Donghae turns to you with a triumphant smile. "Beat you!" He opens his door and hops inside the car.

You catch up and open the passenger side door. "Yah! You cheated!" you say, hopping into your seat.

"I did not," he replies with a smile, loosening the grey scarf around his neck.

"You did too," you retort, fastening your seat belt.

"How?" he asks, reaching for his seat belt.

You stare at him for a moment, catching your breath from running. "You got a head start."

He chuckles as he starts the engine. "Want a rematch?" he asks with a grin as he pulls out the of the parking space and onto the road.

"Sure," you say with a hint of sarcasm.

"You're on," he says, pulling over the car at a convienent stop a few blocks away.

"Mwuh?" Your eyes widen a little. "Are you serious?"

He chuckles. "Since when did we ever not have a rematch?"

You stare at him, your eyes narrowing. Is he serious? Apparently he is, because he unbuckles his seat belt and opens the door. 

"You coming?"

You blink. "I guess so."

He sends you a smile then turns to get out of the car.

"Aish..." you mutter, following suit. You slide out and shut the door behind you. You turn to face Donghae who has come over to your side. He gives you a smile from over his thick scarf that he is tightening again.

"There's a park just a couple of blocks away. I thought we could walk over there."

"Not run?" You smirk, raising an eyebrow at him.

"We can have our rematch at the park," he replies. He says this with a straight face and you can't discern the emotion from his eyes since he's wearing sunglasses. 

"Why did you even bother bringing the car?" you ask.

"I don't know. We might need it later," he replies before starting to walk. "Ready to go?" He grins.

You shake your head. Crazy 형 [hyung]. "Sure." 

****

2004.04.28 (April 28, 2004)

You head downstairs, your hair still slightly damp from your shower. You walk into the living room and see Donghae sitting on the floor on  top of a bunch of sleeping bags and blankets with a bunch of movies laid out on the floor in front of him. 

"Jaehwa-ah," he says, hearing your footsteps. "I found some more movies that we could watch." He turns to face you, his hair also slightly damp from his own shower. "Nice pjs," he says, noting your Spider-man pajamas with a smile. 

"Wish I could say the same about yours," you smirk. He's wearing light blue pajamas with dogs and dog bones all over them. 

"Yah!" he says, his tone slightly injured. "Dogs are cute."

"Just joking." You take a seat next to him on the ground. "So, what are we watching?" 

"How about a Disney movie first?" he asks, gesturing to a few of the movies. "Which one do you want to watch?"

"How about..." you pause, thinking about the different choices. You point to the one closest to him. "Mulan."

"O.K." he says. He hands you the movie. "Put it in while I go make the popcorn."

"Aye, Aye! Captain!" you say, raising your hand to your forehead and giving him a salute. 

He salutes you in return and runs off to the kitchen.

A few minutes pass and you both are sitting on the floor, backs up against the couch, eating popcorn with your eyes glued to the screen.  

You reach into the bowl of popcorn and grab a handful. As you are bringing your handful back to you, you drop some of it on Donghae. 

"Yah! Watch it, Jaehwa! You got some on me!" he complains gesturing to the few pieces of popcorn on his pajama pants. 

"Oh, quit whining you baby. Just eat it," you say, concentrating on the movie. A few seconds later, you feel something lightly bounce off you.

You whip your head to face Donghae, who is staring up at the TV, obviously pretending to be completely absorbed by it. His lip twitches as if trying not to crack a smile. His eyes shift slightly in your direction. "What?"

You look back at the TV, reaching down for more popcorn. You bring it back to you and pop a few kernals in your mouth before tossing a few at him.

"Yah!" he cries, turning to you. "What was that for?"

"What was what for?" You look back at him, raising your eyebrows with an all too innocent look on your face. 

He shakes his head then turns his attention back to the TV. You smirk, knowing that you got the last laugh. You turn back to watch the movie, satisfied. 

A few minutes pass and then you feel a few popcorn pieces land on you. "Oops! 미안해[mianhae], 형제[hyungjae, brother]." 

You look at him, running your tongue against your bottom left side teeth in irritation. He is staring at the TV, biting his lower lip to keep from laughing. He leans forward, covering his mouth and pretending to be really into the movie.

You reach over to grab some popcorn, but he snatches it away, still staring fixedly at the TV with his mouth hanging open slightly, reminding you of a fish in a fish tank. 

"Hand it over, Fishy." 

"Fishy? Is that the best insult you can come up with?" he asks, popping some popcorn in his mouth.

You lunge for the popcorn, grabbing a little before he can pull the bowl away from you. You shove some of it in your mouth before hurling the rest at him. 

"Where's your respect, huh?" he looks at you with mock injury. 

You reach over to grab some more popcorn, but he moves it away from your grasp. You narrow your eyes at him. "I'll show you respect." You lunge forward, knocking him down onto his back and pinning him to the ground. You wrench the bowl from his hand and dump the contents onto his head, popcorn flying all over his face and the blankets underfoot.  With a satisfied smirk, you unpin him. "Muhahaha! I have vanquished the evil 형 [hyung]!" 

He stares at you, surprised. Popcorn litters his head like garbage on the side of a busy highway. You burst out laughing at your accomplishment. 

"Aigoo!" he cries. He sits up and some pieces fall from his hair.

"It's like you had a fight with a popcorn machine..." you say, doubling over with more laughter. You roll onto your back, laughing at him. You close your eyes and clutch your hands over your stomach to your sides, continuing your laughter.

A mischeivous smile creeps up onto Donghae's face as an idea forms in his mind, like a young child finally discovering how to best the school bully at his own game. 

Tears start to form in your eyes from laughing so hard. You take a deep breathe to steady yourself. You keep your eyes closed as you get your last bit of chuckling out. "Aigoo..." you mutter happily. You let out a breath and open your eyes.

His face is just centimeters from yours. "Boo."

"Eeeek!" you squeal, your voice sounding like a frightened mouse on helium.

He pulls away in a burst of laughter. "What was that?"

"Shut up!" you retort, hoping your voice doesn't sound like that at the moment.

He continues laughing. "Now I've vanquished the evil 동생 [dongsaeng]... or should I say mouse."

You grab some popcorn off the floor and chuck it at him. 

He grins and grabs some too. "How about a rematch?"

"You're on."

****

Present:

The frigid air of a winter breeze swirls around you. You pull your baseball cap lower and hug your jacket closer to you as you and Donghae enter the park. 

"Cold?" asks Donghae, looking at you with raised eyebrows.

"No," you lie.

He scoffs. "Ok..."

"I'm fine, really."

He shakes his head in disbelief. "Then how about that rematch now? Race you to the swing set on the other side of the park."

"Now?" you look up at him like he's crazy. 

He chuckles. "네[Ne]."

Well...

It is pretty cold outside... Running would warm you up, but then again, you are how old? You look around and notice that the park is pretty empty...

He elbows you in the side. "Well?"

You give him a grin. "You're on!" You take off in a mad dash towards the swing set. 

"Yah!" he calls after you. You can hear his feet pounding on the sidewalk just behind you. "I'm catching up!"

"Not on my watch!" you shout, picking up your pace, sprinting away from him as fast as your feet will take you. You hurry down the sidewalk and onto the grass, beelining your way to the swingset.

"I'm catching up!" calls Donghae. He's not. His voice is further than it was. 

"Liar!" you call back, chuckling.

"Sure about that?!" His voice sounds a lot closer... You glance back. He is catching up. You try to run fa