A lot of people believe that there’s a heaven and a hell. That all the good people go to heaven while the bad go down and burn in hell. So I wonder if I did anything that bad to deserve have to sit in this living hell?

I looked out the window, breathing heavily while watching the snow trickle down the window. This scenery gave me a sense of nostalgia.

“I still remember the day we met…” I chuckled, coughing again through the tubes connected to the ventilator attached to my mouth.

Slowly, a memory started to play in my head as I drifted back to sleep.

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An 8-year-old boy sat on a bench at the park, looking glumly at the ground. His feet swung in place, lips formed in a pout. Tears tempted to stream down his face as he started to mutter to himself.

“Umma…” He sniffled, wiping his nose with his jacket sleeve. His father always told him that he should never cry in public no matter what. It was considered shameful to do this act of embarrassment.

Meanwhile, another boy, who was 10 years old, walked by himself along the path in the park. Snow crunched under his feet as he made his way home. But it drew him to a halt once he saw a kid all by himself in front of him.

“I wonder what happened to him…”

Curiosity took over him and he walked to the stranger on the bench. Once he reached the bench, he sat down next to kid and tried to get a closer look at the stranger’s face.

“What’s wrong? You here alone too?”

The boy shook his head. Usually, he wouldn’t speak to strangers but what else could he do since he was lost. Nobody approached the boy for the past few minutes until this boy came up to him.

“I’m lost.”

“Ha? You got lost? How?”

The boy shrugged. “I don’t know.” He pushed his scarf up, making sure it covered his mouth, trying to keep it warm. “I saw balloons over there,” pointing to the balloon stand near them, “then when I turned around, Umma wasn’t with me…” he said with a frown, hiding behind the scarf.

Last time he had seen his mother was at the entrance but by the distraction of balloons, the child had let go of his mother’s hand, running off without a care in the would like any kid his age. But, of course, the boy didn’t notice this until he turned around to look for them.

“Ohhh I see,” the older one said, taking grasp of the situation. “Well,” he jumped off the bench and offered a hand to the shorter one, “Let’s go look for them! She’s probably still here if she’s looking for you!”

Slowly, the shy boy took the other’s hand, forgetting his parents’ advice of interacting with strangers. His only hope would all be put on this strange boy who randomly talked to him earlier.

The first one to start up the conversation was the older one named Jinyoung. "So do you live around here?"

The younger one, Chanshik, shook his head and replied, "No... I'm just visiting my relatives." They continued walking in silence until Jinyoung turned around to see the other dragging his feet. Attempting to lighten up the atmosphere, he asked, "How old are ya?"

Chanshik looked up to the older, a little bit taken back by the sudden question. "Um.. I'm 8-years-old," he replied, looking back down at the ground, slowly shuffling his feet against the snow.

"Oh really?" Jinyoung looked back at the other and grinned. Finally, feeling the power of being the older one out of the duo let his ego grow a bit. "This is so cool. Call me 'hyung'. So what do you think of Chunju so far?"

The other shrugged. "I'm not sure... I'm a bit scared of this place."

Noticing how the boy's face was still pale and fear was written all over his face, Jinyoung grabbed his hand, to assure that he was going to be okay. "Don't worry. I'll bring you back to your family so you can go back home already. This place isn't really that bad if you just think of it as an adventure!"

The boy looked up at the older one in admiration. He never really had a friend so it felt great to meet a person like the strange boy helping him. For the first time, ever since he was lost in the park, he gave a bright smile that left Jinyoung stunned. 

"Okay, hyung! That sounds like fun!"

Both of them started to race around the park, not minding the time as if there was no tomorrow. They played in the playground, having snowball fights and making a lop sided snowman.

"Hm... What should we name him?" Jinyoung looked at the abnormal figure of the snowman, the face tilted with rocks filling in the eyes and the body being too enormous for the head, which had tiny pointy ears sticking upwards like a cat.

The duo stared at the snowman for a certain amount of time before Gongchan said, "Totoro."

"Totoro?"

"Mhmm. Totoro. The big gigantic cat. It looks a bit like it."

Jinyoung looked back to the snowman and slowly saw the resemblance. He smiled and agreed with Gongchan. "You're right! Okay, his name will be Totoro." They both laughed and made their way out of the playground after realizing they were supposed to be looking for Gongchan's family.

After walking around the park for a few hours, the younger boy spotted a familiar face, asking people who happened to be passing by some questions. The woman had anxiety written all over her face.

“Umma!” the younger boy yelled out, running to his mother, letting go of the other boy’s hand. A smile formed on the older boy’s face when he saw the two reunite, seeing a tear stream down both of their faces. He heard the lady lecture her child not to get lost anymore and he agreed.

But when he thought his job was done and started to walk away, he heard someone call him.

“Thanks again hyung!” He turned around and saw the boy waving his hand, removing his scar, revealing a bright smile.

Feeling a smile inching across his face, he yelled back, “No problem!”

They both waved goodbye to each and went their separate ways. And on their way back to their homes, they never noticed the fact that they never got to introduce themselves. All that mattered was that the memory of meeting each other made everything perfectly fine.