It was the first day of first grade, and Kim Jongin had forgotten his lunch. To make things worse, most of the other kids already knew each other from kindergarten. Therefore he sat alone underneath the shade of a huge oak at the corner of the playground fence, staring enviously at the small groups spread out all over the grass. The air was filled with laughter, the crinkling of wrappers, and worst of all, the delicious smell of the many kinds of food now being shared and traded. His stomach growled.

"Hi!" a happy voice chirped above him. Jongin looked up, and jumped in shock.

A girl his age, hair in pigtails, was crouched on a branch of the old tree, clutching a pink lunchbag in one hand while the other rested on the tree trunk for support. There was a smudge of dirt on her right cheek and grass stains on the knees of her jeans.

"Whatcha doin' under my tree?"

He frowned a little. "This is the school's tree, not yours."

The girl grinned, unaffected. "But I'm the first to climb it, so I'm claimin' it!" She paused, then swung herself off the branch agilely, landing beside the stunned boy. She leaned down and peered at him closely. Jongin shrank back a little at the close proximity.

"But you're kinda cute, so I guess I can share Mr.Tree with you..." she stood up again and hoisted the lunchbag strap onto her shoulder. "If you can beat me!" She pointed to the tree.

"Why would I want to share a tree with you?" he asked, attempting to sound disdainful and turning away to hide the blush sneaking to his cheeks.

"Why not? Or are you just scared I'll beat you?" The girl's grin widened.

"I'm not scared!" Jongin retorted quickly.

"Chiiiiiiiiickeennn~ Bawk bawk ba- Hey! No fair!" She stopped in the middle of her chicken impersonation as Jongin latched himself onto the trunk, quickly finding footholds and climbing briskly. By the time she reached the limb she previously occupied, he was already there, sitting smugly, not the least bit out of breath.

"You cheated!" she huffed as she swung herself up beside him.

"You never said I couldn't. You just said that I had to beat you," Jongin smirked. 

"Meeeroong," she stuck her tongue out at him. The childish pout made him laugh, but he was interrupted by a loud rumble from his stomach.

"Oh, haven't you eaten yet?" He shook his head.

"Did you forget your lunch or something?" He ducked his head in embarassment, but she only laughed.

"That's okay, you can have half of mine! Umma usually packs me more than I can eat anyway." She ped her lunchbag and brought out a sectioned plastic yellow lunchbox. Jongin could feel his mouth begin to water when she pulled off the lid. Inside were three fat omelette rolls filled with meat and vegetables, along with a few apple slices and strawberries. She carefully lifted out one of the rolls and passed it to him.

"Thanks," he murmured, before biting into the soft food. It was delicious.

"No problem! I'm Eunji, by the way, Song Eunji. What's your name?" she asked as she munched on her own roll.

He quickly swallowed in his haste to reply, nearly choking in the process. "Kim Jongin," he said hoarsely.

"Nice ta meet'cha!"

He nodded, his mouth once again full of food.

Eunji was quite the chatterbox, Jongin soon realized. By the time he finished his roll, she had only eaten less than half of hers. He gazed longingly at the remaining roll, both too embarassed and too proud to ask. However, he didn't fool Eunji for very long.

"Aaaahh, this is what I mean," she moaned, rubbing her stomach theatrically. "I don't think I can finish this." She pushed the box towards Jongin. "Can you finish this for me?"

Jongin's eyes brightened, but he tried to act nonchalant.

"Well, if I have to, I guess..." he said, but he was already lifting the omelette out of the box. He tried to eat slowly, but it tasted too wonderful.

Grinning at her new friend, Eunji popped the last piece of egg into before picking up a strawberry.

"Umma and I grow these on our balcony, you know. The birds love them too. One year..."

She launched into stories about the sparrows and butterflies that visited her miniature garden. Jongin was content to listen, and before either of them knew it, the bell rang, signalling the end of lunch.

After hurriedly packing up, the pair of them jumped out of the tree and onto the soft grass.

"Eunji," Jongin called. Eunji, who was about to sprint off, turned around to face him.

"You have strawberry juice on your nose," he said softly, before reaching out and rubbing it off gently. Her eyes widened, and he felt familiar heat creeping up his face. He compensated by flicking her nose before running away, laughing.

Eunji stood stunned for a second before chasing after him.

"Yah! Kim Jongin, I'm gonna kill you!"

--

*smirks* Heh. Already a flirt at such a tender young age. Tsk tsk.

And yes, there is a reason I used Jongin instead of Kai. :)

Comments and subscriptions are loved!

- Ace