t w o ;

“Wake up,”

I opened my eyes slightly and tried to adjust my focus. Next to me, a girl was sitting on her knees and she was leaning towards me. “Wake up,” she called again.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, getting up while rubbing my eyes.

“Where am I?” Her voice was low, as if scared.

“Your father dropped you off last night. This is my house.”

“Oh.” Her face fell.

Looking at her sad face, I quickly put on a lively smile; something that I’ve always been good at. “Don’t worry, your dad will come and get you soon,” I told her. “By the way, my name is Woohyun. Nam Woohyun. What is your name?”

She stared at me for what felt like the longest five seconds in my life, as if she was trying to read my true intention through my eyes. At last, she returned my smile, albeit hesitant. “Park Chorong,”

“Nice to meet you, Chorong,” I grinned, extending a hand. It took her another five seconds before she finally grabbed it.

And it took me a minute before I finally let her hand go.

Outside, the sun was already rising. I glanced at the clock on the bedside table and saw that it was almost time for kindergarten, so I quickly folded the blanket and the futon and neatly placed them all at one corner of the room. Since Chorong slept on my bed, my mother laid down the futon for me. She actually told me to sleep in her room, but my father said it would be a bad idea if Chorong wakes up to an unfamiliar surrounding alone. So I stayed in my room.

After I was done with it, I turned to watch Chorong who was straightening up the bed. It hit me of how independent she looked despite being only five.

Just as I was observing her, I heard a soft knock on the door, and my mother entered the room. “You’re both already awake?” she seemed surprise. “Chorong ah, here’s your school bag, uniform and the rest of the clothes your father packed,” she explained while putting down the bags she was holding and hanging the uniform on the doorknob of my wardrobe so that it remained within Chorong’s reach. She then turned to look at me. “Woohyun ah, come get dressed in umma’s room.”

I nodded, grabbed my own uniform and exited the room.

At first I supposed she was shy, because she didn’t say anything else to me after my mother dropped us at the kindergarten. After bowing to my mother, she immediately walked off and headed to her class. But later during the recess, I saw her playing with the boys as usual, and she appeared normal. So I assumed maybe she didn’t like me.

I was wrong though, because later after kindergarten ended, she ran towards me so cheerfully that I honestly felt a bit scared seeing her. I asked my mother why Chorong acted cold at one time but became so perky the next second. She laughed at me and said it’s what girls do. I didn’t understand what she meant by that. I wished grownups wouldn’t be so confusing at times.

When Chorong’s father finally came to fetch her two days later, we already became best friends. We were playing the console game together. On the first day, I was playing alone, and she came and sat next to me, watched me quietly. I invited her to join me.

“But I don’t know how to play,” she reasoned.

“I’ll teach you,” I told her while handing her another controller. Thinking back now, I think that was when we first got close to each other. Being the only child in my family, I was used to playing alone. But after that day, I never wanted to play alone again or with anyone else except for Chorong.

We celebrated Christmas together for the first time that year.

My parents invited Chorong and her family to our house for dinner on the Christmas Eve. It had always been just the three of us, but from that year on, it became the five of us. I really liked the feeling of having them over. It felt like they were our extended family.

I still remember what the first ever Christmas present I received from her. It was a snow globe with two snowmen inside, but she insisted that one of the snowmen was a girl, thus a snowwoman. I still keep the snow globe. From time to time, during the times when I miss Chorong the most, I would take it out from its wrap, shake it a little and stare at the crystal-like snow slowly drops.

Apart from the Christmas Eve dinner, my family and Chorong’s would gather for other occasions as well, for example birthdays and New Year. It became a tradition for us to celebrate together.

Besides the family get-together, once in a month, I would take Chorong to this hill not far from our house. The hill is low, so it was safe for children to play there. It takes only seven minutes to reach the top. You can view the whole neighbourhood from the top of the hill. I never understood why there were hardly any people there because the scenery was very pretty.

Chorong and I could go there in the afternoon to play, and we would stay until the night fell to watch the stars in the sky. Once, we even saw a shooting star. But it disappeared before we could make a wish. By the time we went home, our parents would be waiting for us at my house and they would scold us for staying out too late. Nonetheless, it never stopped me from bringing Chorong to the hill every month.

Those were our traditions between Chorong and I and also our family. I never thought we would share them with anyone else, until three years later.

hello ♪

to make things clear, chapter one is more like an overview of the whole story while chapter two is a more detailed one, and also the beginning of everything.

enjoy my story! hopefully i don't and won't disappoint you guys (๑′ᴗ’๑)