Words on italic and gray are flashbacks.

---

 

The wind is blowing a bit hard against his handsome face as he is taking his path deeper and deeper into the peaceful woods he loved so passionately. As expected, his wildly beating heart is the very reason for the certain fondness over the place. He continued his way as he wanders in the lane of wonderfully created little pieces of his memories. 

 

 

In his innocently crazed mind appeared two equally cute boys running and playing around a spring in the midst of the woods without giving a care in the real world that they had been living in.

 

The two boys had both been afraid and lost but had luckily found each other in the middle of the woods. The younger was searching for the family he's with for a camping trip and the other was looking for his teacher for scouting activities done in the forest when chance decided to play and let them meet. The moment they saw each other they had introduced themselves and they immediately forgot about fear and the persons they were looking for. Though both couldn't speak properly, each of them had managed to talk about almost anything, even promises they didn't know how to keep and fulfill.

 

"We'll go back here, right?" uttered a little boy with a wide grin showing the gummy smile he possesses. He offered his tiny hands and stretched out his little pinky to the other boy in front of hi,. 

 

"Yes!" The other boy had told the other and stretched out his little pinky too.

 

"How to do thissssh?" he asked as he stared at their pinkies in midair. 

 

"I dun't know. Let's just do it like thissst." He put their pinky fingers beside each other and pulled the other's head towards their fingers while he had his head moving to it. Slowly, he made them kiss their pinky. 

 

The older, surprised at what happened, pulled out his pinky which accidentally dragged the other's pinky too causing their cute plump lips to touch slightly.

 

"How can you be soo red?" the younger boy asked the other innocently. "Ah, nevermind."

 

"We'll be back, okay?" the older asked and the younger replied with a hug and a nod.

 

Donghae felt his lips tremble and he started to tear up at that certain memory. His eyes were b with tears of happiness and longing. He had been coming back in the woods for years because of a promise he had made as a child with a friend he had met only once when he had been lost. He didn't know why it was so important to him to keep the said promise. They had only met once after all and so as to say, they were just children back then. 

He never told anyone, even his best friend Hyukjae, about his childhood friend and their promises. Partly because he wasn’t even sure if those memories he loves so much are even real. Since he understands himself all too well, he knew he has the tendency to over-imagine things. Despite of this, he still wants to prove to himself that it was all real. He couldn’t afford to think that such a wonderful memory was all just a vague dream. Because if it indeed is, his life would all be just a blur that seems from another life. He had lived almost his whole life believing that it was true. Furthermore, he had hold on to it whenever something happens around him.

For Donghae, those blissful memories are what he clings on to. And when life calls for desperate measures, we all need a bit of whatever we can cling on to.

 

Maybe it was his only relief for each year of pain he has been receiving or whatever, he doesn't really care. Though it gives him more pain because it has been too long, all that matters for him is that it would always be the comfort he needs once in a while. 

 

Every year, ever since that joyous day, he has been coming back to the very same forest. Every year, he has been looking for the pond they would be coming home to. Every year, he wonders if he hadn't broken the promise a long time ago, would they have met again? Would they have continued to be friends?

 

The year after they first saw each other, he had broken his promise. He didn't return when he said he would. And although the reason was that he was a little too young to be in the woods alone, he couldn't help but blame himself. And truthfully, ever since that one time, he believes that it is solely his fault if he would never really see that little boy again he played with at a certain pond.

 

Somehow, after the very first encounter, he had never set his eyes on that particular pond again. Maybe, or as he'd like to believe, it would only appear if his childhood friend would be with him. However, at the back of his mind, he's using it as an excuse to cover up the possibility that his beloved friend might have forgotten about him already. Because sometimes, when life strikes us hard, the only comfort we have is the little fairytales our mind could create. It may not be the truth nor may it overcome the difficulty at hand, but somehow, it becomes the hope we need in our daily dose

of problems. 

 

And as Donghae went on looking for the pond where he had met his childhood friend, he suddenly remembered how now, of all the past years he spent, he needed to see his friend the most. He would surely be a great escape from his thoughts about his other friend, Hyukjae. His best friend had always been more than just that to him.

 

Hyukjae, that name. It would always make his heart pump a little bit faster than usual. It is for the reason that he feels something out of the ordinary for the other. It isn't just about anything. For when nerves go wild at a single glance, that is simply not normal. In addition, when the world seems to turn away from him, just a silly grin could be his very own world.

 

As he paved for his way, he heard leaves rustling on the forest floor. His mind battled whether to continue on his search or go back. He really wanted to find his spot but he was afraid that whatever other presence there is, it might be something unpleasent. However, the will to continue won over. There's a teeny bit hope inside him that the presence might be his friend. Impatience probably added to it too, for

he would wait for another year to get the chance to see his friend.

 

Donghae realized that the presence is coming closer to him. He is trying really hard to think straight as he walked forward with fear creeping at the back of his mind.

 

"Oh. I think I'm getting nearer." he suddenly exclaimed to the forest air.

 

"Who is that?" asked a vaguely familiar voice.

 

Forgetting his fear, he rushed to find the voice. Thankfully, it was utterly close.

 

As glad as he is, he was taken by surprise by who he found."Hyuk? It was you!" he blurted out and he jumped onto the other.

 

"Hae-ah. I'm glad it's you. Fins?" the older held up a fish plushie when the other pulled away.

 

"What about our wings?"

 

"I found out that these fins at the side of the fish could be wings, you know?" Hyukjae showed Donghae what he was talking about. "And-." 

 

Hyukjae stopped midway when the other proclaimed his feelings."I love you! You fulfilled all your promises too."

 

"Hae." he said and he kissed the other. It was a gentle kiss. Both of them had been keeping they're feelings to themselves but it seemed that love can't be hidden. They 

 

 

 

"Which is better, wings or fins?" Little Donghae asked as he watched birds flying accross the sky and fish swimming in the pond. He was suddenly serious as the sudden thought crossed his mind.

 

"Fins! You look like a fish." squealed the young Hyukjae.

 

Donghae smiled at his friend. "But I want to fly so high."

 

"We will fly, then. Together."

 

 

 

The two little boys talked as if they knew what they were saying. They probably didn't back then. But now they know. 

 

They had been soaring so high together for a long time already and they would never forget they have fins. They use their wings to fly and to show the world their ability. Even so, if you don't watch out, you'll fly too high and too close to the sun that it might burn your wings down. Thus, you'll need fins to slow you down and stabilize you if you fly too high. Yet, it won't be too slow. Just enough to prevent you from sinking back down. Moreover, it will guide you to where you should reallygo.

 

But then, if your fins get cut off because you use it as a weapon from others that want to fly, a friend would be there while you wait for it to grow. And for some instances, a special friend.

 

And this friend? He will always be a big part of your life no matter where you go and what happens to you. You can’t even do anything about it. It just is. And that is the most promising offer life can give us. More than dreams and happiness, life would never let us on alone. We just have to believe.