Teddy Bear

2

soft,

light,

sunshine..

Mark writes down his thoughts swarming his head after that incident yesterday.
He sighs heavily thinking about the boy he saw.

He can hear his mother talking to Ellie downstairs and decides he needs to go on a walk.
He grabs his backpack and heads out the back door.

Mark starts walking on this trail leading towards a lake he used to go to with his dad.
Sitting down on a chair he left years ago, he pulls out his notebook.
Scribbling random words onto the page he gets busy.

Small shuffling sounds are heard nearby.

Haechan looks at Mark with curious eyes. He's hiding behind a tree not to close to the pale boy.
He looks around for any other strangers and steps closer.

Mark finished writing one full page and sighs.
He feels something on his neck, like a person breathing softly. He tenses up gripping his pen tightly.
Should I stab them or just run?

He ends up turning around quickly knocking his chair over.

The sun is beaming down on them as they stare back at each other. Haechan is now a few feet away startled by the sudden movement.
"Oh it's you again."
At least it wasn't some serial killer behind him.
Haechan picks at his nails not moving from his place.
"Hey it's okay..I was just surprised is all, come here."
Mark motions for the frightened male to come closer so Haechan takes slow steps towards him.
"Haechan..right?"
He nods with a small smile.
"Where did you run off to last time? Did you end up getting help?"

Haechan nods at his question.
Mark just sighs.
"Well.. that's good then.
My name is Mark by the way, I was about to tell you but you kinda disappeared on me."

"Sorry."

Mark looks up at the sound of his voice.
He stares at him and notices the golden skin all over. How pretty it looks in the sunlight. The boy is wearing a salmon colored top and a pair of white shorts that barely cover his thighs.
He lets his eyes wander down the long tan legs, wonders if they feel as soft as they look.
He clears his throat looking away when he catches himself staring for too long.

"Well you must be staying close by if we ended up running into each other again. I know almost of the families that live here, who are you staying with?"

"Uh.. the Lee family?"

"Lee? There's another Lee family nearby?"

Mark has lived here for years, maybe they moved in this summer.

"They did! Uh I mean we did!"

Mark didn't notice he's been talking out loud.
"Huh.. so your family are Lees too?"

Haechan nods quickly.

"But I thought you said you didn't have any parents."

"I don't, it's just me, my brother and my cousins. They've watched over me since I lost my parents about a year ago."

"Are you the youngest?they must take care of you poorly if you're eating other people's scraps."

Haechan pouts looking down at his shoes, which Mark now notices his sandals and.. pink nail-polish?

"I didn't mean to go into your territory, I just smelled the strawberries and I followed. Sorry for eating them but to be fair you shouldn't have left them out! What if another cub could've gotten into them?"

Did he hear that right?

"Cub?"

Haechan makes a cute sound before waving his hands around.
"No! I meant uhm other animals around, you know it's dangerous to leave food out like that."
He laughs awkwardly before scratching the back of his ankle with his foot.

"Right..anyways what are you doing out here? Did you run off again?"

"No.. I just wanted to..

see you again."

Mark widens his eyes at his response. Clearing his throat he walks closer to the boy.

"You wanted to see me? what for?"

Haechan puts his sandals back on his foot and stands up straight.

"I want you."

Mark coughs loudly covering his mouth with a fist. He feels his face heat up as gives the boy another look to see if he heard that right.

"What?!"

🌿🐻