(iii. sycamore houses)
Seulgi isn't sure why each time a problem comes up, she finds herself finishing it with her fists or even her feets kicking. She's not sure why, but she finds herself doing so most of the times.
But as long as she can remember, she has always enganged herself in fights with boys around her age. Never with the girls, because most little girls around her age are sweet, very sweet. As in sweet with honey coated smiles and powdery skin, blaringly innocent brown orbs that knows nothing close to harm a fly.
Well, not really. Everyone hatebflies, insects, especially cockroaches. Who doesn't? Even Seungwan hates the green caterpillar that shows up sometimes in her plants. Fat and bulky ones, though she only removes it away most of the times. She said that butterflies are beautiful, and those caterpillars will turn to butterflies someday.
Sometimes, Seulgi can be sweet also, like what her smiles are named by her mother's friends, adorable and drawing hands to pinch on her cheeks. But they never fail to point out her tanned skin, which sometimes she feels inferior of. But she lets it slide off, of course. She likes running and out in the sun accompanying her. Her mother's friends can talk all they want, but by the end of the day, she's happy and that's what matters the most. Seulgi is eleven and she knows where her happiness comes from.
The fights are not very frequent, but she's become known for it since she fought a lot with Wonwoo, and it becomes a show for kids around their age to watch. She mostly fights with him over such small things; Wonwoo not returning her pencil, Wonwoo doodling on her notebook with his pen or colourful pencils, Wonwoo bothering her, or Wonwoo's tongue being spiteful and mocking. She still sits beside him in class since the teacher has signed their seats together. And unlike his teasings and mockery, Wonwoo is the smartest in her class, so she has to up to the fact that she needs his help sometimes.
Still, it doesn't hold her back from kicking his knee outside whenever he annoys her. And Wonwoo kicks back, of course, same like boys around her age. Their fights are involved of brittle smacks and light kicks, and besides Wonwoo is not stronger than her since she is the track runner here who excercises all the time while he spends most of his time in his room, playing video games at day and studying at night. She plays with him, sometimes too.
And now, even after the six of them end up together under the sycamore tree after knowing that Mingyu made Soojung cry, Seulgi can't hit Mingyu. She hits playfully sometimes, and he never hits her back to be honest. She thinks it's unfair to hit those who refuses to hit back, because it's like she's asking for a fight.
Seungyoon, her older brother, despite teaching her to protect herself, always said to fight only with the ones who wants to fight back. Mingyu won't, definitely, for all the life he has. Not when his mother is a strict Math teacher in their elementary school, and his father a biology teacher in a high school around their area.
She notices that Soojung avoids Mingyu's eyes for a while, but after a few moments, she begins to chat brightly with Mingyu, pulling him into a hug while laughing and smiling. Soojung has always been easy to forgive people, that's one of her good qualities for sure.
Today is another Saturday when they find themselves playing here under the big sycamore tree, Wonwoo not holed up in his room and is playing soccer with Mingyu, passing each other the black and white soccerball whilst attempting to do tricks (which fails most of the time for Wonwoo, but not Mingyu, who's a member of the soccer extracurricular program).
Seulgi sits atop a cleared spot as she has swept away dead leaves to make a space, knees drawn to her chest as she watches her friends for a moment; Mingyu laughing when Wonwoo attempts to catch the ball with his feet after he just bounched it to the air, only to end up bouncing to his head, to Seokmin, Seungwan, Soojung and her sits in a half circle, two spots empty.
Seungwan is telling something to Seokmin in whispers and bright eyes, her hair falling to her face and Seokmin listens intently from time to time. It's probably tales her grandmother told her. Sometimes she tells them all, sometimes she only tells Seokmin. Seulgi never gets this, but it's probably because she wants to focus to one audience only.
"Soojung, what are you reading again there?" she scoots closer to take a peek inside of her book, and Soojung barely looks up, but let the girl in tight little braids to look into her thick book.
"It's a book about planets, and I'm still on Venus now, six more planets to go, since Pluto is not counted," she mumbles, loud enough for her to hear, and that is an enough sign for Seulgi to know that Soojung doesn't want to be disturbed now. She usually lets her read together with her, but it seems like this is a freshly new book for Soojung, and she wants her hand to finish this book fast.
Then, Seulgi decides to climb the sycamore tree. Fleshy hands over the hard wood texture, she places her foot on the right spots and she ends up sitting in one of the branches. Seulgi wants to try to climb higher, but for now, it's enough.
The height is high enough for her to look across the meadow spreads before her, rice fields, corn fields, all crops related. She wonders if it is really true, that there are more to this world than the town she is in now. For Seulgi, her world is big, as she hasn't traveled far from home. But she wonders if the whole world is really as big as what her geography teacher claims. It's unimaginable to see that there are more places like this in the world.
Her legs dangle from the branch, and she feels serene under the brown trees covering her like a blanket from the sun, and as the wind flows into the tree, rustling them in their houses, Seulgi feels drowsy.
She leans back to the tree, her legs in the air. It's too warm to sleep, though, Seulgi mumbles inside of her head. The sun filters through the trees and she put out her small hand to the light, and she's fascinated as it filters through the gaps of her fingertips. In those moments, she doesn't listen to the sound of her friends laughing, whispering, and Soojung's fingers flipping through the pages eagerly.
Her eyes catch invinsible dusts amongst the light, seen only because of the bright gleam. The things that are unseen, Seulgi seeks to know more about things like that. That's why she runs a lot, she doesn't know much things at home since everything is shown blatantly, nothing to hide.
Well, Seulgi is eleven and that is what she thinks. Families always have something to hide beneath the covers of their bed, always.
"Look, who's daydreaming on the tree, Mingyu!" She quickly snaps away from her daydream at the all familiar mocking whiny voice of Wonwoo, grating on her ears.
Mingyu shrugs it off and plays with the ball persistently.
"Shut up, Wonwoo. Just play with Mingyu and don't bother me," Seulgi turns her body away from him, shifting away from the south. "If you're brave enough to climb this tree, then I'll let you bother me all day," she speaks over her shoulder while smirking. That shuts Wonwoo's lips tight, but of course he is still going to try.
He is going to cheat though. Taking the ball from Mingyu, he begins to complain then Wonwoo throws it to Seulgi's body.
Seulgi's eyes widens for a moment, and she can almost feel herself losing her balance. Seulgi already calculates the effects of the fall; a broken arm, or perhaps her body since she's still a child, though strong, to her mother scolding her and add her father into the mix, then her brother will still understand though he'll tell her to stop being friends with Wonwoo. Words spread around like newspaper being thrown from one house to the other, but her parents just never ask because the fights never cause a bruise or even a cut.
Thankfully, she's fast enough to cling into the huge trunk. She can feel her insides starting to burn, then she climbs down the tree and the fight begins, all over again. Wonwoo, beyond thrilled that he's successful in getting her riled up, and Seulgi, falling to his traps without learning her past mistakes of giving in to provocation.
The other four just watch from the side of course, finding this as something that they are used to, and something that makes them feel connected and familiar with each other, despite how twisted it may seem to watch your friends fight and not trying to stop them.
They are The Cosmic Children, after all. Their comprehension with each other is beyond the understanding of most kids and adults around them. And that is what makes them different.
Different enough for Soojung to name them with such a dreamy and unworldly name, and different enough to find themselves standing beside each other, despite the differences and conflicts that occur between the six of them.
Comments