A small girl appeared in front of the boys, wearing white shirt with pink overall, hair tied up neatly in piggytails. With Strawberry Shortcake backpack on her shoulder, the girl bowed politely to the four boys who were sitting on the floor - Sorim only recognized the tall, kind of stern looking boy her mom made to meet that day - Yifan, wasn’t it?

Sorim was a nervous wreck - she never felt comfortable around new people, especially older children. But here she was, standing in front of Yifan and other three boys she didn’t know who were obviously older, eyes curiously fixed on her like she was someone they never really met before but have heard of her left and right - wait, she really was that person. The short girl felt like crying and running back to her bedroom and spend the rest of the day eating choco bread and napping and playing cook by herself. But she knew better - Mom isn’t here, she thought. No one to pick her up and send her off to her home - Mom had fussed these days about meeting their new neighbors too, threathened to not giving her favorite banana milk for three days.

The short girl braved herself and smiled. “Hi, everyone,” she shyly said to the unfamilliar boys - minus the tall one without glasses she only met few days ago. She can feel Auntie Wu beamed happily behind her back. Her son, Yifan, politely smiled back to her while the others just stared at her like she was some kind of Swiper who come to take things from Dora, jaw dropping to the ground and stuff. Sorim frowned. Do I look ugly?

“Hello, Sorim-ah,” Finally Yifan broke the silence. “Here, sit next to me.” said he, pointing at the empty spot between him and the small, pretty eyed boy who changed his gaze quickly to the ground like it was interesting. Sorim gulped nervously - she kind of wanted to run but Auntie Wu would catch her straight away anyway, so the petite walked cautiously to Yifan.

Mrs. Wu looked at the children - she felt like laughing and wanted to tease the boys at the same time, but she had to keep her composure to ensure Sorim to get along with her new friends, so she cleared . “Come on, boys,” she scolded. “Greet her back, won’t you? You are going to scare her at this point.” Jokingly, she pushed the trio closer to Sorim and checked her wristwatch. “My, my. I have to go, kids. Have fun today, sweetie!” Mrs. Wu said with an apologetic smile, and left the bedroom - and probably the only girl to fend herself.

“Uh, hi?” Baekhyun could hear Jongdae’s voice greeting the new girl, tint of nervous in his voice. He turned his head to the said boy - Jongdae offered his hand to her. “I’m Kim Jongdae. Nice to meet you, Sorim-ah.” he said with a smile. Baekhyun saw the girl shook his hand but her face still staring at the floor. He could see her face growing fiery red every second passed. Chanyeol, oblivious, chirped happily like he didn’t stare at the said girl for minutes, “Hi! Park Chanyeol, eleven years old. Nice to meet you!”

Baekhyun knew it was his time to properly introduced himself, but found himself silently staring at Sorim. It was ridiculous - he was a little bit overwhelmed. The girl was pretty okay before he met her, but now he didn’t really sure whether he liked her addition to the neighborhood gang. She’s too damn young, he reasoned. I'm not a babysitter. And he felt content with his group now - the quartet plus Kim cousins and their siblings and Sera and Jihyun were more than enough. Then he felt a nugde from someone - Yifan, mouthing ‘what are you doing go introduce yourself’ to him. The male realized even Chanyeol and Jongdae had been judging him silently behind the oldest’s back.

“So, Sorim, this is Byun Baekhyun,” Why are you being quiet now she’s probably going to cry anytime soon you dimwit, he can see Jongdae multitasked with taking over his turn to greet her and scolding him at the same time in silence. “He’s our age - eleven too, so it makes us your older brothers.” Jongdae finished, with Chanyeol nodded eagerly alongside the talking male. Yifan maybe had just given up about   him being silent and just made sure the girl was comfortable enough to not to cry or run away and probably earning the boys a good scolding from his mom.

Finally the girl talked after a while spent in silence. “Uh, I’m Jun Sorim.  I’m seven years old and I’m your new neighbor. Please take care of me,” Baekhyun heard the girl mumbled. Chanyeol ruffled her neatly tied hair and laughed, the awkward tension finally wore off. “What do you want to play, Sorim-ah?” he asked kindly.

The said girl was quiet, thinking hard what to play. Before she got to answer, Baekhyun felt all tingly and suddenly chose to cut off the girl.

“You look ugly.” He said.

Probably not the best thing to do, he could hear his brain blew off after he non-chalantly insulted the new neighbor - a seven-year old, to be exact. He saw Chanyeol gaped incredulously at him, Jongdae hypervilanting, and Yifan - the worst of them all,  looked like he wanted to cry along with the combination of his other two friends and chanting we’re doomed while hitting his head many times.

To be quite honest, Baekhyun actually didn’t think Jun Sorim ugly or any sort; in fact, she was really cute with her silly pigtails and pink overalls. But then again, his mixed feelings about the new neighbor and brains didn’t coordinate quite well that day. The boy expected the worst to come; the girl to cry, or maybe bawling like crazy and Yifan have to call his mom to let the girl go home and maybe spending the rest of his life scolded by his friends and family or hated by his new neighbor next door. Baekhyun didn’t mean to insult the girl, really - his mouth just ran without any assistance of his brains. I’m just testing her, okay, the boy tried to reason inside his head.

“I think you’re ugly too.”

The boys stopped whatever they were doing and turned their heads to the girl who had been quiet for some time. Suprised, Baekhyun looked straight to the girl, who seemed a little bit shocked and wanted to cry but still held her own ground. He found his lips formed a small smile.

He heard the others laughed like crazy baboons they were. Amidst the chaos, Chanyeol, still laughing, fixed his sliding glasses and said, “Well, she passed! she passed straight away!”

Yifan only shook his head in amusement.

Turned out, Jun Sorim was probably going to be the brain of the group.

They had been playing cards for a while and the petite girl had won a lot of times. Yifan had gone easy with her, of course, but she managed to beat the trio - not like Jongdae and Chanyeol mind they lost to a younger girl. They found it amusing to play with the youngest, a tough fluff of ball, they cooed. Baekhyun never felt this defeated before - the new girl sassed him back, beat him in playing card, and his friends had taken a liking to her in such a short period of time.

He looked at the gleeful kid who had changed almost completely from the beginning. The girl still had her shy moments, but Baekhyun could see the tension had loosen up quite a lot. He learned some things about her today; she liked chocolate and strawberries and her usual cartoons to watch were Dora the Explorer and Strawberry Shortcake; she was good at playing cards and not as brittle as she looked. The small boy had changed his preception about a girl named Jun Sorim - maybe, she could fit to our gang, he mused.

“Hey, Baek,” He heard Yifan called. “You good?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he answered nonchalantly. “What is it, hyung?”

“Nah, just checking you up,” The older boy strecthed a bit, then ruffled Baekhyun’s hair. “Chanyeol wants to try to climb up the tree in front of my house, do you want to do it or not?”

Baekhyun knew which tree Yifan talked about - The Giant, the gang called it. Chanyeol had been striving to reach the top for months but Junmyeon and Sera always stopped anyone who tried to climb the tree, in fear getting hurt or worse, break an arm or leg. But Junmyeon wasn’t here; Sera had gone for a trip to Jeju, so they could do as they please, so the younger boy found himself grinning mischieviously.

“Let’s go, then.”

Or maybe it wasn’t that easy.

Junmyeon and Sera weren’t here, but there was another party pooper: Jun Sorim. Even when Jongdae assured it was safe and told her to stay in the house rather than following them, the youngest stubbornly followed the boys and throwing quite a fuss.

“Don’t climb the tree, you’ll fall!” the girl repeatedly said to the older boys, who were circling aroun the tall tree, waiting for their respective turn. Baekhyun started to get annoyed and amused at the same time; the girl was young but she fussed just like his mom. The boy, in the brink of his patience, said, “No, Sorim-ah, it’s gonna be okay. Now be a good girl for us and go back to Yifan’s house, okay?”

Sorim pouted. “No,” she replied. “I’m staying here.”

“It’s alright, Baek, let her be,” he heard Jongdae’s voice. “She’s just watching us. There’s no problem, see?”

“Suit yourself, young miss,” Baekhyun shrugged, then he started to stretch. “Come on, Yeol, let’s do it!” he felt excitement rushed through his body. From his right, the said boy was grinning and said, “Together on three. One, two... Three!

Baekhyun and Chanyeol started to climb the tree. Carefully, Baekhyun searched for a strong branch to step on and the same time he could feel the girl’s scrutining gaze from below. He shook it off and when he saw his friend had climbed higher than he did, the adrenaline rush kicked in, pushing himself to climb harder, faster than before.

Crack.

“Baekhyun...?” Yifan worryingly said. “Get off from that branch, I heard something’s broken.”

The boy shook his head laughingly. “Are you kidding, I have climbed this far-” he answered in glee but found himself looking below where the others watched in worry. The height he reached was already quite high, and truthfully the height scared him. He searched for Chanyeol and whispered, “Yeol? How do I get off from here?”

“I don’t know either,” Chanyeol mumbled, a hint of nervousness in his voice. “Slowly, I think...? Just like how we climb up here.”

Crack.

What is that sound? “Baek? Come down now,” he heard Jongdae’s voice started to panic.

“Okay, I can do this,” he muttered under his breath. “I can - OOF!”

“BAEK!” Chanyeol screamed.

The said boy slipped down - he could feel his skin grazing upon the tree’s harsh branches and hard tree bark. Baekhyun could only thanked heavens for not making him fall to the ground straight away, but also curses for his own misfortune. He groaned in silence while his friends swarming around him like bees to honey.

“Baekhyun, are you okay?” Yifan asked, his eyes scanning Baekhyun for any injuries visible. “Can you move your arms and legs?”

“Y-yes,” Baekhyun replied, his body ached like hell. He saw Jongdae’s and Sorim’s worried gaze burning through him. “I’m okay, just scrapped. It’s fine.”

“BAEK!”

“Chanyeol, what are you -OOF!” the boy felt a weight on his face. “Chanyeol, get off! You’re suffocating me, you oaf!”

“Sorry, sorry!” The glasses-wearing boy scurried off in panic. Baekhyun could saw his friend apologetic face, his knees and arms were scrapped just like his. He flinched at the sight. “Why are you all beat up like me? You didn’t fall.”

“Chanyeol almost jumped off to catch you,” Sorim finally said in a small voice. “Are you guys okay?” she asked, offering her hand to the dumbstruck duo. “Come on, we have to clean your wounds - Mom says so the naughty germs won’t make you sick.”

Hesistantly, Baekhyun took her hand, along with Chanyeol.

“Ow, ow, it hurts!” Baekhyun flinched. Jongdae only rolled his eyes at his injured friend, muttered, “Well, duh, of course it does. Hold on, you big baby. I’m almost finished.”

After the misadventure that noon, Yifan shooed the younglings inside his house to treat the fallen boys’ wounds. The eldest probably felt like exploding, but he still helped Baekhyun and Chanyeol, along with Sorim who acted like a nurse - a good one at that. The girl gave the boys the disinfectant and bandage while the elders did the hard work; Yifan gave her cookies and muttering good job with a pat on her shoulder.. Sorim beamed happily everytime Yifan and Jongdae thanked her, Baekhyun judged silently in his pain.

“Do Baekhyun and Chanyeol feel better now?” a girly voice snapped Baekhyun from his trance. He quickly glanced at Sorim, who had finished the cookies Yifan gave her and sat next to him. “Yes, Sorim-ah, thank you,” the boy replied with a small smile, along with Chanyeol who parroted him, only his smile was much wider. Sorim nodded, but her feet were being restless, so Baekhyun asked, “What is it? Do you want to say something?”

This girl was being shy again, Baekhyun mused. Finally the girl ended whatever the thing she was thinking and gave the misfortunate duo a quick hug, stunning both of them also Yifan and Jongdae who had just returned from the kitchen.

“Dad says a hug always shoo the pain away,” she shyly said after the hug and then made a run behind the living room’s couch. His sorry asses for friends cooed in unison.

Baekhyun felt his injuries, in fact, did not bother him the rest of that day.

The gang had gone to their respective home, like what Baekhyun and Sorim did right now.

They walked in comfortable silence with the sun setting in the west, taking a well deserved rest. Baekhyun glanced at the girl, who hummed to a child’s song he’d heard many times.

“Uh, Sorim-ah?” Baekhyun called the petite girl. “Sorry for calling you ugly. I didn’t mean that - sorry.” he finished lamely, not able to find any good reason to excuse himself. “And thank you for helping me.”

Sorim turned her head to him and blinked. “Issa okay. And you’re welcome, oppa.”

“Did you have fun today, Sorim-ie?” Sorim’s mom asked her when it was time to sleep. “Did the boys treat you well?”

Sorim yawned sleepily. “Yes, mom,” the little girl replied. “They’re the best.”

Mrs. Jun laughed, her fingers ran through her daughter’s dark hair. “Better than our previous neighbors?”

“Better.”