Don't Leave Me

"Thank you, mister!" Jimin said cheerfully. The man just nodded and ruffled his hair before picking up a stick from the ground.

"So want to have a sword fight little one?" The man asked and Jimin nodded eyes shining and forgetting all about his mom's advice not to interact with strangers. He began playing with the man who entertained Jimin for most of the afternoon. It wasn't until he heard his mom calling his name in a panicked voice that he even realized that a lot of time had gone by.

"Oh no! I'm going to be in so much trouble!" Jimin said as he heard his mom call him. He was now worried about being punished as he shouldn't have left without permission.

"You should go." The man said to Jimin.

"But mom is going to be so mad at me. I wasn't supposed to leave without telling her or daddy." Jimin said in a guilty voice.

"Oh is that so? That's not good little one. Your mom must be so worried about you now. Hurry go to her, she won't punish you, trust me. Just run to her now and apologize. But don't mention meeting me ok?" The man said pushing Jimin's shoulder lightly to get him going. Jimin pouted turning to look at the man one last time before running to where he heard his mom calling.

The man had been right, Jimin's mom didn't punish him when he ran to her and apologized for going out without telling them. Instead, she made him promise never to run off like that again and looked relieved more than anything else to see him safe. Jimin wanted to tell her about the man he'd met in the woods but he'd asked Jimin not to, so Jimin kept it secret. The only one who spoke to about the meeting was his little brother once they'd made up.

The next day the man was nowhere to be seen and Jimin wondered where he'd went but forgot about it quickly as he played with his little brother in the lake. Sadly, Jihyun caught a cold that day and so the next day Jimin was on his own yet again. Jimin was by the lake again playing in the little bits of sand that was there while his father talked on the phone and watched him from the balcony. As he played in the sand, he heard someone approach him. He looked up and saw the man again. The man smiled at him and Jimin smiled back waving happily at him. There was something different about him this time though, but Jimin couldn't tell what was different.

"Hey, there little one." The man said coming closer and crouching down next to Jimin.

"Why do you call me little one?" Jimin asked the other looking up at him.

"Well, I don't know your name now do I?" The man asked chuckling and Jimin giggled realizing he hadn't told the other his name.

"Jimin. My name is Jimin!" Jimin said happily.

"Well then, nice to meet you Jimin." The man said ruffling his hair.

"What's your name mister?" Jimin asked curiously.

"Hmm, you can just call me grandpa." The man said.

"But you're not my grandpa?...and you don't look so old," Jimin said innocently, causing the man to laugh yet again and nod.

"Ah yes I forgot. Well, just pretend I'm your grandpa for now?" The man asked and Jimin just shrugged going along with it.

"Ok," Jimin replied and went back to building his sandcastle.

"What are you building?" The man asked watching Jimin intently.

"Castle!" Jimin answered brightly as he continued to build. The man merely nodded and continued to talk with Jimin. Jimin answered as he continued working on his sandcastle.

"Jimin! Who are you talking to?" Jimin heard his dad ask him a few minutes later after he'd hung up the phone. Jimin looked back at his dad confused and then looked at the man next to him who smiled mysteriously and held a finger to his lips shaking his head.