Leeteuk was merely minding his own business. He woke up from his slumber early and started the chores. He chose to start making breakfast since he was the only one up. In Young had woken up right when he had finished making their breakfast. They greeted each other softly with smiles. Leeteuk wore an innocent smile as he ate and sat across from his sister. He was saddened by the fact that his mother was no longer with him but he was always thankful for having his father and older sister. He would not exchange this for anything.

After breakfast he left to head into town. He had asked his Sister if she wanted to join him and she ended up going along with him. The Park family lived in Jeju Island and a little far from the city. The two trusted that the animals would behave themselves while they were out carrying out their own business far away from the farm.

The two siblings found themselves in the large marketplace where farmers and many people who produced their own products in booths with signs stating what they were selling and how much it all cost. It was pretty interesting to how similar grocery stores in the city and a marketplace like this one. There was a lady who made homemade bread and her sons always went to their booth and tried selling as much bread as they could.

There used to be a time when Leeteuk had experienced being a seller rather than a buyer. Inyoung and him had been way younger and their mother had been alive. Apparently, his parents had known how to sell fresh and delicious fruits and vegetables. With their mother's charm and kindness, she had been able to persuade many women to buy their products for a healthy meal of course. 

Time had gone by quick and in seconds, their mother was taken from them. Their father had grown a bit too depressed to continue on with the little family business of theirs. He not only worked on the farm, but he sought more money for his family to always be well and healthy. During the winter, he needed to buy seeds and of course keep their home and farm.

There had been so many things their parents had planned for them. They had liked the idea of the small family business and they had even planned on breeding two of the four horses they had. Now things had gone by and Mr. Park just wanted to support his family the best way he thought he could. 

He had sought help of an engineer in the city and the two started their own small business that consisted of them inventing things with all they could get for themselves. Their father was in charge of getting things sold, while the engineer man was required to build things and brainstorm ideas along with their father.

This brand new "career" had taken a lot of his time and his children handled the farm and they had done so well. It seemed rare to Leeteuk that their father received breaks, but recalling his father's "days-offs" he could imagine his father sleeping for hours and waking up late to eat one of the three meals of the day. 

What would he know?

He was either busy outside with the animals in the farm or in the small town where he went shopping and entered and exited the library too many times. The librarian, Mr. Oh, was quite nice to him and seemed to not be bothered if Leeteuk was a day late when having to return a few books. However Mr. Oh somewhat enjoyed his company and somewhat accommodated him, Leeteuk made sure to never be late when needing to return a book.

Then there was his noona who was stuck in her own world like he. He could never call her selfish, because she wasn't. She liked the finer things in life while he seemed fine living in a farm, especially with those baby ducks that made him squeal. He was so thankful his family didn't really favor duck meat. He would have despised his life if those little ducklings and their parents were made to be his dinner.

He knew that it was rare, but his father would take a few of the baby ducks and sold them to farmers who knew of people who liked duck meat. Now he was aware such things weren't rare. Inyoung didn't even care for the adorable birds and carried out her father's deeds and would drive the truck to one of the farmers. He made sure to spend a last moment with them and send them with a prayer and a small affectionate peck to the little fluffy heads the ducks owned.

As he tried looking for the perfect carrots and apples, a vegetable and fruit they did not plant, Inyoung was looking at the large tent from across the booth he was at. There was a small group of women who were selling all sorts of things, from shoes to earrings. While the farmer gathered Leeteuk's picked carrots and apples, he watched his sister as she examined the products along with other pretty girls around her own age.

He smiled brightly at her as she held a long red dress close to her chest while the other girls complimented how pretty she would look in such a gown. He could tell the dresses, jewellery, and shoes Inyoung eyed cost more than what the family made. He got saddened when he thought of how Inyoung wanted so much but didn't have.

Some of the older men and women continued to state that Inyoung was "a two-faced ungrateful child" and he then looked back at them with a displeased look. He didn't like it when people disparaged his sister since they had no clue who she was from within and what she likely had suffered. He wondered if any of them said anything bad about his father.

That would be the last straw.

When he turned back he jumped as he met the chest of a young and handsome man who was a bot taller than him. He blinked a few times before looking at the tanned skin man wearing a red and black patterned flannel shirt along with navy blue jeans. The handsome man smirked at Leeteuk and bowed to him.

"Hello, Teukie." Jung Ji Hoon, or nicknamed "Rain," was every girl's and gay boy's dream man. He was handsome, athletic, and was rumored to have been good in bed. 

Although mothers were hypnotized by his charms, Ji Hoon was liked by the mothers and wished for their daughters to marry a man like him. Then there were the fathers who looked pass Ji Hoon's promiscuity and wished for their sons to be exactly like him. In women's eyes he was their romantic Romeo and in the eyes of men he was the rebirth of Hercules or Zeus. 

Even though everyone favored and liked Ji Hoon, he was biual. He liked both genders, however there was only one person he flirted with. All the girls and gay boys wished they could be in bed with him, but it seemed like "Rain" had his eyes set on one person in particular. 

Of course, that person was Leeteuk.

Leeteuk smiled softly at Rain and greeted him gently, "Yes, hello Ji Hoon." He tried to not make eye contact with the male. Rain would wiggle his eyebrows every time Leeteuk would look at him.

Rain released a deep chuckle and revealed his white shiny teeth as he replied to Leeteuk's greet. He winked, "Just call me Rain, babe."

Leeteuk blinked in confusion and cleared his throat before taking his order and placed it inside of his straw basket before walking away from the booth, hoping to avoid Rain. However due to his bad luck, Rain followed him causing many female women to stare him with sparkling eyes.

"Hold up!" Rain called out and ran in front of Leeteuk to stop him which he had achieved. He cleared his throat before speaking, "Say Teukie, are you free anytime soon? How's your schedule for this weekend?"

Leeteuk offered him a nervous smile before responding. "Uh-um, I'm not too sure...Rain, uh my father's off on a trip and I want to think my schedule will be full due to the chores needing to be done."

"Why not skip all those chores and..." Rain placed a hand upon Leeteuk's cheek and wrapped an arm around Leeteuk's waist before smirking and leaning a bit closer each second.

Leeteuk raised an eyebrow and tried taking a step back, but Rain was well-built and had more muscle. It just made sense to why he would lose to this little game of Rain's. 

Both of them were aware of their uality, and Rain would've found that the perfect reason to claim Leeteuk's lips. But the duck lover could see past the handsome and charming man and see he was in vain. He only cared about himself and didn't mind playing others even though he wasn't serious at all with any of them. 

Leeteuk didn't want to be treated like some pathetic little wife that took care of everything. 

Leeteuk pulled away and was happy to see Inyoung head towards them. She smiled softly with dreamy, sparkling eyes as Rain talked to her. Leeteuk then felt saddened by the fact that his sister was being played right in front of him. He could see Rain's boredom, but Inyoung felt like she was a damsel in distress being rescued by her "Prince Charming."

Leeteuk grabbed his sister's wrist and the two bid Rain goodbye before leaving the marketplace with everything they needed. As they walked back home, Inyoung talked about the beautiful things she saw and Leeteuk tried listening without getting distracted. 

However, it wasn't hard for him to do. Inyoung talked about clothes he couldn't wear, jewellery he didn't want, and shoes he would never imagine paying for even if he was the richest male on Earth. He had always wondered why he had ended up being a son to his parents when it was pretty obvious his sister would've been happier with a sister. If he was a female, perhaps they would've had a closer and stronger bond?

They could play dress up.

They could apply makeup to each other's face.

They could have their own tea parties.

They could talk about boys.

These were all things that sounded like a fantasy, a mere dream. His family and everyone he knew, were aware of his uality. Although his family didn't mind, it's not they threw a celebration party about it. There were no congratulations when he told them. Their response had been simple, "Oh, okay," and he could tell it hadn't really mattered to them. It was as if they knew, but wanted to ignore it secretly.

Inyoung never came to talk to him about boys although she would be the one to know all about them. Neither had his parents. 

Leeteuk brushed off the thought as Inyoung and him approached the door to their house. They entered and Inyoung went upstairs where her bedroom was along with his. He took the carrots and apples butbbefore exiting the house, he head towards the pantry that had four shelves. On the second one there were canisters of many sizes. He grabbed one with little pink hearts that were scattered all over the orange background. He opened the lid and took two sugar cubes from the canister and placed them in his pocket. 

He exited the pantry and exited the house and headed to the barn. When he approached the house of animals, he stole a glance at the pen and watched as the ducklings followed their mother as she wandered around while the chickens and roosters made their own noises.

He head inside the barn and approached the area that belonged to the horses, there was four, two males and two females. Originally he would've thought mating one male with a female would've been the ideal way of breeding. Apparently, when he was only six he had heard his parents talking about a miscarriage with Sapphire, the Palomino female horse who had been impregnated by the black male horse, Night. 

The idea of having other male horses mate with Sapphire and the other female horse, Goldy, had formed in his parents' head. After his mother's death, all their plans had faded away. 

He grabbed the other male horse's attention, Flame, a chestnut colored horse. He placed a carrot bear Flame's face as the horse realized Leeteuk had a special treat for him. Flame devoured the carrot and went to the where the water troth was. The two female horses approached him and kept their eyes on the red apples he had. 

He gave Sapphire and Goldy apples and they too followed Flame's intentions and took sips of water. Leeteuk eyed the Night as he stood alone with no intention to get near the carrots or apples. He giggled and clicked his tongue to gain Night's attention. The black horse turned his head to look at his owner's son and watched him briefly before looking away with no interest. It seemed like the horse was hurting due to the death of the colt even if it was so long ago. 

Leeteuk smiled softly and took the sugar cubes from his pocket and held them out. Like he had expected, Night had sniffed out the unhealthy treat and slowly walked towards Leeteuk. Even though it wasn't healthy for horses to eat such sweet treats, Leeteuk couldn't help it. This helped Night eat the hay, as long as he was treated like a prince of course. Flame liked carrots, Sapphire and Goldy enjoyed apples, and Night favored sugar cubes. It was their little guilty pleasures.

Night had taken one sugar cube at a time and when he had eaten both of the two, he couldn't help but Leeteuk's hands to make sure there was no sugar left at all. Night started Leeteuk's face and he giggled softly and nuzzled his face onto Night's. He rubbed the horse's neck and he giggled some more in happiness. 

He could tell many things when it came to others although it took forever for them to do the same to him. He understood that Night was still mourning over the colt's death and the fact that his mate would be given to another. Night had watched as Sapphire had been placed around gates with other male horses and it had seem to break his heart.

Leeteuk would hate to be parted from his.

He hoped his was out there looking for him and hoping for the same things.

Leeteuk jumped when he was tapped on the shoulder by someone. He wheeled around and saw Inyoung with a large orange envelope in her hand. She told him it was for him and left when Leeteuk took it. Leeteuk looked at Night with raised eyebrows. He tore it open as Night watched him closely. Leeteuk found himself holding a little doll.

The doll had pale little skin and black eyes and a red line for a smile. The doll's hair was near the color of Leeteuk's and the little doll looked dressed for a special event. The doll wore a yellow shining tuxedo and even wore shiny yellow gloves. Leeteuk turned the doll around and saw a piece of paper with scrawled writing. He read it while his eyes widened:

His father was leaving their home,

His dear sister was saddened like him,

His sister wished for silk dresses and jewels,

While all he wished for was his father's return,

In result he merely asked for

A Rose.