Seohyun is 10.

Kyuhyun is 11.

“Oppa, I know you’re there. There’s no use hiding.” Seohyun said in a sing-song voice as she walked leisurely around the tree house. It was the same tree house where they have taken shelter one rainy night when Seohyun got lost. Since then, it had been their secret sanctuary.

Seohyun cupped her two hands around her eyes like binoculars and looked up at the small wooden house perched on the tree. It appeared to be unoccupied but Seohyun knew that Kyuhyun was there. “There is something important that Aunt Hyejin wanted to tell you!” she called out.

“If dressing me up in those frilly dresses is deemed important to my dear mother, my reply is ‘no, thanks’,” Kyuhyun replied. He was lying on the wooden floor while reading a book.

“Can you blame them if you look pretty as a girl? Come on, I cannot manage to be the sole model for our mother’s designs.” Seohyun said jokingly followed by a soft chuckle.

“Do you really want me to go down or not?!” Kyuhyun yelled as he lifted the old frayed curtain. Seohyun laughed because it was so rare for her to see Kyuhyun irritated. Usually, it was the other way around.

“But really. Actually, I think it is really important because uncle also wants to talk to you.” Seohyun said.

“Really?” Kyuhyun immediately crawled outside and sat by the door of the tree house. “What does dad want to talk about?” he muttered to himself.

“Is it really true?” Kyuhyun asked again suspiciously.

“Why would I joke about that?” Seohyun replied.

Kyuhyun shrugged. “I don’t know. Perhaps as a trap to lure me to our mothers’ den of fashion modeling? Who knows? Maybe my mother wanted me so bad to go crossdressing again.”

Seohyun laughed. It reminded her of the time when she arrived at the boutique and she saw a pretty girl wearing a frilly gown not knowing that it was really Kyuhyun in a dress wearing a long wavy wig with a silver tiara on it. She nearly died laughing because he could really pass as a girl. For her, it was fun. For him, it was a traumatic experience. Seohyun could still recall his pissed off face.  Kyuhyun did not talk to her the entire day after that. She had to help her mother bake a cupcake for him as a peace offering (and also for him to agree to tutor her in Math.) She knew how much he loves eating.

“What do I have to do for you to believe in me?” Seohyun asked him exasperatedly. “What do you want me to do to knock you off your paranoid self?”

“What do I want you to do? Hmmm… Let me think about it.” Kyuhyun hummed, smiling mischievously. It was too late for Seohyun to realize what she had done. She clasped her hand on her forehead. Shoot! Why did I give him an option?

“Convince me that you’re cute.” Kyuhyun finally said with the mischievous smile still on his face.

“Eh?”

“Do an aegyo dance just like the one you did in the school festival.”  Kyuhyun said full of anticipation.

Seohyun blew her hair off her face. Thinking she did not have a choice, she reluctantly danced while Kyuhyun clapped his hands creating rhythmic sounds to accompany the dance. When she ended the dance, Seohyun squatted to the ground and covered her face, self-embarrassed of what she’s done.

Kyuhyun jumped from the tree house and landed next to Seohyun. “You’re so cute,” he said ruffling her hair. She lifted her head up and was not able to shield her face from Kyuhyun’s pinch.

“Ow!” Seohyun protested as she rubbed her cheek with her left and fixed her hair with the right. “Stop doing that!”

Her protest was only received with another ruffle from Kyuhyun.

“Argh!”

“Bye cutie!” He said smilingly as he sped off to their house.

Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub.

Seohyun placed her hands over her chest. She felt it again, that familiar thumping of her heart. It has been a year since she started feeling this and it always happened every time Kyuhyun did something sweet to her. At least for her, she considered those things sweet, every time he ruffles her hair, pinch her cheeks, teases her, puts her arm around her shoulder. Well she could mention a lot of things.

What is going on? Why is my heart beating crazily everytime he does all those little things?”  She asked herself. If this was just a simple math problem, she could certainly ask Kyuhyun to help her solve it but she felt that this was something she would not be able to ask him because this big puzzle involved Kyuhyun himself.

She sighed. Just what she was going to do now?

-------------------

That night, Seohyun laid her back on bed while reading a story to distract her from her feelings earlier. She was about to reach the end of the book when something caught her attention. There was red laser pinpoint light dancing on the wall of her room coming from the window. She got out of bed and peeked through her window. There was a sign placed just by Kyuhyun’s window but it was so small she could not quite read it.  Seohyun opened her drawer and pulled the binoculars out. She placed it over her eyes and read Kyuhyun’s message.

“See me at the usual place.”

“At the usual place? Why? What happened?” Seohyun asked herself. She began to get worried. Whenever one of them had problems, they would go to the tree house. Aside from being the secret sanctuary, this was also their comfort zone.

With a flashlight in her hands, she guided her way to the park. There she spotted the familiar silhouette of someone sitting under the tree staring at the starry sky above. She walked toward him. The dry grass crunched under her feet and the cold night breeze gently blew her wavy hair behind her back. She walked from behind him and called his attention.

“Oppa, why-“

“Tell me you want me to stay.” Kyuhyun said hugging her tight. Seohyun widened her eyes at his sudden action and there goes her heart again. She felt it again. Her heart was racing and it made her difficult to breathe. Why are you doing this, oppa?”

 “What are you talking about, oppa?” Seohyun asked.

“Tell me you don’t want me to go. Just tell me you wanted me to stay by your side.” Kyuhyun said louder, ignoring her previous question.

“Of course, I don’t want you to go.” Seohyun answered. She felt that Kyuhyun would not stop until she finally said it. She wondered why he was acting like this. He would not be leaving, right? Or perhaps…

“Are you leaving, oppa?” Seohyun asked. Tears started forming in her eyes.

Kyuhyun eased back and Seohyun saw the hint of sadness in her eyes. “Dad wanted me to go abroad to study,” he told her.

“Wouldn’t it be good?” She replied trying to mask the sadness in her voice. Kyuhyun is a very intelligent boy. Wouldn’t it be better for him to study there? She has heard from her parents that there are many excellent schools there. For sure, Kyuhyun would be able to qualify there. But her heart was battling with her mind. It felt so heavy in her chest. She was not used living a life without him by her side.

“Maybe you are lying when you said that you don’t want me to go. Perhaps you said it against your will. You just said it because I wanted you to say it. You actually wanted me to go. You are tired of me teasing you, aren’t you?” Kyuhyun said as he sulked under the shade of the tree.

“Oppa, it is not like that. I am just thinking about your future.” Seohyun said.

“Perhaps, you will not miss me. Well, who am I in your life for you to miss me? I am just an annoying childhood acquaintance of yours.” Kyuhyun said morosely.

“Oppa, it is not like that!” Seohyun said bursting into tears. “Why are you saying like that?!” She sat down and covered her face with her hands as she sobbed. Kyuhyun was shocked at the sudden outburst of emotion. “Do you know how important you are to me? Without you, there will be no one to protect me. Without you, there will be no one to find me when I’m lost. Without you, there will be no one to calm me when I am scared of thunder. Without you, there will be no one to ruffle my hair just to annoy me.” Seohyun said while crying. “Without you…” she falters and it was replaced by continued sobs.

“Without you, there will be no one to make me laugh. Without you, there will be no one to do an aegyo dance for me. Without you, there will be no one to give me a half-baked cupcake as a payment for tutoring her. Without you, my life will not be exciting because there is no one for me to tease.” Seohyun looked up and saw Kyuhyun smiling at her even though he was also in tears.

“You stupid Seobaby, come here,” he said as he pulled her up and embraced her with his one arm. Seohyun succumbed to his embrace and buried her face to his chest. He once again ruffled her hair.

“Oppa! Stop it,” Seohyun whined and she playfully hit him in his chest.

She pulled herself away from him and looked at his face. Kyuhyun wiped her face which was messed by the marks left by the tears. “You’ll never leave okay?”

“I’ll never leave.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

And then they did their pinky promise in the middle of the night.