“No,” he answered.

“Am I too weak?” I ask him but he didn’t reply back. “You should at least show a little mercy.” I said to him. He just laughs at my statement. I look at his right hand. It had some type of design on it. “Is that a tattoo on your hand?” I ask.

He looks at his right hand, “Uh-yeah.” he said.

“What is it supposed to resemble?” I ask.

“Um….. wind.” he replied.

“Wind? Wow…” I wasn’t expecting it. “Why wind?” I ask. He said that he wants to be free like the wind. I just couldn’t take my eyes off of him. He is too handsome. And there’s something about his eyes when he talks about being free like wind. There’s so much passion.

 I decided to lie down on the grass. I look up at the clear blue sky. This is relaxing. At the corner of my eye, I can see Eun Kyu looking at me. “You can stop looking at my face.”

Eun Kyu chuckles, “But I can’t stop.” he said. I frown at him. Then I remember about Jae.

I quickly sit up, “Jae! Where’s Jae?!” I said looking around. I stand up.

Eun Kyu stands up and looks around too. “He probably went deeper into the forest.”

“Oh no! What do I do?!” I said.

“Don’t worry. We’ll find him. Come on.” he said confidently.

I nod and we went off into the forest. We got to the separated roads.

“This way.” Eun Kyu said pointing to the dark road.

“Th…tha…that w-way?” I’m sure that I do not want to go in that dark road, but I have no choice but to bring back Jae. As we both went deeper to the road, Eun Kyu did not yell out to Jae. It’s as if Eun Kyu knows where Jae is, unlike me.

“This way leads deeper into the woods. For sure Jae would’ve gone this way.” he said. “Come on.”

We jog through the dark road. We both jog pretty far until the road disappears and we were just jogging on the grass.

“Jae! Where are you?!” I am starting to become breathless. My feet began to feel sore.

“He couldn’t have gone that far.” said Eun Kyu in front of me.

We came to a small river. I sat on one of the big rocks.

“Are you tired?” Eun Kyu asks me.

“My feet are starting to feel sore.” I said.

“Stay here and I’ll go find Jae.” he said.

“Wait. What if it gets late?” I said worried.

“Don’t worry. I’ll come back in time.” he said as he looks into my eyes. I trust his words. “I’ll be back.” He said.

Eun Kyu jogs further into the woods. I continue looking at him until his figure disappears. Now I’m alone. I look into the river. It was clear water. I put my hand in the water. It was refreshing. There were some small flowers on the grass that has died. I pick it up. “Poor flower.” I said. I put the flower’s stem inside the water, and the flower revived itself! “What the… it came back to life?!” I grab another small dead flower and put it in the water. It did the same thing again! This is very strange and fascinating. It’s like this river can revive anything. I decided to test something. If I take some water and put it over my legs, will it make my feet sore not anymore?

I roll up my sweat pants and cup my hands with the river’s water. I pour the water over my feet. There were some blue shining lights shining around my feet. “What are these…blu…shining lights?” I have so many questions that I want to know right now but they’re all just flying around my head. I feel like I’ve seen these tiny blue shining lights before, but I just can’t remember when.

The blue shining lights disappears and my feet don’t feel sore anymore. Should I follow after Eun Kyu? I decided to wait until Eun Kyu comes back. After a while Eun Kyu came back with Jae. “Jae!” I ran towards Jae and grabbed him. “Don’t you ever run away from me again!” I yelled at Jae and he whined.

“How’s your feet?” Eun Kyu asks. He sounds concern.

“Uh… yeah it feels much better…” I trailed off. I was still amazed about the water. Then Eun Kyu and I heard a howl. “We should get you and Jae home.” He said as if something bad is going to happen.

“Why?” I asked.

“There are wolves close by. You don’t want to be wolves’ lunch, right?” he replied.

“No,” I answered.

We got to Grandma’s house. “Bye Eun Kyu.” I said waving bye to him happily. He waves bye to me and leaves. I went inside Grandma’s house.

“Are you hungry? I made soup.” Grandma asks me without taking her eyes off the tv.

“I’ll eat later.” I said as I went upstairs. I went to lie on my bed and put Jae down. All of a sudden Jae started barking. “What is it boy?” I asked him, and he was barking at the purple flower. I got up and looked the purple flower and it still hasn’t rotted yet. This is strange? It’s been several days and the water is all soaked up and the flower is still alive.

I let Jae out of the room to go stay with Grandma downstairs as I went to go take a nap. I woke up an hour later and took out the flower and look at it. I look out the window as I smell the flower. This flower has a different mixture sense like a smell that you cannot define what it is. It smells like a water lily, lavender, and red rose in one.

It was evening. I want to check something. I got out of my room and took the purple flower with me. Then I check to see if Grandma and Jae are asleep and they are. I went downstairs and got one of Grandma’s flash light. I open the door quietly, making sure that Grandma and Jae wouldn’t hear. I went back to the lake. When I got to the lake, there were shining purple flowers under the water, they are like crystals in the water. The flowers are the same as the one I had. I take out the purple flower in my red sweater and put it inside the water, it started shining. I felt like a scientist for discovering something so cool! When I took out the flower it didn’t shine anymore. Why? I put the flower back in and out.

I heard something run behind the bushes behind me. I look back. “Eun Kyu? Is that you?” There was no reply. “E-eun Kyu –ah...?”