Fluttering leaves of autumn scatter around the ground, as the wind shakes and moves the heart of trees to shrug the dusts and traces of dead leaves in their arms. And it's not only caused by the wind of course. A little girl in the age of eleven sits on the thick branches, crawls on the wide branch to the end and shake the leaves with wild eyes and a wicked smile.
Forty fourth leaves fall to Soojung's eyes, and that's when her eyes flutter open, like a pair of butterfly's wings, it flaps repetitively as falling leaves keep descending to her face.
Amidst falling leaves swaying slowly amongst the wind and lukewarm sun filtered through gaps of leaves, she sees twin braided hair and blue overalls, and Soojung screams. She wants to, but her words are caught in her lips, when she hears a loud snap of something falling apart.
Instead of screaming in anger, she ends up scurrying to her feet, black locks with dead leaves swaying and some get tucked on her hair as she gets up, and Soojung feels her heart on , even though the term itself doesn't make any sense to her, but she hears it often amongst one of her mother's personal monologue when she feels like doing it.
"Seulgi, don't move!"
Seulgi is laughing, and Soojung frowns deeply and worryingly, light eyebrows knitted, her hands on her hips. Seulgi's legs dangle from the branch, swinging back and forth gleefully, oblivious of the snapping and cracking sound. Or refusing to hear so.
"Soojung came back from the dead!" Seulgi chimes, in a sing-a-song tone, fox-like eyes and bun like cheeks. She keeps moving and shifting all to her pleasure on the branch, and when the branch snaps for the third time, Seulgi falls.
When her eyes flutter open, she realizes that she lands on something soft and a little bit bumpy, and she hears a loud whiny groan from below her. Pushing herself aside, she sees Soojung in her floral fluttery dress reaching below her knees. Scrunched eyebrows and a pained expression are visible on her face.
"I told you to be careful, Seulgi!" Soojung flares, tearful eyes and red nose, back turned to her as she rubs the forming bump behind her head. "It hurts, Seulgi. It hurts."
Seulgi only smiles despite of it all, and hugs Soojung from the back, and spins her around as if she is flying and riding a carousel. Soojung shrieks for the first few times, and then she guffaws out loud merrily, telling Seulgi to keep going and going, even to the point she is dizzy and wobbly from seeing the world spin along with her.
The twin braided girl is on the same age as Soojung is, but she's taller and somehow more fit, a track runner on her school, Seulgi is. Whilst Soojung will be too busy to read books about how galaxies are created, stars clashing to form planets, how the Sun is actually a star, and everything in between, Seulgi will be outside all day. Running across the neighborhood, running across the school's field, and running. Just run, all day long. She runs also from teachers who seeks her attention in class after school.
Soojung's flowy hair that reaches her back is getting in , and she stops. The pained expression is gone, only to be replaced with rouge cheeks and crescent eye smiles and giggles.
The wind of autumn shakes all the leaves off Soojung's floral dress, her thin and bow legs and pink sandals. It's a little bit cold, but Soojung likes the wind entering her dress and sways her dress in the process, creating a flapping sound of rustling fabrics.
"Soojung came back from the dead!"
"Yes, I am!" Soojung beams at Seulgi despite of their illogical friendship code, and when Seulgi pulls on her hand to run with her across the neighborhood, she follows along. Her four other friends are nowhere to be found, who are so close to her, so close she can almost recognize the way their feets shuffle along the ground.
But it's okay. Seulgi is here, and she doesn't feel alone. Seulgi is enough to make her existence feels precious by this one friend's twisted form of affection.
They both live in a small town, where rice fields and meadows still exist, no skyscrapers and mightily tall buildings to hide the blue, blue sky and migrating birds. Soojung feels thankful to live in such a town, even though access to more knowledge about the galaxy is limited here. Thankfully, her father who travels often to the city brings her lots of books to read, scientific books and also fables, and fairy tales.
She will read it wherever and whenever, even amongst Seulgi and Wonwoo's fist fights and Mingyu, Seungwan, Seokmin watching from the sides, eating from stacks of sandwiches Seungwan's grandmother packed for them. In this age, they almost see each other as the same, as equals with no gender identity.
Puberty is nowhere to be found, even though when Wonwoo's hand accidentally touched Seulgi's left chest, though straight like his, Seulgi still wrestled the hell out of him with Seungwan and Soojung cheering from the sides, because girls support each other and Seokmin laughed hysterically, whilst Mingyu glared at Seokmin for doing so. They were ten when they realized there are limits to everything, even between boys and girls' friendships. Most of them realised that, but boundaries are still crossed despite of that knowledge.
They are different, yet they are the same in the way they smile and get angry over the smallest of things; Mingyu's marbles borrowed by Seokmin only to be lost when he accidentally dropped it to the gaps of his porch, to Soojung's obsession with galaxy and constantly telling them about everything related to it, and then there is Seungwan and her fondness of tending her garden, and Wonwoo's habit of observing people from the telescope in his room (he said that dangerous people exist and he wants to be aware when the time comes, and Seulgi accused him of being a ert), Seulgi and her idea of travelling, jumping places, climbing trees, unable to stay in the same place without twitching and itching to move. Seokmin tells the funniest of jokes that sends the other five to their knees, rolling on their stomachs and crying in the process.
Amongst autumn leaves, Seulgi's sunkissed skin, Soojung's pallid ones, their hands interlaced with each other, as their dusty sandals dash along the wind and pavements across local neighborhood with elders sitting outside of their porch, reading their newspaper in the afternoon and hissing under their breaths as reckless laughters colour the skies, happiness is there.
Somehow, in someway, Soojung couldn't ask any more of this, perhaps to have the other four here with them.
Somehow, in someway, Soojung couldn't ask any more of this, perhaps to have the other four here with them.
But now, it's enough. It's enough, and Soojung can't wait to see another day like this, colouring her youth.
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