52. Scouting The Surroundings

Lee Somin

After the unwanted reunion, Somin clothed warmly and headed outside to clear her head. Without music, without fake love scenarios, without a sketchbook. She heated the rest of the leftover wine with cinnamon, badyan, honey, and slices of oranges.

A decent cup must be enough.

But the image of bare Teho kept coming back to bother her so she poured the whole bottle in, going through the cupboards and finding another bottle to join the rest.

The more the merrier.

Her thermos was put in her infamous one-striped bag together with a romance book.

I won't let them rob me of my self-date.

The girl lazily walked down the stairs. All the relaxing thoughts left her when it turned out she could involuntarily walk in on the loved-crazed pair yet again.

Maybe I'm destined to witness it. She laughed out of frustration.

It'll help with the crush going away.

Hopefully, I'll be able to paint later.

As for now, the apartment was stained with the unfortunate meeting.

Her baby blue coat made her feel like she was under the blanket. She tied a pink scarf around her neck before she finally left the building. Slow steps led her to the park behind the dorms, and she breathed deeply to get the fresh air into her lungs.

She observed how the birds flew in between the branches and sang, she internally commented on them from the view of the female bird. Playing a game, guessing if the male bird was beautiful enough for the hiding female's eyes. Observing a shiny blackbird Somin wondered.

I must have been a bird in my previous life. I have everything he's looking for, I'm not flashy, I'm careful, invisible, I blend with the background well.

The orange beaked bird hopped a little closer, watching the girl with his pearl-like eye.

You seem young and strong. You for sure would love my brown feathers.

Somin imagined herself, looking at the timid-colored female around the bushes.

Hey fellow you won't be probably skilled with weaving nests though, I shouldn't be this picky as a lady bird. We'd manage somehow.

With that, the gorgeous bird flew away.

Good luck finding someone better. She scoffed internally.

Watching birds bettered her mood drastically with their chirping and funny hopping around. Somin came out of the dorm park complex to the edge of the city where sparse trees framed vast fields. It felt like a little oasis on the outskirts of the metropole where no one was in sight. Here and there dog owners or runners went by on the nearby bicycle path, but that was it. Somin went out of the asphalt into the yellowish grass.

Her eyes were set on a bushy tree she'd picked a little further from the commotion, standing in a patch of grassy land in the middle of the field. There were several spots like this, but this tree was sturdy, its branches seemed enough to support her weight.

Everybody seems to have a need to crawl on each other these days so I'll climb you.

Her blue sneakers weren't the ideal shoes to be walking in the sticky mud of the paddock, but she wasn't ready to back off. It had rained a few days before which had mirrored her mood perfectly, but also made the field borderline crossing of the terrain was a heroic feat, her poor sneakers sticking to the ground and when she lifted her leg she saw the shoe was almost completely covered in mud.

Help!

The girl panicked a little and the tree seemed to be still quite far away. Trying to run didn't help at all and in the end, she just had to work her way out, methodically pushing her feet forward. Sometimes her feet sunk so deep that it looked like the ground would swallow her shoe.

I have the best ideas, really.

After a good thirty minutes of trying she finally reached the lonely island. It was a given nobody would disturb her here, who would want to fight the dirt like she did? Somin jumped a few times to get the rest of the mud off and looked the tree up and down. The lowest branch was still quite high and the bark was pretty smooth. She reached anyway with her short hands in a futile attempt to just touch the branch's texture.

How do I climb a fucking tree?

Heated from the previous battle, she took off her coat, standing there only with warm leggings and an oversized fluffy baby blue sweater. Somin imagined herself in a boxing arena where tall slim girls in a bikini went around the ring holding a cardboard sign above their heads, smiling and the moderator yelling, "round one."

Try me bitch. She swore to get courage.

Somin went around the tree and tried a dozen times to get her shoes to stick on the smooth bark using her hands to hold a bit further, but she slid down every time.

Fuck. Let me climb. I need a space for myself, goddammit.

The frustration was aimed at herself, not the silent tree, although he answered her with rustling leaves. Another set made her seriously heated, and without any wins so far. Girls with their signs sat bored, looking at their nails; this one was a loser.

Hey, that's my fantasy, and I'm a fucking winner.

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😳 Author's corner 😊

🌲Have you climbed trees in childhood or later in your life just for fun?🌲

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🎨Illustrations of each chapter are available on my Wattpad acc, AO3 acc -klubickoArt🎨