Somewhere behind the chestnut trees
Title: Somewhere behind the chestnut trees
Author: Maxime (maxime260)
Pairing: none
Characters: Eunhyuk, OC
Genre: Slice of life
Rating: G
Summary: Eunhyuk discovers a wonderful park, somebody discovers him.
Somewhere behind the chestnut trees
When he entered it for the first time, he started to wonder why he had never noticed this beautiful place before.
He held his breath back, as if being scared to disturb the peace that was filling every little corner and nook of it. Quietly and cautiosly, he took slow steps on the path, turning his head around every single second to admire the surroudings.
There were enormous chestnut trees welcoming him behind the etrance, swaying their crowns in the rythm of the wind. Their massive stems let out twisted roots into the ground, looking like millions of tentacles grabbing deep for their victims. At the tips of the countless branches, hidden somewhere in between the shining light brown leaves, the little young chestnuts showed up from time to time, sometimes even falling down on the ground with a light cracking sound. A nimble, tiny squirrel hopped suddenly out of one of the trees, disappearing in the bushes next to the happy crowd of children collecting the fallen chestnuts, making the young man step away in surprise.
After letting out a deep sigh of satisfaction, he continued walking along the path and noticed so many other wonders of nature gathered at this one simple place. So many different kinds of trees appeared a little further - oak, linden, maple and some that he couldn't even name. Each of the trees was presenting its own charm, such as multi-coloured leaves being in the climax of the autumn season. When he took a peek inside the little forest of trees, he saw some water shimmering in the sunlight - there was a still and shiny pond in between the flora. A child was standing nearby, holding its mother by the hand and pointing at something in the middle of the pond.
The park was simply stunning.
Lee Hyukjae, better known as Eunhyuk, spotted an empty bench not far away from the pond and decided to take a seat. He stayed there, observing what was happening in the area of the water. A group of ducks swung lazily on the surface, passing some water lilies; at the edge a little girl tried to catch a frog, squealing loudly.
For the Korean well-known superstar this place was more than magical. He was used to be surrounded by tumult and noise all over the day, with those busy schedules of his and the never-ending crowds of reporters and fans. There was rarely an opportunity to get some rest and even if it happened, he still had to relax in uncomfortable conditions.
But he had finally found it. The little spot on Earth where he could enjoy silence, pure and wild nature and a bit of loneliness. And he had never expected it to be so breathtaking...
The young man just stared ahead, admiring every tiny piece of where he was at that moment, thinking deeply about his daily troubles. It was hard to tell his mind to get some rest and just enjoy the special moment; he was too sucked into his routine life. His body got into a peaceful state but his brain simply couldn't - he got lost somewhere in between worrying about the misunderstandings he had recently gone through with his bandmates and wondering what would happen the next day.
Eunhyuk got so drawn into his own thoughts that he didn't even realize how a small being suddenly popped out in front of him and pulled him on the sleeve.
"Help! It's dying! Come quickly!"
He barely heard the squeaky voice that spoke to him and came back to reality surprised. After moving his head, he glanced at the one who was disturbing his peace now. It was a young Korean boy, in a red t-shirt and brown shorts - with his eyes fixed on Eunhyuk's face with a desperate expression on his own. He didn't stop pulling the elder's sleeve with this small cute hand of his.
"Eh?!" the idol exclaimed shocked and raised his eyebrows. He tried to move his arm but the child still didn't let go.
"It's dying! You have to help me!"
Eunhyuk's first, disappointing, thought was: It's a fan. But he quickly shook it out of his mind, wondering if such a young kid even knew who Super Junior was. What else could a child like this want from a superstar in this quiet and calm place?
He quickly analized the latter's words and pouted in an even bigger surprise. Dying?
"Calm down, boy. Who is dying?! What's going on?"
"No time to talk! COME! I don't want it to die!" the kid almost cried.
Being dragged on his feet by the unexpected stranger, Eunhyuk obediently followed him, not asking for any further things since the boy didn't answer him properly. He got led to a spot not far away from a big arbor which stood in the exact centre of the park. When the young person dragged him somewhere into the bushes, he stopped for a while and looked at him suspiciously.
"No, kid, people will take me for a-" but he cut off in mid-sentence because what should he actually tell the boy? That people would think he was some kind of pervert? No. He couldn't. So before he could even think of what to say, he got interrupted by the high-pitched voice:
"HEY! You have to help me! It's important!" And staring at the boy's pout he sighed loudly and continued following his steps.
After a few more seconds of passing through some lush bushes they got to a spot where even a single blade of grass didn't grow. Only a bare patch of earth could be seen, giving this place an almost deadly aura. It was incredible to find such a place in the middle of the ever-floral park.
The boy finally let Eunhyuk go and crouched in front of a lonely piece of wood that was lying at the edge of the bare spot. He bent down to the ground and seemed to pay his attention to a thing that apparently had to be there.
"Ah... It looks so bad... Hyung, look. Will it die?"
Eunhyuk stepped closer to the boy and peeped over his shoulder, looking down to the ground.
The object of the boy's worries and attention was a tiny duckling, lying helplessly on the ground and gaping at the two intruders, not being able to even move a bit. It didn't seem to be hurt, there were no signs of external wounds but something was definitely wrong with it. It just lay there innocently and poorly, without any strength. The idol sighed seeing this, it was kind of heartbreaking. Such a cute little creature, suffering like this by uknown reasons... That was somehow so not fair.
"You can't die..." the kid whispered to the duckling with a sad face. Eunhyuk crouched next to them and embraced his own legs in melancholy.
"It won't. Everything will be fine." he mumbled but of course he knew his words weren't true. The poor animal definitely looked like being at the end of its life. But the man wanted to calm down the child and maybe even himself, hoping that maybe his words could somehow become true and rescue the duckling.
"Are you sure, hyung?" the boy asked hopefully and took a glance at his companion.
"Mhm. Yeah." Eunhyuk lied, not wanting to make the latter even more sad. His words apparently had a great effect on the child because it stood up and started to jump around hapilly. Ugh... Giving him false hope like this... I'm a terrible adult, the man thought and frowned. But it was too late, he couldn't take back what he had said.
"What's your name?" he asked then and the boy stopped bouncing to take a breath and answer.
"Lee Chin Ho. What's wrong with the duck? Why is it hurt?"
"I have no idea." Hyukjae told truthfully. "It's at a weird place, so far away from the water, maybe it got neglected by its parents? But I don't know why it's dying now..."
"So it really is dying?"
"Damn." The man bit his tounge, seeing that he had once again made a mistake. But the boy seemed to be more clever than he looked like because he had apparently predicted this.
"You said it would be fine. But I knew that hyung was lying. Lying is bad."
Eunhyuk couldn't help but laugh.
"I know. Therefore I'm a bad person, I guess. I'm sorry."
"But maybe there is a way to help the duck? Isn't there?"
"There might be..." the idol shrugged and started to indeed think about how they could possibly save the animal. He had no ideas though, he was no vet after all so nothing really came to his mind. How could he help, not knowing what was wrong? He didn't want to touch the duckling anyway; it could have been suffering because of bird flu or something like this.
"To be honest" Eunhyuk said after a while and straightened up. "I think there isn't."
"Oh" the little boy summed up silently and stared at the victim without saying any further things.
The Super Junior member wanted to end at this point, say goodbye to his fellow and walk away but something in his heart told him to stay a bit longer. He sat down onto the ground and joined the kid in glancing at the animal. He also observed Chin Ho from time to time, spotting a lot of sadness and pain in his dark eyes. The child was breathing with its lips slightly open, showing a little gap between its teeth. This fact made Eunhyuk smile and he started to remember his own childhood, how his teeth also had fallen out and how he also had been able to worry only about such simple things in life.
Sometimees he wished to see the world with the eyes of a child again. How much easier everything had been back then... Being an adult was quite exhaustive at some moments. A child doesn't have to grieve about serious problems, its world is so much brighter.
And somehow Eunhyuk felt this way now. Not thinking about what would await him in a few hours but only focusing on the bitter but also, in some way, beautiful death of a randomly met tiny duckling.
Suddenly, an earsplitting squeak could be heard, sounding in Eunhyuk's ears like an incredible cry of despair. This was so sad and thrilling, he even felt that his eyes got a bit watery... being a sensitive person, he couldn't hold back his emotions at a touching moment like that. The ducklet made a sudden move and then froze in one position. It let no single sound out of itself anymore. Everything seemed to be even more silent and serious now. Eunhyuk finally understood why this spot had seemed so lifeless to him before.
"Is it... dead?" the little boy asked carefully and the young man nodded slowly.
"I think so..."
Awkward silence filled that place and both did nothing but still stare at the animal - well, at the dead body. It lasted that way until Eunhyuk decided to comfort his companion a bit.
"But you know. It's nothing bad, the duck is in a deep sleep now." he said after turning his head towards Chin Ho. The latter pouted in surprise.
"Sleep?"
"Yeah. In a long sleep, full of wonderful dreams... Nobody will ever hurt it again and it will be forever happy now, much happier than lying here in pain. It's actually a good thing it passed away so fast." Eunhyuk's voice was calm and dreamy while he was explaining his theory. The kid eyed him startled and with admiration.
"Wow! That's cool. So I want to die now, too."
"WHAT?! No, no, don't say so, you still have a beautiful life to live." the idol laughed and patted the boy gently on the head. The childish way of Chin Ho's thinking was amusing and heartwarming.
"We have to make a funeral" the kid announced and clapped its hands - but suddenly a female voice resounded somewhere close to them:
"Chin Ho! Where are you?! I told you not go away! Chin Ho!"
"Ahh... It's umma" the boy mumbled a bit disappointed and looked around, trying to find the woman. When he succeeded in doing so, he waved his hand in her direction and made her rush to their place in the blink of an eye.
It was a middle-aged lady, dressed elegantly. It looked quite funny how she walked through the bushes in an apparently quite expensive evening dress. When she noticed Eunhyuk, she widened her eyes in great shock, pulling her child quickly into her arms.
"You shouldn't talk to strangers!" she scolded the boy but he broke away from her grip and looked up at her with shimmering eyes.
"But hyung is really nice! He tried to help me rescue the little duck!" he told her and turned towards Eunhyuk with a big grin all over his face.
"Is that so?" the woman mumbled a bit calmer and also stared at the man for longer now. Hyukjae wanted to bow his head and introduce himself politely but the lady suddenly asked:
"You're Eunhyuk, right?"
She was smiling now.
"Yes, I am. Sorry to have troubled your son." The idol bowed nevertheless and looked at the mother from a distance.
"No, no. It's ok. You aren't a creepy old pervert after all... But I think I will completely forgive you if you give me an autograph for my daughter."
Eunhyuk laughed and with a "sure" he signed a piece of paper that the lady was holding towards him now.
That was the moment that he felt like his true self again, being still the well-known Lee Hyukjae aka Eunhyuk from the Korean successfull boyband Super Junior.
After he did his duty, the woman thanked gratefully and took her son's hand.
"Well, wish you a nice evening! We'll leave now."
"NO! Umma, what about the funeral?!" the boy exclaimed finally, after such a long time of being silent. He stared at her with disbelief and stubborness. It definitely didn't look like he wanted to leave.
"Chin Ho" Eunhyuk decided to help the mother out and crouched in front of the kid. "I will take care of it. You can go with your umma now. Be a good kid, ok?"
The boy looked for a few more seconds like he still wanted to protest but he finally gave in, trusting his 'hyung', and nodded. After a quick farewell the two walked away at last, the boy waving at Eunhyuk to the very end. When they were out of sight, the man was finally left there alone, all by himself.
And suddenly, he felt incredibly lonely.
He picked up some leaves from the grass a bit further away from the place and carefully, trying not to touch the animal, he put them onto the dead body. Then, he found some wooden sticks and stones and also placed them over and next to the ducklet, creating a rather 'stylish' little grave.
Eunhyuk left the park about half an hour later. While walking out of it and seeing the noisy and crowded streets again, he started to miss his magical hideout already.
But that's how nature works. Some things come, some things go. Just like the little duckling, he thought, joined the crowd of people and came back to his everyday life again. The only tangible thing that could remind him about the 'other world' now was a single chestnut, hidden deep in his pocket, that he had picked up off the ground before, right before stepping out of the park.
Author: Maxime (maxime260)
Pairing: none
Characters: Eunhyuk, OC
Genre: Slice of life
Rating: G
Summary: Eunhyuk discovers a wonderful park, somebody discovers him.
Somewhere behind the chestnut trees
When he entered it for the first time, he started to wonder why he had never noticed this beautiful place before.
He held his breath back, as if being scared to disturb the peace that was filling every little corner and nook of it. Quietly and cautiosly, he took slow steps on the path, turning his head around every single second to admire the surroudings.
There were enormous chestnut trees welcoming him behind the etrance, swaying their crowns in the rythm of the wind. Their massive stems let out twisted roots into the ground, looking like millions of tentacles grabbing deep for their victims. At the tips of the countless branches, hidden somewhere in between the shining light brown leaves, the little young chestnuts showed up from time to time, sometimes even falling down on the ground with a light cracking sound. A nimble, tiny squirrel hopped suddenly out of one of the trees, disappearing in the bushes next to the happy crowd of children collecting the fallen chestnuts, making the young man step away in surprise.
After letting out a deep sigh of satisfaction, he continued walking along the path and noticed so many other wonders of nature gathered at this one simple place. So many different kinds of trees appeared a little further - oak, linden, maple and some that he couldn't even name. Each of the trees was presenting its own charm, such as multi-coloured leaves being in the climax of the autumn season. When he took a peek inside the little forest of trees, he saw some water shimmering in the sunlight - there was a still and shiny pond in between the flora. A child was standing nearby, holding its mother by the hand and pointing at something in the middle of the pond.
The park was simply stunning.
Lee Hyukjae, better known as Eunhyuk, spotted an empty bench not far away from the pond and decided to take a seat. He stayed there, observing what was happening in the area of the water. A group of ducks swung lazily on the surface, passing some water lilies; at the edge a little girl tried to catch a frog, squealing loudly.
For the Korean well-known superstar this place was more than magical. He was used to be surrounded by tumult and noise all over the day, with those busy schedules of his and the never-ending crowds of reporters and fans. There was rarely an opportunity to get some rest and even if it happened, he still had to relax in uncomfortable conditions.
But he had finally found it. The little spot on Earth where he could enjoy silence, pure and wild nature and a bit of loneliness. And he had never expected it to be so breathtaking...
The young man just stared ahead, admiring every tiny piece of where he was at that moment, thinking deeply about his daily troubles. It was hard to tell his mind to get some rest and just enjoy the special moment; he was too sucked into his routine life. His body got into a peaceful state but his brain simply couldn't - he got lost somewhere in between worrying about the misunderstandings he had recently gone through with his bandmates and wondering what would happen the next day.
Eunhyuk got so drawn into his own thoughts that he didn't even realize how a small being suddenly popped out in front of him and pulled him on the sleeve.
"Help! It's dying! Come quickly!"
He barely heard the squeaky voice that spoke to him and came back to reality surprised. After moving his head, he glanced at the one who was disturbing his peace now. It was a young Korean boy, in a red t-shirt and brown shorts - with his eyes fixed on Eunhyuk's face with a desperate expression on his own. He didn't stop pulling the elder's sleeve with this small cute hand of his.
"Eh?!" the idol exclaimed shocked and raised his eyebrows. He tried to move his arm but the child still didn't let go.
"It's dying! You have to help me!"
Eunhyuk's first, disappointing, thought was: It's a fan. But he quickly shook it out of his mind, wondering if such a young kid even knew who Super Junior was. What else could a child like this want from a superstar in this quiet and calm place?
He quickly analized the latter's words and pouted in an even bigger surprise. Dying?
"Calm down, boy. Who is dying?! What's going on?"
"No time to talk! COME! I don't want it to die!" the kid almost cried.
Being dragged on his feet by the unexpected stranger, Eunhyuk obediently followed him, not asking for any further things since the boy didn't answer him properly. He got led to a spot not far away from a big arbor which stood in the exact centre of the park. When the young person dragged him somewhere into the bushes, he stopped for a while and looked at him suspiciously.
"No, kid, people will take me for a-" but he cut off in mid-sentence because what should he actually tell the boy? That people would think he was some kind of pervert? No. He couldn't. So before he could even think of what to say, he got interrupted by the high-pitched voice:
"HEY! You have to help me! It's important!" And staring at the boy's pout he sighed loudly and continued following his steps.
After a few more seconds of passing through some lush bushes they got to a spot where even a single blade of grass didn't grow. Only a bare patch of earth could be seen, giving this place an almost deadly aura. It was incredible to find such a place in the middle of the ever-floral park.
The boy finally let Eunhyuk go and crouched in front of a lonely piece of wood that was lying at the edge of the bare spot. He bent down to the ground and seemed to pay his attention to a thing that apparently had to be there.
"Ah... It looks so bad... Hyung, look. Will it die?"
Eunhyuk stepped closer to the boy and peeped over his shoulder, looking down to the ground.
The object of the boy's worries and attention was a tiny duckling, lying helplessly on the ground and gaping at the two intruders, not being able to even move a bit. It didn't seem to be hurt, there were no signs of external wounds but something was definitely wrong with it. It just lay there innocently and poorly, without any strength. The idol sighed seeing this, it was kind of heartbreaking. Such a cute little creature, suffering like this by uknown reasons... That was somehow so not fair.
"You can't die..." the kid whispered to the duckling with a sad face. Eunhyuk crouched next to them and embraced his own legs in melancholy.
"It won't. Everything will be fine." he mumbled but of course he knew his words weren't true. The poor animal definitely looked like being at the end of its life. But the man wanted to calm down the child and maybe even himself, hoping that maybe his words could somehow become true and rescue the duckling.
"Are you sure, hyung?" the boy asked hopefully and took a glance at his companion.
"Mhm. Yeah." Eunhyuk lied, not wanting to make the latter even more sad. His words apparently had a great effect on the child because it stood up and started to jump around hapilly. Ugh... Giving him false hope like this... I'm a terrible adult, the man thought and frowned. But it was too late, he couldn't take back what he had said.
"What's your name?" he asked then and the boy stopped bouncing to take a breath and answer.
"Lee Chin Ho. What's wrong with the duck? Why is it hurt?"
"I have no idea." Hyukjae told truthfully. "It's at a weird place, so far away from the water, maybe it got neglected by its parents? But I don't know why it's dying now..."
"So it really is dying?"
"Damn." The man bit his tounge, seeing that he had once again made a mistake. But the boy seemed to be more clever than he looked like because he had apparently predicted this.
"You said it would be fine. But I knew that hyung was lying. Lying is bad."
Eunhyuk couldn't help but laugh.
"I know. Therefore I'm a bad person, I guess. I'm sorry."
"But maybe there is a way to help the duck? Isn't there?"
"There might be..." the idol shrugged and started to indeed think about how they could possibly save the animal. He had no ideas though, he was no vet after all so nothing really came to his mind. How could he help, not knowing what was wrong? He didn't want to touch the duckling anyway; it could have been suffering because of bird flu or something like this.
"To be honest" Eunhyuk said after a while and straightened up. "I think there isn't."
"Oh" the little boy summed up silently and stared at the victim without saying any further things.
The Super Junior member wanted to end at this point, say goodbye to his fellow and walk away but something in his heart told him to stay a bit longer. He sat down onto the ground and joined the kid in glancing at the animal. He also observed Chin Ho from time to time, spotting a lot of sadness and pain in his dark eyes. The child was breathing with its lips slightly open, showing a little gap between its teeth. This fact made Eunhyuk smile and he started to remember his own childhood, how his teeth also had fallen out and how he also had been able to worry only about such simple things in life.
Sometimees he wished to see the world with the eyes of a child again. How much easier everything had been back then... Being an adult was quite exhaustive at some moments. A child doesn't have to grieve about serious problems, its world is so much brighter.
And somehow Eunhyuk felt this way now. Not thinking about what would await him in a few hours but only focusing on the bitter but also, in some way, beautiful death of a randomly met tiny duckling.
Suddenly, an earsplitting squeak could be heard, sounding in Eunhyuk's ears like an incredible cry of despair. This was so sad and thrilling, he even felt that his eyes got a bit watery... being a sensitive person, he couldn't hold back his emotions at a touching moment like that. The ducklet made a sudden move and then froze in one position. It let no single sound out of itself anymore. Everything seemed to be even more silent and serious now. Eunhyuk finally understood why this spot had seemed so lifeless to him before.
"Is it... dead?" the little boy asked carefully and the young man nodded slowly.
"I think so..."
Awkward silence filled that place and both did nothing but still stare at the animal - well, at the dead body. It lasted that way until Eunhyuk decided to comfort his companion a bit.
"But you know. It's nothing bad, the duck is in a deep sleep now." he said after turning his head towards Chin Ho. The latter pouted in surprise.
"Sleep?"
"Yeah. In a long sleep, full of wonderful dreams... Nobody will ever hurt it again and it will be forever happy now, much happier than lying here in pain. It's actually a good thing it passed away so fast." Eunhyuk's voice was calm and dreamy while he was explaining his theory. The kid eyed him startled and with admiration.
"Wow! That's cool. So I want to die now, too."
"WHAT?! No, no, don't say so, you still have a beautiful life to live." the idol laughed and patted the boy gently on the head. The childish way of Chin Ho's thinking was amusing and heartwarming.
"We have to make a funeral" the kid announced and clapped its hands - but suddenly a female voice resounded somewhere close to them:
"Chin Ho! Where are you?! I told you not go away! Chin Ho!"
"Ahh... It's umma" the boy mumbled a bit disappointed and looked around, trying to find the woman. When he succeeded in doing so, he waved his hand in her direction and made her rush to their place in the blink of an eye.
It was a middle-aged lady, dressed elegantly. It looked quite funny how she walked through the bushes in an apparently quite expensive evening dress. When she noticed Eunhyuk, she widened her eyes in great shock, pulling her child quickly into her arms.
"You shouldn't talk to strangers!" she scolded the boy but he broke away from her grip and looked up at her with shimmering eyes.
"But hyung is really nice! He tried to help me rescue the little duck!" he told her and turned towards Eunhyuk with a big grin all over his face.
"Is that so?" the woman mumbled a bit calmer and also stared at the man for longer now. Hyukjae wanted to bow his head and introduce himself politely but the lady suddenly asked:
"You're Eunhyuk, right?"
She was smiling now.
"Yes, I am. Sorry to have troubled your son." The idol bowed nevertheless and looked at the mother from a distance.
"No, no. It's ok. You aren't a creepy old pervert after all... But I think I will completely forgive you if you give me an autograph for my daughter."
Eunhyuk laughed and with a "sure" he signed a piece of paper that the lady was holding towards him now.
That was the moment that he felt like his true self again, being still the well-known Lee Hyukjae aka Eunhyuk from the Korean successfull boyband Super Junior.
After he did his duty, the woman thanked gratefully and took her son's hand.
"Well, wish you a nice evening! We'll leave now."
"NO! Umma, what about the funeral?!" the boy exclaimed finally, after such a long time of being silent. He stared at her with disbelief and stubborness. It definitely didn't look like he wanted to leave.
"Chin Ho" Eunhyuk decided to help the mother out and crouched in front of the kid. "I will take care of it. You can go with your umma now. Be a good kid, ok?"
The boy looked for a few more seconds like he still wanted to protest but he finally gave in, trusting his 'hyung', and nodded. After a quick farewell the two walked away at last, the boy waving at Eunhyuk to the very end. When they were out of sight, the man was finally left there alone, all by himself.
And suddenly, he felt incredibly lonely.
He picked up some leaves from the grass a bit further away from the place and carefully, trying not to touch the animal, he put them onto the dead body. Then, he found some wooden sticks and stones and also placed them over and next to the ducklet, creating a rather 'stylish' little grave.
Eunhyuk left the park about half an hour later. While walking out of it and seeing the noisy and crowded streets again, he started to miss his magical hideout already.
But that's how nature works. Some things come, some things go. Just like the little duckling, he thought, joined the crowd of people and came back to his everyday life again. The only tangible thing that could remind him about the 'other world' now was a single chestnut, hidden deep in his pocket, that he had picked up off the ground before, right before stepping out of the park.