Stupid. That's what she was. How else could she have not realized where you feed ducks? The way her stoamch had tightened when she saw the pond, and realized they would be standing at the edge to feed the ducks.... it served her right for being stupid.

"It's a pity the pond isn't bigger," Namjoon remarked. "I just hope it's deep enough for them to swim in comfortably."

"It's not that deep?" Lia hoped she didn't sound relieved.

"No, I guess it's only up to your knees – maybe they did it like that on purpose, so it's safe."

Whatever reason they had for making the pond so shallow, Lia was grateful. Despite still feeling anxiety in the pit of her stomach, she tried her best to put one foot in front of the other and approach the lake. She could see the bottom of it, thank god. The water was still and peaceful, a perfect mirror for the trees above – it certainly didn't look that menacing. If it had been a deep pond.... well... feeding the ducks would have not been an option.

"Doesn't it smell so good?" Namjoon inhaled deeply. "I love the smell of the trees – I love the smell of wood and leaves."

Lia smiled. "Yeah, it does smell good. I love the smell of earth after it rains."

"Me too!"

They stood at the edge of the pond, a foot of raised ring of cement around the shallow body of water. Namjoon sat on it and started breaking the bread in the bag; Lia stood behind him cautiously. Already, a few ducks were heading their way. Namjoon laughed. "Here they come!" He gave Lia a piece of bread and she broke it into small pieces, threw them into the pond.

The ducks raced to get there first, their beaks snapping it right up and they looked at the two, hopeful for more. By now, more ducks were heading their way, having realized that there was food.

"Try to throw the bread in different places, so they all get a chance to get some," Namjoon advised. "They are super greedy!"

Lia took more bread and threw little pieces in the pond. It was cute watching the ducks rush to get the little piece, and the way they shook their feathers and the way their little tails waggled.

"-and for you, too! Hey, don't steal, you already had a lot, don't think I didn't see you! Here, get it quickly before the bully does!" Namjoon seemed so relaxed out in the park, talking to the ducks and even scolding them gently for not letting others get a piece of bread. The cute ducks, the delicious scent of bread on her hands, the cool breeze and the rustling of the leaves... she loved it, she felt relaxed too.

Nearby, a group of children were playing hopscotch. Their joyful laughter carried across the park, and Lia watched them for a moment. A little boy threw the stone in the grid, and hopped carefully to avoid the lines, and picked it up.

"It looks fun, doesn't it?" Namjoon's voice made her turn around; he was watching the children play too.

"Sometimes I feel like playing things like hopscotch too," he said. "And jump-rope."

"Me too..."

"Did you ever get to play them when you were a kid?"

She nodded, smiling. "Yeah, and games like freeze-tag and hide-and-seek. I played a lot with my sister and parents, too."

Namjoon smiled. "You're lucky, it must have been really nice to play with your family." He turned back to the pond, throwing in pieces of bread.

"Did you play games like that when you were a kid?"

"Yeah. With my friends, and we often ended by beating each other up because we couldn't help but cheat." He laughed.

"I was a huge cheater," Lia confessed.

"So was I!"

"No one ever lets me be the banker in Monopoly," she huffed.

"Well I suppose you can't help yourself from robbing the bank once in a while, could you?"

"Please, robbing the bank is half the fun!"

"I know." Namjoon grinned. "Trying to sneak a few bills out in the middle of the game is just..."

"A thrill."

"If we ever play with someone else, they are not going to know what hit them!"

"We better promise not to tell on each other if we do play," Lia said. "We can be partners in crime."

"Deal! Pinky promise?" He held out his hand, pinky sticking out.

Lia held her out too, and as they crossed pinkies and promised, she felt very giggly inside. He had really big hands! Her pinky next to his was tiny. In fact, she was tiny next to him in general – when they were standing, she noticed that the top of her head didn't even reach his chin. Hugging him would be like being wrapped in a large, warm blanket. She quickly chased that thought away – why was she even thinking of hugging him?

When Namjoon let go of her pinky, she realized she was actually a bit disappointed. What the hell was with her... true, the pressure of his hand was somehow comforting and so was the warmth, but just because he probably had the most perfect hands to hold didn't mean she had any right over them, even if they were becoming friends.

Later, as they were saying goodbye. Namjoon shyly said he hoped she had liked coming to the park, and if she wanted she could come next time too.

"I would really love to," she replied. "I haven't been to the park for so long, I realized I miss being surrounded by green."

"So, uh, want to exchange numbers?" he asked, running his hand along the back of his head – a shy gesture. "Just in case, you know, one of us can't come... so the other doesn't wait."

Had he been waiting for her? Lia tried not to read too much into his words, and they exchanged numbers. As they said goodbye, she wondered what name he had saved her number as; she wondered if it was rude of her to have saved his as Joonie since he was older than her and she hadn't even asked him if it was ok to call him that.

****

It kind of became a ritual. They would eat at the cafe while reading and studying, and then go to the park to feed the ducks twice a week. Lia looked forward to those days the most, a little bubble of excited happiness inside her all day.

She wondered if she should tell her two friends about Namjoon, but selfishly decided against it; she wanted to keep him to herself, as silly as that might sound. Plus, she knew those two would ask a lot of questions and be suspicious of him and she just wasn't in the mood to deal with that these days.

In fact, she was slowly beginning to think that if there was anyone suspicious, it was her, definitely not him. One day he had asked her why she didn't sit at the edge of the water,