That damn fellow.

Today, without fail, he must be grinning, plotting how to tease me. I wonder how so many schemes fit inside that small frame; every morning, every time our faces meet, my heart drops. It would be fine if I could just pass by without looking, but it seems a person's fate doesn't work that way.

Still, I headed out to the field pretending not to see him. Since I don't know what kind of mischief he'll pull if I even give him a glance, I vowed to myself several times that today, for sure, I wouldn't get involved. But is a person's heart ever that easy?

He was always like that. He'd pick a fight for no reason, harass me over nothing, and then, when I finally got angry, he'd fold his eyes and laugh. Yet the strange thing was, if that fellow didn't show his face all day, my heart felt quite empty in its own way. I'd find myself glancing over the field ridges for no reason, taking a peek while passing the well, and my eyes kept wandering toward the mountainside. My own state was so ridiculous that I could only click my tongue at myself.

Ugh, I'm going to get swept up in it again today.

Before that thought could even finish, a familiar voice came drifting on the wind from a distance.