He watched the young girl who hung upside down from the tallest tree in the park. Staring high high above, the icecream in his hand so it wouldnt melt on his fingers and be gross and sticky. Her long hair draped the branch below her and hung straight to the ground, though leaves and twigs were tangling in it she didn't seem to notice or care. Her eyes were closed and she was jsut enjoying the feeling of blood rushing to her head, of the sunshine on her bare legs (luckily she wore shorts underneath her skirt), of the swaying motion of her body which and ignoring the high likelihood of it being plunged to her death if she weren't careful to keep her legs steadily fastened around the tree. The boy watching her was curious, but her smile made him grin as well, it looked really nice to do that. "Can i join you?!" he called up to her, jumping excitedly. The girl opened her eyes slowly, twisting her head  so she could glance down at him. "This tree's free for everyone to climb, suit yourself" she continued swaying as he grinned happily and attempted to climb the tree. It was hard with only one hand, because he continued gripping the ice cream. And the first foothold was very high up from the bottom of the tree, he couldn't reach. "Ngh, i cant get up!" he whined, pulling back his hand from where his foot should have been because he had a splinter. "I cant help you, not my fault you're not a good climber" she kept her eyes closed, getting annoyed and wanting to be alone. "yes you can! pleeeeasse!" his whining voice was seriously getting on her nerves now. "No, go away!" she said, waving her arms to signal him to be gone. Even at the age of ten the boy had grown to be comppetitive, and he stared at the ice-cream sadly. "Sorry, i can buy another one later..." he threw it in the garden and dusted his hands, looking to the very high up foothold. "I'm coming up!" he yelled, running towards the tree as fast as he could. Unfortunately he made the leap too late and slammed into the tree instead of getting his foot into the foothold. "OooowWWww!" he was crying on the ground, big fat tears falling down his face as he gripped his knee that had banged against the tree trunk. He wanted to join the girl above so bad now, not just because it looked fun but when he saw something he wanted he tended to obsess over it. But it seemed like he failed, he would never get up the tree.

Naeun looked down at the whimpering boy and snarled. She hated more than anything to see people cry, because it was unfair. Why should they afford tears when she never did, why didn't she ever get to cry? "Get up!" she yelled, hoisting her body up so she was sitting on the tree. The boy ignored her and continued crying, though he looked up at her with huge teary eyes making her even angrier. He watched mutely as she skimmed down the long branch like tarzan that he'd seen on tv. She jumped over to the next lower down branch and kept jumping, at the bottom she got a long scratch on her calf and gasped, but didn't even blink. She scraped her elbow and knee and they were red with blood but she didn't notice. She finally jumped off the tree from still very high off the ground, landing beside him roughly and breathing heavily. When he turned his head to look at her, still lying on the ground as she was on her hands and knees beside him, his tears stopped because he felt weak next to her lack thereof. "Did i cry once coming down? even though you saw how much it would've hurt?" she asked harshly, pulling him up sit with him now and showing him all her cuts and bruises. He shook his head, the sight of her injuries making him want to cry again. "You shouldn't cry, it's stupid and it doesn't solve anything" she made him stand up and looked up at the tree again. "I can help you, it's okay to help people when they need it. But in return you should never cry again unless you really have to..." the boy nodded mutely, her eyes never leaving his as she backed up to stand next to the tree. She locked her hands together and motioned him to come over. When he was next to her she grabbed his palms and laced them on the first branch, then she grabbed his foot and hoisted him over the branch so now he was sitting on it like he'd straddled a horse. She jumped up herself and used the small strength she contained to lift her small body up, puffing at the strain it took. Together they climbed to the top of the tree and sat on one of the highest branches up. Taemin wasn't crying anymore, his grin returned and he laughed as he kicked his feet, enjoying the free motion of his limbs and the nothingness below. "You're not bad at climbing trees" she admitted, crouching down beside him but leaning against the trunk of the tree while he kept his balance perched precariously on the branch. "I've never gotten this high up before" he looked around in wonder, "this is better than looking out the window at home!". "Do you live close by?" she asked, to which he nodded. "My house is over there, by the ginko tree" he pointed in the distance to a not far off tree and she looked surprised. "My house is around the corner" she pointed in the other direction. "Do you go to the boys school here?" he nodded again and giggled, jumping on the branch to make it swing. "i like climbing this tree almost everyday, i hope you come here and climb trees with me again" she said shyly. "Could I?! oh i promise to come here every day when i come  from school before i go home!" he stood up on the branch and bounced in glee even more. "Let's be friends!" he exclaimed. "Sure" she replied warmly, standing as well. This was a strange feeling, people usually saw her as they walked past and gawked. Adults would shake their head and mutter "kids these days..." or "where are the parents? they'll regret not disciplining that child when she falls to her death..." Boys would usually throws rocks up at her and she'd climb higher to avoid them. Girls would flip their hair and poke their tongue at her. They never liked her anyways, and she didn't much like them. Well there were a few nice people, the two friends she'd met earlier that week at the playground, sulli and krystal. They had welcomed her immediately to play with them and she was grateful for their friendship but was still afraid to open up to them when they asked her millions of overwhelming questions. There was something about the boy though that she liked, it felt easy to be with him becasue he didn't ask her anything and was happy being silent, though he was more bouncy and loud as he cheered. He swung on the branch care free and effortlessly, wondering if he could jump to the other branch like he'd seen her do. As soon as she heard a tiny cracking noise Naeun reacted without a second thought and grabbed his right hand in a tight grip. "What are you doing?" he asked suspiciously, his brother had told him that girls had a sickly disease called cooties and though she wanted to be her friend he didn't wnat to touch her. When the branch gave way he screamed, falling for two seconds before she swung to safety by swinging her arm and his body to safety hugging the tree trunk. He hugged the tree tightly with his eyes closed, hearing the cracking noises as the branch fell to the ground and brought another brach down with it. There was a rustling of the leaves on the branch before it settled on the ground and taemin opened his eyes looking down. "That was close... thank you" he replied, looking at her happy face as she laughed silently. "Why are you laughing? i almost died!" his mouth dropped in offence as she continued to giggle, clutching her stomach. "Tell me why you're laughing! nothings funny..." when she stopped, she looked up at him, clearing . "I laugh in the face of death!" she replied randomly, posing like a superhero and making him laugh. "Thats not a good answer..." he pouted, not understanding still why she laughed but letting it go. For the rest of the afternoon they played in that tree, luckily it was the school holidays so they really had no trouble spending every day there together. It was one of the nicest times Naeun remembered of her childhood,  the summer she spent every day in the tree with him.

But the summer holidays ended and it was back to school, though for the first six weeks they still met eachother every day after and played around the park and eachothers houses (only when Naeun's father wasn't there did she allow him into her house). But as time passed their friendship faded without them noticing. It was fleeting their time together, after they entered middle school and with the pressure of final exams approaching Naeun had to attend after-school programs, meanwhile Taemin auditioned and passed to become a trainee under SM. Then one day for the first time in three months she found herself climbing the tree where they'd met, letting her legs dangle and staring at the ground, alone. For something so brief, something that shouldn't have meant much in the grand scheme of her life, why was she only crying now? Tears fell freely down her cheeks, she reminisced the times they had together. Of course she saw him often, because they now attended the same co-ed middle school. Once he passed her in the hallways and stopped for a second, staring at her as if he almost recognised her but was struggling. She stifled a cry and turned towards her friends, hiding her face. When he carried on she turned back sadly, knowing that he'd forgotten all about her now and accepting it. But still she continued to admire him, stealing glances at him during their lunch breaks and watching him every morning when he was late for school. She still passed his house and sometimes stood outside it, wanting to knock and invite herself in. But she didn't have the courage so she sighed and walked on sadly.