“Remember, when things were hard, I always turned your tears into smiles.”

My Turn to Cry ― EXO

All these years, she has always been the place he went back, after traveling and getting lost in places.

All these years, Jung Eunji has always been his home.

-

Their first meeting was totally cliché, just like the soap operas.

Baekhyun found her was crying a river and she was sitting on the ground, with dirty clothes. Right in front of them, there were several kids clapping their hands, enjoying the view. Baekhyun narrowed his eyes and realized those kids were the delinquents at their neighborhood.

Baekhyun fastened his steps and reached her. After assuring she wasn’t injured, Baekhyun took a look at them. “Do you want to play it hard way or easy?” His question was enough to make they trembled a bit. Baekhyun was a bit known at the neighborhood because he was joining the hapkido centre nearby, and he was good at his moves.

It took only ten minutes for those delinquents to finally walk away. Baekhyun rested his hands on his waist as he waited for them to really leave the spot. And after he was sure, he squatted down and looked at the little girl.

“Are you okay?” He asked worriedly. “Did they hurt you somewhere?”

That little girl was only crying and sobbing.

Baekhyun scratched his nape, confused what should he do to her. “Where is your home? Let me get you home.”

She shook her head, crying even louder.

“Why?” Baekhyun asked confusedly. “Do you forget your address?”

“Eomma…” She sobbed. “Eomma.. Would be angry with me…” She pointed her dirty shirt. “I promise her.. I won’t mess up…” She cried out. “I can’t go home.. Eomma will be angry…” She shook her head.

Baekhyun nodded his head in understanding and took out a damp towel he just used before at the centre and tried to clean the dirt. “Aish,  it’s no use..” He grumbled. “How about I’ll get you home and tell your mother about this? I’m sure she won’t be angry, right? She will understand.”

She looked at him longingly. “Will she?”

Baekhyun nodded. “She will. I messed up too often sometimes, but my mother understands. I believe your mother would be as kind as mine.”

She beamed. Baekhyun helped her to stand up and wiped her tears stain away with his hands. He didn’t see the girl was blushing, because he was too busy calming his heart down as well. He was never standing this close with a girl, because he was an only child and the only female he knew very well was his mother only.

“Perfect.” He smiled and grabbed her hand, and walked hand in hand with her.

Baekhyun didn’t know whether it was a coincidence or a fate, when that little girl showed him the way he always took to go home. When she pointed a house across his house, he then remembered his mother once talked about a new neighbor just moved in and they had a daughter which at his age.

When Baekhyun told her that little news, the girl beamed even wider. She looked so happy, as if she just found something precious to keep.

“We can be friends! Best friends!” She squealed.

Baekhyun nodded, liking her excitement. “But we haven’t introduced ourselves yet.” Baekhyun held out his right hand and smiled brightly at her. “My name is Byun Baekhyun, but for you, you are very allowed to call me Baekhyun.”

That little girl took his hand and smiled back at him. “Hello, Baekhyun. I’m Jung Eunji. Let’s be friends, shall we?”

Baekhyun chuckled, and then he nodded at her offer. “Of course, let’s be best buddies.”

++

Eunji was transferred to his elementary school, but in different class.

Knowing this, Baekhyun decided to ask her to go to school together. And of course, she agreed on his offer.

Eunji was a fast learner, or so he heard from the teachers at the teacher’s longue. She was just got transferred, but she could keep up the lessons and caught the teachers’ attention.

“You are famous.” Baekhyun said as he opened his lunch box. That week was his return to eat lunch at her classroom. Eunji was smart, but she was an awkward turtle. She didn’t have too many friends there, because her dialect was odd for some students. So Baekhyun kindly introduced her to some of his friends.

“Is it because of my dialect? Hmf. I’m still trying to get rid of it. I really want to be able to talk like you. People won’t look at me weirdly if I could talk like you.” Eunji pouted and chopped a fresh tomato, then put in on Baekhyun’s lunch box.

“Yah, yah, I will let your mother know about this, okay? Your mother said you should eat more vegetables, Eunji.” Baekhyun gazed at her. “And don’t worry about it, Eunji, your dialect is cute. I really like it. It’s pretty.” He smiled and put some cucumber on her lunch box.

Eunji rolled her eyes. “Your mother also said you need to eat more vegetables.”

“Cucumber is not vegetables. It’s an alien’s food. How can you eat that? Even the smell is disgusting.” Baekhyun shook his head.

“But cucumber is delicious!”

“And so is tomato.”

They glared at each other, before Eunji finally said, “Fine, you win.”

Baekhyun stuck out his tongue playfully and continued enjoying their meals.

For him, by sitting and eating together with her was enough to make his day went well.

++

Baekhyun introduced his very best friend, Park Chanyeol, to her.

And of course, Eunji was hiding behind Baekhyun when she was first meeting the latter. She was scared seeing Baekhyun’s best friend with glasses and big body, because somehow it reminded her with the delinquents before.

“It’s okay, he is nice, trust me. He is harmless, I can guarantee you that.” Baekhyun tried to assure her.

Chanyeol blinked confusedly seeing Eunji was hiding behind Baekhyun. “Is she okay? If she is not okay, you should take her home, Baek.” Chanyeol suggested.

“No, she’s okay, it’s just she really doesn’t know how to mingle.” Baekhyun answered as he slowly pushed Eunji closer to Chanyeol.

Chanyeol smiled at Eunji warmly. “I’m Chanyeol, Park Chanyeol.”

“Jung Eunji..”

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Jung Eunji. Baekhyun has talked a lot about you. I even lost count on how many times he did mention about you.”

Eunji widened her eyes and she turned to see Baekhyun, who quickly shook his head. “Chanyeol is a flawless liar, you have to be careful to trust his words, or you will fall in his lies.” Baekhyun muttered.

Eunji only nodded her head and looked back at Chanyeol, who talked about pets. Eunji seemed very interested when he revealed that he had a ferret as a pet at home and invited Eunji to take a look at it anytime.

Baekhyun liked to see Eunji with the sparkling eyes of her.

He wanted to make those eyes sparkling more often in the future.

++

It was their first day of middle school.

It was maybe the first day his heart raced a bit faster than it supposed to do.

He was stunned seeing Eunji with the school uniform. It wasn’t like he has never seen her in school uniform before, but somehow, the uniform made her looked a bit mature and prettier.

Baekhyun wanted to cover her thighs so badly, but it would only make Eunji looked at him with raising brows, and he knew he wouldn’t have a good reason to answer why. So he only tried to ride the bicycle as quick as possible, so Eunji didn’t need to show those too much to people.

After arriving at school, Baekhyun felt his heart raced again, because Eunji was running into Chanyeol and jumped along with him, when he informed her they would be classmates for the first year.

Baekhyun couldn’t tell whether it was best friend’s jealousy or something more.

But what he could say that time was he didn’t like it. He didn’t like the view. At all.

++

Baekhyun had his first girlfriend after two months attending Seoul Middle School.

Baekhyun didn’t know what to do when his soccer teammates suddenly locked him inside storage. He wasn’t scared, he was surprised, to be honest, because out of blue, he was pulled over by his grinning-like-fools friends and pushed inside.

But then he started to understand when he realized he wasn’t alone inside. He turned his head and found a girl with rosy cheeks was smiling sheepishly at him. He knew her, she was a sophomore, a hapkido female master, or whatever nicknames she got.

“I’m sorry if you are surprised.” She said, with soft tone.

“It’s okay, sunbae.” Baekhyun replied. “So, is there anything you want to tell me, until we have to be locked in here?” Baekhyun was innocent and very inexperienced.

Baekhyun saw her cheeks were beet red.

“Are you okay?” Baekhyun stepped closer, wanting to touch her forehead.

She was startled by his move, so she stepped back. “No! No! I mean.. Yes.. Yes, I’m okay.. Just a bit nervous..”

“Why are you nervous, sunbae?” Baekhyun furrowed his eyebrows.

“I.. Ah.. I.. Well..” She stuttered. She took a deep breath and looked at Baekhyun right in the eyes. “I like you..”

Baekhyun rounded his eyes, surprised to hear this. “You like me?” He pointed a finger at his face. “But why? Why me?”

“You are handsome.. You are kind.. You are friendly.. You are also funny.. I like you, Baekhyun.. I really do..”

It was the first time Baekhyun received a confession.

“And I hope.. You can like me too..”

Baekhyun blinked. How could he like her if he even didn’t know her name? How could he like her if he barely sees her at school? How could he like her if he knows nothing about her? he got so many questions popping inside his brain, but he was smart enough to keep them for himself.

“You don’t have to answer this now. I can wait.” She said.

Baekhyun only nodded and rubbed his temple. He wanted to ask her name, but he was afraid that she would be offended because he didn’t know her name.

“I’m Park Chorong, by the way.” She said as if she could read his mind.

Baekhyun smiled. “I’ll think about it, Park Chorong sunbae. Until then, please wait patiently.”

Chanyeol spilled his juice after hearing Baekhyun.

Baekhyun wiped his shirt and slapped the back of his head. “Do you really need to spill on my shirt?”

“She asked you that?!” Chanyeol looked at Baekhyun. “But you don’t even know her! You only know her name, Byun! Her ing name. Park Chorong. That’s it.”

“I know..”

“But?”

“But the seniors said Park Chorong sunbae is popular..”

“So?”

“I need it.”

“You need to be popular?”

Baekhyun glanced at disbelieved Chanyeol. “Kinda..”

“But how about—” Chanyeol stopped and looked at Baekhyun, then he shook his head. “— Never mind..” Chanyeol heaved a sigh. “So are you going to accept her confession, just like that?”

Baekhyun nodded. “I planned to meet her tomorrow and say yes.”

“What if things don’t work out as you expected?”

Baekhyun smiled faintly. “At least I tried. What do you think, Channie? Does this sound like a good plan for you?”