(dedicated to all the friends that i gained here. perhaps if you are reading this, i hope you know that i'm writing this for you. and i want you to know that we will always be friends, even if we no longer speak to each other) 

there were five of them. yoona, soojung, jongin, mingyu and jisoo. they were together, not all the time, but there were times that they did(and it was of yoona's hearty giggles, jongin's boisterous actions, soojung's slapsticks jokes, mingyu's boyish smiles and jisoo's heartfelt gazes). they separated, lost each other and fought in tears and confusion, with hints of love beneath the lines.

and each of them are walking, falling along the way with dusty knees and shaky legs, trying to stand up as the world attempts to break them, so they can tread on, wishing and hoping that their ends meet.

and they will be together, eventually. when they will be stronger, happier and complete. together.

yoona met soojung when they were in pre-school, and they were eachother's worst enemies, just because they want the same swing to play every recess. they fought for the smallest of things, similar braids, friends, with tongues stucked out in childish mockery and they ended up in tears just because they didn't understand what they were doing. they were at the age where being honest would not hurt anybody, and that emotions are shown blatantly as anger will only result in tears, and reconciled with a hug. hatred and vengeances did not exist, for at that time, they didn't have any space in their heart to. childhood was their peak of happiness, their own version of euphoria.

both of them entered the same elementary school, and groups began to form. they were still together, even though they stood in different places. yoona has always been a playful and bright fellow, but she was also reserved and quiet, and she took her time to open herself to her friends. everybody welcomed her with open arms, because they found comfort in her quietness and ability to listen even at such a young age(they also took notice her bright smiles that could lift a darkened soul).

there were also people who disliked her despite her being herself, because she stood on her principles firmly, like how in 3rd grade she had walked out on the idea to ignore the new transfer student kim jongin, and became his very first friend. it resulted her, being alienated by some group of girls, who thought they own everything and everyone and her. one of them was soojung, and yoona could not help but to look at her with dissapointment when they pushed her around, and soojung did nothing and stood by the side. soojung cried by herself that night because she could not save her friend, just so she was kept in her safe zone.

soojung realized that she was no better than her so-called friends.

she found it ridiculous of them, because on the next few days they started approaching jongin who sat beside her on class. he surprised her by pushing them away with his words that made her snort beside him.

"before you want to be friends with me, i suggest that you brush your teeth properly, because your mouth smells" that sends minah, the supposed leader of the group, with brown hair that is tied into a ponytail into a flushed ball of tomato. then she slammed on his(our) desk and left with her followers holding in their giggles, not before saying a retort of your mouth smells like a rotten rat but jongin wasn't fazed because jongin's breath smelled nothing but strawberry mint paste.

 the boys all cheered and clapped for him, and he grinned widely at yoona, she returned it with two kudos(soojung smiled that at least yoona have earned one true friend).

on sixth grade, yoona suffered from her first crush with the smartest guy on her grade. she thought that the small dimple on his left cheek that appears when he smiles is cute. they never really talk, and jongin couldn't be bothered for stuffs such as introducing her to jiyong. they only said hi in the hallways occasionally and she thought that he was nice, despite all the spiteful things soojung have said about him when soojung slept over her house as yoona confessed her hidden feelings to her long time friend.

"i heard that he is harsh with girls, you know. he is also petty with lots of things"

"soojung, they are only things that you've heard. they might not be true"

"are you confessing to him on valentine's day?"

a blush crept to her cheek. "yes, i am"

"are you mad?! haven't you heard what happened to taeyeon? he literally threw her chocolate in front of her face last valentine!"

"no, soojung. jiyong is nice to me, he wouldn't do that. he wouldn't-"

"yoona, please listen to me-"

"let's stop, soojung. i don't want to talk anymore"

yoona fell asleep first with tears in her eyes, her back facing soojung. she couldn't tell her how afraid she was at jiyong's reply, because soojung would not know. soojung would not understand how it feels to be rejected when all valentines she did only was rejecting others.

on valentine's day, yoona brought chocolates for her classmates that include soojung and jongin. all valentines that they have gone through together, jongin would always fall into a bad, bad mood which he always refused to tell the reason behind. this year, his frown deepened after he saw a specific pink paperbag that she casted aside, that has been adorned intricately.

"yoona, what's that for?"

her face bloomed and his eyebrows furrowed and he could feel his ears reddened.

"it's for jiyong. i'm confessing today, jongin"

"shouldn't it be the other way around? why would you do this?"jongin gritted through his teeth as he could feel jealousy raging inside him.

she sighed. "it would be forever to wait for him, jongin"and jongin let go and hugged her, patting her back, trying to understand his friend's feelings. because he was too much of a kid to do something as brave as her.

yoona had approached jiyong in his class to meet her after school, and then she told soojung and jongin(separately) about it.

"so, yoona what do you want to tell me?"

"urhm, jiyong, so it's been awhile and i think you are nice, and i like you"she said, handing out her chocolate. sweats dripping to her face and she was too afraid to look up.

"is this because i always said hi to you?"

she looked up and her heart fell and she closed her eyes, and she regretted it all and she wanted to hear no more-

"oh my, how naive of you. why would i like you? you are so plain, and the reason that i did that to you was because i heard that soojung is fond of you and that you seem easy to p-"she didn't knew what happened, but the moment she opened her eyes, blurry with tears, she saw jongin flashed from behind her and lunged towards jiyong to punch him. students have surrounded them and boys trying to pull jongin apart from punching the now bruised jiyong any further. when soojung shook her body to reality, she saw soojung talked to sulli and asked her what happened and when she explained the whole thing, her eyes looked at yoona in regret and she walked to jiyong to kick him in the shin with a "don't you ever try to approach me, yoona or even him"while pointing at herself, yoona and jongin, pushing his body in the end. yoona then approached jongin, hands stretched to his hand.

"i'm sorry, jongin. does your hand hurt? are you hurt anywhere?"tears falling to her face, jongin pushed her hand away and diverted her eyes from her, not liking the sight if her crying.

sighs. "hey, wipe away those tears, okay?stop crying. and, just give me that chocolate and i'll be better"

she cracked a smile and retracted her right hand, turning her attention to the box in her left hand"this? but this is for-"

"i wouldn't let him take this. I should be the one to receive this anyway. and hey, crying doesn't suit you, okay?"he snatched the chocolate from her hand and walked away with a silly grin etched to his face, a little bit embarrassed at his last few words, but he managed to hold in his facepalming habit until he got out of her sight.

1 minute and 6 seconds later, yoona flushed deep red at realizing jongin's indirect confession. but the next day, none of them mentioned anything about her broken valentine and his feelings, and only more warmth engulfed both of their hearts.

in middle school, soojung stayed beside yoona and she was more than glad to find out that the annoying bunch of her so-called friends attend a whole different school, and therefore it was easier to lose contact with them. the presence of jongin raised soojung's eyebrow. the guy could not get any more oblivious to his feelings.

"hey, why are you always hanging out with us?"soojung said one day when they sat at the canteen's table, yoona standing in the lane,buying a bunch of food too much for her stomach to handle.

"why do you mind? i have always hung out with yoona before you came. i should be the one asking you"he snapped at her, his thick eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. she noticed since elementary school that he had a really short temper and his reddened ears gave away his anger.

"you get angry too fast, you know? i wonder how could yoona handle you after all this years"

his face softened. "it's easy. she never gives me a reason to"and a small smile skulked to his lips. a smile soojung had never seen before. soojung felt a strange sensation in her stomach, but she chose to ignore the feeling because she refused to get in a way of two souls, in a process of uniting.

on 8th grade, yoona was still bright and herself like she used to, and she blended in well with the crowd, but it didn't mean that she compeletely followed the stream that went by. but not jongin, who wavered and desired the lime light above his head and attention(other than yoona's), followed through the stream and by secondth year in middle school, they no longer sit beside each other as they were no longer in the same class and a whole different group. yoona had sighed sadly upon realizing the change because jongin longed for a bigger crowd than her, and that he turned out the same as everybody else, who conform themselves to the exact stereotypes that she always hated.

she understood, for jongin was bound to meet lots of different people who will have different roles in his life, and she knew that she won't always be there for him. to say that she wanted him all for herself was selfish, but she did not expect him to completely ignore her existence like they did not share a single memory together. yoona did not expect for everything to end so fast(yoona is reminded of the true meaning of sadness that day, similar to the day she lost her mother).

jongin joined the basketball team and through sweats and blood and tears, became the ace of their school, and everybody loved him and the girls showed their interest in him, with his boyish smirks and tanned exotic skin. girls have taken their interest in him, but they never tried to approach him, just because he was with yoona and he has always been too busy to bask in the warmth of her light. with her seemingly not around him, opened up opportunities for them. soojung laughed in bitterness at the sight of girls crowding around jongin and his friends' table, whilst yoona continue to eat her food silently, sitting at a table far away from them.

"yoona, look at the amount of girls chasing him. it's ridiculous!"

"let them be, they probably just realized his charms"

"what a coincidence! just right after winning the basketball tournament. yoona, they are biting the bait!"her tone was full of sarcasm, but yoona knew that she was mad at him.

she was beyond furious when all of a sudden jongin had stopped talking to them and when they passed him in the hallways, soojung witnessed yoona trying to meet his eyes and only ignored with jongin walking straight with his boisterous friends walking with him. she was only friends with him because of yoona, and it infuriated her how jongin have decided to ignore her like she never existed.

"in kim jongin left you for glory, im yoona!"she hissed with eyes in anger and she clenched her fist tight. yoona was surprised of course, because she has never seen soojung getting angry to the point of being like this, desperate and sad. and when she got no response, she slammed the table in front of her. "why aren't you mad?!"she screamed, and the canteen fell into a silence, all eyes turned to them and their friends, jinri and sooyoung who witnessed everything silently, decided to intervene by scurrying to soojung's side and held her down and attempted to calm her. yoona didn't realize that she had stood up the moment soojung did when she screamed and she froze up, and soojung ended up crying as jinri hugged her whispering calm down soojung please understand yoona she is also suffering please and she realized what she had done.

soojung has always been the one to act before thinking rather than the opposite. she still went on with tears falling, in confusion and regret this time. "why are you so calm-"she whimpered.

please say something, anything, scream at me, be angry at me, anything, just don't hold anything back, soojung wants to scream at her but yoona stood still on her ground with unreadable eyes and all attention were focused on them(including jongin's).

a lump on forced her heavy breath to show on her voice. "you are not on your right mind, soojung. talk to me when you gather up your thoughts, and actually watch over your mouth"her answer is brusque and void of emotions, and soojung could see tears in her eyes and her shaky voice and ragged breaths before she walked out of cafetaria, passing by his table and he gripped her arm before she walked out.

he hesitated for a moment and then continued.

"was that about me?"she felt flinging his hand away from her, because she was so hurt, by the fact he didn't realize he had hurted her and that he still had the courage to ask her such thing. she couldn't remember the jongin yesterday whom she could not get her thoughts straight about, by seeing the guy in front of her, with pretentious facades and empty laughs.

"don't ever think that you are still a part of my life, kim jongin. you no longer exist, the moment you walk out on your words"she snarled and her eyes met his and he could see so much anger and dissapointment in it. he looked away in shame and let go of her hand as she stomped away. as soon as she reached the ladies toilet, she locked herself in one of the stalls and broke down, shoulders shaking uncontrollably, palm helplessly covering that croaked out sad wails of her morose. she was ashamed that soojung had put out her feelings in front of the whole world, because everybody knew for damn sure that im yoona is angered for all the right reasons. because kim jongin left her and walked away without even looking back. she had intended to keep her anger bottled until it dies down, but how wrong was she because bottled anger only evolves into hatred.

on the 2nd semester of her secondth year, her cousin mingyu has transferred to her school, and her life grew brighter because mingyu and her has always been two peas in a pod on their family holidays, and they both knew each other as good as they knew themselves. it has been awhile since the students talk and whisper unforgivingly behind her back ever since the accident at the canteen, and their talks only made her stronger, and of course the sunshine yoona has always been is overshadowed by the gruff and cold her that is used to protect herself. soojung understood and even though she missed her beams and sunshine smiles, she liked yoona with darker colours where people were too afraid to use her(she has always been too kind for her own sake).

she received another round of stares that she was too familiar at that day, when she walked side by side with her cousin, who is too engrossed on his phone, playing clash of clans for the whole walk from her home, with her slapping and hitting him here and there, so he would put his phone away and walk properly.

"oh god, i hate this"

"what?"

"you stand out too much, gyu. why are you so frickin tall anyway?"

"they are amazed by handsomeness you know"

"i would not say a guy who speaks like that as handsome though"

he smiled, revealing two sets of pearly white teeths and she caught a sight of his sharp canine teeth that she could say, to be one of his charms that would make girls swoon at the sight, just because how playful his smile looked. "i'm glad that you are my cousin, seriously"

"you should be, and if you are going to hang out with me"she started, then while walking and side-eyeing the girls around her,"you should start to get a hold of yourself, you know, control yourself"she waved her hand infront of her face, gesturing her facial expression and he only shot her a confused look, whilst raising his shoulder; she slapped her palms to her face.

"oh god, stop flirting kim mingyu"she slapped the back of his neck as soon as she caught a sight of him throwing smiles at passerbys(in which they responded with blushed cheeks and squeals of giggles). "i don't want anymore unnecessary attention directed to me-"

"-wait, is it because of him-"

"hey, there you are--"soojung somehow cut her hair that reached her hips and now it only reached her chest in black wide whorls, but nonethlessly she still looked exquisite and pretty in it. there was something about soojung's beauty that yoona could name as precious and expensive and rare. and mingyu had heard of her through yoona's stories and her description of her was so detailed that jung soojung could only be her.

"hey, so who's this?"their introduction followed and soojung's response to mingyu was not well because soojung thought mingyu is overloaded with charms and the way he smiles irked her(yoona still notices the little curve of her lips that she tried to hide when she caught a sight of his canine teeth, and yoona smiled warmly because jung soojung is still like other girls who falls for the little things). despite his tall height, mingyu joined baseball because he thought basketball was too overrated, and that he refused to cooperate with the same person who hurted her.

she stopped walking when she heard it.

"hey, mingyu. you are still so young, you don't need to think about me-"

"you are young, too. we both are still young."

"what i mean is, you only need to think about yourselves, you don't need to think about me, i don't want you to do this because of me"

"i have made my decision yoona-"

"-just because jongin left me, doesn't mean you have to hate him. it's unfair for him-"

"goddammit, yoona, how could i? you are my cousin, and it's also unfair for you. i would not do this if we are not this close"

she sighed, tucking tresses of hair behind her ear then continued to walk. "then let it be your way. just don't go backing on your words. you know i hate it"she stated, while he grinned at her.

"i still think you should honestly do basketball though. you got the height and the skills, i haven't seen you play in groups, but i think you will do well-"

he encircled his arms around her neck, forcefully pulling her closer playfully. "i should try new things here. what's the fun in doing the same thing from time to time anyway" then he messed with her hair, and she managed to step on his feet and wrung her body out of his grasp.

"oh god kim mingyu, stop poking on my nerves!"she hissed, with scrunched eyebrows and she stomped away to her class, with him chasing behind whilst dragging his perhaps damaged feet.

kim jongin only stared longingly from his group of friends, walking in the hallway passing them, missing the days where everything was simple and true, where he was him and she was her and they were just themselves.

Hi! So here is another one! Comments are welcomed, I am eager to hear your thoughts about it, and there's part 2 coming, so stay tune!