A young boy raced out of his front door, jumping across the garden fence to the neighbor’s house and knocked to the door quite impatiently. A woman in her early thirties opened the door and beamed when she found the boy.

“Hello! My name is Lee Donghae!” The boy grinned brightly showing off his missing front tooth. “ I live in that house next door. My mommy told me to greet the new neighbors and give them cookies...ohhh!” 

The boy was suddenly startled as he looked down at his empty hands and glanced back at his house.

“I left the cookies on the table.” He mumbled pouting, his head hanging in shame as he mentally scolded himself for being an airhead again and forgetting important things. His older brother, Donghwa always for it. The boy’s pout deepened.

The woman simply laughed and said in was alright. She turned her head and called someone from inside the house.

“Hyukjae, get down here. A new friend is here to see you.” She called.

Confused Donghae tilted his head staring inside the house wondering what sort of a creature named ‘Hyukjae’ might appear. His eyes widened as another boy his age came down the stairs and hid behind his mother.

“This is my son Hyukjae. Hyukjae this is Donghae, your new neighbor.” The woman said softly making quick introductions. “Maybe the both of you would like to play in the garden?”

Hyukjae hearing this shrunk further into his mother’s embrace almost afraid of the new stranger. Donghae however nodded his head like there was no tomorrow, grabbed Hyukjae’s wrist and dragged him into the garden forcing him to play with the enthusiastic boy.

Hyukjae was quiet, Donghae decided. With doe-like single lidded eyes and full plump lips, he seemed to be too solemn and serious for a boy his age. But Donghae is nothing if not persistent and by the end of the day he managed to break down all the boy’s barriers and made a genuine friend.

When it was time for him to leave, Donghae hugged Hyukjae like he would never see him again, his puppy dog eyes filling up with unshed tears even though they would most likely play again tomorrow. 

“You’re my best friend, Hyukkie!” Donghae declared while clinging to Hyukjae as his mother called him to dinner. “We’ll see each other everyday and have a lot of fun!” 

A couple more minutes of persistent hugging and a threat to not get pudding after dinner Donghae was running back to his house with the huge smile on his face.  He made sure to wave Hyukkie goodbye as he closed the door to his house beaming when he saw his self declared best friend return him a soft smile and wave back.