“Did you make any new friends today?” his mother asked with a smile in the rearview mirror while he buckled himself in his booster seat. It was the same question she asked everyday when she picked him up from school since he started two weeks ago, and for just a moment, Junhong was tempted to say that he had so he wouldn’t have to see her frown again.

But that would be lying, and Junhong was raised to be a good boy that always told the truth.

He looked down at his lap where he was fidgeting with the sticker his teacher had given him for being able to count to one hundred without any mistakes.

“None of the other kids like talking to me.”

He didn’t have to see her face to know that his mother had tears in her eyes. After all, it was the same as every day. Her voice came out soft and sad. “Junhonggie…”

“But Umma, guess what!” He forced himself to meet her worried gaze in the mirror with a fake smile on his face. “I got a prize for being brillant! See!” He held the sticker up so she could see it.

“It’s brilliant, sweetie, not brillant,” his mother chuckled, wiping at her watery eyes with one hand and steering with the other. “But I’m very proud of you.”

“Ah…”

Outwardly, his face fell as if he was disappointed, but inwardly, he was glad his mother wasn’t sad anymore even if he had to pretend not to know words in order to make her smile. Pretending was okay to do. It wasn’t the same as a lie.

Playing alone wasn’t very fun, but Junhong had grown used to it over the years.

He only had a handful of experiences when other people had joined him, and he cherished those few times, holding them deep inside his heart. He remembered when he was younger and his hyung taught him how to play catch with the giant bouncy ball on the sidewalk outside their apartment in the city. And once when his appa taught him how to hit a baseball in a park down the street he used to live on.

Then there was the one time he’d been able to play hide-and-seek with the neighborhood kids on the playground for a whole afternoon before they’d realized he wasn’t normal.

During his lifetime (the whole six years of it), Junhong had developed ways to entertain himself since he never had anyone else. He’d had imaginary friends that he used to spend his days with, but they all went away eventually like everyone did. Sometimes he wondered if they’d wandered off to play with another little boy that was more fun. That thought always made him feel sad, but he tried to hide it. There was enough sadness without his own adding to it.

After he stopped seeing his imaginary friends, he began to read. In the beginning it was difficult for him to sound out the big words and discover what they meant. He didn’t give up, though. Junhong liked the challenge, liked having something to occupy all his time with, and the more he practiced, the easier it became. His books were filled with characters that became like friends to him. He went on adventures with them and explored mythical lands, fighting bad guys, rescuing princesses, finding treasure and saving the world.

And he never felt alone when he was lost inside a book because the characters were always right there with him.

Reading made him a lot smarter than anybody realized. It allowed him to understand things that were happening around him a lot more accurately than children his age should have been able to do, but he kept it to himself. Because-- being the smart kid he was-- he knew that it would just be one other thing to add to the list of reasons why he was different, and it’d make the other kids like him even less.

Being too intelligent for his age, he also knew that the problems at his house were his fault.

His appa asked them to leave because of Junhong. His hyung got into fights at school and hung out with the bad kids because of Junhong. His mother cried herself to sleep at night, stuck in a lonely house without anyone else, because of Junhong.

Because there was something wrong with him, and his very existence made people sad.

He sighed as the castle he’d made came crashing down. The grass in their new backyard tickled the skin of his legs. He couldn’t shake the irrational fear that a bug was going to crawl up his shorts.

His mom was inside the house cooking dinner and talking on the phone to one of her friends. Probably about how much she missed her old life.

“Didn’t have a family to live in it anyways,” he sighed again at the ruins of his castle as he clenched a wooden block in one tiny fist.

“There might have been one someday, if you’d just waited a bit longer.”

Junhong jumped at the unfamiliar deep voice and peered around hastily to search for its source. He frowned when he didn’t see anyone.

It felt like something hot was burning a hole in his pocket. He sprang up and turned his pocket inside out. The strange coin fell out onto the grass.

Junhong stared at it curiously, patting his pants which now felt perfectly normal. He started to get excited because it seemed like something odd was happening, and Junhong loved interesting things.

He bent down to poke the coin. A shadow fell over him, but he didn’t pay attention to it, being too absorbed in the piece of silver. He jabbed a stick at the coin and turned it over in the grass.

“Seems ordinary…”

“The carvings are a bit odd though.”

“Yeah. I haven’t seen money like it… before…” Junhong trailed off as he realized he’d been talking to someone. He slowly stood up and squinted at the stranger. “Who’re you?”

The person rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Aren’t you afraid?”

“No. I’m not afraid of anything.”

“Everyone has something that scares them, kid,” the stranger replied easily, a smile pulling up the corners of his wide lips.

Junhong scoffed. This guy didn’t look frightening at all, and even if he did, Junhong wouldn’t have been afraid. He was the man of the house now and that meant not being a scaredy cat.

“Then what’re you scared of, huh?” he challenged.

The man stared at him seriously for a moment before his face broke into a big smile that was all teeth and gums and squished eyes. He knelt down so he was eyelevel with Junhong and stuck out a hand. “My name’s Yongguk. Would you like to be my friend, Junhong-ah?”

Junhong stared at the outstretched hand suspiciously.

This guy didn’t seem like a threat, but he was a complete stranger that happened to appear from out of nowhere in the backyard. He didn’t exactly look like a grownup, but he was obviously way older than Junhong. What if he was one of those creeps that kidnapped children and did bad things to them?

“Are you a weirdo?”

“No.”

“That’s exactly what a weirdo would say,” Junhong replied cautiously. He stepped back, noticing the sunshine spark off the silver of his coin. He picked it up before he ended up forgetting it and held it tightly in his palm. It was warm, probably from the sunlight heating it up.

Yongguk watched him silently, an unreadable look on his face, and then let his hand fall and sat back on his on the ground. He began gathering up the fallen blocks into a pile between them.

“You’re pretty smart for a kid.”

“I’ve always been smart,” he said quietly, trying to hide the blush growing on his cheeks. He’d never been complimented for his intelligence before from anyone but his umma, and she didn’t have any idea about how smart he really was. “How do you know my name?”

“Let’s just say that I’m smart too.”

Junhong narrowed his eyes. He hated not knowing things, and it annoyed him that Yongguk wouldn’t tell him how he’d known his name. This guy was definitely strange. He knew that he should run into the house and tell his mother immediately that some weird guy was in the backyard. He knew that he should scream for help, or yell or something, but he didn’t.

He’d always wanted a friend. A real one. Someone he could tell his secrets to and play with. Someone that would accept him because they actually liked him as a person.

Hesitantly, he sat across from Yongguk and began building the base of a structure with his jenga blocks. After a moment, the older boy joined him by putting blocks on the sides and helping him build it up. They were mostly quiet the whole time. Junhong would peek up from under his bangs every once in a while to see Yongguk working with his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth. It made Junhong giggle.

It was unexpectedly easy despite the lack of talking. It was nice to have someone there.

“I need to go now, Junhong-ah, but I had fun with you today.” Yongguk broke the silence as he stood and dusted off his pants. Junhong pouted, sending him a questioning look. “Your umma is going to come out and tell you dinner is ready in a minute," the older boy explained.

“You should meet h-”

“That’s definitely not a good idea. Not right now... but maybe someday.”

Junhong didn’t understand why Yongguk couldn’t meet his umma. So he was older and had messy blond hair and a very deep voice. That didn’t mean he was a bad guy. He’d been very nice to Junhong all afternoon.

But he didn’t want to argue in case it made Yongguk not want to comeback.

"Will you play with me again?" Junhong asked nonchalantly as he stared at the jenga blocks littered around his tiny feet. He didn't want to get his hopes up. He didn't want the older boy to see the excitement he knew was undisguised on his face. He tried to brace himself for this person to say no because at the age of six Junhong was already well aware of the fact that nobody wanted to be friends with a weird kid like him.

A warm hand ruffled his hair. Junhong peeked up shyly to see Yongguk kneeling in front of him with a soft smile.

"I'll be here whenever you want me."

Junhong beamed, his smile so big on his face that it hurt his cheeks.

“Sweetie, dinner’s ready!” his mother shouted from the backdoor. He glanced over his shoulder to wave to her and let her know he’d heard. She nodded at him and went back inside. When he turned back around, Yongguk was gone.

He frowned, tears building in his eyes, because he was suddenly terrified that he’d imagined the whole thing.

The coin in his pocket burned, and for some reason, it made him feel better.