“Give it back! Don’t you dare peek at what I wrote inside!” Kwon  Jiyong was chasing Moon Hanna around the classroom. Jiyong and Hanna were in Grade 6 Class 2 of Seoul Elementary School. They had known each other since Grade 4 when they had coincidentally been in the same class and have been great friends after sitting together in class. Hanna ran to her seat and sat down, hiding the notebook under her desk to take a peek at its contents with Jiyong hot on her heels. Jiyong started putting his arms around Hanna, trying to snatch away his notebook, both of them creating a huge ruckus.

“Look at them again, and they tell everyone they are not together? Who are they kidding anyway.” Jungmin, another student in Grade 6 Class 2 turned to Hyunkook who was watching all this so intensely, and also known for having a high-profiled crush on Hanna. Jiyong and Hanna caught the eye of almost every student in Class 2, most of the girls scoffing, seeing their dream guy flirting with another girl.

Even their teacher, Mdm Kim looks upon them with observant eyes. Not a single person in the room believes that there is no romantic link between these two. But in the hearts of these two, there is only each other being treated as best friends.

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“Hanna-yah what exactly is going on between you and Jiyong? Both of you were at it again in class. Come on, tell me tell me tell me!” Lee Chaerin, Hanna’s classmate for three years now was pestering Hanna. But Hanna just shrugged and said “Nothing is going on at all okay stop asking already!” before scuttling off to buy her food.

On the other side of the cafeteria, Jiyong was in the exact same situation. “Jiyong-ah come clean. How far have both of you gone already? Have you guys held hands? Hugged? Kissed even?” Jiyong’s childhood friend, Dong Youngbae asked inquisitively. Jiyong just rolled his eyes and replied “I’ve no idea how many times I’ve said this, Hanna and I are just friends, drop it!”

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“Oppa annyeong! Sorry I’m late, Chaerinnie wouldn’t stop pestering me oh my gosh.” Hanna chirped while running towards the table Jiyong was waiting at for her. Jiyong and Hanna took each other as study buddies as well, and Hanna addressed Jiyong as ‘oppa’ privately. Jiyong had always wanted a younger sister, while Hanna always wanted an older brother, hence coming to this arrangement. “Same issue? I got the same treatment. I just don’t get our friends some times.” Jiyong sighed.

“I know right Oppa, I mean, what exactly did we do wrong to make them misunderstand us completely? What is wrong with our actions, I just don’t get. And honestly not like all these even affects them ugh.”

“Han-nie”, as Jiyong affectionately calls her, “don’t be too quick to say that. I caught Hyunkook death-staring me just now when you took my notebook okay. I told you he likes you. You must have seduced him from sitting next to him or something. And to think he even takes me, as his rival gosh.”

“Oppa! I did not do anything to him okay. No one would like me that way okay so stop saying that. And you should worry about Minyoung too. I heard she started hating on me because she takes me as her rival for you as well.”

“Hey that is not true okay I-…..“

And the conversation continued, Jiyong and Hanna chatting about all things under the sun. But all these happy times became a memory when they went their separate ways after elementary school…

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Throughout middle school, Jiyong and Hanna did not lose contact at all. They regularly talked over the phone, texted, chatted online. They occasionally even arranged to meet up and talk over a cup of coffee. It was as though those two had never been in a different school, knowing all about each other’s friends, troubles and just about everything.

During middle school, Hanna came to know a group of friends including Jin Siyeon, Jo Manseol and Yang Eunyoung. To Hanna, they were like the second solace she found in life after Jiyong. She felt that she got through middle school only because they were part of it.

Hence, when the time came to posting of high schools, both Jiyong and Chaerin were admitted into the same high school: Seoul Arts High School. Both of them entered the school with high hopes, joined by their friends from elementary and middle school as well. Jiyong entered with Youngbae, Choi Seunghyun, Kang Daesung and Lee Seungri, Hanna entered with Siyeon, Manseol and Eunyoung, while Chaerin, entered with Park Bom, Gong Minji and Sandara Park, affectionately called Dara.

Youngbae and Chaerin saw through Jiyong and Hanna at the beginning of their friendship in elementary school. When they were in the same school once again with additional members, they thought that it would be just like the old days: seeing Jiyong and Hanna goof around with each other, and of course, carrying on with the teasing of this pair.