"Alright, bend your knees a bit. Yeah like that. Now bring this arm up and keep the elbow up. This hand over this one and there you're all set with the position." Ho Dong smiled at Sa Ra as he adjusted her position a bit to hit the baseball. She had been Ho Dong's best and only friend since the day in the grass. Well her and her younger brother that tagged a long every once in a while. "Okay now i'll throw the ball and we'll see how you do!" 

 

He picked up the baseball and sprinted to the other end of the field. Winding up with an easier pitch then he was use to, he let it go and the ball went flying straight to her. She was scared to say the least. She didn't want to the ball to hit her like when they were just practicing catching. She steadied her arms and SWOOSH-CLINK.

 

The ball made contact with the metal bat and soared through the air. Ho Dong looked up as it arched over his head and passed the park fence. "AAAANNNND IT'S OUT OF HERE! THAT WAS GREAT!!!" He sprinted back to her and the two hugged and jumped around to see her skills at batting. "Wait... that was our only ball..."

 

"Uh oh... sorry Dongie. We can go get a new one if you want."

 

"Nahhh I think we've done enough for today. I have more at home anyway. Plus I'm kind of hungry haha." His stomach growled for effect and she giggled.

 

"Come on we can go eat at my house. My mom has kimbap, she made it this morning!" She took his hand in her free hand and they sprinted home. When they got to the gate of her house they were sweaty and covered in dirt. Her hair was sticking to her forehead and her ponytail had loosened. She was fixing it when her sister walked out of the house.

 

"Ewww seriously pip squeak you need to stop hanging around with this kid before you end up a total boy." Mae Ri was older than the two by five years and she had trouble adjusting to life in Busan. She was a Seoul girl that loved to go shopping with her friends at the higher end boutiques and it was safe to say she didn't really like her small neighborhood in Busan. Busan was a city of it's own with an exciting life but it was an excitement that Mae Ri just couldn't appreciate.

 

"Mae Mae be nice to someone for once will ya?" Sa Ra scowled at her older sister.

 

"I'm sorry noona, I didn't mean to bring her home all dirty." Ho Dong avoided eye contact with the older girl and ushered his friend into the home. As he opened the door an excited voice yelled out.

 

"Hyuuuuunnnggg!!!" a four year old Joon came bounding down the stairs. "Hyung Hyung, mom made lunch can we play when we finish eating? Did you guys play baseball? I want to play too! Oh please hyung please please please please please-"

 

"Joonie stop that right now." Joon hushed up as soon as his mother's voice was heard. "I told you that you couldn't go out and play today because you have a fever. Now off to bed with you and wait for me to bring you up some soup and kimbap.

 

"Yes mommy." The boy dragged his feet up the steps and his mother gave a stern but loving smile. Ho Dong always thought that Sa Ra's mom was beautiful. She was petite with long black hair and doll like hands and feet. For someone who looked so fragile she was like a military officer in the home. The rules of the house were strict but not suffocating. If anything it's what a home should be like. Warm but orderly. Comfortable and clean. "Hello my darlings. I bet you ran all the way here because you worked up an appetite. Take those muddy shoes off and go upstairs to change while I set the table."

 

"Yes mommy!" Sa Ra cried like her brother before taking Ho Dong's hand again and leading him up the stairs. "Here" she said. It's the clothes you had last time that got all muddy. Mom washed them for you so you can wear them around the house after we play." He took the clothes and walked to the bathroom while Sa Ra changed in her room. When the two were tidy enough to set foot in the kitchen Sa Ra's mother had finished setting the table and serving each child with a good helping of kimbap and soup. "I hope you like cheese in your kimbap Dongie, that's how Sa Ra and Joon always love to eat it."

 

"Cheese kimbap is my favorite ma'am thank you very much!" She laughed at his excitement before patting his head and retreating to take a plate to Joon. When she was out of hearing range Ho Dong allowed himself the opportunity to ask Sa Ra a question that he's always wondered about. "Hey Sa Ra..."

 

"Hmmm?" She said through a mouthful of kimbap.

 

"How come - well I mean why- where's your dad?" He finally asked before quickly looking down at his soup.

 

"Oh, umm-"

 

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to! Like you said that's your business and if you don't want to tell me you shouldn't have to."

 

"It's okay, I guess I can tell you since your my best friend." Ho Dong brightened at the words 'best friend'. He had always considered them to be best friends, but neither of them had ever declared it official. It was nice to know she considered him her best friend as well. "You see about a year after Joon was born my dad got an emergency call from the hospital he worked in. He was a surgeon and someone had come in with an emergency but the other surgeons were already opening up other people so he had to go and he was driving really fast in the rain and all of a sudden a truck backed out really fast from a parking place and he tried not to hit it but ended up crashing and well...." She took the first pause for breath in that whole story, "He died as soon as the crash  happened. The doctor said he didn't feel any pain." Tears started falling from Sa Ra's eyes and Ho Dong realized that it was the first time he had seen her cry. He felt awful, like it was his fault for making her think of such terrible things. He gathered her in his arms and held her in a comforting hug.

They were even now; they had seen each other cry. It was a vulnerability that no one else had ever or will ever see, a vulnerability meant just for each other.