His mother had told him many times about the children of the orphanage, but he had never been there before himself. His mother went every weekend to go and work with the children that lived there. She would help the kids with homework, read to them, or simply help by supervising them as they played. This time however, Youngjae got to go because it was Christmas, and his mother enlisted her son’s help to pass out the presents.

        Youngjae quietly sat in the back of the minivan holding on to the package that he picked out to give to one of the children. The perfectly square box had been wrapped in red paper with white snowflakes scattered all over it and had a big green bow on top. It looked almost perfect, except that the bow had been squished after Youngjae had accidentally dropped it on the ground when bringing it to the car. Inside the box was something special. Youngjae had picked out its contents himself and intended to find the perfect person to give it to.

        “Okay, we’re here,” stated Youngjae’s mother.

        They had pulled up to a big red brick building. It was like none other in Busan. It was only four stories and was sandwiched between two much taller and more modern looking buildings. The front sidewalk of the building was covered in fresh snow and it took all of Youngjae’s power to not roll around in the plush flakes of ice. He stepped inside the foyer of the building. It had a cream-colored linoleum floor that had been worn after many years of use to reveal the black backing in several places.  Along the walls was coat hooks, each holding a big fluffy winter coat, a hat, and a scarf. Below that was a line of snow boots, each pair belonging to a kid that lived at the orphanage.

        Nervous being in a new place, with one hand Youngjae held the special present and with his other, he held on to his mother’s skirt. The headmistress of the orphanage greeted them almost right as they walked into the main lobby.

        “Hello Mrs. Yoo! Merry Christmas! I am so glad you made it here okay, it snowed so much last night, I didn’t know if the streets would be passable enough for you to get here!

        “Merry Christmas to you too! The roads were perfectly okay, and plus, I couldn’t disappoint the children. I promised all of them that I would bring them a new friend to play with! This is my son, Youngjae, he’s five years old.”

        The headmistress bent down to eye level with Youngjae, who was hiding partly behind his mother’s leg.

        “Well, hello there! I think you are going to have a fun day today. There are a lot of children here that will be excited to have someone new to play with them for the day.”

        A smile spread across Youngjae’s face. He really didn’t get to play with many other kids because he was always at home with his mother, which he really didn’t mind. Youngjae loved spending time with her. They would bake, read, watch movies, and make crafts together, but he was excited to make friends that were the same age as he was.

        “If you want to go in and meet them all, they are right through those two wooden doors in the common room,” the headmistress said, pointing to the two large, oak paneled pocket doors.

        Youngjae looked up at his mother to make sure it was okay that he went on ahead. She nodded and gave Youngjae a little shove on the shoulder.

        “I will be right in darling, I am just going to grab the other presents and then I will meet you in there.”

        Youngjae walked up to the towering doors and slowly pushed one of them open just enough to look inside. As he peered into the large room, he saw more kids than he had ever seen before. Fear overcame Youngjae and he couldn’t bring himself to go into the room without his mother beside him. As he looked inside, he started to look for a kid that he would give his present to. Youngjae wanted to pick a kid that was his age and whom he would know would like the contents of the box just as much as he did when he picked them out.

        Before he could carefully analyze all of the kids, his mother came up behind him and pushed the door open all the way. Slung over her shoulder was a big red bag that contained the presents that they were going to give out to the other kids. Holding onto her free hand, they both entered the large room.

        As soon as the children saw them, they all quickly ran over to Youngjae and his mother. All of them lined up in front of them and waited their turn to each receive a present. Youngjae’s mother would hand him a present, then he would give it to the child that was next in line. With each child that came up, he asked himself if they were the one to receive his special gift, but with each passing child, none of them seemed to be the one he wanted to give his gift to.

        Finally the last child in line received their present, but Youngjae still had his present to give. He didn’t understand. They had counted the presents and made sure that there was one for each child in the orphanage, no more and no less. Youngjae scanned the large room to make sure they didn’t skip anyone. He saw all of the kids playing with their new dolls, trains, and stuffed animals, smiling brighter than the sun.

        That’s when Youngjae saw him. He was sitting the corner of the room, over by the large brick fireplace. He had his arms wrapped around an old teddy bear with a tattered red ribbon around its neck. The cloth was matted and the seams were starting to part. The boy’s brown eyes seemed distant, like he was focusing on something that was miles away.

        “Mother, who is that boy? He looks sad.”

        “His name is Daehyun, I think he is a year older than you. The headmistress was telling me that a family came yesterday and they were thinking about adopting him, but they ended up on getting another child from an orphanage in Seoul. Maybe you could go over there and cheer him up, put him in the Christmas spirit.”

        Youngjae nodded and picked up his present. He knew that this was the person that he was going to give his special gift to. He walked over to the boy who was still unaware of his presence. Youngjae sat down with his legs crossed and his present in his lap in front of Daehyun.

        “Hi, I’m Youngjae,” he said quietly as to not startle Daehyun out of his deep thinking.

        Daehyun slowly turned his head towards Youngjae and clutched his teddy bear a little tighter.

        “I’m Daehyun.”

        “Why didn’t you come up and get a present?”

        Daehyun shrugged at Youngjae’s question.

        “Well, I picked out this one special present, and my mother said that I could give it to anyone I wanted. When all of the kids came up in line, I didn’t feel like they were the ones who should receive my present. Then I saw you and knew that you were the one that I wanted to give my present to.”

        Youngjae took his present from his lap and held it out for Daehyun to take from him. Daehyun looked up at Youngjae surprised that he was the one that Youngjae had chosen. He had never been chosen before. Not by his parents. Not by any of the people wanting to adopt. Not by anyone.

        Daehyun reached out and took the present from Youngjae. Keeping his teddy bear close to him, he slowly stared to unravel the green bow. He carefully removed the ribbon and set it aside. Then, taking one corner or the wrapping that had come undone a little, he ripped off the paper. Underneath the wrapping was a brown cardboard box that had been taped shut. He gingerly removed the tape and opened up the box. Underneath a layer of tissue paper he saw two wooden racecars. One of the cars was a dark green and the other a deep red.

        “I know they aren’t really special, but I thought that if you got two of them, you could play with a friend,” added Youngjae.

        “No, I like them very much, but I really don’t have anyone to play with…”

        “Well, would you mind if I played with you? I don’t have any friends to play with either,” offered Youngjae as he twiddled his thumbs nervously awaiting Daehyun response.

        “I would like that very much,” smiled Daehyun.

        The two boys played with the toy cars the entire time that Youngjae was there.  Daehyun couldn’t remember the last time that he had so much fun. Youngjae made him forget that he hadn’t been chosen to be adopted the previous day and that his real parents, whoever they were, didn’t want him. Daehyun wanted Youngjae to stay with him so that he would always have someone to play with, but that idea was crushed when Youngjae’s mother called him over because she was ready to leave.

        “I’ve got to go now, my mother is ready to go. I had a really fun time playing with you Daehyun!”

        “I had a fun time too, do you think you could come back every weekend when Mrs. Yoo comes?”

        “Yeah, I would like that a lot.”

        “Promise me you will come back?”

        Youngjae walked over to Daehyun and gave the older boy a hug, “I promise, I will be back next weekend and every weekend after that. We are best friends, aren’t we?”

         Daehyun smiled and hugged Youngjae back.

         “Here, you take the red car, that way, if we ever do get separated, then we will always remember each other,” urged Daehyun as he held out the toy racecar.

         “Thanks,” smiled Youngjae.

         Youngjae took the red car in his hands and walked over to his mother. Daehyun watched out the window as Youngjae got into the minivan and waved to Daehyun as they drove off.

         For about two more years, Youngjae kept his promise and came back every weekend with his mother to play with Daehyun. When Youngjae was seven years old, his family moved to Seoul and fairly soon after that Daehyun went into foster care when the orphanage shut down.

         After that, Daehyun didn’t wish for a family, he didn’t wish for a friend. All he wanted was to see Youngjae again.