July 18^th, 1998

The five year old little Taemin stepped slowly outside of his kindergarten. As usual, both of his parents were busy, so he had to walk alone. Taemin disliked it so much when he was told to be alone on his way back home. Yes, the journey took less than 10 minutes, but when each one of his classmates got to walk with their family members, Taemin does not understand why he had to walk alone.

“Move away, orphan!”

Taemin fell on his knees as he was pushed to the side of the road by a couple of kids, who actually happened to be his classmates.

“Yah.. I’m not an orphan..” he muttered as he stood up, his hands brushes away the dusts on his pants.

“Really? Then how come your parents never send or pick you up from school?” one of them asked, pretending to be really curious.

“My parents are busy,” Taemin said. He knew he kept on repeating the same sentence many times whenever anyone questioned the absence of his parents, and he was so tired of it. But he doesn’t want to be called an orphan. So no matter how tiring it was, Taemin will keep on telling everyone that his parents are busy.

“But, yesterday during the family day, your parents were not here as well, right? They are THAT busy??” the other kid asked, and then laughed with the other.

Taemin was called “orphan” many times before, but today, not really sure why, Taemin got angrier than he used to be. Probably because today is his birthday, and his parents were still busy.

“How many times do I have to repeat myself, I AM NOT AN ORPHAN!” he shouted as he pushed one of the boys as hard as he can, causing him to fell on his .

“Yahhhh, Lee Taemin!” the other kid who was still standing took a couple of steps forward and grabbed the little skinny boy by his collar. He was about to throw a punch onto Taemin’s adorable face when his head was hit by a large, baby blue paper fan.

All three kindergarten kids turned their heads to the owner of the paper fan.

In front of them, stood a girl with long, wavy hair. Just by looking at her school uniform, they know the girl must be from the primary school the opposite of their kindergarten. Which also means she was older than any of them.

And taller, too.

The girl bent down a bit, her forehead almost touch the bully’s, with her hands and her paper fan behind her back.

“What are you doing?” she asked to the boy who was still holding Taemin’s collar in his grip.

“Um… playing..?” the boy responded, obviously lying.

“By playing, you mean bullying, right?” she asked, blinking her eyes twice. Right at that moment, Taemin thought her big, bright eyes were really cute.

“So what if we were bullying him?” the one on the ground just now asked as he stood up, ready to back up his friend, since both of them were in this together.

“Tsk tsk. In order to live peacefully in this world, let me tell you the important rules. Rule number 1! Never! Never, ever, bully anyone who is better looking than you!” the girl said confidently, Taemin thought she almost sounded like a prime minister.

“.. What kind of rule is that?” one of the bullies asked, confused,

“Look at his face!” the girl said, ignoring the question as she pointed to Taemin. The two boys followed her finger and now all pairs of eyes were on Taemin, causing him to blush.

“Can’t you guys see how cute he is? Do I need to give both of you a mirror each so you can see that the two of you are ugly, inside out?” the girl asked, and this time, she doesn’t look as if she was joking anymore. Her smile fades from her angelic face, and her big eyes got smaller.

The two boys took two steps backwards, one of them letting go of Taemin’s collar, looking at each other at the same time, trying to decide if they should leave or not.

“Now, now, listen, both of you. Before I increase the number of orphans in this area, go,” she whispered, looking adorably evil at the same time.

The two boys, though they were bullies, they were still just kids who easily got scared of anyone older than them, so off they went after giving the girl a quick bow.

The girl turned to Taemin, only to find the little boy already ahead of her, walking away,

“Yah! Don’t you think you should at least thank me?” she said as she ran after him, matching his steps as she kept her baby blue paper fan inside her white, bunny-shaped sling bag.

“Honestly, I thought I should earlier. I was really thankful when you saved me, but then,”

“But then?”

“What’s with the.. increasing the number of orphans here? I am not an orphan!” Taemin snapped, and he can see the shock expression on her face as he stopped walking, looking up to match the taller girl's eyes.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but I hate it when people call me an orphan,” Taemin said again, and started walking, leaving the girl behind. The girl, who suddenly felt guilty, ran after the little boy again.

“I don’t mean to be rude as well, and honestly, I didn’t call you an orphan earlier. I was.. I don’t know. Sorry if I hurt your feelings,” she said as she stopped in front of Taemin. Taemin puffed his adorable cheeks, and the girl ruffles his hair.

“I’m forgiven right? We can be friends, right?” she asked, smiling at the same time.

Taemin nodded his head, and introduced himself.

“I’m Taemin,”

“Taemin? Even your name sounds cute. Your parents had chosen the best name for you,” she chuckles.

“Well, yeah, probably,” Taemin responded, smiling. That was the start of their friendship. None of them would have known how long their relationship would go at that time. None of them would have known that soon, they will brought meanings into each other’s life.

“What should I call you, noona?” Taemin asked as both of them were walking together, side by side. They were talking about random, kids matters for quite some times. Taemin even learnt that baby blue is her favourite colour, which explains the colour of her paper fan that she used to hit one of the bullies just now, only for Taemin to realized that he still didn’t know her name.

“Aish, no need to call me noona. Chanseul is fine,” she said. Taemin tried to argue  because he doesn’t want to sound rude, calling her just by her name when she is probably older by a couple of years than him, when he noticed Chanseul had stopped walking and turned to face him.

“Taemin, is your house still far from here?” she asked. Taemin shook his head before he responded to her.

“Nopes. After this junction, my house is right on the left. Less than 60 seconds of walking,” he said.

“I see, so we actually live very close to each other,” Chanseul replied and she stepped to the gate in front of the building next to them. The building Taemin saw every day when he walks to school. He never even look at the building for more than one second, because even though he doesn’t know the kids living there, he knows all of them must have been upset and unhappy all day long. This is the first time he met one of the kids, and he was surprised that Chanseul does not look sad at all, as what he had always thought of.

“You.. you live here?” he asked, looking at Chanseul, before he gave the orphanage a proper look for the first time.

“Neh!” Chanseul responded.

“Ah.. mianhaeyo..” Taemin quickly apologized and bowed a bit, now that he understood what had happened earlier. When Chanseul said about the number of orphans, she was actually referring to herself, and not Taemin.

“Gwenchana!” Chanseul said as she ruffles Taemin’s hair, smiling at the same time.

Her smile made Taemin feels better. He wonders how come an orphan can be this cheerful.

“Are you saying I don’t act like an orphan?” Chanseul suddenly said as if she can read the boy’s mind, much to Taemin’s surprise.

“A-aniyo!” he shook his head very quickly, and Chanseul pinched his cheek.

“Kyeopta,” she said, flashing her eyesmile. Taemin’s head quickly tried to came up with something to shove away the orphan topic, when he suddenly got a very random idea.

“Umm, today is my 5^th birthday..” he said, trying hard not to look as if he is trying too hard.

“Omo, jinjja?? Saeng il chukka e!! So you’re two years younger!” Chanseul looked so delighted, clapping her hand at the same time, Taemin thought she was really cute at that time.

“Mianhe, I don’t have anything to give to you. Um.. let’s see..”

Chanseul was trying to look for something in her sling bag that she can give to the birthday boy; something like sweets when Taemin cleared his throat and the girl turned to face him.

“Can I call you noona? I’ll take that as my birthday gift,” he said, and quickly palms his cheeks, trying to hide the pink blushes.

It was then when he felt his body was pulled closer to the girl, as Chanseul took him in her small embrace.

“Aigoo! You’re too cute, I won’t say no to you, ever!” she squealed as she did it, and both of them laughed together as Taemin wrapped his little arms around Chanseul's body as well.

"Noona," Taemin called her as they both let go of each other.

"Neh?"

"Can we walk together to school tomorrow morning?" he asked, palming his cheeks again to hide any pink blushes on his skin as he asked.

"Why not? I'll wait for you here tomorrow!" Chanseul nodded her head quickly.

Deep inside his heart, Taemin knows he is not going to be alone anymore starting that day.
 

RAMBLES___♡♥♡
Anddd, they met each other!
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