He was sitting up in his favorite climbing tree in the forest the day he first saw the other boy.  He knew there was something different about the stranger from the moment he first spotted him.  The stranger was taller than anyone he had ever met.  When the stranger looked up and their eyes met, the boy nearly fell out of his tree.  Panicking, he scrambled down to the safety of the forest floor, tripping and falling on his backside when his feet reached the ground.  The stranger stepped toward him to help him up, but the boy misunderstood.  He turned and bolted toward the village at top-speed.

Although something about the stranger had scared him, there was also something about him that intrigued the boy.  His curiosity drove him into the forest again, and he waited up in his tree every afternoon, watching for the stranger.  The stranger appeared quite often.  The boy’s eyes never left the tall figure when he was in sight; he was mesmerized by the graceful movements, almost inhuman.  Once he even caught a glimpse of a pointed ear.

One day he asked his father, “Do elves exist?”

“Sure, Taemin,” his father replied with a smile.  “They keep to themselves though.  They aren’t too fond of most humanfolk.”

“Why?”  His father gave him a mere shrug in response.

Taemin didn’t know why he was so drawn to the strange boy.  All he knew was that something was pulling them together.   One day he waited by the base of his usual tree, instead of up in the branches.  When the strange boy appeared, Taemin slowly approached him.

“Hello.”

The stranger nodded.  “Hello.  You’re Taemin, right?”

Taemin nodded.  How did he know?  They stood in a peaceful silence for several minutes, simply staring into each other’s eyes.  It gave Taemin a serene feeling.  Still, something inside him was restless, longing to pull him closer to the tall boy.

“Are you an elf?” he asked suddenly.  The elf nodded.  “What’s your name?”

The elf smiled.  “Minho.”

Taemin smiled back.  Did Minho also feel it pulling?

It felt like magic.

It felt like destiny.