(Lina's POV)

"It was probably one of my most memorable experiences," I said, smiling in the dark. 

I first met Mi Jin and Cho Hee in the summer of grade 6. School was nearing and I still hadn't finished my summer homework. I was sitting under the shade of the tree on our front yard trying to finish. I was two question away from finishing everything when I got interrupted by the distant sound of laughter. 

I looked up. I only had to take one look from where the laughter came from and I instantly knew who they were and where they came from. They were one of the rich kids that came from the big neighbourhood which was right next to mine. 

I ignored their laughs and continued pondering the answers to the difficult math questions. However, as they came nearer and nearer, their laughs became more prominent. I continued to ignore them and diverted all my focus on the paper in front of me. 

Eventually, their laughter became something that I simply couldn't ignore anymore. I stood up as they passed my house. "YAH! YOU TWO! COME OVER HERE!," I screamed at them. They shrugged their shoulders and came towards me, their faces nonchalant.

"Did you, uh, need something?," the girl with the long dark brown hair asked. I took a deep breath. "I was trying to finish my summer homework but your laughs distracted me!" I was so mad that fumes were practically coming out of my nose. "And you know what's worse, they're the hardest questions in the package. I've been trying to find the answers for whole day!" I finished my tantrum.

"We could help you if you want," the girl with curly light brown hair said. "Mi Jin and I are pretty smart." I was taken aback by their offer. Should I accept?, I thought. 

Before I could even tell my answer, the two of them were already making their way towards the pile of papers under the tree. "Is this yours?" I nodded shyly. My aggressive side was gone and it was replaced by my trademark shy nature. I walked towards them, my steps slow and easy.

"What don't you understand about these two questions?" 

"Um, everything?" 

"Then we'll help you answer it." 

The girl with the curly hair helped me along with the first question. "Wow, thank you! You made it sound so easy. I think I can answer this now." I looked at the question and answered it with ease. 

I looked at the second question. Uh oh, I thought. The girl with straight hair put her hand on my shoulders. "I'll help you with that one. I already looked it over." She smiled. The second question was a bit harder so the explanation took a bit longer. However, it was all worth it because in the end I answered the question as if I didn't have any problems with it in the first place.

I held the page between my hands and the mental tears started flowing. "Thank you so much, you guys. I'm Lina by the way. Sorry for shouting at you earlier. Erm, I hope you don't mind me asking, but what are your names?" 

"You're welcome. It's okay, we understand." the girl with curly hair said. "I'm Cho Hee and this is Mi Jin. Nice to meet you!" They held out their hands. I shook them. 

"Can we go inside your house?" 

"Sure, I guess. But we can't go into my bedroom." 

"Why not?"

"It's messy. I can't my guests a messy room." I looked down on the ground. The truth was far from this. In fact, my room is always tidy and neat. It's just that there are things in my bedroom that I can't show to them. 

We stepped into my house. "House tour, please!" I started showing them around the house. I was sure that their houses were a thousand times better than mine. I mean, my house wasn't the best but at least it was decent. I couldn't help but feel ashamed though. 

"I like your house," Mi Jin commented. "I've always thought our house was too big. I wanted to live at a house like this." My eyes widened. "Really? I've always wanted to live at a big house!" She laughed. "We should switch some time then. I want to know what it feels like to live at a tinier home." She looked at me then out of nowhere, we started laughing. 

I led them upstairs. "The second floor isn't big," I told them, "It only has a two bedrooms and a bathroom." They started walking towards my bedroom. "Hey, which one's your bedroom? We wanna see it." I bit my lip. I can't show it to them, I thought. I already have enough people who think I'm weird at school. I don't want to add two more people on that list especially if I've only met them today. They could be potential friends. 

"We should open it to see." Mi Jin said. They turned the doorknob. "No wait!" I tried to stop them but it was already too late. They had already stepped inside and they were checking their surroundings. 

I stepped in and started crying. "It's okay, I know I'm weird but please don't bash me or anything. These dolls are my pride. I've been collecting them since I was born and-" I couldn't finish what I was saying. Tears were falling uncontrollably out of my eyes. I couldn't help it. I finally thought I had the chance to make friends so I thought if I hid the fact that I collected porcelain dolls then they wouldn't think I was weird. 

My sobbing became muffled when both of them circled and hugged me. "We don't think you're weird at all. I've always thought porcelain dolls were beautiful anyway," Mi Jin said, smiling at me. By that time, my sobbing had decreased. "Really?," I asked, hope in my eyes. They nodded. "Yes, really." I gave a joyful sigh, indicating that I was relieved. 

"Why were you so scared of telling us you collected porcelain dolls anyway?" 

I took a deep breath. "People at my school think collecting dolls is weird. And considering how I'm already kind of old to collect toys, they think it's childish. So they stay away from me. My best friend collected dolls too. But she moved away to Tokyo last year so I had no one to be 'weird' with so I was pretty much alone." 

"Then let's be all weird together!," Cho Hee exclaimed. "Both of us are pretty much alone at school too. At least we were until we met each other at the beginning of summer. We're best friends now," she grinned. 

I started sniffling. "Can I be your f-friend t-too?" They both grinned at me. "Nope." My sniffles turned into a full-on waterfall. "W-why n-not?"

"Because we'll be something even better. We'll be your best friends." I started smiling through my tears. "R-really?" They nodded. "We'll come here everyday to prove it to you. We'll invite you to our houses too." And just like that the three of us instantly became friends. 

There was only a few days left before school started for second semester. Over the course of those few days I found out about Mi Jin's and Cho Hee's story and that the three of us were in grade six. We went to each other's houses and did fun activities. I had my first sleepover (I never slept over at my former best friend's house because they had a dog and I was scared of dogs) and we did other things I was relatively new to. 

By the time I came back to school, I emitted confidence that I otherwise never felt before. I stopped caring that people thought I was weird and instead focused more on my studies. People started talking to me. They no longer thought I was weird. My life was suddenly becoming normal. 

However, a new girl came to my school and everyone's attention diverted onto her. 

That girl was Min Hee. 

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Hey guys, naemiyoung here :3 So this is part three of learning about Mi Jin and her best friend's past. I'm almost done, two more parts to go then we can go back to present time. I promise ^^ 

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