The first time I met him, the trees were singing.

The breeze had been blowing the waves of burning leaves across my feet, the colours bursting with golden sun, ripe orange. My footsteps crunched against the fallen twigs, breaking them in half as I made my daily walk through the forest; it was a longer route through the blooming trees, their branches reaching up to heaven, holding the sky up - yet it was strangely pleasant hearing the birds sing with the wind, the sunlight shining through the leaves leaving a golden, engraved pattern across the twigged path in front of me.

This day was different though. A different sound sang through the trees, a sweeter sound and as I drew further into the forest, the singing crescendoed. It was gentle to the ears, almost soothing and I felt a smile curve on my lips, closing my eyes and listening to the mystical music.

“Yah!” A young man's voice called down from above, laughing, a rustle of branches filling the space and that's when I realised the singing had stopped and I opened my eyes in confusion.

A flash of a figure falling from above landed in front of me, causing me to stumble back at the sudden surprise, his knees bent elegantly, the fingers of his right hand floating above the tangles of leaves under our feet. His eyes looked up at me then, a grin forming on his face and he straightened himself out, shaking the leaves off his clothes and smiled, reaching a hand out to me, giving a short bow, “Hi!”

I blinked for a few seconds, taking in his chiselled, yet strangely delicate, form, letting my gaze outline the features of his face – he had bright, small eyes that looked right though mine, and his lips were perfectly formed, a curve that embraced itself with a soft velvet texture I could almost feel with my gaze. A flush of happiness blushed his full cheeks as he realised I wasn't going to take his hand, pulling it back and running his fingers through his short, dark hair that ruffled itself up, rich with chocolate, grinning an almost awkward smile.

“Nice to meet you,” he chuckled, letting his eyes wander over me, knowing that I was still dazed.

A few words fell out of my blurred lips, my form frozen, “Are you an angel?”

He looked stunned for a few seconds but a sudden laugh escaped his lips as his bright eyes smiled at me. “Anio. I didn't fall from heaven.” He chuckled under his breath, his smile soon becoming contagious. “I was just up that tree. ”

He pointed above us to a tree rich with branches entangled with each other, creating a completely unique pattern of nature – and moving only a slight way, looking at the tree from a different angle, could magically create a complete new pattern.

“So,” he wondered as we began walking through the forest, in the direction I had originally been going in. I felt the touch of his hand brush against mine as we walked through the wonderland of the leaves encaving us like a nature shrine. “You like the forest?”

I glanced at him and caught the light shining on his features and I noticed how beautiful he was, the curves of his face almost like the sunlight themselves. I smiled brightly up at him and leant closer to him, feeling more comfortable in this strangers presence.

“Neh,” I nodded, shining brightly up at him. “It's the one place that feels truly peaceful.” I paused for a few seconds and let my mind wander as the words fell from my lips, “Was that you singing? Back there.”

The young man looked at me, looking slightly surprised, but still smiled. “Yeah it was,” he smirked. “Why, did you like it?”

A rich blush filled my cheeks as I glanced down, vaguely studying the ground below me with it's quilt of red leaves and broken twigs. I bit my lip lightly and nodded, smiling quietly. It was strange but I felt a weird connection with this new stranger, this person that had just entered my life. It was nice.

“You're a good singer,” I smiled, trying to hide my burning cheeks with falling strands of hair.

He laughed again – I supposed he was just that kind of cheery guy – and ran his fingers though his hair, muttering, embarrassed at this sudden praise, “You really think so?”

I nodded brightly and cheered a quick, “Is it your dream to become a singer?”

The boy suddenly stopped, causing my own body to come to a halt and gaze at him worried. But he looked happy as ever and simply sat down under a tree, leaning his back against the trunk. He encouraged me to sit next to him with a simple hand gesture and welcoming smile.

Causiously, still worried, I did what he encouraged and made myself comfortable next to him with my legs crossed, looking up at him, waiting for him to speak.

He looked like he was just listening to nature around him, watching the leaves dance along the music of the breeze. It was while before he finally said anything, but when he did, I became breathless; “You hear that? The birds.”

I nodded quietly, watching him in awe.

“The way they can sing as they fly high up there, no fears, no worry.” He gazed in wonder at the sky above us, and I thought that maybe, somehow, he saw it in a completely different way I did. “Sometimes I think, if you listen hard enough, you can hear their feelings, just through their song.”

That's when I entered his world. The bird song was suddenly louder, taking over my senses, sounding even more beautiful. I could hear the gentle rustle of leaves against the wind and the sun splashing through them. Nature was even more magnificent and that was when I understood what he meant. There was a little bird, a young one, singing it's own song, sitting high up in a branch above us. I could hear it, it's loneliness – it's plea for love, for company. I felt sad for it's crying song as I let my eyes drop the man beside me.

“That's my dream,” he whispered, but this time I wasn't confused about what he was talking about. “To be like them.”

The day seemed to die off quickly as I realised he was leaving already. He smiled and waved as he moulded into the the forest again, promising to see me soon. As I crept out of the forest, letting my feet automatically lead me in the direction of home, I let his voice replay in my thoughts over and over again, “Well, it's nice to meet you, MiSun,” he had grinned at me after I had finally introduced myself. “SangHyun is me.”

That day my own dream changed.

I'd never had a real one before, it had never been refined before. I'd had vague ones of fame and friendship, but it never seemed real.

Yet now I'd discovered what it was – what my real dream was.

My dream was him.

I walked away from that day, hopeful of seeing him again – he was amazing, he made me smile and had brought me into a new world.

Yet, it was just a dream – like candyfloss. Too much of a hopeless dream that, like all others, was eaten up by reality.

That first day I saw him - it was the last.