"Let's play soccer later!" Jihoon poked her shoulder.

Hyori smiled. "Of course."

Wait. Hyori smiling? That's rare! As far as her classmates knew her, she rarely smiled. If you don't count her smirks or evil smile that is. Smiling as in .. genuinely smiling. Smiling to bring out the beauty in her. She hardly does that. So .. why the sudden change?

Well, Jihoon was a classmate that Hyori had been crushing on since Grade 1. It was like love at first sight. That statement might sound amusing to adults. I mean, love? At the age of 6? Don't be ridiculous, they would scoff. But these adults were more ridiculous than Hyori was, because they do not know how powerful the definition of 'love' can be when an innocent child experiences it. At least, children's love can last longer than the majority of adult marriages these days. Oops.

Anyway, she still remembered how it all began ...

"Umma, I'm scared," Hyori was on the verge of tears as they reached the school, which looked really gigantic and intimidating from a 6 year old's point of view. She was gripping her Mom's hand tightly. Mrs Park chuckled at her daughter's behaviour. 

"Didn't you tell me last night that you're scared of nothing? Where has my tough girl gone to?" She kneeled down so that they were of even height. Hyori's lower lip was trembling. Her Mom looked at her with kind and warm eyes.

"Hyori ah, trust me, all your fears will be gone once you go through your first day here," Mrs Park gently reassured her and hugged her tightly to give her encouragement. It worked. Hyori fiercely brushed away her tears with her arm and looked at her Mom with a hard determination, something that Mrs Park had always admired in her daughter.

"Let's go to your new class, shall we?"

*

As soon as they reached Class 1B, Hyori's resolution she built up earlier seemed to crumble away when she saw a bunch of small kids like her wailing their lungs out and clinging onto their Mom's legs, not wanting to let go. She also saw overly anxious parents who looked like it was their first day in school instead of their kids. All she could do was to look at her Mom in bewilderment, afraid to open because she felt that once she started speaking, words aren't the only ones that will come out. 

Mrs Park took a deep breath. Fortunately, Mrs Park wasn't like any of those hysterical Moms and she was hugely relieved that Hyori wasn't like those wailing kids. That made her admire her daughter's courage even more.

"Well, in you go, darling, I wish you all the best! I will pick you up after school, okay?" 

Hyori held up her pinky to make her Mom promise. She was still nervous to speak. Mrs Park understood and locked it. "I promise."

And so Hyori went in. She saw a group of students as stiff-faced as she was. She saw two students crying. As much as she was nervous, she couldn't help but roll her eyes. Babies. She scanned around the room. There were plenty of seats available near the stiff-faced and wailing students, but she didn't feel like being around them. Finally, her eyes landed on a desk at the far end of the room. Perfect. 

She happily walked towards the desk but suddenly, someone else had walked to that same desk first, pulled up the chair and sat down. Hyori froze. He didn't seem to notice her.

"Yah," Hyori called out, her fears gone, only to be replaced by anger. The boy didn't respond, probably because he didn't know she was referring to him. Getting angrier, Hyori stormed up to him and place both hands on her hips, wearing a frown. Startled, the boy looked up and at that very point, he totally caught Hyori off-guard. She was staring into the softest most prettiest eyes she's ever seen (for a boy). His expression showed shock, but that made him look even cuter. His side bangs enhanced his baby face. Hyori felt tingly, and she was sure that this tingly feeling wasn't from her nerves.

"Yes?" He asked, his eyes wide with confusion.

Hyori hesitated. "Err .. I wanted to sit here but you got here first," she mumbled, pointing to the desk childishly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know! I'll move now," he spoke before he got up and moved to the table beside. Hyori felt stupid and embarrassed.

"Gomawo," she mumbled again.

"It's alright. Jung Jihoon imnida, you?" The boy asked.

"Hyori. Park Hyori," she answered, still flushed.

"That's a beautiful name." Jihoon smiled, causing Hyori's heart to flutter.

From then on, Hyori had developed a crush on him that grew stronger as the years passed.

*

"Are you thinking of joining the girls' soccer team?" Jihoon asked as they kicked the ball to one another as a form of warm-up.

"When I'm 11 maybe?" Hyori answered, kicking the ball back.

"Why not next year?" Kick.

"I don't know .." Hyori faltered as she kicked back, causing the ball to move like it's on a bumpy road.

Jihoon looked at her as he rested one foot on the ball.

"Let's play a game!" He decided.

"With two people?" Hyori asked, a little doubtful. Jihoon laughed.

"Yeah!" He ushered her along to the goalpost. "One of us will be the goalkeeper and the other will try to score as many goals within .. 10 minutes? Then we'll switch. The loser has to treat the winner ddukbokki!" Jihoon grinned.

Hyori hesitated.

"Yah, Park Hyori, are you a coward?" Jihoon taunted her. Immediately, she scowled.

"Get ready to lose," she glared at him. Jihoon merely took his position as the goalkeeper first, crouched into a stance and waited for her to deliver her first kick. 

Hyori placed the ball in front of her feet before backing away. With a look of outmost concentration, she ran and kicked the ball hard a little bit away from Jihoon's direction. To her disappointment, he caught it, although the force of the kick caused him to fall. He smirked as he threw the ball back to Hyori, who was clenching her teeth. Again, she kicked the ball, and again he caught it.

5 minutes later, Hyori grew flustered. She had not scored a single goal. Jihoon was a really good goalkeeper, for a 9 year old. Her kicks were getting more and more random. All she wanted was to score at least one goal.

9 minutes later, she actually yelled out in frustration. Jihoon grew alarmed. As the ball came flying in his direction, he purposely misaimed it to let in the ball. Hyori sank to the ground in relief. At the same time, she felt like a loser for letting in only one goal. Tears threatened to spill. She was young, of course she would be upset if things didn't go her way. 

"Yah, you were really good," Jihoon tried to cheer her up but he earned a teary glare from her in return.

"Really," he smiled his boyish smile that she fell for in the first place. "Look," he pulled her up, "you'll kick higher and stronger if you move like this," he demonstrated a move in front of her. "Look how I kick the ball okay?"

Hyori nodded resentfully and headed over to stand in the middle of the goalpost. One thing she hated most was losing. She could almost feel a huge hole in her pockets from having to treat Jihoon to ddukbokki soon.

"Ready?" She called out, a little bitterly. Jihoon gave a thumbs up, and moved in for the kick. His movements were so fast, Hyori didn't have time to register what was going on and felt a rush of wind close to her ear. She blinked, and the next thing she knew, Jihoon had scored one goal. He was laughing.

"A goalkeeper cannot just stand there like a tree whey!" 

Hyori shook her head, got back to her senses and this time, her eyes grew sharper and her mind was more concentrated as she observed Jihoon's movements. She managed to save the second goal but at the end of 10 minutes, it was obvious Jihoon scored more goals than her. They walked out of the field after 45 minutes, slightly breathless but satisfied. After their short game, Jihoon had gone on to give Hyori tips about playing soccer well. Not only did he teach her how to control the ball well, he also taught her how to control her anger while playing. "You're really good, but when you get angry, your movements become really bad," he said. And so they stayed in the field a little longer than usual.

Just then, Hyori looked at the time and gasped.

"Omo! Umma's going to kill me!" She yelped. "We're expecting new neighbours today!" It was a tradition for the Park family to welcome new neighbours in the district with food and little gifts.

Jihoon looked disappointed. "What about my ddukbokki?" He pouted.

"Next time! I gotta run now, seeya!" Hyori waved a quick goodbye before running off.

"Don't forget!" Jihoon called out.

*

Sorry there's no mention of Chen in this chapter, but it's essential that you guys know about Jihoon. I won't say no more here ~ ^^