That, indeed, did not become their last encounter. 

Whenever Minjeong would go to the playground, she'd always find Jimin there, sitting at her spot — at the slide's stairs.

And, every time, without fail, Jimin would grin at her goofily and greet her with a: Hello, Kim Minjeong. It's nice to see you.

Jimin would then proceed to babble on about random stories: how dinosaurs reproduced, how sharks are not as scary, and what she recently watched.

After a while, Minjeong would leave silently, and Jimin would wave at her and shout, “See you again!”

There are times when Minjeong would show up irregularly, in hopes of not seeing Jimin at the playground. Sometimes she wouldn't catch her there, but after a while, the girl still magically ends up sitting parallel to Minjeong. 

This cycle of theirs went on for days, until one day, Minjeong decided to speak up. 

“Apparently, the T-Rex, nor the Spinosaurus aren't the stronge-”

“Why do you keep showing up?”

“-st dinos — huh?” Jimin's daily dinosaur facts were put to an abrupt stop when Minjeong — after days of silence — spoke. 

“Why do you keep showing up when I've barely talked to you?” Minjeong repeated, taking a glance at Jimin. 

Silence fell upon them, and for a moment, only the crisp sound of the leaves dancing was heard. 

Standing up, Minjeong released a sigh. She was about to leave when Jimin muttered something she didn't quite catch. 

“What?” 

“I said,” Jimin took a deep breath and averted her gaze. “That you look like a Maltese but with the attitude of a cat.”

“What?” Minjeong's brows furrowed. 

“And, well, I like animals…” Jimin added, scratching her cheek and smiling unsurely. 

“Did you just call me an animal?”

“I didn't say that! I only said you look like a Maltese.” 

“They're the same thing!”

Jimin presses her lips together, brows raised, and eyes pinned at the ground; she looks like a child caught disobeying her parents. 

Minjeong releases a sigh again as she massages her forehead. “I can't believe this. All this time I thought you had some cliche reason like you look lonely or I want to be your friend but in actuality, I was being treated as an emotional support animal.”

At this, Jimin looks up at Minjeong with wide eyes.

“In my defense, you did look lonely.” 

Minjeong only stares at her in disbelief and Jimin averted her gaze once more. 

“And I do want to be your friend…” She mumbles, but Minjeong catches it this time. 

“Why?”

“Do I need a reason?”

“Yes. A valid one, and at least 3 pages long defending it.” 

“Why do I feel like you're just using that as an excuse to make me write a school project for you?” 

“I don't go to school anymore.”

Jimin blinks. 

“What?”

Minjeong only shrugs and walks away.

Jimin blinks again.

“Wha— Wait!”

Minjeong continues walking. 

————————————————

For the next two days, Minjeong doesn't see Jimin. 

The first day Jimin was gone, Minjeong thought she had final