“No~” Joonmyun wailed as he pulled back as his mother tugged him on the arm. “I won’t want to go. I don’t want to go!” He repeated as he cried harder.

“Joonmyun, you have to.” His mother said with a sigh. “Mummy has to go to work. I’ll buy you ice cream when I pick you up okay?” Shaking his head as he cried louder and he began to cough. “I heard there’s a new boy coming in today.”

“I don’t care!” He sniffed as his mother carried him up, thinking that she’ll take him home but once she went into the building, he began to cry again.

“Joonmyun,” She exclaimed. “That’s enough,” She scolded him slightly as she put him down.

The other kids there all stared at Joonmyun then went back to what they were doing. Joonmyun pouted as he wiped away his tears as he went to the corner and sulked by himself. He even ignored his mother’s calls and teacher Hani.

Thirty minutes passed and none of the children’s approached Joonmyun. It wasn’t that they didn’t like Joonmyun; they just didn’t know how to approach him without making him cry.

The moment teacher Yoon came inside, the children’s gathered around her; even the sulking Joonmyun. He liked teacher Yoon the most among the three teachers teaching here. His eyes shifted to the boy hiding behind teacher Yoon and he immediately brightened up.

*He looks so cute!* He thought as he wiped his tears away. “Who is that?” He asked softly as the other kids stared at him, seeing him talk for the first time other than wailing and protesting.

“This is Zhang Yixing, he’s Chinese. He’s going to join all of you here at Seoul pre-school. Be nice to him okay?” He said as he gently pushed Yixing to the front. “His Korean isn’t that good so no picking on him okay?”

“Neh,” They all chorused; even Joonmyun who looked happier than before.

“Joonmyun, aren’t you going to eat your lunch?” Teacher Yoon asked as he helped Yixing up onto the chair.

Joonmyun looked down at his lunch and pouted. “It’s not like I have anyone to eat with.” He mumbled.

“I-I’ll eat with you.” Yixing said with a smile, his cute dimple could be seen. Yixing slipped down from his seat, carrying his box of lunch over and sat (with the help of teacher Yoon) beside Joonmyun. Joonmyun immediately brightened up.

The two of them ate together as the other kids there were envying Yixing who got close to Joonmyun already. Despite being five years old, Joonmyun was gifted with many talents that the kids even envied of.

“Joonmyun, here try this.” Yixing placed two stuffed dumplings over to Joonmyun’s lunch box.

“What is this?” He asked as he eyed the two white dumplings.

“Chinese dumplings…?” Yixing said with his head tilted to the side, thinking whether he said the word ‘dumpling’ correctly or not. “My mum made it. It’s really good. Try it.”

“If you say so…” Joonmyun said and took a bite of the dumpling. His eyes immediately brightened up as he swallowed it, then took another and another until it was all gone. “It’s really delicious!”

Yixing smiled, showing his dimple as the two continued to eat their lunch that their mother made. As they were eating happily, four other kids there were eating as they stared at Yixing with envy. They wanted to be friends with Joonmyun as well. The two youngest there were Kyungsoo and Sungjong who had just turned four years old. They both looked at each other, as if they were conversing with each other through their eyes.

Kyungsoo slipped down from his seat, taking his extra banana with him as he shyly approached Joonmyun and Yixing. The two of them were busily talking to each other that they didn’t even notice Kyungsoo standing there.

“U-Um… Joonmyun-hyung,” Kyungsoo said softly as he fidgeted around in his spot. He looked up almost crying when Joonmyun didn’t hear him as his lips trembled.

“…Kyungsoo?” Joonmyun said as he looked up at the younger boy who was about to cry. He slipped down from his seat and walked over to Kyungsoo, tilting his head to the side, questioning Kyungsoo.

“I… here,” Kyungsoo said softly as he held out the extra banana. “Mommy said I should share this with someone I want to be friends with.”

Joonmyun widened his eyes. “You want to be friends with me?”

Kyungsoo nodded cutely, making Joonmyun smile widely. “Thank you!” He giggled and accepted the banana.

“I want to be friends with you too!” Sungjong yelled as he ran over to Joonmyun, holding an apple out as he pouted. “Can’t I?”

Seeing as he was finally making friends, Joonmyun began to smile even more and accepted Sungjong’s apple. Soon the other two were jealous. Despite being the oldest among the six of them, they didn’t have the guts to approach Joonmyun as they had once made him cry. Joonmyun cranked his neck up and titled his head.

“You don’t want to be friends with me?” He asked, looking over to Woohyun and Himchan.

Both Woohyun and Himchan looked up and widened their eyes, as if asking if they can be friends with him.

“B-But… we made you cry before.” Himchan mumbled.

Joonmyun scratched his head. He ran over to his backpack, taking out two lollipops, and then ran over to Woohyun and Himchan, almost tripping over his own foot. He held out the two lollipops with a smile.

“What exactly did you do?” He asked with a sheepish smile and giggled. “I don’t exactly remember but that’s in the past. I want to be friends with you.” He stared at them with his big eyes, waiting for them to accept the lollies in his hand.

The two smiled and accepted the lolly from Joonmyun. Watching from the door was teacher Yoon. He had big smile on as he watched Joonmyun interacting with the other kids. He felt like he had accomplished something and he made a good choice to take in Yixing into this group of kids he was supervising after.

“Okay, shall we go to the rooftop and play some games?” Teacher Yoon said as he walked inside the room. “Have you all eaten?”

“Neh~” They all chorused as Joonmyun stuck close to Yixing.

Two days has passed and Joonmyun has become more eager to go to pre-school. Mrs Kim was pleased to see that he was talking more and even made friends. She had mentally thanked Yixing’s parents for bringing him to Seoul have registering him into this pre-school.

The six children’s were taken out on a little excursion to a reserved beach with many life guards around. Each teacher there was assigned to each child there to watch over them. Joonmyun was extremely happy to be outdoor and especially at the beach.

He was the first one to take his shoes off and run across the sand after he was changed into his swimming clothes.

“Xing Xing, let’s go build a sand castle!” He shouted and waved his hands up in the air.

“I-In a moment,” Yixing blushed at the nickname Joonmyun had called him. Once teacher Yoon helped up put on his swimming shirt, he immediately ran over to Joonmyun with a grin. “I’m ready!”

The teachers watched the kids play on the sand and in the water as the life guards watched them closely with a fatherly smile on.

“Let’s have a competition on who can make the biggest sand castle.” Himchan said with a confident grin.

The others agreed as they split up into pairs. Kyungsoo and Sungjong, Himchan and Woohyun, Joonmyun and Yixing were in pairs as they all began to build sand castles. Teacher Yoon had set the time limit to 20 minutes. Within 20 minutes, they had to build the sand castle as big as they can.

Joonmyun and Yixing worked together as a team really well as Woohyun and Himchan kept bickering among each other while Sungjong and Kyungsoo built their sand castle in silent, only talking to each other when needed.

The whistle blew. “Time is up.” Teacher Yoon said after he blew on the whistle. The kids pouted as they stopped building their castle. “Now, let’s see who built the biggest sand castle okay?”

Sungjong, Kyungsoo, Joonmyun and Yixing’s castle were the biggest while Woohyun and Himchan’s castle tumbled over because the sand weren’t wet enough to stay standing. Hence, Sungjong, Kyungsoo, Joonmyun and Yixing won as the four of them were wondering what they would get since they won.

“What will we get since we won?” Sungjong asked as he playfully pulled Kyungsoo’s shirt.

“Even if you both lost,” Teacher Yoon looked over to a pouting Woohyun and a sad faced Himchan. “You still get to eat the barbeque.”

“Are we going to eat lots of meat?” Himchan asked with his eyes sparkling up.

“Yes,” He chuckled. “Let’s go get changed and washed up okay?”

“Mommy,” Joonmyun squealed as he tackled into his mother.

“Did you have fun today?”

“Eung,” He smiled, spreading out his arms, wanting to be carried up. “I built a sand castle with Xing Xing and we came first.”

“Xing Xing?” Mrs Kim chuckled. “Is that Yixing’s nickname?”

“Eung,” Joonmyun glance over to Yixing, who was holding onto his mother’s hand. “Bye Xing Xing!” He said and waved at Yixing with a big smile.

Mrs Zhang saw Joonmyun and his mother, so she decided to approach the two.

“Hello,” She bowed.

“Ah hello,” Mrs Kim bowed back. “Joonmyun has been socialising a lot these days. I’m really thankful to your son.”

“Really?” Mrs Zhang asked with a smile.

“Yes, Yixing has made Joonmyun looking forward to go to pre-school.”

“Aigoo,” Mrs Zhang pinched her son’s cheeks with a warm smile. “You’ve made a great friend. I guess I don’t have to be worried about him making friends.”

“What do you mean?”

“Yixing never tells me anything when I pick him up, so I thought he was being bullied.”

“Xing Xing is friends with everyone.” Joonmyun spoke up as he yawned and rubbed his eyes with his fist.

Mrs Kim smiled and let her son down so that he could chat with Yixing as she chatted with Mrs Zhang. Mrs Zhang crouched down to Joonmyun and smiled.

“Please be good friends with Yixing okay?”

“Yes auntie,” Joonmyun smiled at her and poked Yixing’s cheeks. Yixing laughed before playfully pushing him. “Auntie, Joonmyun has a wish.” He yawned again as his mother carried him up.

“What’s your wish Joonmyun-ah?” His mother asked as she patted his back softly.

“What is it?” Mrs Zhang said as she too carried Yixing up.

“I want to be best friends with Yixing forever.” He yawned again as his eyes slowly closes.

“Me too,” Yixing said and he too yawned. “I want to be best friends with Joonmyunnie too. Can we continue living here, mommy?”

“If you want too,” She smiled. “I hope our children’s can continue being friends as they are now.”

*I hope so too.* Joonmyun thought as he drifts off to sleep.