The wind blew gently from place to place, as two little boys were playfully chasing each other. Laughter filled the scene, everlasting friendship surrounded them.

“Ki Seop-ah, let’s make paper planes!” the older boy said cheerfully when he found some piece of brochures spread on the ground beneath their feet.

The younger one of them agreed, and they started picking up some papers and a minute later, they were sitting on a bench nearby, busy turning the papers into paper planes.

“Mine is done!” Kibum shouted happily as he stood up from his seat and held up his paper plane to the sky. “Have you done yet, Ki Seop-ah?” he looked to his friend who was still folding the paper.

“I’m not done yet…!” Ki Seop replied.

Kibum smiled innocently as he sat down again beside Ki Seop. “It’s alright, I’ll be waiting for you!” he said.

Ki Seop smiled back.

A few moments later, Ki Seop was done with his paper plane and they were ready to fly it to the wide autumn sky.

“Are you ready? Let’s fly it together! One… Two…,”

“Three!”

Kibum’s paper plane flew smoothly through the wind, soaring in the sky until the two boys couldn’t see it anymore. But Ki Seop’s paper plane crashed down to the ground a few seconds after he flew it.

Ki Seop frowned at the scene. He walked to pick up his paper plane. “What’s wrong with my paper plane?” he mumbled as he investigated his paper plane in his hand.

Kibum walked to his side. “Maybe it’s not symmetric enough. Let’s fix it! I’ll make another paper plane and we will fly it together again!”

Kibum willingly helped his friend fixing the paper plane, although Ki Seop insisted he could do it himself. After a while, Ki Seop finalized his paper plane and they were both ready to fly it together one more time.

“This time I will count! One… Two…,”

“Three!”

A similar scene appeared in front of their eyes; Kibum’s paper plane flew high to the sky, and even though it flew down again, it landed smoothly unharmed. Ki Seop’s paper plane also flew up to the sky, but a second after, it crashed to the ground with a tear on the right wing.

Ki Seop stared at Kibum’s paper plane, then to his crashed paper plane. Kibum took a glimpse of Ki Seop’s sad expression, and then he took Ki Seop’s paper plane off the ground. But when he got back, he found his best friend’s eyes were in tears.

“Why can’t I make a good paper plane like you, Kibum-ah?” he managed to say in shaky voice.

Kibum’s face was covered in worry. He quickly grabbed the younger boy’s wrist and dragged him to the bench.

“Don’t cry, Ki Seop-ah, you can always practice! Come on, I will help you!” Kibum cheered.

Ki Seop’s smile came back to his face. Soon, joyful voices of two little best friends were the only thing could be heard beside the gently blowing autumn breeze.

--

A nostalgic little smile appeared on Ki Seop’s face as soon as he remembered the memories with his very own best friend. They were all grown up now, but nothing had changed between them. Not even who was protecting who. Kibum had always been the one standing for Ki Seop whenever he was in trouble, Kibum had always been there for him even at the cruelest situations, Kibum had always cheered him up, made him laugh, and Kibum’s shoulder was the only thing he could lean on whenever he felt the world was pressing a heavy burden on his life.

He stared silently at Kibum who was lying down on the floor at the far end of the room after the dance practice. Ki Seop’s heart was burdened at the thought of how he could repay all of what his friend has done for him.

Without realizing, he let out a deep sigh after minutes of thinking. He still couldn’t find a way when he saw Dong Ho was doing his homework near the door.

“Dong Ho-yah,” he called softly, his head still resting on the wall behind him.

The younger boy turned his head to see Ki Seop. “Yeah?”

“Can I have a paper from your notebook?” Ki Seop asked.

Dong Ho shrugged as he took off one paper from his notebook just like how Ki Seop wanted him to. “Sure, here.” He handed him the paper.

Ki Seop mumbled a thanks when he received the paper. Dong Ho continued what he had been doing earlier, until a few minutes later Ki Seop called him again.

“What is it now?” Dong Ho asked, starting to get annoyed when he was at full concentration.

Ki Seop gave him a toothy grin. “Sorry, can I borrow your pen or pencil?” he replied.

Dong Ho scoffed as he took out one pencil and threw it to Ki Seop who was almost three meters away from him. Then he stood up, feeling not in the mood anymore. “Just keep it for a while, I’ll take it back tomorrow.” Ki Seop heard him say before he disappeared behind the door, leaving him and the nearly dozed-off Kibum alone.

He wrote something on his paper plane which he made a few minutes ago. It was now a good paper plane, and he was sure it could fly as far as he wanted it to. After some correcting, he put aside Dong Ho’s pencil, stared one more time at Kibum, and flew it across the room.

The paper plane flew smoothly, and it landed safely on Kibum’s chest.

Kibum opened his eyes at the feel of something touching his chest. He removed his cap which was covering his face and saw a paper plane on his body. He took it as he sat up, nearly losing the sight of Ki Seop across the room. Kibum’s smile appeared when he realized that it must be from Ki Seop. Just when he was about to stand up to go to his friend, he noticed something was written on the paper plane.

He read it in his mind, and it stayed forever in his heart.

I am thankful to have someone like you, Hyung. You made me fly to reach my dream despite the winds that had been the obstacles. And like this paper plane, I will always go back to you no matter what happens.

Kibum held the paper plane tightly as he stood up and walked towards Ki Seop. He then sat beside his long-time best friend and wrapped his hand around the younger boy’s shoulder, and whispered softly to his ear.

“You made a very good paper plane, Ki Seop-ah. I don’t think I was wasting time when I taught you how to do it.”

And the next sentence made Ki Seop smiled.

“It was the best paper plane I have ever seen in my whole life.”