Flowers of Spring- Cherry Blossoms

~

I look out through the window

My memories flashes back to long ago, the forgotten traces of the past.

~

When the cherry blossoms fall,

You will find me searching,

For the ancient traces that recall,

Of the two birds perching.

~

It was a bright day; the serene wind blew dashes of cherry blossoms from their valorous trees. A brave dance swirled into the air, following the valiant leads of their fellow buds. The teasing competition melted to grace as my attention wavered from the pages before me.

 

An arid morning mist lingering since the peaks of dawn curled by the worn edges of my book, smoothing their rustled lines. A brilliant warmth spread behind my back as the rough surface of a tree’s pelt fought against the light uniform. A small smile played by the corners of my lips.

 

Lifting my head, I gazed out into the bright horizon, the slim figures of girls passed by. Their disturbing giggles disrupted my peace. Following the direction of their sights, were they laughing at me?

 

But finally as realization struck, a bag of thick dirt had already plummeted onto my face. Some person, apparently had enough thought to situate a bag of dirt on top of the branch where I was sitting right below. My brows twitched. They quickly scurried away.

 

Soon later, another string of laughter followed, but this time deep, loud and curiously persistent. A heaving sigh refused to release. With a hand I pushed myself up, decisively giving up the attempt to smudge away any remnants. What infortune… Keeping a tight smile, I strode boldly to the impudent spectator. A head shorter than him, I lifted my face up. Two pairs of eyes intersected, one in laughter the other in fury.

 

"Oh are you alright," With effort his face merged to a “worried” expression, his deep eyes still twinkling with laughter, "Ahh, please forgive me for laughing.”

 

Returning the smile, I taunted, "And you must really want to visit the Headmaster's office don't you?"

 

“Pardon?” His chuckles faded, replaced with a hint of surprise. Soon melting to an odd glimmer of renewed perception, He smiled, “Oh, I really do apologize on my part for laughing so impolitely, that was very ungentlemanly of me. But I believe we might have some misunderstandings?”

 

His head tilted in wonderment as a pair of eyes gazed intently into mine. I gaped back at the two luminous pupils, struck by their beauty. For a moment, left was only a foolishly enthralled soul, forgotten was the original purpose of our encounter. Quickly, I cleared my thoughts as an unavoidable pink made its way up my cheeks. Blooming through the thin layer of dirt, I desperately hoped he wouldn’t notice.

 

And of course he did.

 

“You think I’m handsome,” A low voice teased. The pink of my cheeks spread to deep crimson.

 

“I-” At an utter lost of words, I opened my mouth then closed it awkwardly, then opened it again and closed it awkwardly, this process repeated for a few times before I finally I gave up and shut it once and for all.

 

He was near hysterics.

 

My brows twitched again, agitated, he sure is having a lot of fun watching other people’s misfortunes… A rush of irritation flooded my mind, replacing the earlier embarrassment. My fingers scrunched to fists, but quickly loosened from the icky sweat that had formed.

 

I inwardly sigh. My vision bland as I gazed helplessly in front of me, even my own body isn’t on my side, where in the world did my usual proud and dignified self go? It was by now had I utterly lost courage, utterly lost the courage to even look him in the eye. My head drooped as I stepped to turn around.

 

But suddenly, a large hand reached out, stopping me in the process. I felt a light thump on my head.

 

My eyes widened, gazing up at him with surprise.

 

“Fine, I won’t tease you anymore,” His eyes gleamed, reflecting the sparkle of sunlight, “But next time just admit it, I know you do think that.”

 

I eyed him crossly, particularly grumpy from embarrassment because he was right.

 

I coughed, straightening my smeared-with-mud “white” shirt, “So umm, “ I put on a serious expression, “You weren’t the one who put that bag of dirt on the tree branch?”

 

“That?” He looked at me curiously, thinking, “No, it wasn’t me. But don’t worry, the person who did it wasn’t aiming for you. “

 

“You know who did it?” My eyes lit, once again startled, “Who was it?”

 

A slender finger was put to his lips, his voice fell as if hushing a child, “I’m afraid I must keep my silence on that one, it is not my place to tell. “

 

Two dark brows knitted as if in apology but quickly relaxed again, “However, being the top student of the entire school, you’ll bound to find out and hear!” A brilliant smile curved onto his lips.

 

Still a bit dazed, my head bobbed up and down in response. But before I could comprehend his words, a pale lean hand reached to flick my forehead. In a swift motion it was gone, leaving only a luminous pink mark in the center.

 

“Don’t be so unlucky next time.” He scolded affectionately then turned to go away. The ringlets of his bright laughter thawed into an echo of the far distant. My eyes lingered at the vanishing shadow fading into a tiny dot of the horizon. My skin flushed from the piercing light. The ghost of my memories.

 

For the entire day with every chance I could get, I persistently repeated the process of “subconsciously” watching him from the corner of my eye. Truthfully I saw him a lot more in my mind than in real life since we did not share the same homeroom, but either ways I dozed off just as happily in my daydreams. My thoughts constantly trailed back to our encounter before being hit once again by the unforgiving harsh ruler.

 

“Hyo-Jeong!” The tired gaze of my teacher looked at me irritatedly, “This is the third time that I had to hit you! You’re usually such a good student, what has gotten into you today?”

 

Though it was not a rhetorical question, I answered it as such. My teacher sighed, rubbing her fore head, “Stay after school today for a bit, I want to talk to you.”

 

A few gasps of surprise started in the room but was quickly hushed down, I guess not everyone was used to the school’s top student being sent to detention. Then again, they were probably not used to the top student being hit by a ruler.

 

After school was over I stayed with a heavy heart. However, to my surprise she did not scold me, in fact she didn’t seem mad at all. Instead, she just sighed and stared at me for a very long time, before telling me how she was once like me as well. She took my hand, “Be careful, Hyo-Jeong, do not go down my path. You do not know what you are doing.” Her gaze turned towards the window. For that instance, she seemed so worn and weathered as if a person from a different world. My eyes widened with surprise and confusion, hesitantly nodding my head. Gradually, she let go of my hand and said no more.

 

That day I walked out of school with many mixed emotions. I looked before me to the path of cherry blossoms that still stood there gallantly and thought back to all that had happened in this crazy day. I thought of the bag of dirt, I thought of His smile, I thought of my teacher’s words.

 

A wavering sigh escaped. Maybe she was right, maybe it was just a spur of the moment. My head shook unwillingly.

But then, suddenly, a radiant petal fluttered from the sky landing lightly onto the cup of my open hand. Its illuminant blush curled with youth like the brilliance of a spring day. An unusual flare of determination sparked inside of me and I walked forward.