The Age Of Love

Fourteen - The Giving Tree

"I am sorry," sighed the tree. "I wish that I could give you something, but I have nothing left. I am just an old stump. I am sorry."

"I don't need very much now," said the boy, "just a quiet place to sit and rest. I am very tired."

"Well," said the three, straightening herself up as much as she could, "well, an old stump is good for sitting and resting. Come, boy. Sit down. Sit and rest."

And the boy did. And the tree was happy.

The End.

Jeong Hyeok closed the book, setting it down on the end of the table next to the glider. Eun Jung was fast asleep in her crib. He looked up and Se Ri was standing in the doorway to her room, leaning against the frame, arms crossed against her chest, just staring.

"This book is rubbish," he said in a hushed whisper.

"What?" Se Ri asked with exaggerated shock, grasping at her chest dramatically. "That's blasphemy. How dare you speak such sacrilege against the almighty Shel Silverstein."

"Seriously?" he replied. "That ending? She loved that boy and he took everything from her."

Se Ri's brows furrowed and she looked him up and down. "That's what you do for the people you love."

"No," Jeong Hyeok shook his head. "No, because if those people loved you back, they wouldn't keep taking pieces of you away until there's nothing left but an old, rotten stump."

Se Ri took a step backwards. "Is that....? Are we...?" she shook her head and he could see tears forming behind her eyes. "Do you think we're taking pieces of you?"

"What?" Jeong Hyeok stood up. "No! That's not..." He took a deep breath. "You didn't want to cut down my trunk." He replied emphatically. "You didn't tell me because you didn't want to cut down my trunk. And I am not a fool. You were scared. You made the decision for you. But I know that you made it for me too. You didn't want to cut down my trunk."

She wiped a tear from her cheek. "Of course I didn't, But now you know and you're here. And... Do you feel like we chopped you down?"

"No," he promised, taking a few steps towards her. "I feel... I feel like you took my apples."

"Huh?"

"You took my apples. And I would give you and Eun Jung my apples a hundred times over. Only right now, I have no apples left to give and I am not sure who I am without them. And they'll grow back because I still have a trunk and branches. They'll grow back. But only they do, I feel like I could be an orange tree for all I know."

"This metaphor is very... existential," Se Ri replied, shaking her head.

"I've been putting off looking for an apartment."

"You've got time, Jeong Hyeok." She assured him.

He shook his head. "I need a place of my own. A life of my own. I need to give my apples a chance to grow back."

Se Ri sniffled back sobs. "You can have my apples," she pleaded. "And my branches. You can have my trunk. I don't care. I want you to have them."

"I know." he took another step forward and folded her into his arms. "And that's a problem because for so long you'd barely let me gather your leaves and play king of the forest." He smirked playfully into her hair and Se Ri laughed through her tears.

"I actually rather enjoyed when you played king of the forest."

"I do look quite regal in a crown of your leaves," he joked back, tilting his head down to press his lips to her forehead.