- Mommy! Mommy!

- Don't shout, Shuhua, you'll wake your little sister...

- Sorry mom... but I just found out who I'm going to marry.

- Oh, really? And who would that be?

The woman asked, smiling at her five-year-old daughter's happy round face. She was excitedly telling what had happened on her day at school.

Seo Soojin was admiring the new lunch box that her grandmother gave her. It was pink and had a beautiful ballerina sticker on it. Her mother had said that her father allowed her to attend the ballet classes that she had asked for so much and the little girl couldn't wait to use those beautiful clothes and make pirouettes as in the drawing. But her daydreams were interrupted by a shadow that approached her from behind.

- Look, the weirdo has a new lunchbox.

Kim Yejin, the bully of her class, snatched the pink lunch box from her hands and handed it to another classmate.

- A freak like you don't deserve a nice lunch box.

Soojin stared at the girl with teary eyes, her excessive shyness kept her from answering anything.

- Don't even know how to defend yourself, silly? This lunchbox is mine now.

Soojin started to cry. She didn't know if she should ask the teacher for help or go after Yejin. The bully was much bigger than her, but before she could do anything a green blur ran up to her.

- Give her lunch box back.

​​A little girl with big expressive black eyes said in a threatening tone.

- Who are you, brat?

- The lunchbox is not yours, give it back.

- Or what ?

Soojin couldn't believe it when the little girl punched Yejin in the stomach, causing her to fall on the floor in pain, the tiny supergirl looked down at the other who was still holding the lunch box:

- Give me that.

The girl handed over the object while the teacher approached them like a train in high speed.

- YEH SHUHUA!

The girl in green looked at the teacher with a small smile. She gave no signs she regret what she did.

- Did you just hit that girl?

- She took the lunch box from that girl and wouldn't give back, teacher.

She said as she pointed to Soojin, who gave her a shy smile.

- You should have called me and not used violence to solve the problem. I'll let you go this time, but don't repeat it again. Now apologize to your colleague.

Shuhua bowed her head and muttered a half-hearted apology to Yejin, who shook her head and left with her hand in her stomach. Shuhua went to Soojin looking extremely proud of herself.

- Here, your lunch box. It's very pretty.

- Thank you... you shouldn't get in trouble because of me.

Murmured Soojin shyly.

- She shouldn't have stole your things.

- But... she's much bigger than you.

- I take all the vitamins my mom gives me and eat all my vegetables... look how strong I am.

Shuhua showed her little arms to Soojin, who was amused by the little girl who defended her honor with so much energy. She smiled for the first time that day and she liked that little girl even more for that.

- You have a pretty smile.

Soojin got extremely flushed with the compliment.

- You want to be my friend?

Shuhua offered her hand and Soojin accepted.

- My name is Soojin.

- I'm Shuhua and one day I will marry you.

Soojin blinked several times at her in amazement.

- Because...?

- Dad and I watch a lot of movies and the girl always marries the boy who saves her from the bad guys. So as I saved you, we're getting married.

- Uhh…ok.

Soojin thought the girl was weird but chose not to contradict her by giving her a shy smile, while she told about her dog that ate his sister's dirty diaper and gave her father a hard time cleaning the floor.

- See, mom? I will marry her.

- Sure, love. Why don’t you ask for Soojin’s mother’s phone number so we can call her to come and play with you a whole afternoon?

- I'M SERIOUS MOM!

- Shuhua, what did I say about yelling at home? 

The mother scolded the little Shuhua, hearing noises coming from the baby's room.

- Not to wake the baby…

Shuhua murmured, looking at her own little feet.

- Now you'll have to distract your sister until I finish the dinner.

- Okay, I'll tell her everything about Soojin!

The mother smiled as the girl ran to her sister's room.

- Children…

~ Ten years later ~

Why is holding Shuhua's hand so different from holding Hui's? He's my boyfriend, I should feel safe with him.

Soojin thought as she lied on her bed, her backpack tossed in the corner of the room. In the past few weeks her best friend hasn't left her thoughts, not a single minute. Yeh Shuhua could be two years younger than her but since she came into her life long ago, defending her from a bully, the girl became a big part of her life.

Shuhua was always with her, holding her hand when she was nervous at a ballet performance or when schoolwork was piling up. She just seemed to feel when Soojin's anxiety would take its toll on her, supporting her, hugging her gently while saying something absurd which ended up distracting and calming her down.

"Someday i will marry you."

The sentence spoken by Shuhua when they first met lingered in her thoughts. It never left her memory, all the colors from that day remained vivid in her mind like it happened the day before.

Shuhua never had shown interest in anyone over the years they had known each other and she had noticed that Shuhua's eyes lingered on some actresses on TV, but the girl would never admit any crush. Sixteen-year-old Shuhua had became a beautiful young woman with a long curly hair and a beauty that attracted admirers of both es. Her personality was unique, she was funny, smart and charming. Everybody knew Shuhua was one of a kind and it was not only once that Soojin witnessed her rejecting dating requests.

Shuhua knew Soojin's biggest fears and insecurities, she knew how she liked her coffee or when her cramps were too much to handle. She always knew exactly what to say when anxiety hit or the right moment to be silent when Soojin lost herself in thoughts. She was there when Soojin's little sister was born and she felt that she was being left out, and Soojin was at her side when Shuhua's father died in a car accident when the girl was 10 years old. She had never seen the girl so quiet like in those months. It was a difficult period for everyone and after what happened both she and her friend ended up helping Shuhua's mother with her little sister, Huang. The little girl had taken a liking to ballet after so much watching Soojin training in her sister's room and now Shuhua accompanied them both at the ballet school, immersed in her drawings while her favorite dancers exercised on the bars.

It's just because she's my best friend, that's all. Soojin was sure that sooner or later she would be comfortable with Hui as much as she felt with Shuhua, they just needed to spend more time together.

And it was with that thought that she started spending even more time with Hui. The afternoons spent watching movies with Shuhua were exchanged for meetings with her boyfriend, dates in the movies and dinners between their studies. The little free time she had was spent with him. "This is what boyfriends do", was what she said everytime she rejected Shuhua's requests to stop by her house. Hui should be her priority... right?

He was a good boyfriend, attentive and very understanding with their little time together. Between school and ballet training, she liked h