Dedicated to SparklingBubbleTea~
A 8 year old little girl could be seen climbing a tree with her best friend, a 9 year old boy with cute dimples.
"Wait for me, Chrissi!" the boy exclaimed in dismay, as she scrambled from branch to branch before nimbly disappearing into the leaves. He followed and emerged from the masses of emerald and chartreuse, making a sound of awe as he saw what his best friend had discovered. Chrissi sat at the edge of a thick, sturdy branch, her legs swinging, as the breeze ruffled her hair and blew obscuring leaves away to reveal a fantastic panorama.
"Come sit with me, Lay," she said sweetly, patting the space beside her on the branch.
He leapt to join her, and together, they gazed at the view in awe. "It's so pretty here," Chrissi breathed, smiling delightedly.
"Yeah," Lay agreed softly. "This can be our special place, right?"
Chrissi giggled. "Right!"
Lay pulled a twig off the branch and climbed towards the thick trunk of the tree, dragging the twig down the bark to form a letter.
"Oh!" Chrissi said, realising what he was doing. She took a stick for herself and began carving.
Lay and Chrissi's Special Place =)
"There. We'll keep it a secret, won't we?" Lay held out his hand.
Chrissi nodded solemnly and shook his hand. "We will."
~ 12 years later ~
"Hey Lay!" Chrissi called from across the grass, waving.
"Hi Chrissi," he yelled back, waving as well, before walking off with another girl who was chatting to him.
Chrissi smiled sadly and pulled out a book from her bag. She and Lay were still pretty good friends but not as close as they used to be. She leaned back against the rough bark trunk, her legs crossed in front of her over the tree's sprawling roots. She closed her eyes, basking in the sun's warmth as gold and red patterns danced before her eylids, and remembered the time her 8 year old self sat with him on that branch in their tree. But her eyes flickered open, and she leafed through her textbook, realising that it was no good to hold onto the past when they were already moving on.
She had been studying for a good half hour before a shadow crossed the grass and stopped in front of her.
"Can I sit with you?"
Chrissi looked up, shading her eyes with one hand. "Go ahead."
Lay flopped down next to her gracefully. "Thanks."
"So... Aren't you busy or anything?"
"Nope. Thought I'd spend some time with my friend."
Chrissi noticed the missing word. Best. She was no longer his best friend? Had he found someone new?
"Okay. How's life?"
"Busy. I kinda miss the carefree times we had when we were younger."
She was surprised that he would bring it up but hummed in whole-hearted agreement. "Totally."
"Remember our tree?"
"Of course." I thought you were the one who had forgotten, Lay.
"Wanna go visit it?"
"Sure." Chrissi slung her bag over her shoulder, and together they went to find the exact tree where so many memories had been made.
"It's that one."
Lay dropped his bag at the foot of the tree and grappled a branch, swinging himself up.
"What are you doing?" Chrissi asked, hands on her hips.
"Visiting our special place. It's not special if it's not up there," he replied. "Now get up."
Chrissi complied, following him easily.
And there they were back when they were 8 and 9. Sitting on that branch and enjoying the view together.
"Look." Lay pointed to a very familiar mark. Lay and Chrissi's Special Place =)
Time had made the inscription less noticeable, bark forming again where the they had scraped them off. But it was still there.
Chrissi smiled. "I remember that."
Lay took her hand and made her sit back down. "The landscape is beautiful, isn't it?"
Chrissi nodded in agreement, peacefully enjoying it, hand-in-hand with him.
"I might take my girlfriend here," he said abruptly.
She dropped his hand. "You have a girlfriend?" she whispered.
He shook his head, laughing. "No, I mean, when I get one, of course."
"There. We'll keep it a secret, won't we?" Isn't that what you said Lay? We shook on it, and now you're talking about bringing girlfriends here?
"Oh," was all she could say.
"Chrissi," Lay said eventually, breaking the silence.
"What?"
"You're upset... that I'm going to bring my girlfriend here. But I've realised, I won't need to."
Chrissi frowned, looking away. Because you'll have better places to be? I-
She knew at that moment she had already fallen in love with him. Fallen a long time ago. Her- no, the- gentle, kind and caring Lay. She was jealous, but it didn't matter, did it? She felt tears welling up in her eyes.
But then, his sentence didn't quite make sense. "Why wouldn't you need to?"
"Because she's already here. Would you like to go out with me, Chrissi?"
And the tears fell. She hugged him, tight. "Oh Lay," she sobbed, "I missed you. I missed us."
He hugged back. "I did too," he breathed into her hair.
It was Lay and Chrissi's Special Place indeed. And no one else's.
My first Lay imagine. I never realised I hadn't written a Lay one yet, and then when I was checking off the EXO members, I was like, there's 11!!! I'd left out Lay!!! Which was terrible. I'm sorry. Vote and comment please! Request if you like! See ya next imagine!
