(Min Hee's POV)

"Good times, good times," I chuckled. 

I remember it precisely. It was the middle of October when my family and I moved from Busan to Seoul. I never quite understood why. Busan was equally as busy as Seoul. Crazy parents, I thought. 

On my first day of school, every student in my class swarmed around me. Well, everyone except this one girl. Whatever, I thought. I tried not to give it much thought but it still bothered me. Back at my old school in Busan, everyone practically worshipped me. I can't help that I was born with dashing good looks and a great sense of fashion. I smirked to myself. 

After only two days, I was the talk of the school. Grade five and four students worshipped me while meanwhile, the younger grades looked up to me. Once again, I was popular. I didn't even have to do anything this time, I thought to myself. 

Everything was going well until the teacher partnered me up with that girl for a project. It was the kind of project that would take quite a long time to finish. We had to hand it in before winter break for goodness' sake. And it was only the beginning of November!

I didn't want to go to her house and neither did she want to go mine so we decided to just work on it at school. However, people kept going to me for ''help", thus interrupting us from getting any work done. I didn't mind though. I'd rather hang out with them than her anyway. 

This kept going on for a while until it came to a point that we only had a week before it was due. We haven't even started it yet! I can't get low grades, I thought frantically. I had no other choice but to beg to go to her house. I don't want her to know where I live. At that point, I had found out the reason why we moved here from Busan. And it was quite a shame, actually. 

I approached her after school one day and told her we need to finish the project at her house. She smiled at me shyly and said okay. On the way to her house I asked her what her name is and why she didn't approach me on my first day.

"Oh, I'm Lina. I didn't approach you because I was shy. I'm sorry if it offended you, but I don't talk to people unless they approach me first," she said with a calm and quiet voice. 

"You know, it's weird. We've been assigned this project for a long time now but I never actually found out your name," I laughed. "Oh, I'm Min Hee by the way," I gave her a dazzling smile.

"I know, Everyone at school knows you." Suddenly, the ice barrier I felt between us was slowly melting. She was just shy, I thought. I continued talking to Lina to get to know her more. 

My eyes squinted as soon as we turned the corner. Hey, isn't this where I live? I began to panic. Holy crap, please don't tell me I live close to Lina. I don't want her to know I live here especially after I told everyone I lived in the rich people's neighbourhood. 

We stopped walking. "This is where I live," Lina said, pointing to the house behind her. I didn't notice we had already arrived. I kept my head down low as soon as I found out we were walking on my street. I squinted my eyes at the houses beside hers. Then I spotted my house. What the. . . ? WE'RE NEIGHBOURS?! I was flabbergasted. 

Lina led me to her home and we immediately started working on the project. However, I couldn't focus properly. I still couldn't believe we were neighbours. I just have to keep this a secret, I thought. 

We were halfway through the project when we decided to call it a night. "See you tomorrow. Can we do it at your house next time?" 

"NO!" 

Lina was surprised by my sudden outburst. "I mean, I live kind of far from school. How about we just stay after school tomorrow to finish it? I'm pretty sure our teacher would let us." Lina considered this. "O. . .kay. But we have to hurry though. I have to go home by 6 pm if we're staying after school." 

"I'm sure we'll finish it by then. We're already halfway finished anyway." I gave Lina a half-hearted smile. "Great! Is someone picking you up?" 

"Uh, yeah, our driver," I lied. "He's going to pick me up over at the bus stop around the corner." 

"Do you want me to walk you there?" 

"No, it's okay. I'll be fine."

"Be careful on your way then."

Lina watched me as I stepped out into their porch. I started walking on the sidewalk. I passed my house. I looked back. Lina was watching me from their gate, making sure I make it past the corner safely. Oh god, why? Why is this happening to me?

I passed the corner and I stayed there. I peeked to see if Lina was gone. Once I was sure that she's gone back inside, I made a quick dash from the corner to my house. 

The next day, Lina and I stayed behind after school to finish our project just as we had said the day before. I couldn't face Lina properly after finding out we lived in the same street. What if she finds out? What if she tells everyone? What if her gentle image is all just a facade? My thoughts were filled with what-if's. 

Despite my best trying to ignore my thoughts, doubt got the best me. I didn't talk to Lina unless she asked me a question or asked me to do something. I was afraid that if I open my mouth to have a conservation with her, my mouth would run off and tell her my secret. Curse my talkative mouth, I thought.

We finished the project that night and we parted ways without saying anything to each other. I saw the hurt in Lina's eyes as I walked away. I thought she didn't care. I tried to convince myself that I didn't care as well but I knew better. I thought she was going to be my first friend but as usual, my problems just had to get in the way.

Winter break soon came after. It was the day before the last day of school and our teacher was handing back the projects that were received early. Lina and I received an A+ on our project. Once she found out, she grew a big smile on her face and hugged me, saying, "We did it, Min Hee, we did it!" I felt happy about Lina's hug but I quickly pushed her away and grabbed my bag from under the desk. "Whatever."

I walked out of the class. I glanced back one more time and saw Lina's eyes close to tears. I was dying inside. I wanted to be Lina's friend, I really did. I just didn't know if I could trust her yet. 

Finally, it was Christmas. My whole family was sitting near the Christmas tree, opening presents. I got everything I wanted but I wasn't truly content. After putting all my presents away, I decided to go for a walk. As I was closing the gate, I heard my name. "Min Hee? Is that you? Is this where you live?" I turned around. Lina?

My eyes widened. I quickly ran away from her. Oh crap. Lina, please don't say anything to anyone. 

"Wait, Min Hee, don't run. I have to give something to you!" 

She continued to call me but despite her pleas, I didn't look back. I just continued to run. I had no idea where I was going but at that time, it didn't matter. 

Out of breath, I stopped running. I looked around me. I was at a playground. I walked over to the swings and started swaying myself back and forth. The momentum increased after a short while. 

My ears and cheeks were numb from the cold winter air and me swaying fast on the swings wasn't helping. I started crying. Min Hee, you are a coward. You wanted a friend but you keep running away from her. What's wrong with you? After a while, I got dizzy from the swings so I stopped. However, my tears didn't. The tears continued to flow out of my eyes. 

"Min Hee? Omo, why are you crying?" I looked up. It was Lina. "What? You're gonna tell everyone that I'm nothing but a big lie? Go ahead. Go ahead and tell them I don't have a big house, that I'm not rich and I don't have wealthy parents. Tell them I don't live in a rich neighbourhood and-"

Lina suddenly hugged me. "Why would I tell them that? You're my friend. And besides, I don't care if you're not rich. Your company is all I seek for." Friend? I was taken aback. Does she really consider me her friend? I continued to cry. 

After a while, I calmed down. "Why were you keeping it a secret? I don't mind that we're neighbours. Actually, I'm glad." She smiled at me. "I told everyone at school that I was rich so I thought that if I told you the truth, you'd tell everyone." 

"Why would I do that? We're friends, remember?" I instantly calmed down. At that moment, I finally knew I had a friend. "Why did you tell everyone you were rich anyway?" I sighed. "It's kind of a long story. I'll tell you next time, okay? How about we go to my house right now and have some hot chocolate? " Lina eyes brightened. "Alright." 

When we got to my house, I introduced Lina to my family. They instantly greeted her with warm smiles and treated her like family. We took our hot chocolate and went upstairs to my room. "Hey, I should introduce you to my other friends too." My eyes brightened. "Really?" Lina nodded. "Don't worry, they're really nice. I'm sure you'll like them too. I'll arrange a meet up once the Christmas holiday is over."

A week later, Lina introduced me to Mi Jin and Cho Hee. I have to admit, I didn't like them at first. I was jealous of the fact that they came from the rich neighbourhood beside ours. But I warmed up to them pretty quickly after getting to know them. Before I knew it, the four of us were best friends. 

It was a week before winter break ends when I decided to tell everyone my story. It's time, I thought. We were having a sleepover at Cho Hee's house and we were on the floor, doing each other's nails. "Hey guys, It's about time I tell you my story. You told yours now it's time to tell mine. They looked at me, their eyes eager and their full attention on me.

"I used to be wealthy back in Busan," I started, "My dad got hired into a big company and was paid a large amount of money. Word got around school and everyone suddenly started being nice to me. Everyone wanted to be my friend. Soon after that, we got a new house. It was huge, almost like a mansion, but not quite." I sighed, thinking about our old home. I used to have everything, didn't I?

"I, being the naive and young me, of course loved all the attention I was getting and I didn't want to let go of my new found popularity. Everyday, a classmate of mine would always go up to me and ask me to get something for them. Be it either designer clothing or expensive electronics. I knew that I was being used but I was stubborn and I didn't know what to do. I kept giving whatever my classmates demanded from me. I told my best friends about my problem and they told me told me if I wanted my popularity to stay at the top I should just do whatever everyone wants." 

I started crying. "At that time, I really thought they were my best friends and that they cared for me but looking back now, I realize all they really cared for was the benefit I gave them by being their friend. I overheard them having a conversation in the washroom  about me being stupid for giving in to everyone's orders so quickly. That's when I stopped being their 'best friend' mentally. In my head, they were no longer my best friends but physically, everyone else thought we still were." 

"After that experience, I quickly built a wall around me. I still talked to people but I told myself I cannot allow myself to be fooled anymore so I didn't have any friends that I considered real. I just thought everyone else around me was plastic. Well, that was until I met you guys." 

I heard awww's filling the room and I suddenly felt myself being enveloped in a tight hug. I laughed but I pulled away. "Wait, I'm not done yet." 

"That was pretty much my life until summer last year. My dad got fired from his job and having no choice, we sold our house and moved here to Seoul to have a fresh start. Although it was hard leaving everything I ever knew behind, I'm still glad that my family's downfall happened otherwise I wouldn't have met you guys. Thank you for breaking the hard wall that I've kept around me for so long." I was enveloped for yet another hug. 

"I just realized, all of us have had some sort of problem before we all met," Mi Jin suddenly spoke up. "Is this fate or coincidence?" We all laughed. "You're so cheesy, Mi Jin." 

"Hey, we're starting junior high soon. Which school are you going to, Min Hee? The three of us decided to go Kang Junior High." I thought hard. "I'm not sure. I just chose a random one on the paper although I'm pretty sure Kang Junior High was one of the choices." Everyone looked at me hopefully. "Wait, let me call my mom. She helped me choose. Maybe she remembers." 

I quickly dialed my mom's number and asked. After hanging up, I pretended to look sad. "Awww, well it's okay. We all live close anyways," Lina said sadly. I broke out into a huge smile. "Just kidding! My mom said I chose to apply Kang Junior High after all." Everyone broke out in a cheer. "Yay!!" 

And so, on the spring of that year, we entered Kang Junior High, gripping our backpack straps tightly with excited and nervous smiles as we entered the school doors. 

A fresh start starts now, I thought. 

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Hey guys, naemiyoung here :3 Another long chapter again, huh? LOL this literally took me more than a day to write. Sorry for not updating for the past few days *bows down* This is the second last part of Mi Jin and everyone' past. After the next chapter, we'll go back to present time. I'm really excited for the chapters to come >.<

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Oh, and yeah, if anyone's confused about the school year (school starts in the spring, summer in between semesters, etc.), I decided to write the story in a South Korean school year. Idk why though lol.

Here's how it goes: "The school year is divided into two semesters. The first begins in the beginning of March and ends in mid-July; the second begins in late August and ends in mid-February. They have summer vacation from mid-July to late August, and winter vacation from late-December to early February. After winter break, students return to school for a week, and then take a short vacation from mid-February to early March. The schedules are generally standardized, however it can vary slightly from region to region."

-Wikipedia 

Btw, thank you to MissParis, _saerin, SimplyJady, DuchessRhea, Jello-panda, Yuyi09, imagineallthings, Kpophubby and Kyumin_16 for subscribing. Hope you're all enjoying my story ^^

See you in the next chapter :D