“I just can’t believe you flirted with me”, Emma said and hit Jongin’s shoulder, from what he almost fell down from her bed. “Ew.”
“I just can’t believe you responded to my flirting. Double ew”, Jongin answered, grinning.

After the two young people realized who the other one actually was, they couldn’t help but burst out laughing. Their parents were astonished, asking themselves what was going on, and they told them about how they met in school earlier that day. “Don’t let out the tiny detail how you wanted to invite me on a drink”, Emma Jokingly said, on what the elders started teasing Jongin, who raised his eyebrow and also laughed. “Well, I was just trying to be polite”, he winked. After they ate something and small talked with their parents a little more, they retreated to Emma’s bedroom so they could talk in peace. “You better not touch her”, Sangjung said through a joke, wagging his finger. The atmosphere in their little company was fun and relaxing. The two teenagers sat on Emma’s bed, leading a bouncy conversation, entirely forgetting the attraction they had felt for each other in the schools hallways.
“You should’ve seen your face expression when you first entered the living room. Your eyes almost fell out.”
“Oh, really? You weren’t any better, trust me”, she stuck her tongue out.
“I don’t think so.”
“Oh, shut up!” She hit him again.
“I swear, if you do that one more time, my arm is going to fall off. You are pretty strong for a girl, you know?”
“Is that an insult or a compliment, Jongin?”
“Depends”, he smiled.
“Wow, thank you very much, ‘friend’”, Emma acted hurt, but without success. It was amazing how freely they could talk to each other, as if they had known each other forever, what, technically, was the case. From downstairs their parents’ conversation could be heard, while the late sunlight was shining through the window, filling the room with the feeling of coziness. Emma’s mood from that morning noticeably improved and she forgot how tired and out of sorts she had felt. “So”, Jongin started, “I remember you as a clumsy, but sweet girl, who loved watching Barbie movies, reading picture books and also every day writing down the events of that day. Now tell me something about your present self”, he looked at her with his beautiful eyes.
“Hmm, let’s see. Actually, you said it all”, she smiled. “Not much changed. I am still exceptionally clumsy, I’m still writing a diary, although I replaced Barbie movies with Game of Thrones, yeah, that one is extreme I know”, she said and they both laughed, “and picture books with real books.”
Jongin threw a glance at the book on her night table and lifted it up. “Wow, Sheldon. Impressive. You seem more like the romance type”, he .
“Please, don’t be ridiculous. Not that I don’t like them, as well”, she widely smiled.
“I like his books, too. I’ve read about ten of them, this one included, but don’t worry, I won’t spoil it to you. My favorite is ‘Master of the Game’”, Jongin told her, leafing through the pages of the novel.
“No way! Mine too. Wow Kim, this really surprised me, I have to admit. You don’t look like the book type to me.”
Jongin gave her a suspicious look. “Is that so? Then tell me, how do I look?” He crossed his arms.
“Well…” You look like the ‘popular guy all the girls in school drool over’ type, honestly, she thought, of course not saying it out loud. “When we’re at it, now you tell me something about yourself”, she smoothly avoided answering his question. “Still dancing ballet?” When Jongin was 5, Iseul, his mother, signed him for a ballet class. Emma wanted to go too, but they rejected her, politely stating that she is ‘too heavy’. Jongin hated it at that time, but was, ironically, very gifted.

“Hey, don’t laugh, it paid off later. I quit ballet, but I continued dancing. It’s is a…hobby of mine”, he cleared his throat, looking away.
“Really? Glad to hear that. You have to show me your skills at some occasion”, she sweetly smiled at him.

Jongin was stealthily watching his old friend in disbelief. He didn’t tell her, but throughout the years that had passed, she went through the ‘from-ugly-duckling-to-swan’ transformation. No trace of the chubby girl could be seen on her anymore. Because she had taken off her ‘Harry potter’ glasses, a pair of hazel-eyes came to the fore. Her smile stayed the same, though. Wide and wonderful. It wouldn’t surprise him if, in a short period of time, she’d attract the attention of many guys in school. Oh, I have to keep Sehun away from her, he made a note in his mind. Even though he was his best friend, Sehun was incorrigible jerk towards girls. Emma somehow seemed so innocent and fragile, that he suddenly felt the need to protect her.
“Hey, I just remembered! I have to show you something.” Emma went to take the box she found back in Chicago. “Open it and look at the photos.”

Jongin and Emma spent the next hour crying of laughter and enthusiastically remembering their childhood moments.
“We really were a dream team, weren’t we?, Jongin pointed out.
“Oh, we were”, Emma answered, catching her breath. “Nobody can deny that.”
“We still can hang out, if you want to. You’re almost cool, you know?”, Jongin tousled her hair.
“Hey! My braid is now dead. Thanks.” She let her hair falling down in delicate waves, which were the result of wearing a braid the entire day. “And I’ll think about hanging with you”, she grinned.

They were talking and fooling around a little longer, not noticing that it was 8:30 pm. Jongin had to go home soon after and they made a deal to go to school together the next day. When it was time to say goodbye, Emma waved and said that it had been nice, but Jongin pulled her in for a big hug. For him it was nice, too.

What the two didn’t realize then, but would realize soon enough, was that, by the end of that day, they became inseparable again.

"Oh, by the way, I think this belongs to you", Jongin said and took her hand, putting something inside.

It was her key. 

Emma smiled.

***

“Wow, that’s…well, a pretty unbelievable story. I feel like I am listening to the introduction to some fluffy rom-com which will leave me with swollen eyes”, Yoona grinned.
“Yoona!”, Emma laughed together with her new friend.

Yoona was just sitting on the stairs in school that morning, hurriedly writing the math homework she remembered that morning (who gives home work for the second day, anyway?), when she noticed two people getting into the school building. First, there was Park Emma, the shy girl she had met the day before, still with no uniform, her long, dark brown hair falling over her shoulders. The other person was Kim Jongin, the charismatic, good-looking, future superstar, more often being called Kai. The strange thing was that they came in together. They were talking and laughing and touching, as if they had met long ago. She had to wait until the long break to talk to Emma, who solved the mystery, by cheerfully telling her the story of her and Jongin’s friendship and the way they met again. The two girls were sitting outside, Yoona eating her vegetarian meal she brought from home, suspiciously observing Emma’s turkey sandwich. Her uncle used to work at a meet factory and when she was a kid, he would have to take her with him while her parents weren’t at home. After seeing how things worked there, she would get sick by only smelling meat.

“It’s not poison, you