Part One

“Unnie~Unnie~”

A childish whine rang out at a neighborhood playground.

“Nope.”

“Unnie~~”

“Nope.”

“UNNIE PREASEEE~~~”

“NO WAY YOONGIE.”

“YES WAY UNNIE!”

“OH GOD.”

“Why are you calling yourself?”

Jessica couldn’t stop herself from laughing. Yoona was five years younger than her, ridiculously adorable and would sometimes insist that Jessica was god, or goddess, whichever Yoona wanted her to be and whenever it suited her. It was cute the way Yoona said it so casually, so cute that sometimes, Jessica wondered if Yoona would grow up to be those natural flirts. She would be a terror, with that thought in mind, Jessica chuckled again.

The laughter from Jessica brought a grin onto Yoona’s face, which was followed by her bouncing on the swing in delight. She beamed that million watts smile of hers as though she won a million dollars, her features further highlighted by the carefree smile.

Even at this tender age, Yoona could be considered a beauty, although her extremely childish actions and attitude often overrode that physical appeal. She didn’t realize it, or maybe she just didn’t care, preferring to run around with the boys and scramble about looking for spiders to use for pranks and games.

Spiders, ew, Jessica shuddered.

Half of those boys that ran around with Yoona were probably smitten with her, that was Jessica’s illogical assumption, even though she never participated in any of those ‘Yoona and the boys’ adventures. It was for a good reason too— a fifteen years old teen gallivanting with a group of kids that ranged from seven to eleven years old was pretty weird. While they were extremely close, what Yoona did with her group of little friends didn’t interest Jessica one bit. She steered away from them but welcomed Yoona with open arms.

Thinking that Jessica had agreed, Yoona thanked her with a wide smile, eyes sparkling with excitement. However, the sheer delight from wrongly assuming that the laugh was the equivalent of an okay was replaced by a look of anguish when Jessica uttered a firm ‘no’ once again.

Yoona’s face fell; Jessica had to suppress an urge to give her a hug.

“Unnie unnie unnie unnie unnie unnie unnie unnie unnie unnie unnie unn-“

“Yoongie! Stop acting like a broken record player!” Jessica cried, slapping a palm to her forehead before covering her ears in face of the younger girl’s endless chant.

Then she saw a sly grin crack on Yoona’s face.

All according to plan, that look said.

“Say okay!”

“Nope.”

“Hmph!”

“You’re almost eleven, time to grow up Yoongie.”

“Unnie, I’m growing! I grew one cm!”

Jessica rolled her eyes and gently rocked the swing she was on; it was impossible to argue with the pipsqueak, because she had all sorts of unorthodox reasons and counterarguments. When in a pinch, the clockwork in young Yoona’s brain turned faster than Roadrunner escaping from Coyote, and often, she was able to come up with an idea or rebuttal sooner than words “Beep Beep” could be uttered. And if, by chance, nothing else worked, she still had her cute open-mouthed grin to fall back on.

Survival instinct, Jessica concluded months after she met the kid. To be honest, Jessica had always been impressed by Yoona’s ability to twist things her way, as if she had some sort of magical power over all situations. This time, though, was another case.

Not gonna get involved, Jessica repeated in her head, no no no no no.

“Unnie~~”

“No, I won’t do it.”

“But I really wanna be in this sub-unit!”

“Aren’t you already in the Spiders Fighter sub-unit?!”Jessica asked, more out of exasperation than curiosity.

“Um, we broke up, one of the boys got bitten by the spider and cried all the way home. Psssh.” Yoona scoffed, and began imitating that particular boy acting all whiny and bawling his eyes out to his mother.

Jessica chuckled, frustration dissolving the moment Yoona wailed out in mocked pain and started wiping away invisible tears from her eyes. Yoona’s imitation was good, even the running to the mother part.

It became impossible for Jessica to hold in her laughter when she saw Yoona hugged a random pole in the playground, which was forcibly given the role of the mother. Yoona had sensed Jessica's positive appraisal of the little skit and with a lop-sided grin, she looked to Jessica for her praise.

“You’re awesome, Yoongie,” Jessica was clapping and laughing from the absolutely hilarious rendition, “I need to sign you up as an actress.”

Pleased with the compliment, Yoona skipped back to Jessica, eyes bright and spirit renewed. When she was about to open to start another round of ‘unnie unnie’, Jessica was quick to notice and immediately cut in before Yoona got the chance to start her bombardment. 

“Who suggested such a rubbish initiation anyway?” Jessica asked casually, meaning to slowly steer them away from the previous topic.

“Ummmm…” Yoona plopped on the swing, looking thoughtful, “Key? Yep, I think so! He said it’s hard, so the sub-unit will be special!”

“So what’s this sub-unit for? What’s the point of having members that are willing to kiss people of the same ?”

“…Oh. Hmmm.”

She wouldn’t have cared usually, that crazy group Yoona was in had done too many of such antics and her tolerance for it had certainly gone up. But this time, Yoona had gotten her involved. In fact, Yoona had asked to kiss her, on the lips so that she could get into that sub-unit.

What the hell? That Key boy is a total ert, Jessica cursed in her head.

“C’mon, unnie. Help me!” Yoona was at it again; Jessica’s attempt at distraction and logical persuasion had failed. That ten-year-old brain couldn’t be bothered about the long run, only the initiation mattered to Yoona.

“No Yoongie, I’d be a e if I do that,” the cons of this situation outweighed the pros by far, and no matter how much Jessica liked the kid, she wasn’t pr