today is a beautiful sunday afternoon, the sky’s clear, birds are chirping, the branches of trees are dancing to the breeze and little kids run around the playground giggling and having fun. a few feet away from the playground is a man having coffee as he yawn and watch the wonders of the planet earth.

he watched as kids play by the slide, the seesaw and the swing with a bunch of contagious smiles painted on their faces. this is how saku spends his typical sunday morning, or afternoon because he tends to sleep in during his off days. out in the park admiring the kids in silence a distance away. somehow seeing them have fun washes away the stress he has to go through every single day at work.

the kids ran chasing each other playing tag when all of a sudden, one little girl tripped over her own feet and fell down not only scraping her knees and elbows, but also bumping her head on the ground hard. everyone stopped and looked at the little girl who sat up looking blank as if trying to take in what just happened before she cried loudly in pain.

saku jerked up from the bench, hastily throwing his cup of coffee in the bin and ran towards the little girl who’s now surrounded by her friends as they console her. he softly asked them to move aside and once he’s near the girl, he knelt down and examined her wounds and head.

“hey, hey little one shush now it’s okay don’t cry we’ll make it better okay? come here.” the lad held her tiny frame in his arms as he carried her, palm gently caressing her back so as to soothe her cries.

“it’s okay little one, it’s okay.” saku placed her down the bench wiping her tears with his thumb, when she had slightly calmed down he looks around searching for something before turning his attention back to her.

“you want some ice cream?” the kid looks at him for a while without saying anything, as if she was contemplating whether she would trust this man or not, because as what her mother says she shouldn’t talk to strangers especially in the park. but the temptation of ice cream was too much for her to handle that she just ended up agreeing anyway.

saku smiled at that, “okay i’ll get you one. it might take a while so stay right here okay? you want vanilla or chocolate?” she shook her head vigorously, extremely opposing to the flavors that was suggested to her before she breaks into a smile, a sweet one that made his heart melt.

“mint choco!” saku raises a brow and chuckles at the sight before him as he ruffled the little girl’s hair.

“sure princess, even though it’s basically toothpaste on your ice cream i’ll still get you that. wait for me here okay?” the girl nodded her head and off he goes running in a hurry to buy not just the ice cream but also a few things that to treat her wounds.

when he came back he was relieved to find her where he left her only this time she was talking to a few friends. saku quickly went to her, kneeling down and gave her the ice cream.

“thank you!” she said and dug in as soon as she got it. her two friends left the area as well, running back to the playground while waving goodbyes. 

“you go enjoy your ice cream, meanwhile i am going to clean your wound okay? it’s going to sting but it’s okay. after this i’ll buy you more ice creams.” the girl nodded her head yes as she busied herself with the ice cream. saku then tended to her wounds with a smile plastered on his face.

“hold this ice pack on your head too, you have a bump.” he always did love treating children as he is a surgeon in one of south korea’s top hospitals specializing in cardiology so from monday to saturday he is stressed out all the time. who wouldn’t be when you have to open a patient’s chest all the time and as they lie there in the operating room with their chests open, their lives are on your hands. make one mistake and you kill the patient so this, something as simple as cleaning a scrape of a little kid is somewhat therapeutic for him.

no need to worry about killing anyone if he presses even just a bit harder on the scratch.

“what’s your name?” he asks as he blew on her wound, the little girl narrowed her eyes as she kept tightly sealed. saku raises a brow, curious about her strange behavior until she finally spoke.

“mommy says i shouldn’t talk to strangers.” the lad doesn’t know whether he would laugh at the child’s innocence or be offended because even after giving her ice cream and treating her wound she still thinks of him as a stranger.

“well this stranger just bought you a toothpaste flavored ice cream, don’t you think i deserve more than just a stranger to you kiddo?” the kid narrowed her eyes on him even more and he expected that this time around she would let her guard down and tell him her name. however she averted her gaze elsewhere, refusing to look or even talk to him for being a mere stranger while still her ice cream.

saku finds her behavior quite amusing, “how about this, i tell you my name then you tell me your name in return.” the girl puts her hand on her chin as she begins to think about the offer, her actions made the lad chuckle softly at this sight.

“okay!” she replied after she ‘thought’ about it. the lad’s grin grew even wider hearing this.

“my name is saku, and you? what’s your name little one.”

“wonyoung! but you can call me wonnie because we’re friends now and you gave me ice cream. although i don’t like you very much yet because you said mint choco tastes like toothpaste, you’re bad ahjussi.” saku doesn’t know what to feel, happy because she finally told him her name and became friends with her, or devastated because he wasn’t just called an ahjussi but she told him straight in his face that she doesn’t like him.

“you are very hard to please, aren’t you? how old are you?” it’s amazing how just a few moments ago she was crying about her little accident but now it was as if it never even happened in the first place.

“i’m just saying the truth old man. i’m turning six this year on august.” saku’s ears perked up with the information as he huffs a breath in disbelief. a kid this young and yet she’s already out here alone in the park roasting him. he patched the wound up and then ruffles her hair.

“okay wonnie, all done. so where’s your mommy anyway? she shouldn’t leave you alone in the park, there’s a whole lot of dangerous men and women in here you know?” saku now sat next to her, taking the ice pack from her so she can focus more on her ice cream as he pressed it on her head himself.

“i know that, mommy works near here. every weekends when i don’t have school she would let me play here in the park! mommy have friends here that keeps an eye on me so i should be safe and she also checks in on me every chance she gets so i am okay.” after saying that, wonyoung whines complaining he’s pressing too hard too long that she’s getting brain freeze.