that voice belongs to. The lady pants softly as she stops right beside him. “You worried us when you ran away.”

“I didn’t run away, you know that I won’t. Besides, you have already found me.” He says, eyes never leaving the message on the bamboo stick.

“Taecyeon told me that you would be here.” She said, and looked at him. He remains silent, still staring at the same thing. Her eyes follow the direction where he’s looking at, and her eyes were wide open when she found out what he’s looking at. She takes a few steps forward and looks at it closely. Making sure that she’s not seeing it wrongly, she turns back to him angrily. “Why are you still thinking of her!? It’s been 3 months and you still can’t get over her!? Wake up, Nichkhun!”

Nichkhun ignores her and continues to stare at the message. Then, he opens his mouth to speak, “You know, this is a wishing tree. The both of us made a wish together. We were so happy.”

“Nichkhun!”

“This tree is supposed to grant our wish if our wish was hanged around the branches on our first throw. We did it back then. We threw it just once, and it hanged around there.”

“Nichkhun! Enough!”

“But why didn’t it grant our wish? Why!?” He started to shout, and cries, hard. She looks at him, sadness in her eyes. She squats down in front of him and gave him a hug. She lets him cry, wanting him to let all his sadness out. She lets out a few drops of tears, seeing him feeling so miserable.

His sobs slowly faded, and she wipes her tears before releases the hug. She stands on her feet and went to his right side. “Let’s go back.” She slowly helps him up by holding on his right arm. “Thanks.” Nichkhun thanked her quietly. He placed his right hand over his left hand. He grabs his left hand and puts it inside his pocket.

She looks at him as he does that, heart aches seeing him in this state. He turns around and walks away from the tree, and she follows after him.

***

Victoria looks at herself in the mirror as the Staff helps her with her gown. She looks at herself from head to toe. She always hope to wear a wedding gown similar to the one she is wearing now, but now, she doesn’t feel right wearing this.

“Okay, it’s done. You look really beautiful Miss Song.” The Staff that helps her with the gown said.

“Thanks.” She thanks the Staff for complimenting her, but her mood remains unchanged.

The Staff draws the curtains to reveal Victoria to the man that has been waiting outside the changing room for a long time. The man puts his phone down on the table in front of him as he’s using it before, and stands up as he sees her standing beautifully in front of him. He walks towards her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “You look stunning, Victoria.” He says, and Victoria just gave him a smile.

“Yeah, Miss Song is really beautiful. I hope you are pleased with it.” The Staff said and looks at the couple in front of her. The woman is beautiful, and the man is handsome. They make a great visual couple, but she feels something is not right. Most of the couples that came here look really happy, and she can always feel happiness surrounds them. As for this couple, she can’t feel any.

“I am more than pleased. Thanks for making my wife such a beautiful and stunning lady.” He says, and thanks the Staff.

After getting the wedding gown and tuxedo, they head back to Song Mansion. They head straight to the lounge area where Victoria’s father was. “We’re back, Uncle Song.” The man greeted the old man who was reading the newspaper.

“Oh, the both of you are back. I have something to discuss with you, Kris. Let’s go to my office.” Victoria’s father says, and he agrees immediately, knowing what he wanted to discuss with him. “Sure.” He says, and both of them leave Victoria alone in the lounge area.

Victoria doesn’t know what they wanted to discuss about, but she knows that she shouldn’t be concerning about these things. Besides, she doesn’t have a control on her life. She’s living like a puppet, her father pulling the strings. But she understands that her father just wanted to protect her.

She wanted to head back to her room, but before she could do so, her stepmother strides in, and take a seat on the couch beside the couch that Victoria was seated.

“Mother.” Victoria greeted her, and she nods back. Their relationship was formal, and distant. Since their relationship was like this ever since her stepmother came into her family, it has become a habit.

“How’s the wedding gown?” Her stepmother asks.

“It’s beautiful, and it fits me well.” She says. She does find the gown beautiful, but she doesn’t really feel that the gown suits her. It was Kris who says that this gown suits her best, which is why she told her stepmother that it fits her well.

“Well, that’s good. The wedding is in a month’s time. Have you prepared the guest list?” She asks, as she has previously told Victoria to prepare it since her stepmother is going to help her in sending the wedding invitation out to the guests. Her stepmother has already prepared the guest list, but she asked Victoria in case she have some friends she wanted to invite.

Victoria shook her head. “No. Your guest list is fine.” She says, as she have received the guest list that her stepmother prepared the day before. She has run through the names, and she finds it fine. Most of the names are her father’s and Kris’s business partners, and since she does not have many friends, she doesn’t need to add more to the list.

“Okay. I’ll ask the butler to proceed to send the invitation out to the guest.”

“Thanks, mother.”

***

“Finally! You are willing to come back home!” Nichkhun’s mother said and gave him a hug as she saw her son standing outside the door, with his friends beside him.

Ever since that incident, he has been staying with his best friend – Taecyeon. He decided to stay at his best friend’s place and not home as he didn’t want to worry his mother. At first his best friend doesn’t agree to it, but Nichkhun keeps begging him. Seeing his best friend in this state, and he knows what had happened to him, Taecyeon had no choice but to comply.

Now, after 3 months, Nichkhun decides to come back home.

“Sorry, Mom. Sorry for worrying you.” He said after seeing his mother in tears. He didn’t see his mother cried before, not even when his father went missing. He wipes away her tears with his right hand.

“It’s okay. As long as you’re back.” His mother said as she tries to stop her tears. She makes way for her son and his friends – Jia & Taecyeon – to come in.

Nichkhun went back to his room after he’s done showering. His friends left after they helped him with his stuffs. He went to his wardrobe to get a sleeveless top and wear it. He wears it over his head first and tucks his right hand out. He then uses his right hand to pull his left hand out from the shirt. He always finds it difficult to wear a shirt after the incident, but he never complains. He’s already gotten used to it.

He went to bed, closes his eyes, trying to sleep. But he’s unable to sleep because he smells a familiar scent. The bed still has her scent, even though it has been untouched since 3 months ago. He turns to lie down on his left side, facing an empty space beside him. The empty space was taken by her when she started living with him.

He opens his eyes, and saw her smiling at him. He smiles back. “Hey.” He heard her voice, and he said back to her. “Hey.”

Her smile became wider, and she moves closer to him. He uses his right hand to touch her cheek. When he does that, she disappears out of his sight.

His eyes widen, and he shouts out her name. “VIC!” Then he remembers that she’s no longer by his side. He closes his eyes once again, and this time, tears fell.

5 months ago

“Sorry to bother you, Mrs Horvejkul.” Victoria said and bowed. It’s her first time seeing her boyfriend’s mother and she’s already going to stay here. She doesn’t know what his mother would think, but since she doesn’t have anywhere to stay, as she’s been changing hotels frequently, and Nichkhun keeps convincing her to stay with him, she agreed to his request.

“Oh, don’t be so formal, sweetie. Just call me Mommy Horvejkul.” His mother said and smiles. She likes this girl when his son kept talking about her, and now she likes her even more seeing her being so polite and respectful. “I like her. I’ll accept her as daughter-in-law.” She whispers in her son’s ear, which made him smiles and nods.

Because they only have three rooms, one is occupied by his mother, the other has been made into a study room, and the last one is Nichkhun’s bedroom, Victoria has no choice but to sleep with Nichkhun. It’s not like her mother wouldn’t want to share a room with her, it’s just that since it’s the 21st century, and his mother wanted to give them time alone. Besides, she likes Victoria a lot and can’t wait for her to become a family with her.

“Your turn to shower.” Victoria says to him as she went back to his room after getting a shower. He nods as he went to the bathroom, leaving Victoria alone in his room.

She takes a good look around his room. It’s not really big and spacious, but it’s really cozy. It’s really the total opposite of hers. She stands near the window, and looks out. She feels the night breeze, and looks up at the sky.

“You should go to bed.” Nichkhun says after he walks in. She turns around to look at him when she heard his voice. She immediately turned red when she saw Nichkhun’s bare upper body. He’s only wearing short pants, and drying his hair using his towel. She turns around.

Nichkhun saw her reaction and chuckles. He knows her girlfriend is shy, but it’s just a bare upper body. She didn’t need to get to shy seeing him like this. Besides, there are so many people bare their upper bodies just for work – example, models. He took a shirt from his wardrobe and wears it. Then he walks straight to his girlfriend and hugs her from the back.

“Didn’t you hear what I just said?” He says, nuzzling his girlfriend’s neck. She feels it and immediately pulls away from him. “What are you doing?” She says, feeling a little surprised as what he’s doing. It’s the first time that they are going to share a room together. They can’t be so quick to… you know, make love. She’s not really ready yet.

“You smell nice.” He says, and pulls her back into his embrace. This time, it’s just a simple, warm hug, and Victoria returns it back. Though her scent evokes his desire to devour her, he had to hold back as he knows she’s an innocent young lady and not ready for it. They had just been dating for only 3 months for goodness sake! It might be too fast for them, he thought.

That night, they sleep together on the same bed, embracing each other.

He woke up when he hears some commotion. He walks out of his room, and was quite surprised seeing someone outside the main door, arguing with his mother. His