This…I’m going to turn this into a story. There’s no such thing as “She was mine because I met her first” kind of thing going on in my mind. It was a fact that I met her first, but I never had her first. Kyungsoo…what should I say about him? I’ve known him ever since I’ve the talent of crawling on all four. Kyungsoo had been my next door neighbor for about 17 years before he moved to another street. He was enrolled into another school before he enrolled into my high school. We were like blood brothers - family - if you know what I mean. We stole from each other, got angry with each other, hit each other, got into fist fights, but it was the norm for guys like us.

During that year when Kyungsoo was absent from my school life, I met her, Namjoo. Kim Namjoo. She wasn’t the outgoing kind of popular girl; she was a very lively person and drew friends from all sides. I befriended her that year. I liked her the more I got to know her. She was really enchanting as she was friendly. When I knew I liked her, I wanted all my friends to know of her existence and I made the mistake there.

My friends grew friendly with her, they treated her alright, all of them seemed to treat her with respect and joked around with her. What I didn’t know was that a month later Kyungsoo had started seeing my special person behind my back. That fall when Kyungsoo enrolled into my high school, a rumor spread.

“That new kid has a girlfriend in this school, I heard.”

“I heard they’ve already gone past ‘that’ base.”

I grew curious one day. Would Kyungsoo keep anything in his life a secret from me? So I asked him one day and he told me, he’d introduce me to her after school. I grew anxious and nervous. I don’t grow nervous unless something that might impact me would happen, so I became cautious that day. I had planned to confess to Namjoo tomorrow since it’d be the 200^th day since we’d met and I wanted to make something special out of it.

That day after school I headed directly from school to see Kyungsoo at the ice cream shop where we’d promised to meet. The moment I opened the door I saw Namjoo sitting at one of the tables and it surprised me. I didn’t know she visited this ice cream shop, but the second I took a step forward someone grabbed my arm.

“Here!” Kyungsoo held an ice cream out to me and forced it into my hand. He walked forward and Namjoo scooted across her bench to make room for him. There was this broad smile of innocence on Kyungsoo’s face as he handed Namjoo her ice cream. This left me staring at the two before it suddenly dawned on me.

“You’re not gonna sit?” Kyungsoo questioned confused.

Dumbfounded, I remained standing where I was glued in spot before taking a seat in front of them. So they’d met a week after I had introduced them and gotten closer after that. This wasn’t supposed to happen.        

I was hurt. They’d done this behind my back.

The next week and the week after that I avoided contact with either of them. I was miserable and out of love. I didn’t know whether to consider Kyungsoo a best friend anymore or not. Was Namjoo still even my friend?

I eventually grew over it when Namjoo visited me one day and I accidentally cried to her about it. It’s embarrassing now that I think about it. Then I realized I actually really still treasured her. She was my first love and I still wanted her in my life. So then, I got back to where I was before. I amended mine and Kyungsoo’s friendship.

Gradually, he and Namjoo would get married later on in the future and have a child of their own. During those times, the smile that beamed off Namjoo’s face made her radiantly beautiful, but Kyungsoo’s smile really meant even more to me. He was so happy. This happy man never stopped smiling or laughing. Really.

Kyungsoo meant so much to me, honestly. The more time that passed by, the more we grew older together…every moment of it all was really precious. I’ve held it dear in my heart all this time.

 One day he told me, “Be the god-father of my son, Chen. It’d really mean a lot to me.”

This offer touched me. Of course I agreed. That following year he told me about how he and Namjoo first started. When he told me their story, I could see all the love in his eyes and I was glad, then, that Namjoo had chosen someone like him over someone like me.

And when their son turned 6, Kyungsoo passed away in a boating incident…

So here, the story begins…

Pretty. She was very pretty.

Kyungsoo couldn’t take his eyes off her even when Chen had pulled her to the side to introduce her to his other friends. The smile that grew on her face made her cheeks perk up a little and there was this glint in her eyes that made him shy. He thought his face had turned beet red when she turned over to look at him. Not wanting to let the moment pass, he lifted his eyes up shyly from the ground and she smiled bravely at him when their eyes locked for a split second. Embarrassed, he quickly darted his eyes away again.

From afar, he could hear her laughing cheerily at Baekhyun’s greasy jokes. That night when he went to sleep, all he could really think about was that smile and that laugh he’d seen and heard.

The following week, he was dragged out by his younger sister to go as a ‘chaperone’ for a trip. At Lotte World he drifted from them. While they went off to play on their own, he wandered around by himself. A loud crowd had formed that day and he had to squeeze through several families before he could find an empty bench away from the crying babies. Unhappy to be there he plopped down onto the seat and leaned forward while scratching the back of his ears.

All around him were children and young adults running and walking wildly around. Everyone seemed to be with someone and they were having some kind of fun he was missing out on. Kyungsoo would have normally joined them, but it didn’t feel right that day. He’d wanted to stay home and listen to his new CD and maybe try out some new recipes he’d seen online. He didn’t want to be outside suffocated in some crowd of loudness.

“Are you alone?” the voice forced him to look up and he immediately straightened his back when he recognized her. The wild pumping of his heart drowned out the crowd’s noise immediately.

“A…ah…” he muttered like a retard.

Namjoo smiled at him as if glad she’d found him. “What are you just sitting here for?”

“Ah…w…well…I’m here with my sister,” he replied before shaking his head, “I mean…I’m here to watch over them…”

Kyungsoo then turned to look around like he’d lost someone he should have kept his eyes on. Namjoo, though, seemed amused.

“You’re handsome.”

He spun back around to look at her with his big eyes and she just laughed at him. This made him unsure about whether she was just being sarcastic with the comment or if she’d been sincere about it.

“You want to go ride something? I’m here with my sister, but she ran off somewhere with some other kids from school,” Namjoo explained and he realized she was still standing up.

“S…sure.” He stuttered.

They walked around together before randomly choosing a slow parachute ride. It was quiet when they got on the ride, but it didn’t feel awkward for some reason. Kyungsoo was sure that it was Namjoo who wasn’t making it awkward. When he turned away from the scenery below to look at her he found her reaching an arm out into the air.

When she turned to him she said, “Chen told me you two are childhood friends.”

“Oh…yea, we are. We were next door neighbors.”

“Ah…no wonder,” she commented with a smile, “are you two into the same kind of things?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Like what?”

“I know Chen likes food, he likes singing, music, writing, and reading. Are you like that too?”

He looked away and wondered what she was trying to get at before slowly replying, “No. I don’t like writing or reading.”

She looked amused and turned away to lean against the basket they were standing in to peer down at the people below.

“You seem like a cool person,” she said before turning to look at him and he watched her hair fall over her shoulder. “Kyungsoo, don’t you want to know more about me?”

His mind blanked and the air in his throat got cut off.

“You’re handsome,” she told, “I like you.” Then she laughed, “I’m bold, aren’t I?”

And he thought, Kyungso really thought, he fell in love for the first time.

When she walked off hand in hand with her younger sister Kyungsoo’s eyes didn’t stray from her back. She made his heart beat so wildly.

“Oppa, what are you doing? You know In Young’s unnie?” his younger sister questioned from beside him, but he wasn’t paying her any attention. He unfolded his fingers to stare down at the piece of paper glued to the palm of his hand. Namjoo’s number had been scribbled on it.

He nervously waited a day before finally calling up his guts and called her.

“Hello?” it was a man. From the sound of his deep voice, Kyungsoo assumed he was her father.

“U…uh…can…can I speak with Namjoo?” he stuttered.

“Why? Who is this?” then the voice sounded far away from the receiver, “Namjoo, you have a boyfriend I don’t know about?”

“Who is it!?” he recognized her voice. “Yah! Give me the phone! Give it to me!”

Kyungsoo heard some miscellaneous noises. It sounded like she was trying to fight for a hold of the phone from her father or whoever it was.

“I’m telling dad!” he heard the man shout from far behind Namjoo before a door closed.

After a second he heard her, “H…hello?”

Kyungsoo suddenly became nervous. How was he to talk to her? He hadn’t prepared himself to say anything to her. “Um…hi.”

“Sorry about that, my step-brother likes being annoying.”

“Step-brother?” Kyungsoo repeated with a raised brow. “I thought it was your father.”

Namjoo broke out into a comfortable laugh which got him laughing along with her.

“His voice is deep,” Kyungsoo commented.

“Ah…well…I guess that’s how it should be.” Namjoo replied. “He’s 30.”

And so Kyungsoo discovered that Namjoo’s parents had split leaving her and her younger sister with her father who’d remarried a year later to a woman who was older than him. She didn’t hate it though. Her step-mother and step-brother were kind to her and she seemed to belong to a happy family. After trading a few phone calls back and forth they finally met up again.

This time, Kyungsoo was more comfortable with himself around her. They strolled around the park before Namjoo climbed onto the edge of a fountain pool and turned around to face him. Behind her he could hear the water gushing out of its fountain and splashing against the water already surrounding it. He looked up at Namjoo who was already a feet taller than him.

“What?” he wondered. “You want to tell me you failed your exam again?”

She stared at him blankly for a long time before replying, “No.”

“You couldn’t do the long jump for gym? Need help?”

“No.”

He glanced at the tree branches swaying in the wind from out of the corner of his eye. “You had to stand out in the hallway because you were late for school?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

She suddenly leaned forward and gave him a quick peck on the lips. Even when their lips separated her face was still right in front of his. Kyungsoo swore his heart was beating so hard he thought he might have a heart attack. All he could manage to do during that moment was stare at her like he’d never done before.

“I like you, Kyungsoo.”

And his eyelids fluttered about a hundred times before his face became red. “I…me too.” Then he turned away and pulled his hood over his head before running away. If he stood there a second longer with her face right in front of his he felt like he’d explode.

“What?!” Namjoo shouted behind him before he heard her run after him. Her footsteps were loud like the boulders falling off a cliff.

Kyungsoo was forced to a stop when he felt her throw her arms around him from behind. She half circled him before looking at him.

“What did you say earlier?” she asked with anticipation.

He couldn’t look at her. It was too embarrassing so he kept his eyes strayed off to the side, but he liked it. He liked this, this with her arm linked around his neck. This, with her standing in front of him. Afraid he might lose the moment he quickly turned to her and gave her a quick peck before covering his face.

“Ahh!!!” he squealed loudly. “It’s embarrassing!!”

He twisted around so that his back was to her.

“Say what?” Namjoo took a step to the side so that she was in front of him.

He turned away again and Namjoo followed so that she’d remain in front of him instead of behind him. He turned again and Namjoo followed again. He kept doing that until Namjoo locked both her arms around him and laughed.

“Stop!” she shouted cheerily before leaning her head on his shoulder.

His heart was beating so hard.

That following Monday he ran out of class as fast as he could pick Namjoo up from the school gates, but as soon as he exited out of the school yard he halted when he spotted someone from the corner of his eye. Just beside the school gate was Namjoo with a hand raised up to wave at him. He looked confused for a moment before smiling.

“Did you skip your last class?” he asked.

“No,” she answered, “had an appointment so I had to leave school anyway.”

Namjoo seemed to look around before she linked her arm through his and led him down the street.

“Why? Where are we going?” he wondered.

“Lets go do homework somewhere,” she suggested.

“Where? Library?”

“We could do that.” She nodded as they slowly trudged side by side to the bus stop. He liked how their arms brushed against each other’s and how her shoulder bumped into his arm every now and then.

Shyly turning to steal a glance at her he quickly turned away when he found Namjoo already looking at him.

“You’re so shy,” she commented with a teasing smile.

Kyungso darted his eyes around before he slowly edged his arm out of hers and slid his fingers through hers. After a second of listening to his heart’s rhythmic beating he turned to look at her and smiled gladly.

A year after they started dating Kyungsoo had brought Namjoo over to introduce her to his parents. They seemed to like her as much as he and Namjoo had even a few times about how different he was from his parents. They were loud and outgoing while he was quiet and conservative.

“I feel like I’m their dad sometimes,” he’d told her before she laughed and she’d laughed for a long time until she started crying.

On the other hand, Namjoo’s family had stared at him for a long time when she introduced him to them. Their eyes were all judging. The amount of silence that buried the house was suffocating before they gradually smiled and warmly welcomed him. Kyungsoo swore he almost had a nervous breakdown.

“Ah…this is the little kid who I talked to?” Namjoo’s  30 year old step-brother asked. “He’s so…small.”

“Oppa!” Namjoo scolded.

“Well, isn’t this sweet? Namjoo’s already growing up so well!”

But her family had been fun nonetheless and Kyungsoo had even promised cooking lessons with Namjoo’s step-mom.

One evening after a movie date they’d returned to his house expecting to see his parents and younger sister home, but it was deserted. He found a note on the table saying that they’d gone out of town for the night. His uncle had suffered a and they’d taken his younger sister with them. It became awkward the moment they had the house to themselves.

Turning around Kyungsoo asked, “Do you want something to eat?”

“Oh…yea…”

“Did you like the movie?” Kyungsoo asked after five minutes of complete silence.

“I thought it was nice,” Namjoo replied quietly before looking at him then let her eyes stray.

“Namjoo…”

“Huh? What? No!” she quickly replied before looking embarrassed.

They both returned to being silent.

“Do you want to go home after this?” he questioned.

Namjoo quickly nodded. After eating dinner together she kissed him at the doorway before running off toward the road where her step-brother was picking her up. Kyungsoo felt a little regretful, but nonetheless he was glad they’d refrained from doing anything that might cost them later.

A few months later when his parents were out of town again and his younger sister had gone to a sleepover with her friends, did he spend his first night with her. He’d been a little nervous at first, but kissing had become quite the norm for them that it didn’t quite matter. They hugged and kissed in his bedroom before withdrawing from the other in case they were going too fast. Honestly, he’d fantasized about it a lot but having her there in real was even better.

“Wait, it’s…it’s embarrassing,” she said looking up at him before he drew off the rest of her clothes.

“It’s the first time you said embarrassing,” he commented before placing a hand over her eyes, “then you don’t get to see.”

“What?! No!” Namjoo shoved his hand away before he thought her face became slightly pink. “I mean…” she hesitated before he cut off her and kissed her anyway.

A month later, Namjoo pulled him aside at school and whispered in panic, “I think…I think I’m pregnant.”

His jaw dropped. “Did you…did you…did you already test? I mean…” he shook his head.

“No, but…” Namjoo lowered her head, “I missed my period.”

For about a week the two of them panicked. The consequences, the money, and their future scared them. The thought of their parents were even scarier. They couldn’t concentrate in their classes and they avoided interaction with anyone else. Right about when they’d both prepared themselves for their downfall, Namjoo called him at 4AM.

“Kyungsoo-ah! My period came!” she screamed from the other end of the phone. “I’m not pregnant!”

He listened to her scream while he fell back asleep with a smile on his face. And they’d promised never to try such a thing again until they were married.

When they got married, Namjoo was the prettiest he’d ever seen her. That beautiful white gown they’d picked out together fit her perfectly. She glowed so much when her father walked her down the aisle. Kyungsoo swore to himself that he’d never forget the sight of his wife nearing him with each second passing. After this, after this he’d have her forever. Every second that ticked by and every minute, Kim Namjoo would belong to him, Kyungsoo, forever.

“I love you.” He’d said when he slipped the ring onto her finger and the tears that poured out of her eyes glittered like stars in the sky. They kissed and hugged.

Life was well. He had everything. He had Namjoo and he had their son. He had his best friend and he had the world watching him with envy. Kyungsoo never stopped smiling.

Kyungsoo rests well. His and Namjoo’s son is as of today 15 years old. Namjoo is happy, my newborn son, the second child in my own family, is awaiting me at the hospital where my wife is resting. After visiting Kyungsoo together today, we’ll go see my wife together. My friendship with Kyungsoo has extended over to Namjoo. And I hope, our sons will become long life friends as well.     

***It's not the best...but I tried. ;A;