The little girl ran barefoot through the soft grass, her long black hair streaming out behind her like a kite’s tail.  She dodged through the playground’s obstacle course and climbed up the sturdy rope ladder.  She climbed up and up, as quickly as her tiny body allowed her to, finally reaching the highest point: a tall, faded red slide that was built around a towering tree.

The boy sprinted after her, grabbing her arm just as she was about to scramble down the slide.  He pulled her back onto the small platform at the peak of the slide and stuck out his bottom lip.

“Yah!  Seoyoon-ah!  I told you to wait for me!” He pouted and crossed his arms in indignation.

The girl giggled, her eyes taking the shape of orange slices as she smiled at him.  “Then you should have run faster!  It’s your own fault you’re not as fast as I am.”  She smirked but sat next to the boy, taking hold of his small hand.  Both of them were silent for a few seconds.

“Kyu, are you going to miss me when I’m gone?”  She suddenly asked him, her gaze locking with his.  He made a face and squeezed her hand, lacing his slender fingers with her tiny ones.

“How many times have I told you to call me Kyuhyun oppa?  You’re younger than I am.”

“You’re not my real oppa, Kyu.  The only person I call ‘oppa’ is Sungmin because he’s my real oppa.  And I don’t really call him oppa very often because the word ‘oppa’ sounds weird in my mouth.  It feels funny.”

“You’re ridiculous, you little koala.  Don't you know that girls are supposed to call all older guys oppa, not just their real oppas?”

“You’re ridiculous, Gamekyu.  I can do whatever I want and there’s nothing you can do about it.  And you didn’t answer my question.”  She stuck out her tongue at him and he laughed, but then he grew serious and hesitated.

“It’s not like you’re going to be gone forever, right?  You visited me last summer, and this summer too.  Aren’t you coming back next year?”

She bit her lip and frowned, staring off into the distance.

“I don’t know about this time.”  She looked out at the rest of the park spanning in front of her, eyes wide.  She took in the trees, the brightly colored swings, the monkey bars, and the rest of the playground.  The entire park was bathed in a soft orange light, as it was almost sunset.  “Remember what I told you a few days ago?  Umma and Appa said that I can’t come here anymore.  I have to go to the United States every summer to learn English.”

“I thought that schools in Korea taught English too.  Can’t you learn English here instead?”  A worried tone crept into his voice.

“Yeah, but Umma and Appa want me to get a better education.  Appa says that some of the people here at teaching English and it’ll be better if I learned in the United States.  Besides, I want to see what America’s like.  Wouldn’t you want to?”

“Well, what about Sungmin and Sungjin?  Why aren’t they going too?”

“No.  Umma and Appa asked, but Sungmin’s not interested in learning English.  And Sungjin’s still too young for this.”

Kyuhyun stayed silent but glanced down at his feet.  Seoyoon opened to say something else, but before she could, she felt herself being pushed down the tall slide.  She slid in several tightly-wound circles before finally landing face-first in the slowly cooling grass.

“Watch out!”  She looked up just in time to see Kyuhyun sliding down towards her, landing hard on her back and causing her to yelp in surprise.

“Kyu!”  She yelled in a muffled voice.  Her face was pressed into the sweet smelling grass.  “Get off of me!”

He got off her back and smirked as he watched her stumble up and wipe the dirt from her face.  She shot him a glare.

“Why did you do that?”  She whined.

“I already warned you that I was coming down.  It’s your fault that your reflexes aren’t as good as mine.”  His mouth formed the slightest grin and his dark brown eyes were opened wide.  His black hair was messy from sliding down, and although his words were anything but, he looked so innocent and cute that the girl couldn’t stop herself from smiling as well.  But that didn’t stop her from punching his shoulder.  Kyuhyun recoiled, feigning hurt.

“But Seoyoon-ah, we're best friends, right?  Best friends don’t punch each other,” he whimpered, curling himself up into a ball and plastering a frown on his face.

Seoyoon rolled her eyes and scoffed but edged closer to him so that their hands were touching once more.  Her voice took on a note of seriousness again.

“I’m actually gonna miss you a lot, Kyu,” she said quietly.  “To be honest, I don’t really want to leave.  But at the same time, I want to do as Umma and Appa says.  Don’t worry though.  I’m sure I’ll see you again one day.  We’re only six.  There’s so many more years of our lives left.  And how could I leave my best friend behind?”

“Hey!  I’m not six anymore.  I turned seven a few months ago.”  He smiled and head-butted her shoulder gently.  She acknowledged his display of affection by absentmindedly patting his entire face as she stared off into the distance, her eyes unfocused again.  He smirked at her but scooted closer to her and rested his head on her shoulder.

The two children sat like this on the grass for several minutes, taking comfort in knowing that the other was still by their side.  There were only a few days until Seoyoon would start school again, and she would be going back home the next morning.  Neither of the children knew when they would meet next.  Far into the distance, an older child approached the playground.

“Seoyoon-ah!  Umma says that we have to leave now!”  The boy slowly came closer to the two children but kept a reasonable distance.

“Sungmin’s here.  Kyu, I have to go now.”  Seoyoon started to stand but Kyuhyun pulled her back down, gripping her hand tighter than he had ever done so before.

“But Seoyoon-ah…”  Kyuhyun’s eyes grew wet within seconds, and suddenly hot tears were threatening to spill over.  “I don’t want you to leave either,” he whispered so faintly that Seoyoon could barely hear him.

“But I’m not really leaving,” she said brightly, slipping her hand out of his and standing up.  “I’ll come back one day.  You’ll see.”  She tried her best to smile, but her eyes were filled with sadness.  “I wouldn’t leave you like this.  We’re best friends.  And best friends don’t leave each other, right?”

Without warning, Kyuhyun bolted up and hugged her as tightly as he could.  He kissed the top of her head gently and buried his face into her hair, breathing in her sweet scent for what was potentially the last time.  He sniffled and a tiny tear trickled down his pale cheek, landing on her head.  She looked up and her face fell as she saw that he was close to bursting into tears.

“Kyu, ” she whimpered.  “Stop crying.  Please?  You’re only making this worse for both of us.”  With those words, a tear spilled from her own eye, but she looked away and wrapped her arms tightly around his body so that he wouldn’t see.  “I need to go and you need to say bye to me.  And that you’ll miss me as much as I’m gonna miss you.”

“But I don’t wanna say bye to you.  It’s gonna make it sound like you’re leaving forever and never coming back.”  His voice shook slightly and his tears flowed freely down his face.  “You stupid koala.  I thought I told you that I didn’t want you to leave.”  Seoyoon lifted her head and looked up into his wet eyes, blinking back her own tears.

“I’m not stupid.  Idiot.”  A corner of slowly turned up in a faint smirk.  “Bye, Gamekyu.”

“Gamekyu oppa,” he corrected, pouting through his tears.  “Why is it that you never call me oppa?  I don’t think I’ve ever heard you call me oppa before.”

“Because I heard someone say that people in America don’t call people who actually aren’t related to them by names that you only give your relatives.  And I already told you that I just think it’s weird.”

“You’re weird,” Kyuhyun muttered, squeezing her harder than ever.

She smiled a little sadly and counted to ten before pulling away.  When she did, she suddenly reached up and pressed her lips onto his left cheek.

“I’ll see you later, Kyuhyun.”  With one last look and a small wave, she walked away and took her older brother’s hand.  The two siblings walked off into the distance, leaving Kyuhyun there by himself.  Seoyoon didn’t look back.  Kyuhyun sat in the grass and watched as the afternoon slowly turned into evening and the sky grew dark.  A few minutes later, he could no longer see Seoyoon and Sungmin.

“I’ll miss you too, Seoyoon,” he said quietly into the darkness.  He took a deep breath and let it out again.  “And I hope that we’ll meet again someday.”