Flashback to year 1988

Right beneath the warm sun that was setting ever so slowly yet gently; sat a little girl on top of a hill with tears streaming down her face. She tried to huff and sniff her tears back up, but the unfortunate memories that caused her pain had flashed right back to her mind, which caused her tears to roll right back down on her rosy cheeks. 

Suddenly her self-pity session had been interrupted by another curious and a bold 5 year old, Yu Jimin, who seemed to be very exhausted from the climb up to the hill. 

''I hope you're crying about the hill and not about those idiots because this was extremely tiring,'' said Jimin as she exuded a long sigh. ''I think I scraped my knee somewhere.'' Minjeong hadn't stopped her crying because of the latter's poor attempt at comforting, but rather because she was taken slightly off guard. Minjeong blinked at the girl and watched how she welcomed herself right next to her on the cliff. 

After a couple of seconds of silence, Minjeong had found herself to be crying once again. This time, Jimin took a blue handkerchief from her pocket and handed it to the girl. 

''Dry off your snot, it's gross.'' Jimin frowned. 

It took a couple of seconds for Minjeong to register what Jimin was doing, and as impatient as Jimin was, she scoffed and decided to dry Minjeong's wet face herself. 

''T-Thank you...'' Minjeong mumbled beneath her breath and stared at the soft pastel blue handkerchief in her hand. The fabric was made out of silk, something that was probably way too expensive to be drying off Minjeong's tears and snot, but yet Jimin handed it to her like it was meaningless and easily replacable. Minjeong was very familiar of this texture, simply because her mother's most expensive dresses were made out of the same fabric. 

That meant they were very expensive and Minjeong wasn't allowed to touch them, but yet something so delicate and soft was in her hands and it had now become dirty because of her. 

''Kids can be mean but don't worry about them, I think they're stupid.'' said Jimin, bringing the other girl back to reality. ''I love your bobcut by the way, it's very cute.'' 

Minjeong's eyes lightened up at the compliment, it meant a lot to her considering that she's been enduring a whole day worth of bullying from the other kids. Minjeong has always been acknowledged by her long silky hair that reached all the way down to her waist. She was the only one in her kindergarten that had such long hair. However, she was met with headlice that spread through the entire class and unfortunately she had to cut it all off. Which also meant that the other kids had found out about it and started bullying her. Well everyone except for Jimin. 

''Really? You do?'' 

''Mhm!'' Jimin nodded confidently, ''It's different and different is good! Blending in with everyone else is boring.'' 

That was a rather cocky statement from a five year old, Minjeong thought, but she knew where that must've come from. Jimin's parents were incredibly rich, as she's been told and heard from the teachers' gossiping. Her mother was a famous fashion designer, inherited from her grandparents, and her dad was a successful plastic surgeon. Jimin always came to school with extremely impressive dishes for lunch, sometimes even western food that no one's ever heard of or seen before. Her uniform was always so neat and organized as well, pretty much the opposite of Minjeong. 

''I don't know if I can even blend in.'' said Minjeong quietly and painfully.

Jimin chuckled brightly which surprised the latter. Minjeong's eyes rounded at the sight of Jimin smiling ever so sweetly at her, the kind of smile that she hasn't gotten from anyone in a long time. The color of the sunset laid perfectly on Jimin, reflecting her beautiful hazel eyes and her long amber hair. The soft breeze tangled through her locks and kissed their skin with chilly goosebumps. 

This was the kind of smile that a beautiful girl like Jimin could do, because everything in her life shone as bright as the sun, everything resembled very much like glitter and gold. 

''If you don't blend in that's because you're meant to stand out, silly!'' 

In that moment, everything stopped for Minjeong. It was a view that struck her so incredibly hard that she felt it in her bones that it would forever remain as a core memory to her. 

Suddenly, a familiar voice interrupted their conversation as Minjeong could hear her mother calling for her. She stood up immediately and waved back to her mother. Minjeong knew that her mother was back from work, and had finally come to pick her up. Usually she was the last one to leave due to her mother's long hours at work, but oddly not today and that felt rather weird.

''My mom is here, I have to go now.'' said Minjeong and turned her head around to catch Jimin's gaze. ''But I'll see you tomorrow?'' 

''Nope, I'm moving to Seoul tomorrow actually.'' said Jimin casually as she stood up and brushed the grass dirt off her flannel skirt. 

''What?'' Minjeong's eyes rounded in surprise. ''Then I'll stay here and wait with you until your parents pick you up!'' 

Jimin giggled and walked past her, ''My chauffeur's already here, I've just been keeping you company for yours.'' 

''What about your handkerchief?!'' Minjeong asked in panic as she watched Jimin's silhouette slowly disappearing down the cliff as the sun was setting on her figure. ''I'll have it clean by tomorrow and give it back to you before you leave!'' 

''You can keep it, something is telling me that you'll need it more than me.'' said Jimin with a light chuckle who was now standing right by her car. ''Plus I really hate pastel blue, it's gross.'' There was a small scrunch on Jimin's nose as she expressed her distate for the color blue as her family's driver was right behind her, opening the car door. 

Minjeong felt her lip quiver as she had already felt an attachment to her newly made friend, who was already giving their goodbye's. Seoul is the bigger city that she can't imagine ever traveling to as it was far away from the countryside. However, it made sense for someone like Jimin to go live there instead of this small town. Minjeong felt her fingers anxiously fidgeting with the hem of her skirt before gathering enough courage to shout her last greetings. 

''Bye bye! You've always been so kind to me, my hero!'' Jimin shouted with a gulp, was that perhaps too corny?

Jimin turned her head around with a smile and waved, ''Bye Jeong-ah!