Jae Joong was walking on the small paved road fit only for a car to drive through. He was gazing at the houses on both lanes, with admiration in his eyes, his head was slowly turning left and then right as he walked. There were low walls on both sides and the houses were all single, ditached old houses, with low tiled roofing and low ceiling, big old style paper pasted windows, big wooden doors, and a small wooden floor area in front of the house.  He even glimpsed an oven in one of the houses, but most likely all of them had those, too. There were small trees in some of the frontyard of the houses and there were some that had flowers and bushes in front of the walls. There was a wide space for his pets to roam around.  

He was imagining if he lived in this area,  he can have a garden of any kind, maybe even a vegetable garden on the backyard. He doesn't have the time to look after it, though. He will have to have someone make it and look after it for him. Not with his busy schedules and the trips he had to do. But, it will have to be protected against his pets, or his pets will have to have an area made for them. He can't imagine his cat in this place though, he's quite used to see him in his home. 

He was wondering how it would be like to live in such a place, away from the city life, away from the crowd, and be near to nature. His mind picturing his home, his cat, his dog, his furnitures, then thought if these will fit in such a place. How will his commute go, if he had to be in a certain place in a certain time.  In his mind, he saw the chaos that would rise, if he decided to live in such a place.  So, in the end, he decided to think about it when he retired in the future. But, for now, a place like this was not for him. He can't completely imagine himself living in such a place right now, he needed people around him, and living here means less people with him.

And  then, as he was walking, came in front of him two young teenagers laughing, both  were facing each other wearing wide grin on their faces. He can't help but gaze at them and followed them with his eyes.  The two teenagers were fooling around as they walked, the boy was in a purple v-neck t-shirt and jeans and the girl was in horizontal stripes red, pink, orange and yellow blouse and jeans and both were wearing white snickers, then the girl hit the boy on the arm.  They walked passed him. He half turned to follow them with his eyes even as they  walked further away from him. He was envious of their youth, being so young and had no care in the world, having no responsibilities or contracts to think about. And with a sigh turned back around and continued to walk and continued gazing at the houses. 

Around the bend, Jae Joong found a spacious park, and he found the two young teenagers there chasing each other. There were benches, and  also a seesow, a slide and swings for children, and an area designated with metal frames to do some exercises, and an open land space that can allow a play of some games.  He smiled fondly to himself, remembering how he was in the past with his first love. How giddy with happiness he was, when they can spend a time together, where no one was around. They were just like them. He saw himself as he was with her, she was so young and touched him in the arm.  And, then he saw himself, when he was a young teenager. Not being mindful of people around him, or of people noticing him.

Jae Joong was the one chasing a girl, laughing out loud. She was running away from him, laughing out loud. She stopped running, she was bent over, hands on her knees trying to catch her breath. Laughing, he was concerned, came closer and patted her on the back,  smiling so sweetly but mischievously, he bent a little to look at her face, to see if she was doing alright. She straightened  up and a corner half of her lips turned up smiling at him, but still was trying to catch her breath.  He continued to pat her back and gazed at her, admiring how she looked.

Jae Joong held her hand and started walking pulling her behind him. She followed him and lightly held his arm with her other hand. He looked back  at her for a second and then, turned his head  forward again and continued to walk. They walked like that for a while, even when she caught her breath and was breathing evenly. No one was around to catch them holding hands. He took every chance he could to hold her hand, there was no other feeling like it, the warmth of her hand in his, sometimes, there was electricity running from their hands. 

He saw the boy caught the girl and hugged her from the back, his arms were going around her waist and her hands went on top of his arms.  Both were laughing merrily, and half spanned around when they naturally followed the motion of their body.

Jae Joong remembered her face and her long jet black silken hair, when he was doing that very thing with her, was seeing her laughing flawless pinkish face and  her naturally rosy lips smiling at him with the smile reaching her eyes. He remembered the joy of having her in his arms, the warmth of her in his embrace, the feel of her silky smooth skin, as soft a s a baby's skin. And, he remembered unconsciously bending down and kissing those rosy cheeks. And she shyly turned her head away, but still smiling. He remembered smiling, seeing that smile from her lips.

Jae Joong saw the boy pulled the girl to a swing, held her by the shoulder and pushed her down on one of the seat, he was looking down at her and she was looking up at him, and then he let her go and sat down beside her on the other seat.  He remembered, she was sitting on one of the seat of the swing but he was behind her pushing her, and she was giggling because she was going higher and higher. He could never get tired hearing her laughters, it brought something to his heart he could not describe.

Then, Jae Joong remembered being by the riverbank, walking with her. They saw a glistening tiny with stripped of black on it's back green frog on the side of the bank covered by a leaf, but there was not much water in the riverback, and they both bend down and looked, he lifted the leaf a little, but both of them did not wish to touch it.  He looked at her and tried to guess what she wanted, and she looked at him with a quirky half smile on her lips and a glint in her eyes. The smile and facial expression said it all, she did not wish to have  anything to do with the frog. Then, they both laughed. He let go of the leaf and they both straighted up. He sweetly smiled at her and outstretched his hand to her and she shyly placed her hand in his. Both smiling, they walked further along the riverbank.

Jae Joong saw the boy stood up, faced the girl and  then reached out and held her by the hand and pulled her from the seat, she followed his motion and allowed herself to be pulled. He turned and faced towards the street, with his hand in hers, they started to walk with her behind him. 

She turned and smiled at Jae Joong. And gave that sweet smile she often gave to him.

Writer's Note: March 24, 2011