At age 14, they share their first kiss.

“Hey, can I ask you something?” he asks as they are playing swings in the playground after dinner.
“Eung,” she replies absentmindedly as she types a text to one of her girlfriends. 
“Have you kissed someone yet?”

She almost drops her phone in surprise, feeling her face grow hot. Losing their “lip-nity” was the latest craze in their school and the main topic of conversation but it was weird talking about this with him.

Embarrassed she stutters, “O- of course I have. Who hasn’t!”

“I haven’t,” he says looking down at his shoes, kicking the sand.

“Oh,” she stays quiet for a bit and then clears , “Ok. I lied, I haven’t either.”
He looks up sighing in relief, “Thank god I’m not the only weirdo.”
“Yah!” she slaps his arm and they both start laughing – the awkwardness melting away and the comfort of familiarity setting in.

“I was thinking...” he starts slowly, “we are one of the few left in our grade who haven’t kissed anyone yet..”
“Yea,” she agrees mournfully.
“So how about we just kiss each other and get it over it? I mean who better to have a first kiss with than your best friend, right?”
drops open appalled at his suggestion but as she thinks about it, it doesn’t sound so bad. He is the boy she feels most comfortable with. 
She takes a deep breath, “Ok let’s do this.”


“So should I close my eyes?” she asks nervously.
“Yea I think so.”

“Yah! You should open your eyes though! That’s my chin!” she scolds him.
“Ok, stop talking!” and suddenly their lips meet. It lasts for about 10 seconds, both too surprised to move.

Their eyes meet and they jump apart. 

He coughs loudly, “So that was....”
“...that.” She finishes. 
“Yea! It’s not weird, right. We were just helping each other as best buddies,” he laughs awkwardly. 
She pats him on the back hard, “Yup, thanks buddy.”


Later, she tells Jessica about the kiss over the phone.
“You guys are so getting married,” Sica remarks dryly.
“Way to exaggerate! We were just helping each other as best buddies,” she laughs. 
Sica has such a wild imagination. 


The next day, he meets up with Donghae in the locker room and tells him.
“What? I thought you said you didn’t like her like that!” Donghae yells loudly. 
Donghae always overreacts.

  
“I don’t. We were just helping each other as best buddies.”
Donghae looks at him like he doesn’t believe him and then walks off muttering something about sacrificing his first love for his best friend.
Donghae makes no sense at all sometimes.