Seo Ah glanced outside as she ran her fingers through her hair, watching as the short brunette came running towards the guy, that’s probably two times her height, standing at the gate waiting for her. She yawned, slightly disinterested, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the two because somehow, the pain of what happened years ago suddenly came back to remind her that she still loved him.

She shook her head and looked away, stunned at her own self for giving him the attention he didn’t deserve. She languidly packed her things, hoping to clear her mind in the process, but to no avail, she failed.

Her professor left a moment ago, along with her classmates who excused themselves because they feared that they’d have to walk home in the rain. Seo Ah didn’t mind, though. She enjoyed her own company as much as she enjoyed him sitting next to her with one earbud in and the other out as they talked about various things, and how they always seemed to run out of things to talk about.

She never reminisced about the past before as much as she did nowadays. Thinking about what they had always left her breathless while tears endlessly gushed down her face. However, she invariably reminded herself to resemble what others looked like when they were happy, even if her smile broke now and then. It was the safer option because she always saw her home in front of her, but it belonged to someone else now.

Her current home has a wall, and a roof and her family is there. It doesn’t feel like a home. Every day when she comes back from college, she’s greeted by the incessant yelling of her parents. Along with the despondent cries of her younger brother, who continually begs them to stop.

His best friend, Ah Reum, would always drop by whenever Sehun needed someone there to him. Seo Ah knew that Ah Reum is the only person who could ever cheer Sehun up after their parents’ quarrels. She also knew that Sehun wasn’t always a cold hearted person that seemingly pushes his best friend away for no reason at all. She never left him, and that’s the reason Seo Ah’s so envious of their friendship.

Many doubted the quality of their friendship and at first, Seo Ah doubted it as well. She often mocked Ah Reum for not understanding that Sehun would never like her. However, Ah Reum’s too persistent, and therefore, she concluded her analyzation of their relationship in one sentence: Ah Reum is continuously building sand castles while Sehun is knocking them all down. 

She wouldn’t say any of the sorts aloud, though because she fears that she’ll just end up jinxing it like she did for her and her best friend. Unlike Ah Reum and Sehun’s friendship, theirs started without them even realizing it. They both hated each other, but over time, that hatred turned into something else.

His name was Yifan, the transfer student from China who always carried around an alpaca doll. He was extremely tall for someone that was only eight years old, and over time, he just continued to grow.

…

11 years ago, 2nd grade Elementary School

Seo Ah fidgeted anxiously as she adjusted her ribbon for the nth time. The teacher glanced at her worriedly, waiting for her to pipe down so that she could introduce the young boy who stood in the middle of the room.

Before he came in, the classroom was beyond noisy. They were yelling, biting each other’s arms, and throwing paper cranes at one another. And unlike them, she was far too busy fixing her ribbon. So she had no time for shenanigans such as those.

She heard her classmates tittering while some just stared at him dumbfounded. She heard them talking about sheep, llamas, and rams. She could’ve sworn that she heard someone muttering something under the breath, but Seo Ah ignored it because she was too busy to care. They whispered amongst themselves, discussing how funny it was for someone to bring a toy to school. It wasn’t just any toy either.

After finally feeling satisfied with her ribbon, Seo Ah looked up, wondering what the big deal was until she saw it. Her eyes landed on the snow, white alpaca that he held onto rather tightly. The alpaca had a hat, a scarf, glasses, and clothes, too. By the looks of it, it seemed like he treasured it a lot.

“Hello. My name is Wu Yifan,” he said. His voice was deep, not at all what Seo Ah thought it would sound like. He was also quite tall for someone that young and he wasn’t bad looking either. The only thing that irked her was the scowl on his face. And surprisingly, that was the first reason she hated him.

Her classmates said hello back, but none of them seemed interested in him. Rather, it was his alpaca that they all paid attention to. Their teacher silenced them as she murmured something in his ear while she stealthily pointed her finger towards the young girl wearing pink.

Seo Ah nearly gagged when she saw how defensive he got when Zitao tried to pet it. She was not entertained when she discovered that she’d have to sit with him for the remainder of the school year. She was very vocal about it, and she regularly expressed her dislike for Yifan and his alpaca, despite only having met him minutes ago.

Her seatmates quieted down almost immediately upon his arrival like he was some sort of prince that shouldn’t be gossiped about so early in the morning. She didn’t understand why they were unusually quiet when they were the ones who brought it up and talked so loudly when he was unquestionably standing in front of them.

Yifan said nothing to her even as she glared at him throughout the whole class period. He quietly sat in his seat with ‘Ace’ sitting on his lap while his eyes were on the board.

Seo Ah would’ve thought that he was a smart guy that kept to himself because he was an introvert, but he’s not. As much as Seo Ah would’ve preferred it that way, it just wasn’t. It didn’t seem right either. After all, there was nothing about him that was cool.

Or so she thought.

…

It was currently lunch time, and each and every one of her classmates went ahead of them because getting out of class was something they looked forward to all day. Even their teacher left. She was the first one to go since her lunch break started a minute before lunch time started for them.

Seo Ah never really cared much about lunch because it involved eating, and she didn’t enjoy that as much as her neighbor did. To her, eating wasn’t necessarily a necessity because she could survive just fine consuming only water. It wasn’t healthy, though. And she knew that since Ah Reum often told her that it was alright to eat.

Of course, she never listened. What did a five-year-old know about her? Sure, they were neighbors, but as far as she knew, Ah Reum only got close to her because she sought her approval for Sehun. Getting support from her was the thing she didn’t understand the most because she wasn’t in charge of Sehun and what he chose to do with his life.

During their lunch break, Seo Ah stayed glued to her seat as her eyes expeditiously scanned through the pages of the book. She started it twenty minutes ago, but she was already half way through it.

The new student watched her in consternation as his eyes tried to keep up with hers. After ten minutes of trying, he just stared at her desk blankly as he caressed Ace’s head. Seo Ah closed the book in frustration and almost threw it across the room, but luckily, Yifan stopped her.

She glared at him as she tried to remove his grip on her arm. “Why are you even here?” she yelled, somewhat pissed off at him for being so nosy.

“This is my classroom too, is it not?” he replied, though, he did not mean to sound conceited. It was just the way he spoke.

“Why are you so childish?” she asked. “Do you become lonely that efficiently? Is that why you need to bring that thing with you everywhere?”

He froze, taken aback by what she suddenly said. He couldn’t think of anything to say, since what she said was correct. He looked down a doleful expression on his face. “No,” he whispered. “I guess I’m just escaping reality.”

She raised an eyebrow as she opened to speak, but no words would come out, so she said nothing at the end.

Lunch break ended surprisingly fast because just a few moments ago, she was staring at him and she could’ve sworn that he was staring at her too. For some reason, she felt something, and it was strange.

…

The next day, he didn’t bring Ace with him. In fact, he seemed like a troglodyte. None of their classmates wanted to approach him, and neither did their teacher. Just like that, he was easily excluded from anything and everything that included socializing. At that moment, Seo Ah realized what her mistake was.

He remained in the classroom like he did yesterday, and Seo Ah saw it as her opportunity to apologize. However, it was hard to garner his attention because it seemed like he was doing it intentionally. Seo Ah was getting aggravated by his actions. Instead of apologizing to him directly, she went back to her seat and scribbled a few words on a piece of paper, crumpled it, and threw it at him afterward.

After having four paper balls thrown at him, he immediately turned around and felt the fifth hitting his face ever so gently. “Oh Seo Ah, what do you want from me?” he scowled.

“Forgiveness,” she muttered.

He almost fell out of his chair when he heard what she said. And all of a sudden, a smirk formed on his face. “You'll do anything?”

She gulped nervously, “Yes.”

“Then be my friend,” she heard him say.

She instantaneously pouted because she didn’t think