"Wah!"

I hung upside down from a tree branch.

Hyuksoo was slightly taken aback from my behaviour, but didn't seem to have scared him one bit.

I've failed to surprised him, again.

"What're you doing?"

"I was trying to surprise you," the flap of my dress flipped over my face, exposing my girly . "Eek!" I immediately covered it, hoping he didn't see much. 

My thighs were starting to tire as I felt my legs slowly slipping off the branch. "W-wah...!"

Hyuksoo noticed that I was about to slip off the branch as he called out my name, worriedly. 

"W-wah!" I had already slipped off.

Hyuksoo ran towards me, but he had stopped himself.

Luckily, I fell on a bush. Face-down, as usual.

"Are you okay?"

I sat up on the ground, cross-legged and dusted off my dress. "Yes, I'm fine."

"I-I'm sorry."

He seemed a bit regretful, not being able to prevent me from falling.

"Don't worry about it. I wasn't hurt." I tried to smile to brighten up the mood, but Hyuksoo didn't seem to lighten up himself.

"Hyuksoo-ah."

It was the first time I called him using such a honorific. 

"Promise me one thing, alright?"

He looked up at me. "What is it?"

"Don't let me ever touch you, ok? Ever." I smiled again, but this time with a slight wetness of tears forming in my eyes.

We looked at each other for a while. 

Finally, he said:

"I promise."

***

It's been years since I've been visiting Hyuksoo in the forest. One day we were taking a walk, a dark spirit had stood in front of our path.

"Hyuksoo, I see you've brought a meal!" The dark spirit said, smirking in the shadows.

I stepped back, hiding myself behind Hyuksoo. He seemed to have put up his guard against the spirit as well.

"No. She's not a meal. She's my friend."

The smirk on the spirit's face had disappeared and replied, "But she's human!"

"It's fine. She understands the situation here."

"Hmph. Alright." The dark entity had crossed his arms and was about to turn around from us when he talked directly towards me, "YOU! Human girl, you better watch yourself and be careful not to touch our Hyuksoo here, you here? Or else, I'll be the one to devour you." And as he walked back into the darkness, you could hear his chuckle fade into the forest.

***

"Look, Hyuksoo! I'm in high school now!"

I stood in front of him, wearing my high school uniform.

"How old are you now?" He said, with his chin rested upon his palm, elbow propped up.

"I'm sixteen now, silly!"

"Oh yeah, huh."

Now that I noticed it, our ages are starting to come closer. Hyuksoo hasn't aged ever since we first met, and only I've changed over the years. It seems he ages much slower than humans.

I've yet to admit the feelings I have towards him. I'm still not clear to what Hyuksoo is to me, but at the moment, he's a very close friend. A beloved childhood friend that I'd hate to lose. 

Even during winter, I thought about him.

During class, I woud look out the window and watch the snow. I thought about what he was feeling right now. Was he cold? Is he alone?

I'm sure he thought about me too. He always seemed eager every time I came back for summer vacation. 

"Hey."

"Yeah?"

"I have this idea."

"What is it?"

"You want to go to the Spirit's Summer Festival with me?"

I paused for a moment, then replied to  his offer.

"Yeah, but won't the spirits notice that I'm not like them?"

"It's fine, every year all the spirits will be disguised as humans too. Sometimes humans mix in the celebration from time to time." 

"Alright, it seems fun!" 

When I entered the forest before the sun had sunk down into the horizon, I was already dressed in my pink and yello summer kimono. I found Hyuksoo dressed in a traditional summer kimono too, except his was a neutral color. He sat down on a lonely boulder, but the strange thing is: he wasn't wearing his mask; he was just holding it. 

"Oh hey." He noticed that I was standing right there and walked towards me, handing me his mask. "Wear it."

I stared at him weirdly at first, then took the mask in hand and put it on. "Like it?"

He chuckled softly and ruffled my hair. "Yeah, I can't even see your face." He leaned over and kissed the forehead part of the mask, which startled me. Through the peep holes of the mask, I could tell he smiled. 

He pulled out a white cloth and tied it around my arm, then the other end was tied around his arm.

"That way, it's almost like we're holding hands," he smiles.

I blushed.

That night almost felt like a dream. We walked around the festival, filled with various spirits disguised as humans or just walked around on their own skin. It didn't even matter if I felt somewhat out of place, I liked being so close to him; it was like we were a couple. Even a couple of kids teased us and said things like "Ew, a couple!" or "Yuck!" but I didn't care, I liked it.

We walked out of the festival, still close to each other but not too close to touch. 

"That was a great night. Thank you, Hyuksoo." I smiled.

The river beside us glistened under the stars that night, and the fireflies' glows were brighter than ever.

"You're welcome."

We walked for a while, and it was quiet for a while. Till he broke the silence when he said my name.

"Hm?"

"I love you. I hope you remember that, okay?" He looked up at sky, smiling to himself. 

I felt my heart beat fast, the blood in my cheeks heating up. 

Before I could reply, I heard two kids running behind us and run passed us.

The little boy almost trips on the rock but Hyuksoo grabs his arm in time before he falls facedown on the rocky riverside.

"Be careful," I said as the two kids run away with a thank you.

I looked over to Hyuksoo and my eyes widened by the site of his glowing, fading arm.

"W-what? That boy was human?" 

Hyuksoo didn't seem too surprised, but he looked at me with a smile, his eyes were full of gleam.

"Come here, we can finally hug!" His arms wide open.

I ran into his arms and hugged him, feeling his fading warmth.

"I'm so glad I met you..." I felt warm tears fill my eyes and then a moment I realized I was hugging nothing but his kimono.

"I loved you too."