Youngjae parted from his mother after one final hug goodbye, padding softly into the bright new room filled with other squirmy children his age, the sound of screaming laughter and squeals bouncing off the colorful walls. Everything was so new and different. So different from his cozy home, and Youngjae actually felt a little scared, alone in such a foreign place.

                He carefully looked over his shoulder and watched as his mother casted him a reassuring smile before quietly leaving down the hall. Youngjae’s eyes then fell to the floor, his lunchbox bopping against his little knees. Another child ran by, bumping into his shoulder in the process, too distracted by a poorly folded paper airplane zooming over their heads to even notice him. Youngjae pouted. He’d much rather be at home watching cartoons than to be here.

                He glanced around and noticed all the life around him, children scrambling over each other with bubbly giggles and lively shouts. The amount of bright colors in one room made his head spin a little. He didn’t know anyone here – they were all blobs of terror.

                Youngjae, at a lost for anything else to do, waddles towards a far table in the corner of the room, secluded from all the other children tumbling about each other. He pulls out a chair and climbs on top, placing his bag and lunch box carefully onto the surface of the small table. The boy paused for a moment to watch as a kid ran by, chased by another child, incidentally knocking over a small block tower a little girl had been scrambling to build.  A loud cry was heard and all children in the room paused to glance over just as the teacher came running inside from the hallway to see what was going on. Youngjae turned away, uninterested, and opened up his bag, hands fumbling inside of it before finally managing to pull out a small pencil box.

                His mother had made it a point to make sure that he was prepared from head to toe for his first day of kindergarten. His uniform was in check and his hair neatly brushed into straight, obsidian bangs fanned over his forehead. In his pencil box he had exactly five number 2 pencils, two erasers, a small pencil sharpener, a small pack of crayons, and a rainbow gel pen. He took the last item out and stared down at it.

                The rainbow gel pen was the best thing in that box. It had all the colors of the rainbow arranged in a neat little line down the tube. The first color in the line was purple and Youngjae couldn’t wait to use it. It was the color of the little flowers that grew out in his mother’s garden, his favorite fruit, and the cover of the book his brother always seemed to be reading.  He liked the way the color seemed to sparkle underneath the sunlight seeping through the windows beside him, a twinkle similar to the cotton candy pink and violet splayed across the sky just as the sun sets and the sky succumbs to black.

                The boy leaned forward and pulled a free sheet of paper piled in the middle of the circular table towards himself, settling it before him as he uncapped the rainbow gel pen in his hands. He stared down at the blank canvas momentarily before allowing himself to carefully press the tip of his pen against the white surface, watching as the liquidly, glittery purple dot seeped into the page. The corner of his lips edged up ever-so slightly as he drew a small circle, tracing purple loops around it, the image of tiny purple flowers scattered around his mother’s garden fixed inside his mind.

                He drew the same thing over and over again, purple blossoms littering every inch of the page, not a single spot left unmarked. The four year old paused to admire his creation, holding the sheet up against the light of the window, a proud smile spreading across his face.

                His moment quickly ended as the sound of the teacher calling for order pulled the boy out of his trance and the screams and laughter of the other children in the classroom slowly died down. Youngjae turned back around and watched as his classmates all found a place to sit. Some already seemed to be best friends, scrambling to sit next to each other as the tables quickly filled. Youngjae placed his drawing down on his lap, underneath the table, shi