Their Golden Heart

3 - Han Jisung

My back is leaning against the willow tree, my knees raised close to my chest, both of my arms wrapped around them. My head is leaning back allowing me to look up, admiring the stars that shine through the leaves of the tree. The only sounds I hear are the rustling of the leaves, flowers and grass around me, caused by the soft breeze of the wind. I can feel my hair move in the wind and can't help but enjoy this moment of piece. This is exactly what I needed today. I feel like I could go against the whole world right now, well maybe not literally, but everything I feared today seems so small right now.

A soft smile plays on my lips while I think about how my mind can make small things so big. Taking a step back to see the reality again is often all I need, yet in that moment I only seem to be able to move closer, making it seem even bigger than it already was.

Some noise from my right pulls my attention away from the beautiful sky and causes my head to turn. All I see is the dark treeline and the sky filled with stars above it. I'm about to turn back when I see a dark shadow moving. Squinting my eyes to figure out what it is I realise it's a person. Someone is walking down the same path I came from.

What are they doing here? Did they follow me? I can't help but feel uncomfortable not knowing who it is. It could be a member who followed me, right? But they don't seem like any of them. What if it's a reporter? Or worse...

I quickly stand up, hiding behind the tree while keeping my eyes locked on the person. Maybe they haven't seen me yet? But if they haven't seen me then they're not here for me right? So then I look like a weirdo hiding behind a tree.

Focusing on the person once more I realise something is flowing in the wind behind them. Hair. Mid length hair. It must be a girl then. Wait, a girl? What is a girl doing out here so late at night? It's not particularly safe at night, especially for a girl.

I quickly look away from the girl, now fully hiding behind the tree. What if she feels unsafe because of me being here? What if she saw me? I was acting like a creep, staring at her while hiding behind a tree. I want to smack myself on my head for my weird behaviour. I should've just stayed sitting down, below the tree.

Get yourself together. It's dark, she probably never even saw you.

I calmly step around the tree, back to the place I was sitting before. My eyes scan the empty field in front of me, but the girl is gone. Confused I whip my head from left to right, but she seems to have vanished into thin air.

"Uhm... Hello?!" The words leave my mouth before I can stop them, my hand quickly slamming over my mouth while my eyes rapidly move across the field to see if anyone heard. A body suddenly jumps up from the grass, causing me to scream while stumbling back, tripping over one of the many roots of the tree. I fall backwards, my head hitting the side of the tree causes me to groan. My hand instinctively finds its way to the sore spot on the back of my head.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" The girl says running towards me only to stop a few feet away from me. She looks at me with caution, holding her hands in front of her as a layer of protection.

Wait, what if she recognises me? I quickly turn my head away from her. It's dark, she might not have seen my face good enough. I push myself up, stumbling a bit when my head protests against the sudden move.

"I'm so sorry, I never meant to scare you." The girls says, talking slower this time. She scratches the back of her neck, clearly embarrassed about what happened. "I didn't really expect anyone to be here."

Neither did I, I think while stepping back still looking at the ground. I should really get out of here, she clearly hasn't recognised me yet and I should keep it that way.

I'm about to turn around when she says: "Is your head okay? It looked like you hit it quite hard." Worry is clear in her voice and it almost makes me feel bad for walking away so suddenly.

"It's fine, I should really go." With those words I quickly turn around, which was the worst move I could've made. The sudden turn causes my head to spin, forcing me to lean against the tree for stability.

"Are you sure you're okay?" The girl says, her voice laced with even more worry now. She must have picked up on the hints of me wanting to walk away from her since she doesn't try to get any closer. "Maybe you should sit down for a bit?"

Knowing that I won't make it even halfway across the grass-fields without collapsing from my head spinning, I give up on that thought and slowly sit down, still holding one hand on the sore spot on my head. The girl just stands there looking at me, clearly wanting to help but not knowing what to do.

"Do you want me to leave? Should I call someone for you?" She asks me while looking at her feet. I follow her stare downwards and realise that she can't seem to stand still. Shuffling from one foot onto the other.

Hearing the worry in her voice as well as seeing how uncomfortable she is right now, makes me feel bad. I might have given her the wrong impression by trying to leave so fast and it has made things quite awkward. "No, you can stay," I quickly say. "and no need to call anyone."

The girl gives me a small nod and keeps standing in the same place. I notice how she is playing with her hands, clearly not knowing what to do next. Not that I can blame her.

"Uhm... I'm sorry about earlier." I start, not quite knowing where I'm going with this, but I feel like this weird tension is at least somewhat my fault. "I don't really know why I reacted that way." Well I do, but I'm not planning on telling her that I'm a kpop idol, since she doesn't seem to know that already. "I was just startled, I guess."

"I'm sorry too. I never meant to make you uncomfortable, I was just worried since you hit that tree quite hard." She says, finally lifting her head for our eyes to meet.

The sound of the rustling of the leaves is once more the only sound to be heard. Not knowing what to say anymore I move my eyes away from her and to my own feet. I softly tap the sore spot on my head, causing me to wince.

The girl suddenly moves closer as if on instinct only to stop herself before coming too close, probably realising that I tried to walk away from her earlier. "Could I... Could I maybe take a look?" She says softly. "To make sure it's not bleeding?"

I pull my hand away from my head and look at my fingertips, no blood is visible, yet I still allow her to take a closer look, glad that she could think of something to say. She moves towards me slowly, sinking to her knees next to me, making sure to leave enough space between us.

"Could you-" She starts but stops herself and her hand goes to my cheek, pressing is softly to make me turn my head.

The silence is deafening and I feel like I should say something, but my mind is unable to form words. I feel her fingers softly moving my hair away to see my scalp. She moves her fingers with a lot of care, clearly not wanting to hurt me. Suddenly her fingers touch my skin, right at the sore spot. I wince, jerking my head away from her touch.

She quickly backs up, holding her hands up in shock. "Shit, I'm so sorry." She is now sitting beside me, her front towards my side with about three feet of empty space between us. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

"It wouldn't be nice if you did that on purpose, no." I say, only realising that I talked to her the way I'd talk to my members after the words left my mouth. Thankfully my moment of embarrassment is cut short by her soft snickering. I move towards her to see her trying to hide her smile, but her amusement is clearly visible in her eyes. I smile at her softly and she returns mine with a big one of herself, the weird tension that was between us finally disappearing into thin air.