Of ducks and sketchbooks[Yulyen]

Lean On Me || IZ*ONE One Shots
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A story about two kids as this narrates from when they first met until college. Nothing remains the same, everything changes with time so....will their feelings change too?

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Yena's POV

 

Year 2009

I still very clearly remember the morning where everything begun. Eomma told me that new neighbours were going to move into the empty house next to us and I was so excited as I expected for a child, a similar age to mine, to be one of them. All day long, I came up with various ways to make friends with whoever was going to be my new neighbour.

 

Around noon, a big truck parked into the place next to us. I stared inquisitively from my room upstairs as workers unloaded what seemed like endless amounts of furniture into the two-storey house. Distracted by these movements, I failed to notice that the curtains from the window right across from mine had opened. A few minutes later, I lost all hope that there was going to be a kid living next to my house as all I saw were two adults(a man and a woman), who seemed like the house's new owners, instructing the workers where to put the furniture.

 

 

I sighed exasperatingly and diverted my gaze to the window across. To my astonishment, I came face-to-face with a pair of brown orbs which were staring at me with wide curious eyes. For a few seconds, we were just staring at each other. The owner of these eyes was a young girl, around my age, with bangs and long hair which fell under her shoulders. I grinned wide as I finally realized that she was one of my new neighbours and waved enthusiastically at her. 

 

 

As I did that, the girl's face turned into a shade of pink. Tears brimmed the corners of her eyes and she looked like she was about to cry any second. In an instant the girl ran out of the room. I was confused.

 

"Eh? Why did she ran out?" I scratched my head idiotically.

 

I looked out of my window at their driveway once again and saw that the little girl from before was hugging the waist of one the adults from before, her mother most likely. I noticed that she glanced at my window and when she saw me, she buried her face in her mom's waist again.

 

"She's cute" I giggled to myself. I was determined to be friends with her.

 

For the rest of the day, I tried to think of ways to become friends with her. I even skipped playing with my duck plushies. After what seemed like millions of years, i finally came up with a solution : To go talk to her and ask her to be my friend.

 

"Mwahaha I'm such a genius" I smiled proudly as I thought of the solution I came to "I should reward myself with some more duck plushies"

 

Just then my house's bell rung and I heard my mom call me. I quickly ran to the front door and to my pleasure, it was the girl with her mom. Talk about perfect timing. The girl was still shyly hiding behind her mom as our moms were engaging in a conversation.

 

"Yena-ah" My mom called me "These are our new neightbours, the Jos"

 

"Nice to meet you Ms.Jo" I greeted politely.

 

"Omo nice to meet you too Yena-ah" She smiled at me "You're so cute"

 

I just smile sheepishly before turning my gaze to the girl behind her. Ms.Jo seemed to notice my stare at her daughter and softly tugged her daughter to come forward.

 

"Yuri-ah say hi to Yena"

 

The girl looked at me with her cheeks tinted red before looking down at her feet.

 

"H-Hi" She muttered.

 

"Yuri is an introverted kid so she gets really shy meeting new people" Ms.Jo explains "I hope the two of you can become great friends"

 

"I REALLY HOPE SO TOO" I blurted out without thinking. As I said that, I saw that Yuri's face turned into a darker shade of red as the adults laughed at the scene. I scratched my cheek while grinning embarrassly. After the laugher died down, Yuri and her mom bid goodbye to us and returned to their place. I learnt that Yuri was going to attend to my school as well. That fact just motivated me even more to become friends with her.

 

*****************************

 

The next morning I woke up extra early and waited for Yuri to come out. After around 30 mins, she finally did. Holding her mom's hand she walked out of the front gate. Excitedly, I ran towards her.

 

"Yuri-ah Let's go to school together" I jumped up and down.

 

Yuri flinched at my approach.

 

"Omo Yena-ah" Ms.Jo patted my head "Can you show Yuri the way to school?"

 

"Of course trust me! I'm very reliable ma'am" I lifted my head up while crossing my arms.

 

"Hahah...Okay Yena" Ms.Jo softly pushed Yuri towards me "Go to school with her sweety"

 

Although hesistant, Yuri nodded and walked ahead, going pass me. I grinned widely and ran after her as well.

 

*****************************

 

On the way to school, I kept on staring at Yuri who was walking beside me. I was giggling to myself the whole time. I wanted to strike up a conversation with her. In an attempt to catch her attention, I coughed a couple of times. However, she didn't even spare me a glance. Running out of patience, I asked her a question.

 

"Hey How old are you?" I smiled friendly.

 

I waited for a few seconds for her answer but hearing no words come out of , I pouted as I looked down at my feet while walking. Just then, I heard a soft whisper.

 

"I-I'm seven"

 

Not believing my ears, I turned towards her. Did she just speak to me? She answered my question? SHE ANSWERED MY QUESTION!!

 

I excitedly held her shoulders and shook it back and forth.

 

 

"WOAHHH WE'RE THE SAME AGE" I SCREAMED IN EXCITEMENT "WE MIGHT BE IN THE SAME CLASS OMG"

 

Then I threw my fists up into the air. My victory cheer was interrupted by a chuckle. I looked behind me to see Yuri laughing while holding her stomach.

 

"Whattttt?" I whined.

 

"Y-You hahAhaHAha" She laughed even more.

 

"What is it?" I pouted, sticking my lips out.

 

"You look l-like a d-d-duck hahAhaHAha"

 

Her laughter was like a sweet melody to my ears. Seeing her laugh earnestly, I laughed along with her. Before we knew it we had already arrived to school. I showed her the way to the office so that she could know her assigned class and to my disappointment, we were in different classes. The bell rung and I went to my class before solemly sitting on my seat.

 

*********************************************

 

It was after school and I decided to wait for Yuri so that we could go back home together. I waited, waited and waited but she didn't come. I grew worried and decided to go look for her.

 

"Yuri-ahhhh" I shouted. However there was no response. I strolled to the back of the school and there I heard a few voices. I hid behind the wall and sneaked a peek. There, I saw Yuri but she was not alone. She had company. Bad company. Three girls were cornering her,

 

"New girl" One of the girls smirked smuggly "Why don't you give us your pocket money"

 

 

"N-No" Yuri replied. He voice was shaking and her body was trembling. I knew she was scared.

 

"What did you say?!" The girls approached as they yelled at her.

 

Seeing that things weren't looking good, I decided to jump in.

 

"HEYYY" I shouted at the top of my lungs while putting on the scariest face i can "What do you think you are doing?!"

 

The girls glared at me.

 

"Who do you think you are to yell at us?" They snared.

 

"S-Shut up" I was actually very scared as well but tried not to show it "Don't you know bullying is a bad thing?! I will tell the teachers!"

 

Once they heard the last sentence, their faces changed into ones which looked afraid.

 

"D-Don't you dare tell the teachers"

 

They tried to sound menacing but they failed. After giving one last glance to Yuri, the bullies ran away. When they got out of side, I sat down on the ground. MY eyes were getting watery.

 

"I-I was s-so scaredddd" At last, I let it all out as I wailed out loud.

 

Yuri just stared at me confusedly. She slowly walked towards me and sat down infront of me. Looking carefully at my crying face, she let out a giggle.

 

"W-What's so *sniffs* funny?"

 

"I'm the one who got bullied but you're the one crying" she laughed "Aren't I the one supposed to be scared?"

 

Question marks appeared above my head. Huh? Only then I came to a realization. Yuri was the one being bullied and I was the one who helped her. OOOOHHHH

 

"Oh right" I quickly wiped away my tears and tried to erase every evidence of me crying a few seconds before. I then crossed my arms and acted cool.

 

"Yuri-ah Are you hurt?"

 

"Stop acting like you weren't crying just a few moments earlier" Yuri flicked my forehead "Also I'm fine so let's go home you dumb duck"

 

********************************

 

I walked Yuri to her place as our houses were right next to each other. I bid her farewell before entering my house as well. Happily, I jogged up to my room while humming a cheerful tune. I finally became friends with Yuri. I jumped onto my bed and rolled left and right. Despite this, I felt like I was forgetting something.

 

"Hmmm" I thought as I looked up the ceiling.....3....2....1...."AAAHHHHHH"

 

I jumped off the bed. I held my head with both of my hands and ruffled it roughly. I couldn't believe I forgot to do the most important thing.

 

"I FORGOT TO ASK HER TO BE MY FRIEND" I held my head with both of my hands.

 

 

Pacing around my room, I thought of ways to contact her at this hour. I could wait until the next day to ask her but I was not patient anymore.

 

"Think...think....think...." Just then *ding* a light bulb appeared on top of my head and I thought of an idea.

 

Quickly, I tore out a piece of paper and a sketchbook. I crumpled the paper into a ball. With all the power a seven-year-old girl can muster up, I pushed my window up and threw the paper ball at the window across from mine. then I waited. After a few seconds, a head popped up from the window. Yuri was staring out at me in confusion.

 

I mouthed her to wait and held up the sketchbook. On the sketchbook, I had written down a question.

 

JO YURI WILL U BE MY FRIEND?

 

From her window, Yuri squinted her eyes and scanned the question. Then wondered around her room as if she was finding for something. A couple of minutes later she returned with a sketchbook of her own. She opened the marker and scribbled something on the sketchbook. Then she lifted it up for me to see.

 

YES

 

And then she smiled at me. The most sincere one she had given me so far. She waved goodbye at me before closing the curtains. However, I was frozen there. I couldn't believe she actually agreed to be my friend.

 

"OMG OMG AHHHH" I screamed triumphantly.

 

From then on, Yuri and I became the best of friends. We were like two beans in a pod who couldn't be separated. We did everything together. I even introduced her to my duck plushies and she seemed to love them. "Ducks are adorable" she said. I thought we were going to be like this forever.....but I was wrong. I didn't knew then that some time in the future, our relationship was going to change drastically.

 

***********************************************

 

Year 2015

 

The years passed by fast and we were now in middle school. Classes just ended and I packed up before going to Yuri's class which was next to mine. After waiting for a while, she finally came out.

 

"Let's go home" I smiled at her.

 

"Sure" she returned my smile "But Yena-ah..."

 

"Hmm?"

 

"Can we get ice-cream on the way?🥺"

 

"Ice-cream?" I asked confused "Joyul you have to sing with your band the day after tomorrow at the school's festival right? I thought you're not supposed to eat sweet stuff"

 

Over the years, Yuri and I have given each other nicknames as a form of endearment(?). Her's being "Joyul" while mine is obviously "Ducky".

 

"B-but I've been craving for ice-cream for a long time nowwwww" She pouted and looked at me with puppy dog eyes "Yena pleashhheeee?"

 

Both she and me knew that I couldn't resist that face of hers. As much I denied it all the time, Yuri had a knack for aegyo. She could pull off the cutest of faces easily. Her originally cute facial structure just doubles the cuteness like urghhh. But I won't tell her those.

 

"Aigoooo" I sighed exasperatedly as I knew I had no way out of this "Sure sure let's go get ice-cream"

 

The moment I said that, her face brightened up and she clapped her hands.

 

"Really??! Yesss!!!" She held my arm and shook it enthusiastically "Agegege my Ducky is the besttt!"

 

I just shook my head at the sight of the "child" in front of me. Just as I was about to start walking, I felt something come into contact with my cheek. I immediately touched my cheek with my palm as I turned towards Yuri, only to come face-to-face with a wide grin.

 

"Hehehe" She held my hand and pulled me out of the school.

 

W-what just h-happened? D-d-did she just k-kissed my cheeks?! I felt my ears start to burn and a blush slowly creeping up my face. I bet I looked like a tomato right now.

 

Suddenly, Yuri turned around. As if in slow motion, each strand of her hair danced along the wind breezing pass. The corners of lips turned upwards into a mischievous grin.

 

"Your face is so red ahahaha" She laughed heartily.

 

"S-shut up" i covered my face with the back of my hand.

 

She suddenly stopped laughing and stared right into my face.

 

Thump

 

Thump

 

Why is my heart beating fast? Her glamorous brown orbs stared into me as if they were looking right into my soul. My heart kept racing faster and faster.

 

As if time had stopped, Yuri was all i could see. Seconds went by and Yuri still wasn't moving. Only then I knew she was playing a joke on me.

 

"Urghhh" I pushed her face aside and walked ahead. I could hear her laughter from behind me.

 

"Yena-ah wait for me!" She shouted in between her laughters.

 

I ignored them and went ahead. Choi Yena get a hold of yourself! It's just Yuri. I slapped my face slightly to stop myself from thinking about her face.

 

****************************

 

I took a shower and dried my hair before slumping down on my bed. Lazily, I glanced at the clock on the bedside table.

 

9:15pm

 

I stared mindlessly at the ceiling while recalling the events from today. I didn't notice it because I was always together with her but Yuri was really pretty. She still had chubby cheeks from when she was young yet her anyone could tell that she was a real beauty from first glance.

 

 I wondered about her brown orbs.........the smell of her perfume.......her smile......her lips. They looked so attractive and soft. How could they feel agains- wAiT WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING ABOUT?! I covered my face with the pillow and screamed into it. I couldn't believe I just thought about k-kissing Joyul.

 

Just as I was fumbling around my bed, I felt something hit my window. I went towards it and opened the curtain just to see the very girl I was thinking about. She was wearing a oversized black shirt with pajama pants. However, what caught my attention most was the words on the sketchbook she was holding.

 

Come watch my band perform?

 

She looked nervous with the :] face she always does. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hah...This girl...what makes her think I wouldn't go watch her perform. I chucked to myself in amusement before taking out my own sketchbook and scribbling words onto it. I held it up.

 

OF COURSE U

 

She broke out into a wide smile the moment she saw it. She mouthed "goodnight ducky" before closing her curtains. I stood there for a while with a smile of my own plastered on my face. Looking at Yuri's window, I felt something tug at my heart. I slowly lift up my hand and placed it against my chest.

 

"What is this sensation?" I mumbled.

 

****************************

 

It was now the day of the school festival. Being known as the "friendly person" at school, many teachers and students alike requested me to help out at their booths and me being me didn't have the heart to say no.

 

For the whole day, I was running around the whole school as I helped around as much as I could. I hadn't even seen Yuri all day. We walked to-and-fro school together everyday but today, she left early to practice with her band. Although I had friends all throughout school, I didn't truly enjoy myself with them like when I was with Yuri.

 

I lied down on the grass and closed my eyes. After working for the whole day, I finally had some time to rest. Just then, something cold came in contact with my forehead.

 

"Gah" I sat up abruptly. I was about to yell at whoever did that until I realized who the culprit was.

 

"Hehe Did I scared you?" The voice said.

 

"Urgh Joyul" I pouted sticking my lips out "What is it?"

 

She pinched my lips with her fingers and flicked my forehead.

 

"We haven't seen each other for the whole day and that's the first thing you say?" She dramatically rested her hands on her waist "And here I was worried that you might be tired and even brought you a drink"

 

"Haha is that so?" I scratched my cheek "I'm sworry please don't be maddd"

 

Truth is, I missed her a lot too.

 

"Hmpf" She turned around, facing her back to me.

 

"Come on.. Please don't be mad anymore" I pulled her cheek "My cutie Joyulll"

 

She pushed my hands away and pouted even more.

 

"Hmpf Chit boong"(I'm pretty sure you all know the reference I'm making here XD)

 

"Ehhh"

 

Just then, her bandmates came to call her as it was almost showtime. She stood up and glanced at me, still pouting.

 

"Come watch me perform okay?"

 

"Hehe" I put out a thumbs up and grinned at her.

 

******************************************

 

I tried to push through the crowd of students standing in front of the stage. After much struggle, I reached to a spot where I could clearly see the performers. The MC came onto the stage to announce the final act of the day.

 

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present you the closing act of the dayyyy!! Our very ownnnn THE HAMSTERS"

 

The crowd erupted in cheers. I clapped along too. The band made its way onto the stage . In the center was Yuri who was holding the mic. I could tell she was nervous from the way her fingers kept fidgeting. She turned to my direction and gazed at me anxiously.

 

I gave her a soft smile and mouthed "You can do it". She returned the smile and looked more comfortable then before. And then the music starts.

 

Plays "It's You" by Henry

 

The moment Yuri started singing, everyone went quiet. The crowd was waving their hands in sync to support the band. Among all of them, I stood still as I watched Yuri hit each and every note while putting her whole soul into the song.

 

Just as she was about to sing the chorus, she looked at me and ours eyes made contact.

 

You're the right time, at the right moment. You're the sunlight, keeps my heart going~

 

Bathump

 

The feeling was back.

 

Bathump

 

My heart started racing faster. I couldn't stop it from skipping a beat. The moment Yuri stared right into my eyes as she sang the song, I felt like I couldn't breathe. It all went by slowly yet fast. Just what was this feeling I get every time I'm with Joyul?

 

Before I knew it, the performance had already ended and the crowd clapped enthusiastically. From the back, I even heard someone scream "Yuri you're so pretty". I ignored it and went to find the said person.

 

Once again, I pushed through the crowds and went towards the school building. The building was as crowded as it was outside. After what seemed like centuries, I finally found Yuri.

 

"Hey Joy-"

 

I was about to call out to her when I noticed that she had company

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Comments

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akakmacho #1
Chapter 8: can someone explain me the ending? overall its cute and bit angsty but why the hell did that kid was able to see yena.... or the ending is just like that T.T
ThatAngstWriter
#2
Chapter 8: It's sad but I like it
Kamishil #3
Chapter 8: Awwwww~ I loved this story. It’s cute, bitter sweet and just overall well written! Thank you for this wonderful story!
jiwoneiric
#4
Chapter 8: Omaigad this story is soooooo good. It has a bittersweet storyline which i like so much, well done author-nim~
-_--_- #5
Chapter 8: This is soooo good omg
jetiunique
#6
Chapter 8: Aawww the first time reading YulYen fic and this is the best! :') I really like this, sweet yet a little bit angst.. huhu

But in the end, they're still destined for each other thus, they still found each other even in another life :>

Thank you for this! So beautifully written!
moonubie
#7
Chapter 8: kinda bittersweet but i really like it <3
eonnifan
#8
Chapter 7: everytime i read yena's ya ya ya... suddenly i can heard her voice xD
Fairyzone_12
#9
Chapter 7: Nice story, but yujin still dense until the end lol
Kamishil #10
Chapter 7: Awwwwww this is so cute~~