[Primary School]

“… and there was no grasshopper or any of those little living things inside my bag when I checked it this morning.” The EXO members, except Jongdae (who was studying in the school’s library), listened to Joonmyeon explain the new changes in his surroundings when Jongdae would be around.

In that one week when he had not been with Jongdae, what could possibly have happened to him? Minseok could only wonder and ponder. He had felt different when he had met his best friend that morning and after quite a long time. He had thought that Jongdae would pounce on him, hug him tight and babble on and on about what he had done in those seven days without him, tell him that he had missed him, make him promise he would never leave him again.

But, none of that happened.

All Jongdae said to him that morning was ‘Hey, Minnie. It’s nice to see you’ with a genuine smile.  And after saying that, the fun loving, usually bright and cheerful boy had run off to the library – a silent place where one could not make any noise, and definitely not a place Jongdae had fancied before. It was very strange.

When Joonmyeon told him about how Jongdae had been behaving lately, Minseok could not help but get a bit worried that Jongdae would forget him and love the books more. Studying was good. He was more than glad that Jongdae was investing his time in research than pranks. But, he was concerned that while giving attention to the school books, the boy would fail to remember that once upon a time he had a companion with round cheeks.

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“Da