The sky was engulfed by a whirlpool of dark clouds.
I sat beneath that black sky in an empty clearing, steeped in silence.
Everything around me was drowned in a strange kind of stillness.
But today, in that tranquil space, it wasn't just me and the trees—
someone else was there too.
Some trees were covered in red blossoms, while some plants were adorned with white flowers,
around which tiny rustlings had begun to stir.
Hidden among the leaves of one such white-flowered plant,
I sat curled up, hugging my knees to my chest.
My heartbeat was running slightly faster than usual.
The heaviness in my head had lessened a bit,
but…
a strange fatigue still sat inside me—settled like a block of unmelted ice.
But,
a strange weariness still sat inside me,
frozen like a slab of unmelted ice.
Lost in that thought,
when I shifted my gaze in another direction,
I saw—just a few steps away from me,
apart from the trees and plants,
a boy was sitting with his slender back leaned against a solitary tree.
His eyes were cast downward toward the ground,
and from the expression on his face,
it seemed as though he was submerged in a deep ocean of thought.
I had been so shaken by the events that had occurred just moments ago,
that even the storm of grief raging within me had paused.
That strange fatigue still clung to me,
but my mind had slowly begun to pull itself
out of the depths of that haunting stillness and weary silence.
A faint spark began to burn inside me—
its flames laced with fear and anger.
I wanted that boy to leave.
Not because I felt ashamed in front of him,
or that because I feared him.
But after what I had just witnessed,
someone who is a normal person wouldn't want to appear
before someone who seemed so abnormal.
There was only one fear circling inside me—
what if he saw me here,
misunderstood something,
and tried to push me off the cliff—
Just the thought of it
made my hands turn clammy.
I couldn't let myself die at the hands
of some thug-like stranger.
I started thinking...
But then,
from the same depths inside me,
a voice began to rise—
echoing in my mind:
"Would it even matter to anyone...
if I really did fall from that cliff?"
would it even make anyone hurt if these eyes covered with eyelids make them closed for always ?
As soon as I thought that a faint smile appeared on my lips — a smile that held an unsaid sorrow.
I pressed that unsaid pain between my thin lips and looked toward the boy again.
Looking at him, all I wanted was for him to leave from there as soon as possible.
But perhaps just a few steps away from me, beneath that empty tree, the man sitting there had something entirely different going on in his mind.
He was still sitting there.
He had stretched out his long legs and rested his head against the tree.
His eyes were no longer looking at the ground; they had shifted elsewhere.
The expression on his face had changed too.
Now there was a faint smile on his face, and his gaze was fixed on his hand.
He was slowly unwrapping the bandage from his hand.
Watching this, I felt like maybe fights were a regular part of his daily life.
I shifted my gaze to his hands, peering through the gaps of leaves fluttering my eyelids.
His fingers were long and slender.
The green veins on his hands were clearly visible, as if someone had carefully etched them in green.
His hands were marked with green veins, clearly visible as though someone had carefully traced them with green paint.
His hands were long and large.
The color of his hands was also pale, which made the green veins stand out even more.
Hidden among the green leaves of a plant adorned with white flowers, I had concealed myself.
There were some bushes around, which were making me disappear within themselves.
From the empty spaces between the thin curtains of the green leaves of the plant, I fixed my gaze on him.
I began to observe him carefully, trying to find out whether he was about to leave or not.
I felt that behind the smile on his lips, he was hiding a burden in his heart.
He was trying to suppress that burden with all his strength.
But perhaps his heart was so restless that it didn't even realize the weight of this burden.
I was trying to read the suppressed emotions behind the smile on his lips very carefully.
But then —
I saw his gaze pause on me.
My heart quietly thudded in my chest.
I quickly turned my head away from him and sat down silently, without a sound.
My heart was still beating a little faster than usual.
The sky had turned completely black.
It was the rainy season — at any moment, the drops could soak me in their cold water.
I looked at him again and found that he was still staring in my direction.
It began to feel like my disappearance was now inevitable.
I started searching for ways to avoid being missing report of tomorrow headline from that hill —
but just then, he turned his gaze away from me,
and I let out a breath of relief — one I hadn't even realized I'd been holding.
As I breathed again, something must've entered my nose,
because in the very next moment, I felt a tickle in my nostrils — and then...
"Achoo!"
The moment I screamed, I went numb.
I couldn't comprehend what had just happened.
I had dug my own grave.
I began mentally cursing myself for letting out that scream.
I couldn't muster the courage to look towards him.
My heartbeat had accelerated, akin to a rocket's speed.
In my mind, only one thought echoed: "Please, God, let him not have heard me."
I covered my eyes with my lashes and muttered to myself, silently praying that my wish be granted.
For a brief moment, I felt nothing — no one approaching, no movement around me, no voice. I began to breathe a sigh of relief.
Because I hadn't sensed any movement, I started to believe that perhaps my prayer had been answered, and a small spark of relief began to kindle within me .
I slowly began to open my eyes,
but perhaps I had let out a sigh of relief a little too early.
The moment I opened them, I felt a movement — very close to me.
I instantly turned my head in the direction of the stir.
As my lashes lifted... his face was right in front of me.
My gaze collided with his —
a collision of our eyes that probably shouldn't have happened.
Those eyes — deep enough to drown in — may have already been watching mine.
And now, they were gazing directly into the depths of mine.
His large, haunting mysterious eyes —
the kind you could lose yourself in,
were now fixed on me.
They were just a few inches away from mine.
I could feel his softly flowing breath on my lips.
He was still there — and those same long, slender fingers,
pale and delicate,
were slowly pushing aside the thin green curtain of leaves between us...
bringing our eyes face to face.
His lips seemed like they wanted to say something,
but perhaps he had deliberately kept them shut.
Between us was just one single plant.
His messy black hair fluttered slightly
in the cool breeze that flowed around us.
His gaze stayed locked on me —
studying me with a strange kind of light and bewilderment.
And my eyes — they were locked in his.
But my mind... my mind was somewhere far from there.
His face wore an expression of surprise,
but in those eyes,
there were other emotions —
ones I could glimpse for only a few seconds,
but couldn't understand what they truly meant.
All I wanted now… was to leave.
And before that —
to punch this guy,
for disturbing my peace… and the peace of my trees.
But I was scared too — what if this thug tried to do something to me? That's why I stayed silent.
I felt the touch of a cool breeze on my skin. A soft, steady wind had begun to blow. The sky had become even more engulfed by dark clouds — completely black now. In that drifting wind, a red flower came floating and softly landed on my shoulder.
The moment I felt the flower, I instantly snapped out of the depth of those eyes. I quickly shoved the boy's hand off the plant and moved a little away from him.
Still seated, I shuffled a little farther back — and without thinking, in a slight panic, I looked at him and asked in a sharp voice,
"You... who are you?"
Right now, all I wanted was to run away from there — but I couldn't.
In my mind, I am saying ,
Why this type of weird things have to be happen with me?
Maybe my strange behavior startled him even more.
Still wearing that same smile on his face, he looked at me with a expression I could not understand said,
"Shouldn't I be the one asking you who you are?"
I didn't say anything to that. And just as I was about to respond,
I heard that same smile-filled voice filled with a superficial carelessness again —
"And…"
"I had been feeling for a long time that someone was staring at me with their eyes. So , it was you . Hnn?
Upon hearing his disgusting words, I froze.
I AM STARING AT HIM?
Hmph, absolutely not.
I didn't like the sudden and false accusation being thrown at me. I decided to defend myself.
Fear? Forget it.
In a harsh tone, one that I rarely use with anyone, I said, '
Me?
looking at you?'
I pointed to myself, then to him.
'Tell me,
what made you think I've been here, watching you?'
Hearing my words, he must have been shocked. He chuckled again, but this time with a different tone, perhaps thinking to himself, There's always a smile on his lips.
'I'm not accusing you,'
he said in his usual soft voice, adding with a hint of style,"
"Alright, I admitted it , that you weren't looking at me, but—
Can I ask why you're sitting here, hidden among these plants and bushes?
As soon as I heard his question, something clicked in my mind, and it felt like a clock was ticking.
And I began to understand the situation I was in.
But I had to dismiss that false accusation.
I said,
"Well, I... I... I have a deep connection with plants and trees."
My grandmother and I come here every day to pick mangoes.
Saying those words, I stopped abruptly, realizing I had said something wrong.
There aren't any mangoes trees here, I thought to myself.
I glanced at him.
His eyes sparkled with laughter, and he was trying hard not to burst into laughter.
I quickly lowered my gaze and said again,
uh, "We don't come here to pick mangoes, we… we come here to pluck flowers."
Everyone says I'm a little forgetful, I added with a fake smile for a second.
I again started talking with awkwardnesses,
"So, I sit among those plants, feeling their presence from closely, so that I can truly feel them in myself."
"But you must have thought something else. This isn't my fault."
I looked at him once more and said,
( WHAT EVEN AM I TALKING )
After hearing my strange words, the laughter that he had been holding back burst out.
Seeing him laugh for no reason made me feel like slapping him.
Suddenly, he started walking toward me.
I felt like I had said something wrong.
Now he's going to push me from that hill , I cried inside ."
And I had begun cursing myself silently…
Planning how I could run away.
But before I could do anything,
He was standing right in front of me.
I was sitting, and he was standing.
He looked at me with lowered eyes—
I mean, I was sitting below, so he had to look down.
He looked at me with such lowered eyes.
Then, slowly, he began to sit down.
Seeing such behavior, I was just about to slap him—
When he reached out his hand toward me and said,
"What's your name?"
I was taken aback by his strange behavior.
And the hand that was about to leave his cheek swollen—
I quickly turned it away in embarrassment
And pretended to brush something off my shoulder.
"Why does he want to know my name?" I began to wonder.
In the same dry voice, I said to him,
"Why should I tell you my name? Who are you to me?
I don't tell strangers my name."
He kept looking at me.
Then, with that same smiling face and that same stylized tone, he said—
"I think we have names so that strangers can get to know us."
And I was left speechless at his reply.
"A name is shared when you want to know someone.
When you feel a desire to recognize them,
when there's interest from your side —
And here, neither do I see that in you,
nor do you in me."
I looked at him in a way that said,
"I'm right… aren't I?"
But he gently plucked a white flower from beside me and softly said —
"But to me… "I think I have in you ".
Hearing that, I blurted out without thinking,
"What?"
He burst into laughter and said,
"I meant… I just want to know
who this girl is —
the one who sits among trees
just to feel them and pluck mangoes in a place park full of flowers ".
By now, my patience had snapped.
I slowly stood up, preparing to walk past him.
"From his body language, it didn't seem like he was going to get violent with me.
As I turned to leave, I said,
"If you're that desperate to know my name, figure it out yourself — I honestly don't care."
Without waiting to hear whatever he had to say, I began to walk away —
but suddenly, I felt thick, cold raindrops on my skin.
I noticed the dark clouds, which had been hovering for a while,
had finally decided to do their job.
I was just wondering whether to leave or stay
when I heard a voice behind me:
"It's raining — you should go stand under that roof. I'm going anyway."
I didn't respond.
Then he said again,
"You'll get drenched..."
Still ignoring him, I heard him say softly,
"Well… the shelter is open for you.
Come if you feel like it…
Or just stay here, up to you."
I thought to myself,
"He's talking as if that shelter and the whole place belong to him!"
The rain was getting heavier,
the drops colder,
and the wind stronger across the sky.
I catch a cold easily.
I couldn't really stay here,
and going far wasn't an option either.
Reluctantly, I had to head toward that same shelter —
It was open on all four sides, held up by four red-painted pillars,
with a triangular roof above.
The rain had intensified by now.
I clutched my bag tightly,
walking briskly — or maybe half-running —
to get under that roof.
My hair was already a little wet.
My uniform had gotten a little wet too.
The cold wind was sharp, the sky completely dark,
and the place was surrounded by trees.
Red and white flowers danced and collided with each other in the air,
the trees and plants swayed,
and between them, cold white raindrops were falling fast —
their sound echoed all around.
When I looked carefully, I saw there was only one bench — made of wood, a bit old,
but the wood looked strong.
As I glanced toward it, I saw him sitting there.
What surprised me was that he had rested his head
against the edge of the wooden bench — and his eyes were closed.
His face was completely calm —
not an expression of joy, nor pain, nor fear,
no anger, no shame — just… calm.
And what surprised me even more —
he was sitting right at the edge,
almost as if he had left space for me.
Why did he think I would come?
I absolutely didn't want to sit there.
But it didn't look like the rain was stopping anytime soon.
So after walking around aimlessly for a bit,
I finally gave up on my stubbornness.
With slow, quiet steps, I walked toward the wooden bench,
trying not to wake him.
Gently, I sat down on the other end,
placing my bag in the space between us.
I looked at the boy —
he seemed to be sleeping.
I began waiting for the rain to stop.
I leaned my head against the other side of the bench and closed my eyes for a moment.
My eyes were closed, yes —
but sleep was nowhere near.
I can only fall asleep when I lie down…
And look at him, sleeping anywhere he pleases.
I scoffed.
I glanced at him again —
his eyes were still closed.
Then suddenly…
His eyes opened —
and they were looking right at me.
I quickly turned my gaze away,
and silently fixed my eyes on the corner of the shelter.
By God's grace, he didn't say anything.
And neither did I.
Eventually, the rain began to slow down.
"So you go to the same school as I do," a voice reached my ears.
"I study there too — but I've never seen you before."
I looked at the boy.
He was saying something to me.
"Well… my name is Sean. Sean Wood."
( I thought to myself , I know your name already )
I looked at him without saying a word,
then lowered my gaze.
A moment later, I heard him muttering to himself,
something like,
"I have to go… How can I be late?"
Without another word to me,
he hurried off in a rush, walking quickly and disappearing from sight.
The rain had completely stopped now.
I silently thanked the universe —
I had just narrowly escaped getting completely missing .
He had finally left.
But he had ruined my peace… and my time.
Still, something clicked in my mind —
and I suddenly realized why that name had sounded so familiar.
He's the same guy my friend is obsessed with.
The same guy who beat Adri in music.
The same guy who ranks just ten spots above me.
That's Sean Wood.