“Honey, you really need to get out and make friends.”

“Mom, I do have friends.”

“They’re Wonwoo’s friends. And Wonwoo was already a given cause he’s a family friend and a neighbor.” Your mom turned to Wonwoo who was quietly eating across you and smiled. “No offense, sweetie.”

Wonwoo chuckled shaking his head. “None taken, Mrs. Kang.”

Your mom sighed, setting down her spoon. “Summer vacation’s over. You’re entering a new school tomorrow and Wonwoo won’t be with you this time.” Your mom reached out and placed her hand on yours. “Sweetheart, I just want you to have a good time with friends and enjoy your school life while you still can. When you start university or working, keeping relationships will be hard.”

You smiled and looked at your mom. Sometimes, she could be such a worrywart like she’s doing now. “I’ll be fine, mom. Wonwoo and his friends are cool.” You turned to look at Wonwoo and back to her. “Really. I could take care of myself and my social life.”

“So, you can take care of yourself now huh?” Wonwoo looked at you with a teasing smile.

After breakfast and doing a few chores, you were finally allowed to enjoy your last day of vacation without thinking about anything else and so you and Wonwoo decided to play at the nearby park like you always did. During summer break, you and your mom went on a vacation and you just got back a few days before class started. Wonwoo, your next door neighbor, childhood friend and best friend spent his summer slaving away with his homework. That’s why after getting back, you two spent your days together since it will be harder to do so after tomorrow comes.

“What? Can’t I play on the swings?” you pushed back, making the swing go higher. “How about you? Too grown up to beat me?”

Wonwoo gave you a pointed look. It was your signature move called avoid the question by throwing another one back. “You know what I meant. And I can go higher than my previous record, you know.” He walked around and sat on the swing next to you and started. As always, playing around became a competition and like always, he beat you effortlessly.

“It’s because you’re taller and heavier so building up height is easier.” You stood up and walked away.

Wonwoo smiled and ran after you, nudging you once he caught up. “Sore loser.”

“Whatever. Churros?”

“This early?”

You gasped in mock offense. “It’s never too early or too late for churros.” You grabbed Wonwoo’s hand and half-pulled half-dragged him to the small kiosk nearby, ordering for two before turning to Wonwoo with an expectant face.

“What do you want – Wait…I’m paying??” his eyes widen as he pointed at himself.

“I didn’t bring my wallet and you always do.”

“Unbelievable.” Wonwoo took out a couple of coins and handed it to the lady in exchange for the churros, handing you yours before finding a seat nearby.

“So…will you really be alright?”

You glanced at Wonwoo and shrugged as you took another bite. “I’ll manage. Although I don’t mind being alone, I do need groupmates for group activities.” You picked off the hardened chocolate bark and put it in your mouth. “I’ll find the right people.”

“Do you want me to stop by after class?” Wonwoo asked. He’s known you too well to know that past your confidence with being alone, you actually hated it more than you would like to admit.

“That would be really nice but just once a month okay? I don’t want people asking me how I know you all the time. It’s exhausting.”

“Once a month? How about once in two months?”

You turned to glare at Wonwoo and elbowed his arm. Wonwoo laughed, the same genuine laugh you love where he scrunches his nose. He used to be insecure about it and rarely laughed like that before but thankfully, he embraced it. It was rather cute when he laughed freely.

“Fine. I’ll just visit you when I can.” Wonwoo reached over and ruffled your hair. 

Night came and you finally decided to pack your things for tomorrow. You didn’t really need much since it’s just the first day of class. But still, the thought of attending a new school didn’t exactly excite you. You sighed as you lazily packed your notebooks when you heard a couple of pings from your phone.

You shook your head. Wonwoo and his lame jokes are so lame they actually seem funny at times. Or maybe it’s due to the amount of years you’ve been together that you started to share the same sense of humor. Either way, you ignored his messages, placing your phone down and went back to packing your bag.

You walked over to your window and propped it open. “Why are you being so clingy?”

The window across opened and Wonwoo appeared. “Cause you’re gonna miss me,” Wonwoo smiled innocently.

You rolled your eyes and laughed. “Thanks mom.”

Being next door neighbors, communication was very easy to the point where all you had to do is shout really loud.

“Just message me if you need me okay?”

That’s one of the other things that you liked about Wonwoo. Growing up together, you learned to read each other well. When he’s overthinking, you could tell and he’s comfortable enough to talk about it with you. When you’re worried, he could tell whenever you’re trying to look cool about it, just like what happened this morning.  You smiled, turning to him and nodded. “I will.”

Wonwoo nodded and stepped back into the room. “Good night.”

“Good night.”

A/N: This is actually just the first part of the first chapter. I got too excited with the fake texts so I divided the first chapter into two. Sorry about that. Two will be up really quick(?).