"Myungsoo, what do men like? Like, what do they like to do?"

"Um, soccer?"

"No, no. I don't mean what kids like. I asked you what men like." There was a pause in the air. "Do you think he'd like something like clothes?"

Myungsoo stopped dribbling the soccer ball with his feet and looked up at Naeun, who was sitting on a bench, beautiful and flawless as ever. Except today, she looked a bit different. She looked like she was awestruck by something, and the way her cheeks turned pink as the strawberry ice cream he had bought her a few minutes ago, he wasn't looking forward to her reason why.

"Okay, Naeun. Spill it. What's this all about? You're acting really strange," Myungsoo told her. Not that I'm complaining. You do look cute.

Naeun bit her bottom lip, then glanced nervously at him with her round, brown eyes. "If I tell you, do you promise that you'll keep it a secret?"

"Naeun, you've been telling me secrets ever since we were kids. You can trust me just about anything," he assured her, returning to kicking the ball. He threw it straight in the air with his foot, wondering if he would be able to catch it with his back. Naeun fiddled with her fingers for a few seconds, then looked away with a shy look.

"You know that tutor I was talking about yesterday, right?" she asked. Myungsoo nodded after he caught the soccer ball with his back and let it roll down. He rolled the ball back to the ground and kicked it up in the air again, wondering if he would be able to do the same trick.

"Yeah. What about him? Do you hate him?" he asked back, his eyes fixed on the flying soccer ball.

"No! I would never hate him!" she declared. She flushed her cheeks. "I-It's just that... Well... N-Never mind. B-But if a question like this ever c-came up, what would you give to your t-tutor?"

The soccer ball landed right in front of Myungsoo, barely missing him by a few centimeters. He stared at Naeun, who turned as red as a tomato. He watched her fan herself with her hand, and quickly finish her ice cream cone.

This is strange, he thought, slightly frowning. She's blushing and acting nervous. It's like she's embarrassed or in lo...

Myungsoo stopped his thoughts. In love? Naeun, being in love? He chuckled to himself quietly, and shook his head. There was no way Naeun would fall in love too quickly. His heart began to race, nervous over finding out the truth.

"Myungsoo?" Naeun called him. He snapped out of his thoughts and stared at her.

"Y-Yeah?"

"So what would you do?" she asked, cooling down a bit. "W-What would you get your tutor...?"

"I... I don't know. Maybe some flowers?" he suggested. Naeun widened her eyes. She stood up and locked arms with him, causing Myungsoo to blush hard. "W-W-What are you d-d-doing?"

"Flowers! Don't you take care of the community garden? Can we go and get some flowers over there? Please? Pretty please?" she begged, using her puppy-eyes to charm him. Myungsoo felt himself melt when he saw Naeun's adorable plead. It was as if she was a young puppy, begging to go somewhere new and exciting. 

But going to the community garden and giving flowers to each other was more of our thing. We never gave flowers to others, not eve to our parents, Myungsoo remembered. This tutor guy must be a really good tutor or--

"Oh! Hey! Hey! Flower-pruning guy!"

Myungsoo and Naeun looked up and saw a girl waving at them. It took Myungsoo a few moments to realize that the girl was calling him. He pointed at himself, confused. After a few more minutes, they realized that there was another friend with her, only this time her partner was a guy.

"Taecyeon, this is the guy I was telling you about! You know, the guy who helped me find my way to the train station?" the girl said, pulling the other guy with him. Myungsoo examined the girl for a second, then widened his eyes.

"O-Oh! You're Yoona!" he shouted, bowing at her. "I'm sorry that I didn't recognize you sooner!"

"It's perfectly fine, but I was on my way to the garden. Did you forget about that, too?" she asked him. Myungsoo rubbed the back of his neck, unable to answer her question. He faked a chuckle while Yoona gave him a disappointed look. "Whatever. Anyways, this is my friend, Ok Taecyeon! Taecyeon, this is Myungsoo, the trustworthy little boy who helped me get back on the train."

Taecyeon rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay. So he's not some old erted guy I thought he was. It's no big deal!"

"It's a huge deal! Now I can come to the garden without letting you be worried."

"Still, that area isn't really the safest place. What are you going to do if someone suddenly jumps on you?"

"I kick him!"

"What if it's a girl?"

"Cat fight!"

Taecyeon rolled his eyes. Cat fight. Is that all you could think of, Im Yoona?

"U-U-Um..." The quarrelling friends turned their heads, only to recognize the almost-invisible little girl. Yoona gasped, then exchanged smiles with the girl.

"Oh! I didn't notice you there," she said, apologizing right after. "I'm Im Yoona, an acquaintance of Myungsoo. You are...?"

"Fate..." Naeun whispered, her eyes glued on Taecyeon.

Yoona tilted her head a bit. "Excuse me?"

Suddenly, Naeun's grip around Myungsoo's arm tightened. He widened his eyes as he realized that she started to hide behind him. Taecyeon smiled fondly at Naeun.

"Oh, what a coincidence!" Taecyeon exclaimed. "Yoona, the girl over there is Naeun, my pupil. Naeun, this is my close friend, Yoona."

Yoona smiled again and reached out to shake hands with Naeun. Naeun, however, ignored her and shyly continued to hide behind her own childhood friend. 

"F-Fate..." Naeun said quietly so that only Myungsoo could hear. "M-Myungsoo, this is fate!"

Myungsoo gave her a strange look. "Wha...?"

"We must be destined to be together! Myungsoo, I think my first love is valid!"

Myungsoo paled as he stared up at the taller man, wondering what made Naeun so attracted to him in such a short amount of time.

"This is a pretty nice garden."

"Thanks."

"I really love these roses. Do you take care of them?"

"Yes."

"Woah, I'm impressed! You know, Yoona can't even take care of a weed if she had to. She's terrible at gardening and everything."

"Okay."

"You know what, Myungsoo? You don't talk much, do you?"

"Sure," Myungsoo replied coldly. He knew that he was being rude to Taecyeon, who only wanted to have a conversation, but he was still confused and frustrated over why Naeun would choose him. Frustrated, he gulped down the can of soda he had in his hands. He let out a loud sigh, and tapped his fingers against the can. The way Naeun glanced at Taecyeon more frequently than she had ever done so to him caused Myungsoo to feel envious of Taecyeon's situation.

Snap!

"Woops," Yoona muttered. Yoona and Naeun were a few feet away from the boys, snapping off the dead leaves off the roses. However, Yoona had snapped off a stem of the flower instead. She bit her bottom lip and looked up at Myungsoo for help. Myungsoo walked over to her, wondering what was going on.

"Myungsoo, she snapped off a rose!" Naeun exclaimed, pointing at Yoona. Yoona shot her a glare and slapped down her hand.

"You don't point like that, Naeun," Yoona scolded her. Myungsoo sighed and kneeled down. He took away the shears from Yoona and snapped the bare stem to a tilted angle.

"It's fine if you snap off the stem, but snap it off at this angle. Although we're trying to grow these plants, so try not to snap out so many roses," he warned her.

"Oh... So what should I do with this rose?" Yoona asked, waving the dying rose with her hands. 

"You can keep it, I guess," Myungsoo replied. "Otherwise, you can give it to someone. Who knows, maybe you can give it to someone you love. It is a red rose, after all."

"To someone I love..." Yoona looked up, and found Taecyeon standing right above her. She raised her arm and handed the rose to Taecyeon with a bright smile. "I don't love you as a lover, but I do love you as a friend! Happy Birthday, Taecyeon."

"But my birthday is three seasons away--"

"Take it. It's an early gift," she replied, pushing the rose in his large hands. Naeun, who was envious over Yoona's close relationship with her tutor, quickly snapped off a rose and handed it to Taecyeon.

"T-Take mine, too!" Naeun stuttered, demanding Taecyeon to accept her rose. Myungsoo stared at the rose Taecyeon was hesitating to accept.

Why is she giving out roses to someone else? he wondered. She never gave a rose to me. I'm always the one who gave her the rose. Why is she giving it to this high school guy? Does she like older guys or something?

"Idiot Naeun," he muttered quietly. Yoona, who slowly began to recognize how Myungsoo was feeling, got up from her spot and forced a smile. She patted down her dirty hands against her blue jeans, smearing it with the rich, brown soil.

"Well, I better get going," Yoona said. "I need to... watch my favorite T.V show!"

"I thought your drama days were on Frid--"

"Yeah, but today's the Tuesday drama show. I'm just rewatching some dramas," she interrupted, giving Taecyeon a glare. Taecyeon gave her a puzzled expression, unable to understand what she wanted.

"Sure... I'll stay here a little bit. It'd be nice to know my pupil and her friend--"

"But Taecyeon!" Yoona whined. "I also promised your nerd friend Changmin that you'd play with him for this game!"

He tilted his head in response. "But Changmin knows that I at games--"

"Oh, for crying out loud! We're leaving!" Yoona groaned and rolled her eyes, while she tugged on Taecyeon's shirt and whispered something in his ear. Seeing his eyebrows go up, Yoona grinned satisfyingly, yet she kicked his leg as a punishment for not understanding the entire situation. Taecyeon looked up at Myungsoo, who slightly jumped from his spot. Seeing the creepy grin on Taecyeon's face, Myungsoo wondered what Yoona had told him.

"Oh, right. We're 'leaving' as if we're 'going'," Taecyeon repeated, nodding his head. The two friends faced the middle school students and bid them a goodbye, skipping away back home where they would be able to further discuss about life and high school. Myungsoo scratched his head, and turned back to pruning the roses.

"You know, you two at taking care of plants," Myungsoo commented. He flushed his cheeks a bit. "B-But you're a lot better than Yoona, so--"

"...I hate her."

Myungsoo stopped clipping the plant. He slowly turned his head around, and realized the cold, ugly look on Naeun's expression. Blinking his eyes, Myungsoo stared at her with a dumbfounded expression.

"W...What? Naeun, what are you saying--"

"I hate her," Naeun said again. She faced Myungsoo with a serious expression, as if she was angry, or jealous. "I don't like Yoona."

For the first time, Myungsoo was left staring at Naeun, having a difficult time understanding her situation and her reason.