“Hey! Wait for me!” you yell breathlessly as you run after the six boys in front of you. You were a scrawny little thing- all arms and legs, with unkempt hair and glasses that always sat halfway down the bridge of your nose.

The boys who ran ahead all live on the same apartment floor as you. Never being able to establish friendships with any of the other kids at school, you decided to follow them around and hope that they would end up accepting you into their group. What you hadn’t realized was just how difficult such a task would be. In the beginning, they all flat out ignored you, too caught up in their world of video games and soccer. Then one day as you sat by the boundary line of the soccer pitch, Jongup and Junhong waved you over. You played goalkeeper that day.

A few days later, the pair knocked on your door and said they were going to get ice cream. You quickly pulled on your shoes and hurried after them. Behind you, the eldest boy shook his head.

Over the next year, you were slowly let into the band of friends, but only because you had tried so hard to become good at the things they liked to do. You practiced dancing for hours so you could keep up with Jongup and Junhong, never stopping until your legs gave out. You became a force to reckon with at video games so you could challenge Youngjae, gloating on the inside every time you managed to defeat him. You learned the lyrics to all the popular songs so you could sing along with Daehyun. You even picked up some cooking skills from your mother so you could make snacks with Himchan. But there was always one who seemed so untouchable to you: Yongguk. He was more mature than the rest, opting to read the newspaper instead of the latest comic, and therefore you were never quite able to understand his interests. While he was still cordial to you, he was never as warm to you as he was with the others. That was fine, you figured. As long as you could still play with the others, you didn’t care how he felt about you.   

Today was unbearably hot, but that didn’t stop the group from wanting to play in the empty field across from your apartment building. The overgrown weeds scratch at your legs and you were pretty sure something was crawling in your hair. “Guys, please, wait up!” you shout again, pausing to rest your hands on your knees and catch your breath. This time they all stopped.

“Yah! Hurry up, ___!” Himchan grumbles as he fans his face with his hand. The way Yongguk looks at you and turns to keep walking doesn’t go unnoticed. You in one more big breath and begin to run again. You’re halfway to them when your foot suddenly drops into a hole, sending you flying forward. You land face first on the hard dirt and bump your chin against a rock. Within moments there are several pairs of hands on you, carefully rolling you over and sitting you up. You glance down at your knees, covered in dirt and scrapes, and to your already swollen ankle. Tears begin to form in the corners of your eyes, but before they have a chance to fall, a warm hand envelopes yours. You look up to find soft brown eyes staring back at you.

“Are you okay?” Yongguk asks his voice low and calm. You sniff back a sob and nod your head. “Alright, get on my back. I’ll carry you home.” You watch in quiet amazement as Yongguk squats down in front of you and the others help you up onto his back. “Hold on tight,” he says. You tentatively wind your arms around his neck as he stands up, feeling a little blush rise to your cheeks at being so close to him. That was the day everything changed. While you were stuck inside for the rest of the summer with your broken ankle, Yongguk stopped by every day to check on you and bring your favorite snacks. Some days he would stay to watch cartoons or a movie, other days he would sit quietly to the side while you played video games with the rest of the boys. You soon became like a little sister to him, but it seemed as if you would always remain that way in his eyes.