A tall young man with blonde slicked hair in the back stood in front of a school gate late in the middle of the night. He glanced at his wrist watch to make sure he arrived on time like the promise.

"I'm right on time." he mumbled to himself as he averted his gaze from the watch. His fair skin was radiated by the full moon light. He stole a glance at the night sky. There were no dark clouds hovering in the sky tonight as the night sky accompanied him with a soft breeze and glittering stars above.

He could sense cherry blossom petals were fluttering as the spring wind blown them softly and he was mesmerized by the sight of it as soon as he looked at the cherry blossom tree around him. The sight looked like a scene from a painting - and he loves how the petals were blown by the wind, it made him remember a certain scene in the spring back then.

The petals were blown and there was a red-orange color-like sky accompanying him.

He shifted his gaze at the school building; it looked old by now, as he had assumed because he could see how the gate became rusty and the fence paint was peeled off from its original colour. There was no maintenance done to make the school look alive and beautiful. The one that made the school seemed alive were the blossoming cherry blossom tree right on the path to enter the school gate along the way the students would walk.

Also, a smile grazed on his lips as he remembered an infectious smile of a girl when she'd seen a cherry blossom tree in the spring, especially the one behind the school building.

He looked around again to recall the scene from his school days as if to make sure if he was in the right place. The place felt so different from years ago. But, the only that made him sure he was in the right place where the cherry blossom trees. They still bloomed beautifully in the spring, even if the school was left forsaken like this.

Unconsciously, he took a step to the school gate as a voice from the past echoed in his mind.

"Let's meet again 10 years later. It's a promise, Sehun-ah."

Then, sounds of footsteps approaching him from behind made him turn around. A blinding light came into his view and made him squinted his eyes because of how bright the light was. He backed away from the light only to hear someone singing along the way.

"The petals are blossoming,

it's a great season for us,

a season for hope and youth,

let start anew again,

my friends,

let shout out together,

spring has come to us again."

The guy turned to his face at the one who sang the song, now the person had arrived in front of the school gate. The girl tilted her head as she looked at him. "Who are you?" the shorter asked as she closed the flashlight in her hand.

"Oh Sehun." he answered shortly.

The girl with braided black hair raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing here? In these five years, on this date... I've never met someone like you."

"Just walking around..."

"Oh," the young lady suddenly slapped her cheeks harder. Sehun was quite shocked by her sudden action. "Sorry, I just remembered I haven’t introduced myself yet. My name is Yun Hae Ra." she said as she fixated her gaze on Sehun.

Then, came a dashing young man dashing towards the girl. "Damn you, Hae Ra!" he yelled in the distance as he caught the side of the girl chuckling. "You stole my torch and left me alone in darkness!"

"I thought you were a manly man, senior Luhan!" she claimed, remembering how the young man always emphasizes on how he was a manly man but afraid of the dark.

Luhan—the guy with a petite frame, snatched the flashlight from Hae Ra's right hand. "You know my weakness, jerk!"

Hae Ra laughed before she immediately snapped back—remembering Sehun's presence. But, the tall young man was nowhere to be seen. Hae Ra looked again at the exhausted Luhan and asked him, "Hey, did you see a tall guy beside me earlier?"

Thanks to Hae Ra's question, Luhan ended up rambling on something about ghosts and occult things which made the girl was annoyed by his behavior and Hae Ra cursed herself for asking Luhan the question.

"It's a good idea to leave the weird people earlier." Sehun commented as he climbed a flight of stairs, heading towards a class called 3-A which served in his memories.

He halted his action as he stood in front of the class that was located in the corner of the floor. He slowly opened the door.

As the door slid, the smell of dust made him sneezed. But he spotted the same tables arranged before, the time when he was still a student from the light of the moon. Sehun hurriedly walked to a desk beside the window, at the back of the class. In the darkness, he touched the table, just to feel a familiar writing carved on the wooden table.

A smile hovered his face as he sensed the writing.

Kim Hyeri.

That's what he could remember about what he carved on the table with a dagger gifted from his father, only to make Hyeri knock some sense in him because of him vandalizing the school's property. He just wanted to test out his skill to Hyeri, to show her that wood carving was what his grandfather taught him. But after the nagging, Hyeri commented how the carving looked beautiful and she hid the carving whenever the teacher passed by her table in the class because she didn't want to get a scolding from their homeroom teacher.

Sehun chuckled, his voice resonated in the room. Even if it made him feel creepy, but to feel nostalgic from the high school days made him feel a bit warmer in his heart.

He stepped out from the class when a voice greeted him.

"Sehun-ah, let's watch the petals again tonight, since it's your last time in the town. Let's cherish our time together!"

Sehun bit his lips as he reminisced about his childhood friend, Kim Hyeri.

"Sorry, Hyeri-ah. There are a lot of things undone. Mom wants to be quick for our movement to Seoul tomorrow. I'm sorry."

A 19-year old Sehun was talking with a girl, she had a short, blonde hair that passed her shoulder. dyed blonde The girl’s long fingers were tightly holding a school certificate, symbolized that it was the end of their school years with a graduation ceremony. The teenagers were still in 3-A class even if the graduation ceremony had ended several hours ago.

"Even if it’s just a bit?" Hyeri insisted as she pouted. "It's our high school graduation and I really wanted to watch cherry blossoms with you tonight. It's one of my dreams since a few weeks ago."

"No means no, Hyeri-ah." Sehun’s stern voice made Hyeri gave in her thought. She heaved a sigh.

"Fine then!" Hyeri folded her arms over her chest as she slowly walked out of the classroom. Sehun followed Hyeri from behind.

"Hey, Hyeri-ah."

Sehun called Hyeri but she ignored him.

"Kim Hyeri!"

Hyeri kept on walking ‘till they were in the school compound.

"Silly childhood friend of mine, Kim Hyeri!"

Hyeri stopped in her tracks and Sehun bumped into her. "Sorry!" he instantly apologized.

Hyeri's back still faced Sehun and Sehun gulped.

"If it..." Sehun trailed off. "If it is okay with you watching cherry blossoms in the evening to treasure our moments together. Then, let's watch it together. Is it okay, Hyeri?"

Hyeri turned to look at Sehun. A smile grazed on her face as she grabbed Sehun's right hand, making Sehun walk behind her. Hyeri turned around to the right after they walked straight behind the school building. Then, she stopped as they entered a corner behind the building and there was a big cherry blossom tree blooming. It was at the back of the school building.

There was a white wooden bench under the tree.

The evening sunlight painted the sky in orange mix with red colours in 5.30 p.m. Hyeri took a seat on the bench as she patted the seat next to her, gesturing the still standing Sehun to sit beside her.

Sehun sat next to his childhood friend and felt their shoulders brushed with each other.

"It's a warm spring." Hyeri stated.

She looked up to see the fluttering petals that fell to the ground bit by bit as they were blown by the breeze. Sehun was watching the petals with her as a wide grin spread on his face as he intently looked at the blown petals falling around them.

Click!

Sehun turned his gaze to the right. Hyeri was holding back her laugh while holding her phone. She gave him a sly grin as she showed him Sehun's picture.

It looked like a scene from a painting—that's what Hyeri’s photo looked like when she took it.

"Hyeri, delete that! It's embarrassing!" Sehun exclaimed as he tried to grab the phone from the latter's hand. Hyeri stuck out her tongue and stood up from her seat, only to run away from Sehun that was still sitting on the bench.

"I will not!"

"Delete that!"

"Why should I? Sehun's smile is the best! Also, this picture of yours is well-suited with this season. I love this season very much!" Hyeri pointed out her reason when she put her phone back in her blazer pocket.

Hyeri shifted her gaze to the sky, she felt happy with their last shared moment.

Hyeri tore off her gaze and glanced at Sehun after hearing the sound of phone camera clicking.

"Sehun-ah!"

Sehun gave her a lopsided grin as he kept his phone back—not giving a chance for Hyeri to delete it as the girl rushed towards him.

"Hyeri's face looked beautiful in that moment. This is the day when I see my straight-laced, punctual, disciplined childhood friend dyes her hair. It's a rare sight, you know."

Hyeri giggled.

"That’s what I love about you, Sehun. That kind of playful boy suited you much, it lifted off the atmosphere, making me happy even a bit when I felt gloomy. I wish Jongin would understand me though."

"He still...?"

Hyeri let out a sigh. "Jongin couldn't accept it, Sehun. So, he ran away from me."

Sehun felt his lips quiver to reply Hyeri's words, but he couldn't think of anything to make Hyeri felt calm.

"I am here. I love you, Hyeri..." he blurted out as he remarked himself about it.

"I love you too, Oh Sehun," Hyeri's soft voice reassured Sehun that she was fine with it. Even if Hyeri refused to tell him what’s her feeling towards Jongin, her fraternal twin brother, but he need to understand Hyeri now.

"The petals are blossoming,

it's a great season for us,

a season for hope and youth,

let start anew again,

my friends,

let shout out together,

spring has come to us again."

Hyeri ended her singing and Sehun was speechless for a moment. "The lyrics seem , well... it doesn’t sound bad though. Did you write it yourself?" Sehun asked in a slight amusement.

Hyeri nodded her head. "Thanks for your critic by the way."

The two then laughed simultaneously.

"Let's meet again 10 years from now, around the time these cherry blossoms bloom."

Hyeri cocked her head, to look at Sehun expression.

"Huh?" the latter suddenly felt tears welling up in her eyes. Sehun wiped Hyeri’s tears as he intertwined their hands together.

"Let's meet again 10 years from now, around the time these cherry blossoms bloom." Sehun said once again. "On the same date again like today. It's a promise."

"In return for a promise, let me say that the time differ, okay?" Hyeri asked, but to Sehun, it's like a definite change of time.

"It's fine with me." Sehun replied.

"10 p.m precisely, on 12th April in the next 10 years later."

Sehun nodded his head, completely agreeing with Hyeri.

"Let's meet again 10 years later. It's a promise, Sehun-ah."

"I promise you, Hyeri-ah." Sehun responded back.

Sehun set his foot on the school compound, walking to the back of the school building to look at the cherry blossom tree behind it again. As he arrived, he saw the tree had changed from how it looked like from seven years ago. It had became taller and the tree looked old, but there were flower petals blossoming and it looked breathtaking as it fluttered away.

Sehun touched the tree trunk, recalling his feeling as he reminisced about Hyeri.

"It’s still beautiful, Hyeri-ah..."

Sehun sat on the white wooden bench had faded its colour, it was still under the tree.

Sehun patted the right side of his seat.

There were some blood stains on the bench and it never disappeared, even when Sehun had washed it two years ago. The stains still remained red in colour.

"Oh Sehun!" Hae Ra’s voice startled Sehun as he looked at Hyeri's picture from seven years ago, right at this tree and on this date, 12th April.

"Hae Ra and..."

"Luhan..." the doe-eyed young man said as he bent down to take Sehun's phone on the ground.

"What are you doing here?" Sehun asked.

"Same for you. What are you doing here?" Luhan asked as Sehun reached out his phone from the young man’s hold.

"We come to pay a visit." Hae Ra answered.

"A visit?" Sehun furrowed his brows, he never knew about the strangers in front of him. He was sure he never saw them as students in the school.

"You could say, it's like an offering to pay a visit to the dead..." Luhan remarked as he put a basket full of cherry blossom petals on the bench. Sehun stood out from his seat and watched Hae Ra putting a bouquet of white roses on the bench.

Sehun recalled that other than cherry blossom, Hyeri loved roses—especially white in colour. more

Sehun glanced at Luhan and Hae Ra that were praying in front of the tree.

"Hyeri-ah, may you be peaceful there, love. I will always love you." Luhan uttered slowly but it could be heard by Sehun.

"Senior, you're a wonderful person I've ever met. I'm sorry that the others didn’t visit you this year. It’s just that they have a lot of things to do at the moment..." Hae Ra muttered. "I'm sure they will pay you a visit when they're free. Especially, Kai."

"Hyeri?" Sehun hoarse voice was filled with confusion.

"Three years ago, my precious lover was murdered here as she went to the school at night. She wanted to gaze at the cherry blossoms she loved before she had an operation for her cancer as a source of motivation for her. After all, she really wanted to see cherry blossoms at night, but she can't stand the thought about how she promised a dear friend of her for about seven years left for their promised time."

Sehun widened his eyes, clenching his fist.

"She didn't tell me she will go seeing the blossoms again at night. Unluckily, a serial killer was hiding in the school building because two years before her death, the school went completely unused because of some problems in the management. She was killed by the killer. I am glad that the murdered was caught but no one could bring her back to my side..."

"If only they didn't make that promise, if only the guy didn't set up the time long enough for her to willingly wait. But, Hyeri couldn't... she couldn't... and I was frustrated because of that!" Luhan exclaimed.

Sehun trembled as a voice rang in his ears, his very own voice from seven years ago.

"I promise you, Hyeri-ah."

And yet, he too couldn't accept the news of Hyeri's death when he came back from the States one year ago. As of today, he decided to see the old cherry blossom tree of their memories.

A tear fell on his cheeks as Sehun’s knees betrayed him, making him fall on the ground. If only he was back to see Hyeri one more time the year he got a letter from her, things wouldn't be like this. He could only think about the promise as he remembered Hyeri's message from the e-mail she sent to him.

Sehun-ah,

My dear friend,

I think I couldn't keep our 10 years promise because I want to keep myself motivate for my operation.

So, tonight, I will go and see the tree of our memories.

If I happen to successfully pass the operation,

Let’s meet for the next seven years countdown, right to our 10 years promise.

I love you, Sehun-ah.

Till next time.

-Kim Hyeri

"I'm sorry, Hyeri-ah..."