As the sun pierced the sky, painting the world above a bright hue, mother and child quietly sat under the wraparound porch. Along the coast of the suburban home were houses similar in model, the atmosphere often calm and private. Clouds drifted from east to west, the wind hushed and breezy. In a few hours the sun would be setting, children arriving from school, and parents from work. It was that kind of typical afternoon.

Rocking gently in her chair Namjoo gazed off into the distance as Kihoon, nearly 52 weeks old, slept against her s. The rise of his small body as he slept away sounded like a kitten purring dreamily. All was well and all was good.

Within a few weeks it would be her birthday; that time of the year again. This time she would be celebrating with three, not one or two. In her younger years when blowing the candles she had always wished for petty, materialistic things. As a young adult she had wished for happiness only to later realize it wasn’t something that would drop into her life magically. Happiness was something she had to work for, and it had been a long way to discover what her definition of happiness was.

Right now she was happy. She was content. This, she decided, was the kind of life she would like to have after all.

8 years ago…

“I can’t believe you’re making me do this. This is ridiculous,” Sehun grumbled through the phone as he walked down the feminine products aisle. Side-eyeing his surroundings to make sure the area was clear he continued walking. “What was the freaking brand you wanted?”

“Always,” Namjoo spoke through the phone.

Turning to stare at the variety before him Sehun grimaced. He had come expecting to find the immediate pack his childhood friend wanted, but instead he’d come across hundreds of different kinds of pads and tampons in a variety of packaging he hadn’t expected. Why were there so many?! What was the difference between one pack and another?! It was no wonder his dad always complained that women were so difficult. Suddenly he felt like he understood his father better as a man.

Groaning he mumbled with irritation, “Always what?”

“Always,” the brat repeated again. “It’s not that hard to find.”

Sehun rolled his eyes and immediately felt like shrinking when he heard footsteps approaching. Shifting away in order to hide his face he waited for the woman to find whatever she’d come for then leave. He was so embarrassed! Damn Namjoo for making him do this! He was just a 16 year old with a reputation to still keep as cool kid at school. If any of the boys found out he had run an errand to buy feminine products for Namjoo they’d laugh at him. The rest of the girls would look at him weird like he was a ert!

Once the footsteps faded he quickly turned to scan the products on the shelf with heat flooding his body. He needed to get out of here a.s.a.p.!

“Hello?!” the annoying girl screeched through the phone. “Are you still there? If you don’t hurry up blood will start soaking the bed before your nose starts bleeding.”

“Oh my god, shut up will you?” he rolled his eyes. Finally discovering one of the packs with the word Always he immediately snatched it off the shelf before darting away from the aisle.

Other than avoiding eye contact with the cashier it was a breeze running back to Namjoo’s place, the house right next to his. They had been playmates, he’d been told, ever since they’d acquired the ability to cry as babies. Their mothers had a history of being high school classmates, gone to college together, and had always been the best of girlfriends. They were so supposedly close that even if a world war broke out in South Korea they’d want to die together. Even their fathers were inseparable, so if he wanted to run as far as he could he’d never be able to leave Namjoo behind because their families were so darn close.

Stomping up the stairs of her home Sehun made a sharp turn to Namjoo’s bedroom. He knew her house like the back of his home. If he were blindfolded he’d still be able to make his way around. Majority of the time her parents left the door unlocked because they had no fear of thieves, but even if it was locked he had been given a spare key. He was like a son to her family and Namjoo a daughter to his, but God forbid he ever have a sister like her. Sehun was 100% grateful that God didn’t let his parents make any more babies.

Namjoo’s door had been left wide open. He immediately spotted her sitting at her desk in ugly pajamas with scrubby hair reading a textbook. Sehun merely scoffed. Why was she trying so hard when she wasn’t among the top 10 students in class? Tossing the bag of pads at her he stated loudly, “Here are your dumb pads.”

“Ow,” she murmured then turned to glare at him, “hey!”

Making a face at her he turned around to hurry back down the stairs. He had an appointment with his guys to have a game of basketball. The pretty girls would be there watching and he didn’t want to be late.

The very second he reached the sidewalk Namjoo pulled her window open. With head out the window she screamed, “Oh Sehun!! You bought the wrong ones!”

Groaning underneath his breath he ignored her and continued running off. From a mile away he could hear her still calling after him.

§§§§§

“How was school today?” her mother, Kim Jisook, asked setting a bowl of tonight’s dinner down at the center of the decorated table.

“Nothing new,” Namjoo muttered from underneath her breath, “but we’ll be learning about education tomorrow, so whoopy.”

“Namjoo, please,” Kim Manseok, her father, shot a glance her way from his seat at the head of the table.

“Well, it’s something you’ll have to know about now that you’re getting older,” her mother said while settling into her seat. “You and Sehun, actually. You’ll need to be more careful around him and the boys from now on. You’re starting to become a woman now.”

Groaning, Namjoo shot her mother a slight glare, “You seriously have to go there, mom? He’s just a kid, not a boy.”

“Your mother just wants you to be cautious,” her father clarified with a shake of his head. “There’s an increase in news about pregnant teenagers these days.”

“Oh my god, stop,” Namjoo complained. “Sehun is just Sehun. He’s ew!”

“Oh come on,” her mother chided. “In soon time you’ll probably start swooning over him.” Turning to her father with a grin she asked, “Aren’t I right?”

With a smitten grin her father agreed, “Let the kids decide for themselves.”

“That’s so gross!” Namjoo exclaimed.

After taking a shower that night she retreated to her room. Shutting the door after her she grabbed the towel hanging around her neck and glanced around her blue room. A poster of her very favorite idol group had been taped to the wall right beside her bed. She’d done it like that so that when she slept she could stare at her dream lovers before falling asleep. Sehun made fun of her for it. Namjoo wouldn’t forget how every time he came over he’d look at the poster and laugh his off.

The mere thought of having feelings for him made her want to puke. She couldn’t believe her mother even dared to go there! He was like the other half of her, but pathetic. Even if she spent all her life trying she would never see anything likeable about him. It felt like even thinking about it. Namjoo shuddered from the thought.

Shaking her head she gently pounded it with her fists in an attempt to find distraction. Turning her lights off she flopped onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling. Just one more day at school then she’d be able to have fun this weekend. After some pleading her parents finally gave her their permission to attend upperclassman Soojin’s birthday party. Namjoo had decided to keep to herself the fact that the birthday party would be unsupervised because Soojin’s parents would be out of town, which all but meant that there would be older guys there, maybe some alcohol and smoking. Namjoo could feel her heart pouncing at the thought of some older guy hitting on her. Giggling to herself she quickly buried herself underneath the blanket.

§§§§§

During lunch period Sehun would have just simply passed by the girls’ table, but couldn’t help but stop when he heard them giggling noisily. Halting behind them with the tray of food in his hand, he leaned over to see them gawking at pictures of men he’d never seen before joyously.

Frowning he asked, “What are those?”

The girls immediately looked up seeming unhappy with his interruption. Jang Yunae was the one who spoke up, “They’re the guys coming to Soojin’s birthday this weekend. They’re handsome, aren’t they?”

Narrowing his eyes he made a face, “They look ordinary.”

“Why do you even talk to him?” Namjoo crudely commented.

Irked, he shot a glance at her, “You’re just an ugly twit, what would they like about you?”

Unaffected, Namjoo crossed her arms, “You’re not even going, why do you care?”

Damn Namjoo, now he had nothing to retort. With some fast thinking he asked, “I bet your parents don’t know about these so-called older guys.”

Satisfaction poured through him from witnessing her expression stiffen. Her parents would kill her if they knew what she was up to. Soojin’s birthday party had sounded unappealing to him from the start and he had already made plans to rent movies to watch at home. Dumb Namjoo would just get herself entangled into trouble if she went. He knew her too well to doubt she’d come home without dirt on her. For a kid who could never say no to anyone to suddenly want to meet people out of her league, what a joke! He could already see her getting easily harassed.

“Why are you arguing with her? Just leave her alone,” one of the girls frowned impeccably at him. Ignoring him in unison the girls resumed attention on the photos sprawled out on the table. Their high pitched giggles reminded him of the annoying early morning birds that perched outside his window every morning. It was funnier how they appeared to look like students studying hardcore for an exam they’d forgotten about. Muttering to himself he walked the rest of the way to the lunch table his friends had occupied.

“What took you so long?” Lee Chul, high achiever and student leader of their classroom, asked when he sat down. He was one of the handsome ones.

“What are they looking at?” Kang Hyunwoo leaned forward to look in the direction of the girls’ table. “They sound pretty excited.”

“They’re looking at some ugly pictures,” Sehun mumbled sitting down. “Hey, are any of you going to Soojin’s tomorrow?”

“No, but he is,” both his friends pointed at each other. Confused, Sehun frowned.

“I thought you were going,” Hyunwoo turned to Chul.

“No, you said you were going.”

“I didn’t!”

“Why?” Lee Chul turned to glance at him. “Are you going?”

“Wasn’t planning on it,” Sehun replied poking at his food.

“Then why’d you ask?” Hyunwoo curiously asked.

“Cause that ugly girl is going. They’re ogling over some college guys,” Sehun mumbled.

“Ugly girl?” Hyunwoo raised his brows then realizing who he was talking about leaned back with an, “Ahh…”

“Namjoo?” Lee Chul repeated. “I think she’s pretty.”

“My ,” Sehun immediately retaliated.

Hyunwoo scoffed, “Does her going bother you?” Jabbing his fingers Sehun’s way he teased, “Ehhh…someone’s jealous.”

Reaching over to hit him Sehun excused, “Her parents will kill me if they find out! And that’s sick!”

“Why would you get in trouble if she’s the one going?” Lee Chul wondered.

“Right? I agree,” Hyunwoo turned to nod at Lee Chul. Turning to Sehun he stated, “He’s right.”

“Our families…” Sehun began but abruptly became unsure of what to say to save himself from appearing overly concerned over his neighbor’s welfare. They were at the sensitive age where one move would make others misunderstand his good intention for Namjoo. There was absolutely no way he’d let others think he had a crush on her, because he did not have one. Namjoo was just the annoying brat of a sister he’d grown up with.

“Well, we’re just like that. We grew up together, so they expect us to look out for each other. That…that’s just what I’m doing.”

“Oh…”

“Uh-huh…” his friends blankly agreed.

Feeling like an idiot for no reason, Sehun quickly stuffed himself.

§§§§§

Right after they were let out Sehun rushed down the school yard. After turning around the school gates he discovered Namjoo departing from her friends before heading down the sidewalk in the direction of their homes. He simply caught up to her in no time.

“What’s with you?” Namjoo glanced over at him. She’d grown quite fast this past year. She was almost nearly as tall as him. Just a little bit more and he might be considered as short as her and the thought of that was a mere nightmare.

“Nothing.” he shook his head.

“You’re not hanging out with the guys? It’s Friday,” she reminded as if he’d forgotten to keep track of the days.

“I know.”

Namjoo quieted before halting and turned to him. With a note of agitation she demanded, “What? Do you want something? Money? I can’t give you any because I’ve already used it all.”

Sehun snorted baffled by her. “Why would I want your lame money?” then he shot his eyes off into the distance. When he turned back to look at her Namjoo was observing him carefully. At last he cleared his throat. With a final sigh he caved, “I’ll go to the party with you tomorrow.”

This time Namjoo deeply frowned. “What’s with you? Now you want to go?”

“Well, since I’m not doing anything I might as well go, don’t you think?” he asked. Sehun still despised the thought of going to that dumb birthday party. It would be boring as hell for him, he could already see it but for the sake of Namjoo’s safety he would go. If he admitted that Namjoo would laugh at him and he didn’t want to appear like a fool. They were in the kind of relationship where admitting to worrying about each other was a loss of coolness and it just gave him shudders saying it.

“Whatever then.” Turning away with a shrug Namjoo continued walking ahead of him. Breathing a sigh of relief that she hadn’t realized his internal thoughts – because that would have been embarrassing – he hurried after her.

§§§§§

Soojin’s birthday party was literally lit. Lights, lights, and more lights streamed across the yard, over the pool, everywhere. If not for the fact that her parents were horrendously wealthy, the party was just insanely extravagant. Treats were plenty as well as the number of bodies apparent. It was like an adult nightclub!

Namjoo entered in awe with the loud music booming around her. Many of those invited were some she’d never seen before in her life. Too many men and too many women to take in account for. It was a wonder how Soojin knew all these people!

The night air was glowing not just because of the stars but because of beautiful lights outside. Whatever magic Soojin had composed certainly made the yard smell pretty good. Namjoo could feel her stomach growling immediately and without much effort caught sight of the table of food. She nudged her arm back for Sehun only to feel empty air. Confused she turned around to find him missing from her side. Namjoo was confident he’d been right beside her when they came, but suddenly he was amiss. Curious, she shifted around to look around her. Everyone seemed engulfed in their own groups and immersed in conversation. Scanning the crowd carefully she soon spotted him grinning from ear to ear standing poised with confidence. Namjoo scoffed when she saw that he was hitting up a conversation with a pretty girl. The amusement lasted for several seconds before disappearing.

In her entire lifetime Sehun had never had a relationship before despite the number of crushes he’d admitted to having. What if tonight he really found someone he liked?