"Hmm hmm hmm~~ La di da~" You hum to yourself as you make your way to Sandeul's house like you always do.

You wonder what fun you will have at Sandeul's today, remembering what a crazy day you had with him yesterday.

Flashback

"~~~~~!! Let's go to that shop over there!!!" Sandeul shouts excitedly and drags you into a clothing shop.

"TRY ON ALL THE THINGSSSS" he screams the moment he enters. The other people in the store stare at the two of you.

"Yah, oppa!" you hit him on the shoulder lightly. "Keep it down!"

Sandeul fakes a tantrum. "Fine."

You smile as you see his eyes sparkle as he looks around the shop, trying on different things. Eventually you get in on it and before you know it the two of you are trying on practically everything in the store, making funny faces while trying them on.

Eventually, Sandeul tires out and almost trips on a rack of jeans.

"I think it's time to leave," you tell him.

"NO." Sandeul says stubbornly and crosses his arms.

Seriously, if I didn't know better I'd think he was my dongsaeng, you think exasperatedly.

Afraid that he will cause another scene, you resort to the ever-reliable technic.

"Come on, oppa, I'll buy you food!" you say as you pull his arm.

Immediately his face perks up.

"What are we waiting for?! FOOOOOD!!!!" he shouts as he runs out of the store.

Always works, you smile to yourself.

The two of you munch on your chilli corndogs as you walk back to Sandeul's house.

End of Flashback

You laugh at the memory.

You reach his house and let yourself in. You've been at his house so often that everyone considers you a part of the family.

His mom sees you and smiles.

"Annyeong, ~~~~~! Sandeul's in his room, you can just go straight up~"

"Annyeong, Mrs. Lee!! Okay, thanks!" you greet her.

You make your way up to his room and knock on the door.

"Oppa? It's me~" you say cheerily.

"Oh, ~~~~~! Oof!"

You hear a thud from the other side of the door.

"Oppa, are you okay?"

The door opens a moment later and you see him beaming at you.

"Yeah I'm fine! I just fell off my bed while trying to put on a shirt." he explains, rubbing his neck in embarrassment.

"Ooh, what were doing shirtless oppa?" you say teasingly.

"Yah!" he knocks your head gently.
"Anyways, come on in~"

You don't need to be told twice. You enter his room and flop onto his bed.

"So, what shall we do today? I'm free for the whole day, so-"

"Sandeul-ah!! Can you come down and help me with something?" you hear his mom call from the kitchen.

He looks at you apologetically.

"Yes, eomma! Coming~" he sings as he rushes down stairs.

"Be right back, ~~~~~!!" he shouts from the staircase.

"Nae!" you reply.

You look around his room and are surprised at the amount of duck-themed items he has lying around.

Duckie pillows, duckie toys, a duckie mug, duckie glasses -

You decide to take a snoop around his room to look for more duckie themed things.

You decide to start off with his bedside table, since it has a duckie lamp on it.

You pull open the drawer and suddenly a photograph falls out.

"Hmm?" you say as you bend down to pick it up.

You stare at the photograph.

Omo. Is that... Sandeul oppa?! Wow he looked so different last time! You think to yourself.

"Oh, ~~~~~! I'm back~~" you hear Sandeul's voice as he swings into the room.

You turn to look at him.

"Oppa! Is this you??" you ask him as you point to the boy in the picture.

You notice Sandeul's face change.

"Wh-where did you get that?" his voice quivers.

"It is you, isn't it? What's wrong?" you ask him worriedly.

Tears begin to form in Sandeul's eyes.

"I-I.. I don't want to talk about it." He looks away and sits on the edge of his bed.

"Why- why did you have to see that... I should've burned it long ago..." he says, sounding more like he's talking to himself.

"What's wrong with me seeing it, oppa?" you ask as you put your hand on his shoulder.
"Why don't you want me to see it?"

Sandeul pauses for a moment.

"You really wanna know?" he asks.

"Of course!" you say.

He takes a deep breath.

"Yes, that was me. Before. The old me. Lee JungHwan. I was an ugly kid, wasn't I?"

Before letting you answer, he continues.

"Yeah, I was. What's revolting about it was that I was happy with it. Happy and ugly. Until one day I looked in the mirror and saw what everyone else has seen for years. I was disgusted at what I saw. So I decided it was time to change. I began working out intensely and lost a lot of weight quite rapidly. I dyed my hair. I plucked my eyebrows. I changed my name to Sandeul. I got rid of my glasses - yes, I wore glasses - and began wearing contacts. It hurt at first, in fact, it hurt a lot. But I didn't mind. At least I wouldn't be ugly any more."

Sandeul laughs bitterly, his eyes intense with emotion.

"You wouldn't believe the reaction I got when I got to school after the holidays. They stared at me like I was an alien. Some of my friends didn't even recognize me. Rumours started spreading. Said I got plastic surgery. I didn't, I just lost weight and got rid of my glasses. But mainly, they just couldn't believe that a guy so ugly could change so drastically."

He stops and sighs.

"I didn't want you finding out because I figured you wouldn't wanna be friends with a guy as ugly as me."

You stare at him, speechless for a moment. You never once thought that Sandeul - your best friend that you've known for YEARS - had such an intense feeling of sadness in him. He was always so happy, always smiling, always laughing and having a good time... Seeing him like this, so vulnerable, so bitter, so unconfident - it made you want to cry.

"San- JungHwan oppa..."

Sandeul sits up straighter for a moment, shocked at hearing you call him by his real name.

"Y-yeah?" he responds, looking at his feet.

"You were always handsome, oppa. Handsome then, handsome now... And you will always be."

He looks at you, a tear escaping his eye.

"You- really? You think so?"

"Of course! And looks don't matter, oppa - it's what's on the inside that counts..."

You point to where his heart is.

"And on the inside, you're an amazing person, no matter what you look like."

Before you know it, you feel Sandeul hug you tightly. You hug him back and you hear him sniffling.

"Th - thank you," he says in a choked voice.

"I hate to see you like this oppa... Stop crying, okay?"

He pulls away from you and looks at you.

"I don't need to cry anymore," he says, wearing a smile on his face.

You smile at him.

"Come on," he says, pulling you by the hand.

"Let's go get some ice cream!!!"