3. The hooligans

It was not long before the three friends became infamous around the neighborhood. Taeyeon had a special eye for mischief and it meant that they got into trouble more times than they could count on their ten fingers. However, they were a bunch of charming children and as soon as they got into trouble, they would also succeed to get out of them. Donghae could do something special with his eyes, the sad-puppy-eye they called it, and it was super effective! They joked that it was his super power, because every time he sorrowfully looked at whomever who was angry at them they used to give in and let them go. In the few cases that didn't work Taeyeon got to emerge instead, she had a mouth made of gold and was a master of persuasion (which was 90% of the reason that Donghae and Hyukjae went along with all of her crazy escapades). Sometimes it actually happened that nothing of the earlier mentioned worked, and then it would be time to pull the ace out of their sleeve; Hyukjae used to draw the "My father is Lee Hyun-woo, the owner of Lee coperation."

They complemented each other nicely. Donghae was often told that he was a kind and sweet boy, which one could say the least about him. Even as little Donghae was a warm-hearted person and treated both humans and animals with great respect. It could take them hours to get home from school some days depending on how many animals they encountered along the way, for Donghae was firmly determined that he would stay and pet every cat, dog, duck or whatever animal it could possibly be. He claimed that he perhaps was the only person the animals would meet during the day and hence he had an obligation to spend at least one quarter to cuddle and talk to them. The other two friends would sigh at first but it always ended up with that they as happily as Donghae scratched some old dog behind the ear. Besides his great heart Donghae was a real dreamer too. He used to come up with a lot of stories that he told his friends, they could both be scary and funny but Taeyeon and Hyukjae always loved to hear them regardless of their genres. They used to get together on Friday nights in the small cabin they had built in the grove outside Taeyeon's house to listen to his story. Every Friday, he had come up with a new one and they would sit with a small bag of candy each while they eagerly listened.

Taeyeon on the other hand, was the little girl who dreamed of the great adventure, she had seen too many Studio Ghibli films and wanted to discover a magical world just like the main characters. She loved to climb trees and they would often have contests to see who could climb fastest to the top, which almost exclusively resulted in that she won.

Hyukjae himself was a boy with a lots of wounds on his legs, and with the great privilege of having two of the best friends in the world. He was very confident so when the other children who also came from wealthy families because he was friends with a poor boy and a boyish girl he didn't care the least about them. He knew that they were the best of friends and that the others probably just was jealous because the three had so much fun together.

When they were seven years they ended up in the local newspaper for the first time and it should not come as a suprise that it was because of Taeyeon. She had been biking past a paddock with hundreds of grazing cows when she got the sudden idea that they ought to be free, just like all the people were. She had cycled home in rocket speed to bring her two boys along.

"So, what are we supposed to do here?"

Donghae wondered while he dug around after a booger in his nose. Hyukjae gesticulated to emphasize that he wondered just the same thing as the latter.

"It's just a bunch of cows here. Don't say you have found a big climbing tree in the meadow because I will not go in there. Cow dung is yieckie!"

Taeyeon looked at them with glowing eyes.

"Very good idea Hyukjae, we can look at that after we have released them"

Donghae and Hyukjae didn't react on what she had said at first, but when the words after a few seconds sunk into their little heads their jaws dropped. They turned and looked at each other while they violently shooked their heads.

"Not a chance, Taeyeon!"

Donghae crossed his arms to clearly show that she wouldn't be able to persuade him this time, regardless of her arguments.

”What he says. Bad, baaad idea!” Hyukjae replied simply and was about to pick up his bike to go back home.

He knew very well how quick-witted the girl was and that if she got the chance, it would probably end up with them actually letting the cows free.

"Yaa! Do you guys really have the heart to do that to the poor animals? Imagine if you wouldn't be allowed to go wherever you wanted? Perhaps they want to go down to the river, but now they can't!"

She looked at them sadly, she had tried to copy Donghaes gaze when she had noticed how effective it was in difficult situations. The boys looked at each other again to seek support from one another, they knew they would get a really bad scolding if they went along with the girl's plan.

"We can go in and pat them a bit instead, perhaps they will be happy about that?" Donghae offered diplomatically.

"You surely can't seriously mean that we should pet hundreds of cows?" Hyukjae looked at him with a skeptical eye.

While the boys were bickering over whether it was reasonable to pat a herd of cows or not Taeyeon tried to come up with the perfect argument to win her friends over to her side. When she finally came up with it she howled out of joy which caused the other two to stop their debate and look at her instead.

"Imagine if you hadn't been allowed to go to the candy store. I here and now declare that it's just not every humans right, but also every animal's right to buy candy whenever and wherever they want!"

Both Donghae and Hyukjae was very fond of sweets and they couldn't do anything else but agree with Taeyeon. So they searched for the gate and opened it after Donghae had held a long and beautiful speech about the cow's right to liberty (Taeyeon had even wiped away a tear from her cheek). To the friends big disappointment nothing much happened, the cows did not seem to want to go out on any adventure, they just continued to graze in peace. Hyukjae thought for a while. He was on board with the plan wholeheartedly now and really wished that the cows would enjoy their freedom.

"Maybe we should help them a little bit along the way? They might not dare to go out? If I had been locked inside my whole life I surely wouldn't dare to take the first step outside"

They discussed the issue for a little while, but finally came to the conclusion that they would help the cows just a little bit more. They therefore went into the paddock and began to scream and clap their hands to bring the grazing animals to life, and that was something they indeed succeeded with. In just a few minutes, the pasture was empty and the flock was instead moving with a steady pace towards the nearby town. The Friends high fivade each other before they took their bikes and went home, satisfied and happy about their day's work. In the city, however, the residents was not equally impressed with the trio's achievement. Confused cows stood in each and every corner of the streets and wondered where the green grass was. It was not long before people had figured out that it was the deed of the three friends. An elderly gentleman had seen them ride their bikes in the same direction that the paddock was located and had therefore put together one plus one. The city was filled with police officers and firefighters who desperately tried to bring order to the chaos that the released cows had created. When Hyukjae, Donghae and Taeyeon finally had caught up with the animals and saw the condition of the city, they immediately understood that they this time would be in real trouble and that it wouldn't be a way out of it. Word had already spread about who the possible perpetrators were and the attention they got was unpleasant to say the least.

"Yaaa you brats! Is this your doing!?"

A man with a neat suit came gushing against them with a fist in the air and the friends fled in panic back to Hyukjaes place. That was not their best idée either. The word that the town was filled with cows  and that it probably was Mr. And Mrs. Lee's son and his friends who had caused the chaos had managed to reach Hyukjaes home. The couple were furious when the children reached the house and Hyukjae received the hardest punishment he had ever got; he wasn't allowed to socialize with his friends for the rest of the summer holidays, which meant that they would not see each other for three weeks. They had cried crocodile tears, but nothing seemed to work. They had even tried to explain the reason why they had released them, that they thought the cows also should be able to buy candy, in hope that the parents would soften. Hyukjaes parents had not been impressed and sent the other two home to reflect over their crimes, and probably get even more scolding.

The following day the incident made headlines in the local newspaper: "Children let loose a cattle with hundreds of cows; chaos throughout the whole city. "

It would not take more then a week, however, until Hyukjae met Donghae again. One evening when Hyukjae just had crawled into his bed to read his favorite comic book, he heard a light tapping on his window. It was dark outside and because the boy wasn't used to the sounds his first instinct was to run to his parents and throw himself between them in their bed for protection. But just as he jumped up, he thought it looked like Donghae sat outside the window. He rubbed his eyes to make sure that he didn't hallucinate but he quickly discovered that that wasn't the case. He ran to the window to let his friend in. He was so happy to see Donghae that he gave him the longest hug he had ever given any person.

"Oh, I'm so happy to see you! How did you come up here? "He whispered of fear that his parents should hear something.

Donghae pointed to the tree that stood outside the window.

"Taeyeon has taught me a thing or two after all, I climbed the tree"

Hyukjae nodded eagerly and his eyes shined out of happiness. He had missed his friends so much and especially Donghae. He had often wondered how the other was doing, if his dad was happy or if he was so sad that he had to drink that strange water.

"Can I stay here for a while?"

Donghae looked sad and Hyukjae immediately understood that his father had a bad night. He knew that the boy didn't like when the man got drunk, he could become very noisy and sometimes even a little rude.

"Ofcourse! Come over here, I was just about to read the latest issue of Batman."

Donghae lightened up and the two boys crawled into Hyukjaes bed. They layed close together while they took turns of reading aloud from the comic book (or rather whisper). When they had got through the entire magazine and discussed their favorite parts they fell into a short silence.

"I missed you" Donghae whispered as he rested his head on Hyukjaes shoulder.

A heat spread in Hyukjaes body and he turned around to give Donghae a hug.

”I missed you too!”

"I wonder what Taeyeon is doing now."

Hyukjae chuckled.

"She would have murdered us if she found out you snuck here without her."

Donghae laughed and stuck his hand in his mouth so the laughter wouldn't be heard. Although Hyukjae exaggerated somewhat, the claim was still true: the girl would still be a tad jealous if she found out that they had met secretly without her.

"I miss her too." Donghae said when he had calmed down.

Hyukjae nodded. He also missed Taeyeon, the days was not nearly as fun without her crazy ideas. Despite this, it was actually Donghae he had missed the most. The boy always made him feel like the happiest boy on earth. He was such a good friend, it was Taeyeon aswell, but Donghae had that little extra. What this extra was Hyukjae didn't know, just that it was only Donghae who could make him feel so happy. The two boys fell asleep in each other's embrace, and when the morning came Donghae quietly snuck out of the house before Hyukjaes parents had woken up. Hyukjae felt in a better mood than he had been in for the past week after that, which also his parents noted.

The remaining two weeks of the summer holidays passed by quickly and it was soon time to go back to school. Donghae had visited Hyukjae a few times after the evening they had read the comic, but Hyukjae was happy to see both of his friends again without having to sneak with it. It was a happy reunion and it ended with that all three hugged each other while crying tears of joy. They promised each other to never do anything stupid again. The promise was held until the lunch break when the trio climbed up on the school roof and poured a bucket of water on Changmin. The boy had teased Donghae for his too big clothes and they thought that he needed to learn a lesson. Since the teachers knew that the boy sometimes was mean to them, they let it pass for this time but with the warning that if it happened again, it would certainly have consequences.

That autumn Hyukjae got his first girlfriend. Her name was Jiyoon and was in their parallel class. One of her friends walked up to Hyukjae on one of thier break with a carefully written letter on pink paper and gave it to him.

"Hello! I think you're cute and I wonder if you would like to be my boyfriend? Please fill in the box for yes, no or I dont know "

Hyukjae had blushed while Taeyeon and Donghae had stood behind him and whistled and cheered him on. He had angrily asked them to not be so childish and that he certainly did not want a girlfriend, but they had persuaded him to put an X in the YES box.

The relationship had not been prolonged though, it had ended right after the school day. Jiyoon had tried to kiss Hyukjae and as known the boy was terrified of girl-germs. He had ran away in panic, shouting "I BREAK UP!" Donghae and Taeyeon had laughed so much that they layed on the ground and held their stomachs while trying to breathe. Hyukjae had not thought it was the least fun.

"Coward! It's because you don't dare to kiss" Taeyeon said when they sat at their favorite climbing tree near the river.

It was the same tree where they had kept their friendship ceremony.

"I certainly dare to kiss" Hyukjae replied sullenly.

Taeyeon raised her eyebrow to show that she didn't believe in him. Determined to prove the contrary he sneaked up towards the unsuspecting Donghae and put his hands on his shoulders before he gave him a wet kiss on the mouth. It was the first time any of them had kissed someone and Hyukjae didn't think it was as bad as he had expected. In the background Taeyeon jumped and shouted with happiness. Donghae looked confused at Hyukjae when they had completed the kiss and Hyukjae felt a light red color spread across his face.

"What was that good for!?" Donghae said as he wiped his mouth with his shirt sleeve.

"She said I didn't dare to kiss and I just wanted to prove her wrong!" Hyukjae glared at the girl.

"Why didn't you kiss her then?" Donghae said and seemed a bit offended over the kissattack.

"You know I hate girl-germs. I like you Taeyeon but quite honestly, you can have supergerms in your body that makes me so sick that I die. Hence it's safer to kiss Donghae!"

They laughed at his stupid statement but quickly forgot the kiss when they decided to have a climbing contest instead (as of course Taeyeon won).

That night before Hyukjae fell asleep he thought of the kiss again. It had not been so bad, even almost a bit cozy. He fell asleep with a smile on his face as he hugged his pillow.