From hating school I gradually learn to like school and even look forward to it. One of the biggest reason is of course my first ever friend Yuri. We have been hanging out every day at school and she would always make me laugh with her silly talks and actions. I on the other hand would give her the cold shoulders but she would feel so successful whenever she made me smile or laugh. I always wondered why she would hang out with me even though she made a lot of friends. Only later when we grew older that she told me the reason why. I did make a whole bunch of other friends too and even though close but not as much as Yuri. I really grew fond of her.

“Look~ Crybaby is here~” a boy teases me with his friends.

“Hahahaha!!” His friends laugh at his comment.

I pouted. I didn’t like it. Yes I did cry because I scraped my knees while we were playing at the playground and even though it was just a scratch it hurts a lot.

“Crybaby crybaby~ It’s just a small scratch~” the boy kept rubbing it in with his friends.

I glared at them and even though they flinched for a second they continue their harsh words seeing that my eyes were already teary.

“Look she is going to cry again! Crybaby~~”

I was about to burst into tears when I heard a voice from the sides.

“Stop it you bullies! Go away!”

It’s Yuri. She’s always so kind and protective of her friends.

“Look she is helping the crybaby~” one of the boys said while the other boys giggled.

“You better stop before I make you the crybaby instead!”

“Whoo~!! He is going to be beaten up by a girl. Hahahaha!” the other boys provoked that one boy.

Before I knew it, the boy charged towards Yuri and both of them are fighting on the ground. One of our classmates screamed from the commotion and caught the teacher’s attention. The teacher put a stop to their fight and scolded them on the spot. Messy hair and dirt can be seen all over their body. I was so shock I couldn’t react as both of them are pulled into the disciplinary teacher’s room.

At the end of that day, I approached Yuri.

“Yuri…”

“Jessica.” She smiled at me.

“Does it hurt?”

“Nope.” She smiled even wider.

“Thank you for helping me.” I bowed to her.

“It’s okay. That’s what friends are for right? We help each other. That’s what my brother teaches me...” she kept on smiling. She looks around as if to make sure no one is nearby and gesture for me to go closer to her as she whispered to my ears saying “and the fighting too… Please don’t tell my parent or else oppa and I will get into big trouble.”

“… … … Your brother?”

“Yeah… He taught me how to fight.” She whispered.

“… … …” I blinked a few times understanding what she meant.

“… … …” She blinked a few times imitating me.

“HAHAHAHAHA!!” I laughed out loud. I guessed her brother doesn’t have a sparring partner at home and she became the victim.

“HAHAHA!!” she laughed too even though I’m pretty sure she doesn’t know what I’m laughing at. We both went home together talking about how she beat the boy up good.

Of course she got into trouble at home because of the fighting but I told my mom what happened and being grateful my mom went and thank Yuri’s family too. Our mom got to know each other too from the first day of school and turns out Yuri’s family stays just next block of our apartment. We would go to school together and sometimes our mom would just hang out at each other’s house so Yuri and I could play together.

Everything was great. We even went to the same junior school. Sometimes different classes but nevertheless we still kept each other well in contact and talked about almost anything and everything. That is when our differences really stood out. In junior school Yuri was famous in the more physical things like sports while me who hates sweating was famous for my academic results.

Yuri would always encourage me to exercise by asking me to accompany her. Even though there are plenty of people who would drop everything they are doing if she asked them to accompany her to exercise, she still had to ask me and to be exact, forces me to exercise with her. Initially my pouts would work on persuading her to let me off of exercising but she sees through it. Then I moved on to pretending that I’m not feeling well but soon I ran out of sneaky ideas that I even tried my glares on her. I know it wouldn't work on her. I was just that desperate because I hate sweating. She would always laugh at all my cold treatment or glares. All my struggles are futile against her. I had to accompany her. It’s like she sees through me or she is just too kkap to understand.

While she kept me fit, I would help her keep her grades up. She never likes studying. She said sitting around doing nothing but read is just too boring. She would always get distracted by the tiniest things when studying. Once she found a harmless bug by the window, I nearly make her deaf and bear hugged her to death. She keep insisting that she is deaf on her left side and she resurrected because God thinks that she did good by letting the bug go alive. That may sound funny now but back then it was quite serious when her face went pale from the lack of oxygen. We still laughed about it over the years.

Our parents treat both of us like their own children. Whenever we would sleepover or go out with our friends it would always be fine as long as both of us went together. That’s how much our parents trust us. Also, that’s when our favourite nickname came about.

Yulsic.

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Still little Sica and Yul~ but slightly older than the previous chapter... as the title of the chapter implies.

ProtectiveYul already ever since kid~ Kkapness too~

Meanwhile icy glares of Jessica has already developed~ High pitch screams too~ >.<