Before Kun would leave for work, I'd always hug him. I liked the smell of the pine that steeped his red flannel. I loved looking at the small pieces of wood that clung onto the fabric, fanning out in different designs every time he swung his arms like a kaleidoscope. Of course I'd feel bad after he'd take off his overwear and prick his finger on a wooden flake, giving him a splinter. We'd spend what seems like hours in the bathroom, with me focusing on the target area with tweezers, trying to pull the chip out from under his skin. Kun's fluctuating pain tolerance-- making him sob and get snotty nosed whenever he'd see the blood after a successful operation. Of course I'd do my best to clean and disinfect the small wound, just for the sake of being sanitary and safe.
The night prior before he'd left to work we'd argued. Nothing serious, just a silly argument. But he must've interpreted it wrong, considering he didn't give me a kiss before we went to bed, nor did he hold me like he usually would. The morning after he didn't hug me before he'd gone to work. I missed him so much, the guilt ate me up inside. I wasn't even entirely sure of what I did wrong, but I'd do anything to see him smile at me and have his arms wrap around me again. I grabbed my keys from off the trinket tray near the front door and locked up the house. I scurried into my tiny car and started it, trying to remember the route to where he worked.
He'd taken me on a date there once, he knows how much I love the scent of pine. I watched his long green arm veins pop out everytime he'd swung his axe. After finally leveling down a tree he'd rush over, all sweaty, just to kiss me.
Putting the car in drive, I zipped to his location within a ten minute span. Hastily, I parked next to his vehicle, a little bigger than mine and marched onto the site. Kun was grunting loudly, swinging with his whole body into the tree. Right before putting in his final strike he'd noticed me standing there for him patiently. He'd taken a couple steps toward me, sweaty, nats swarming all around him, possibly nibbling on the fabric of his red flannel. "Kun-- listen I'm so, so sorry," I started. He'd stopped stepping once he'd gotten close enough to hear me.
"I just wanted to let you know that I'm so sorry for hurting your feelings during our argument the other night, and it's eating me up, it's been less than twenty-four hours and I feel so guilty! I just wanted to let you know that I'm so sorry and I take full responsibility for it."
Kun shook his head. "No, listen, it's alright really. I just needed some time to think it over, I guess. But seriously, I'm not upset anymore. I feel bad for leaving suddenly today, and troubling you for coming all the way out here now. I--" I stood on my toes to press a kiss against his cheek. To this I could feel his skin heat up on my lips. I dropped back flat on my feet and strode near the tree he was chopping on moments prior. He'd followed, axe in his hand. He lifted it up to swing giving his all into leveling out this trunk. Little did I know, I stood on the side the tree falls. Twenty-thousand pounds worth of a pine tree immediately crushing every bone and organ in my body. Maybe if I had paid attention in my physics class I would still be there to suck in Kun's sweat and pine musk. However, he paid no mind to my crumpled corpse. He just shrugged it off and continued to level down trees for the rest of the day.
