Chapter Two: Butterfly
pendulumTurned out two weeks wasn’t a lot of time. Fourteen days. Three hundred and thirty six hours. Twenty thousand one hundred and sixty minutes. One million two hundred nine thousand and six hundred seconds… They all felt like a single moment in time to me.
“Stop!” I screamed and laughed as Kyungsoo splashed water at me, “stop it Soo! Stop!”
The two of us were running around a shallow pond with our pants rolled up and shoes and socks left forgotten on the grass. We used to come here to skip rocks during our elementary school days, but our visits dwindled down to almost none as our lives got busier and busier. With the responsibilities of adulthood looming ahead, the two of us wanted to relive the old days just a little.
Kyungsoo thought it’d be fun to start some sort of a water fight.
“Come on, why aren’t you fighting back? Scared?” Kyungsoo smirked as he continued to attack me with bouts of water.
I was having none of that, “oh it is on!” I charged towards Kyungsoo and knocked him over. The most masculine of squawks left his lips as he fell on his bum. There was a loud splash as the water scattered and ricocheted from his body. He didn’t look too amused, but I was.
“YAH!” Kyungsoo was drenched.
I giggled and ran away as fast as my legs could go, my noodle arms pumping back and forth as I fled the scene, “you asked for it!”
“You’re so dead Minyoung,” Kyungsoo stood up and I shrieked when the distance between us started to shrink.
I barely made it out of the water when I felt his arms around my torso and tackling me onto the grass. The two of us landed on our sides, laughing with our eyes shut and cheeks pulled taut. I opened my eyes and stopped laughing first, breath caught in my throat as I looked over at him. The sun was shining down on us, highlighting his boyish features and adorable smile. My heart was racing from the adrenaline, and having him so close didn’t help. I pushed him away and crossed both my arms and legs with a fake scowl.
“You ruined my shirt,” I brushed my hands on my top and frowned for real this time. Grass stains and dirt covered what was once a baby blue and white surface.
Kyungsoo rolled his eyes and sat up, “I’d apologize, but you were pretty much asking for me to take you down with the stunt you pulled just now.”
“What?!” My jaw dropped and I smacked his arm, “you’re the one that started the water fight you big baby,” I was pouting at this point. God, why was I pouting?
“Right, right… I’m the big baby,” the corner of Kyungsoo’s lips quirked up at my reaction, “you’re the one complaining here you know?” Kyungsoo stared at me with a soft tenderness in his eyes and for a moment, I forgot about my dirtied shirt.
“Whatever.”
“This was a terrible idea,” Kyungsoo rested his head on my kitchen table and rubbed his stomach with his hands, “I’m going to die.”
“What are you talking about?” I took another scoop of chocolate ice cream from our shared bucket and ate the creamy dessert with a soft hum, “this is awesome.”
Looking back, I probably looked ridiculous with my eyes sparkling like that of a five year old and what not. Gosh, I’m pretty sure there was chocolate stains around my lips too. Oh well. Death by dark chocolate ice cream sounded like a good way to go at the time.
“Ugh,” Kyungsoo looked away and squeezed his eyes shut, “I think I’m gonna hurl.”
“Don’t do it here, there’s a little less than a quarter left and I’d like to eat my ice cream in peace,” I was already digging my spoon into the bucket for my next bite.
“Oh don’t mind me and just keep eating, while I die over here you know?” Kyungsoo poked my side as he said this, earning him a glare.
I pulled the metal spoon out of my mouth with a loud pop and waved the spoon around, “Well… how about you go and die elsewhere?”
“Fine, I’ll just go lie down and die out of your way or something,” Kyungsoo grumbled as he dragged himself towards my living room.
“I was just kidding,” I took the bucket of ice cream with me and followed him. I took a seat on my couch while he grabbed the remote.
“Sure, whatever you say,” Kyungsoo started flipping through channels and groaned in disgust when a Baskin Robin advertisement started to play. He changed the channel.
Laughing, I cleared up the ice cream and brought the last scoop next to his face.
“Minyoung, no,” Kyungsoo backed away in horror, “I’m too full.”
“Come on, you know you want it,” I pushed the spoon against his lips and cheered in victory when he opened up.
“I hate you.”
“It wasn’t that bad!”
“Yes it was,” Kyungsoo laid down on his side and kicked me lightly, “I didn’t expect you to go and buy the biggest bucket of ice cream you monster.”
“What? You said we should try finish an entire bucket ourselves and the dark chocolate ones only come in one size.”
“You couldn’t have picked a different flavour like strawberry or something?”
“But… Dark chocolate is the best.”
“Monster I tell you, you’re a monster.”
Sweat was getting into my eyes and trickled down my spine as we cycled along hangang, but I wasn’t tired. In fact, I was having a great time and feeling quite content with life.
“Wanna bike a little more then grab kimbap or something?” Kyungsoo took a sharp left turn as he spoke, his voice loud and clear then growing softer as I dragged behind.
I sped up a little and nodded, “yeah, that sounds good to me, I’m getting pretty hungry.”
“Of course you are.”
The two of us biked for another half an hour before we finally decided to stop for the day. We had been biking for over an hour already and needed to reapply our sunscreen soon. I took large gulps of cold water after we locked our bikes and looked for a shaded spot to sit and eat while Kyungsoo went to grab our lunches.
He came back after ten minutes with a roll of tuna and a roll of bulgogi kimbap in his hands. He was holding a white plastic bag with some pastries and sparkling water as well.
“Here,” he passed me the tuna roll and sat down next to me. My head was resting against the trunk of a large tree and soon his head was resting on mine.
The two of us ate our rice rolls in silence while looking out at the hangang. There were families walking along the river while couples road the two-people bikes with loving smiles gracing their lips. I heard kids laughing as their parents chased them, and the bouncing of basketballs on cement as a few groups of teenagers played against one another. It’s almost a distant memory to me now, but a memory that I would remember for a long while nonetheless.
“What are you thinking about?”
I turned around and flushed when I realized Kyungsoo had been looking at me. For how long I wasn’t sure, but long enough to notice I was spacing out.
“Nothing really, just enjoying the scenery.”
“Tired?”
“Not really,” I took another bite out of my lunch and scrunched my face when some of the rice fell onto my lap. What a waste, “I had fun though.”
I felt Kyungsoo move and watched as he sat up straight, his voice was barely a hum when he spoke, “let’s do this again some time soon then yeah?”
“Yeah, before you leave okay?”
“Sounds like a plan to me.”
I looked out at the hangang again and wondered what it’d be like to come here on my own instead. I shuttered at the thought.
Kyungsoo chuckled and tucked my hair behind my ears, “hey, stop daydreaming cause the pastries I got don’t taste as good with warm sparkling water.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re going to break your neck,” Kyungsoo swung back and forth on his swing in a relaxed manner while I was pumping my legs back and forth like a mad woman, “I’m also pretty sure it’s physically impossible for you to flip on these dinky things.”
“Shh, you’re ruining my concentration Soo,” I brushed him off and kept going at it. In the back of my mind, I knew I was being stupid, but it doesn’t hurt to try right? It’d be nice to make something impossible doable. How awesome would that be?
“What am I going to tell your siblings when they find their older sister rendered immobile because of a stupid set of swings?”
“Oh stop exaggerating,” I growled and ignored him, swinging up higher. It felt like I was flying with the wind in my hair and sun on my face. I felt free.
“You’re really such a kid sometimes Minyoung,” Kyungsoo’s swings came to a stop as he watched me swing as if my life depended on it.
“Yep, I’d rather not grow up just yet,” I tried going higher, but it seemed I had hit my limit for the day.
Tired, I finally decided to call it quits and slowed down until I was barely swinging back and forth. It was nice though. Spending time with Kyungsoo at the park just like the old days. It was… comforting too. I wish time could just stand still for a couple seconds though. Is that really asking for too much?
“You giving up now?” Kyungsoo was amused, I could see it in the furrowing of his brows, squinting of his eyes, and curling of his lips.
“Nope,” my lips came together then let go in a loud pop as my legs skidded to a halt, “let’s come back tomorrow and try again.”
“I thought you wanted to go down to hangang again tomorrow.”
“Why not both?”
Lying down, I rested my head on Kyungsoo’s thighs and traced various constellations with my fingers.
“Don’t you just wish that time could stand still sometimes?” My eyes were transfixed on the stars as I asked Kyungsoo that question.
“Yeah, I guess, but if time stood still then I’d be stuck in High School for the rest of my life,” he chuckled as he replied,“and that my friend, would .”
“Why though?” I shifted until I was staring up at him through my lashes, “I wouldn’t mind.”
“Well, everybody has to grow up and move on someday. That’s just how things are.” Kyungsoo looked down at me and his features scrunched up in concern, “is this cause you’re worried I won’t come back and visit? I’ll be back before you know it Minyoung.” That wasn’t the answer I was looking for.
“No no, it’s not that. Well, not exactly. I dunno, it’s just that everything is happening so fast,” I sighed and kept half of my attention on Kyungsoo and the other half back to the night sky. “It feels like I just started High School yesterday, but you’re leaving soon and I graduate next year. I just wish that things could slow down sometimes you know?”
“Hey, don’t worry about it, just go with the flow. Maybe you could do something crazy like taking a year off to build schools in Africa or something,” Kyungsoo ruffled my hair and all I wanted to do was pull away from his platonic gestures. I didn’t.
“Eh… I’ll think about it. At least you’ve got it all sorted out though. You’ve always wanted to make it big, have your own architectural firm and everything. That’s why you’re going to Cornell right? I knew there had to be a reason for all those English for Dummies books you bought.”
Small creases started to form around Kyungsoo’s eyes at the mention of his dream school, “yeah, I still can’t believe I got into the program,” delight was interlaced with every single word that left his lips. He was so thrilled that it almost made me feel guilty for wanting him to stay behind. Almost. “Don’t worry Minyoung, you’ll figure it out in the end, you always do.”
With a sigh, I traced the big dipper with my pointer finger as I answered him, “I guess...” He didn’t get it. Still doesn’t.
The swingset creaked in the distance.
Going to University and planning my future out was the last thing on my mind.
My apologies for taking so long to update! I hope you guys like the first chapter =)
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