~

넌 기억하니? 많은 게 어색했던 우리 첫 만남.

Do you remember our awkward first meeting?

~

“Somi-ah! It’s time for school!” Sungyeol called.

Somi let out a small whine and flipped over in bed.

“I dmpht wanha go tfoo scheowl,” her voice was muffled as she spoke into her pillow.

“You need to go!” Sungyeol cheered her on, clapping his two hands together as Somi finally rose out of bed.

“Gosh, you’re so annoying,” Somi remarked as she stood up and marched off to the restroom to get ready.

After pulling on her clothes and brushing her teeth, she ran to the kitchen, where Sungyeol handed her banana milk.

“Aigoo, you didn’t even brush your hair,” Sungyeol laughed as he ushered Somi out the door. “You better hurry! You’ll be late at this rate!”

“Okay, okay,” Somi smiled as she quickly down the hall. “Bye oppa!”

~~~

“Hey,” Somi’s best friend Howon greeted her as she walked into classroom 2-1. Somi took her seat next to him and pulled out her phone to check how many days she had left until her chemistry test.

April 28th.

Somi’s heart sank. Today was Sunggyu’s 20th birthday. She wasn’t able to celebrate his 16th, 17th, 18th,  or 19th with him, and now she missed his 20th.

Somi felt her eyes begin to tear. She could barely remember the voice of the boy that she once loved.

“Hey! Lee Somi!” Howon waved his hand in front of her face. “Are you there? What’s wrong?” he asked with concern in his eyes.

Howon didn’t know about Sunggyu. Howon and Somi had only met last year, in their first year of high school, when he transferred in from Busan. He was oblivious to everything that happened to Somi before she met him. In junior high, Somi was best friends with a girl named Amy Lee, but now she had no idea where Amy had went. The last time Somi and Amy had talked was right before Amy had moved back to the States.

“Nothing,” Somi responded as she closed her eyes, remembering the first time she met Sunggyu.

~~~

Eleven years ago…

“Somi! I’m going out with Myungsoo, and we are going to go feed the ducks!” Sungyeol told her, as he ran out of the house with bread.

“Somi-ah,” Somi’s grandmother called out. “The new playground just opened yesterday, don’t you want to play? I’ll give you ice-cream money too!” Somi’s grandmother handed her a crisp, 10,000 won bill.

Somi gladly accepted the money, and pulled on her shoes. She quickly headed out the door and ran out towards the newly-opened playground.

As she got there, she saw the ice-cream man handing out ice-cream cones. She chose a vanilla cone, and paid him 1,000 won.

The man smiled at Somi as she bowed politely and went to sit on the swings.

Somi looked up at the clouds, and all of a sudden, she spotted a butterfly. It was blue and vibrant, and in Somi’s young eyes, it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

Somi named the butterfly, “Parang”, which meant blue. She followed it through a patch of trees and onto a basketball court.

“Parangi!” Somi called out as she chased the butterfly in circles.

All of a sudden, someone rammed into Somi. She didn’t fall over, but the collision had knocked her ice-cream cone out of her hands. Somi glared at the culprit.

He was a boy about Sungyeol’s age, maybe a little older, and he stood looking at Somi with a smirk on his face.

He wore black sweatpants, and a faded maroon sweatshirt. He was very skinny, and looked somewhat weak. However, the smug expression on his face told Somi that he wasn’t someone that she wanted to mess with.

He had minuscule eyes, and Somi couldn’t even tell if they were opened or closed. He also had a very skinny face shape, but at the same time, he resembled a chubby hamster.

“What are you looking at?” The boy looked at Somi, and then to the dropped ice-cream cone on the floor.

Somi stared hard at the boy, not saying a word. She didn’t know what to say.

The boy turned around and started to walk away. Somi was debating on letting him go or not, and she went with the latter.

“YAH!” Somi ran after the boy, grabbing his arm with her small hands.

“What do you want, you twerp?” the boy asked her, shaking her hands off his arm.

“WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?” Somi was boiling with newfound rage.

“I’m Kim Sunggyu. I’m nine years old, and you should address me as sunbaenim. We go to the same elementary school, you know,” he said with arrogance.

If he was a girl, he would probably be flipping his hair.

“So what? You knocked over my ice-cream!” seven-year old Somi yelled back at him.

“Do you think I care? I have better things to do with my time than to fight with kids,” Sunggyu smirked, as he turned around and started to walk in the other direction.

He stopped, turned around, and looked back at Somi’s astounded face. He smirked again and stuck out his tongue.

Sungyeol had always taught Somi that if a bad man came after her, she were supposed to kick him in the ‘sensitive area’.

And that’s exactly what Somi did.

She ran up to Sunggyu, and with all of the power invested in her, she kicked Sunggyu right there.

He screamed like a girl and doubled-over, and held his hand between his legs and cried out in pain.

“Oops,” Somi thought, as she watched tears form in his eyes. She didn’t mean for him to cry. She was just angry that he didn’t apologize for knocking over her ice-cream cone.

He adjusted himself, and stood up and looked Somi in the eyes. He grabbed her with his left arm, and raised his right arm, and she closed her eyes, waiting for his palm to make contact with her face.

But it never happened.

Instead, Somi felt an arm wrapped around her shoulder.

“I like you, kid. What’s your name?” Sunggyu asked, even though his face was still red and the pain was still evident.

“Somi. Lee Somi.” she replied, looking away.

“Well, Lee Somi, I guess it’s time for me to buy you a second ice-cream cone.” Sunggyu looked at Somi.

“Whatever,” she said, trudging away and leaving Sunggyu behind, scratching his head.

“Lee Somi.. You’re a fighter,” Sunggyu chuckled.

“and I like that about you.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Author’s Note: So guys, that was a little short compared to the first chapter.. Sorry.. Ehehe.. The next chapter will pick-up from where Somi was before the flashback. Just a refresher, it was morning and she walked into class :3 I think I’ll be introducing you to Howon and his friends, along with Dongwoo! Hope you’ve enjoyed the story so far!