"The best gift anyone could ever give to themselves is the gift of a friend."

— David Baird.

Lee Kikwang and Jeon Hyosung have known each other and been closest friends since they were four years old and their mothers met in the park one summer afternoon. Mrs Lee and Mrs Jeon immediately found something to talk about as they both had children who were the same age and so they discussed their son and daughter and all their stories about them while the two brunettes in question played in the sand pit in front of them, too shy to speak to one another.

Eventually, Mrs Lee noticed that while she and Mrs Jeon were getting on like a house on fire, their children were not actually talking and so she excused herself to speak to her son and took the opportunity to check on her son.

“Kikwang, why haven't you spoken to Hyosung yet?” Mrs Lee asked her son softly.

“Cos I don't know her and she's a girl and Joon said that girls have cooties,” Kikwang mumbled, avoiding his mother's gaze.

“Well, first of all you won't know her until you actually speak to her, secondly, half of the people in the world are girls so you're going to have to speak to one someday and thirdly, Doojoon doesn't know what he's talking about,” Mrs Lee smiled, holding back laughter at Kikwang' stereotyping of girls.

“But what if she doesn't like me or what if she really does have cooties?” Kikwang whined.

“Kikwang, how do you expect to make friends and to get people to like you if you never speak to them? And Hyosung does not have cooties, so stop being silly and go and speak to her,” Mrs Lee told him, pushing him slightly in Hyosung's direction before returning to the bench where she and Mrs Jeon were sitting and picking up her conversation with her again.

Kikwang eyed the curly-haired girl who was drawing pictures in the sand with a stick from the corner of his eye, trying to work out if what Doojoon had also said about girls being killer robots was true or not. Then he caught his mother's eye and she gave him a look that told him to go and do as she'd told him to.

So, he sidled up to Hyosung and stared at her from a couple of metres away, trying to decide how he should start the conversation.

Hyosung could feel the boy's eyes on her and she turned to him, her eyes blazing as she asked, “Why are you staring at me? I don't like it when people stare at me so cut it out!”

“S-Sorry!” Kikwang stammered, unused to a girl speaking to him that forcefully, “It's just my mom said I had to speak to you.”

"And so you thought that staring at me counted as talking to me?" Hyosung demanded, putting her hands on her hips.

Kikwang was entranced by the girl: all the other girls he spoke to were just like girls were meant to be: sweet, quiet and girly but Hyosung was smart, sassy and sarcastic and he sort of liked it that she was different.

“You're staring at me again!” Hyosung pointed out, pouting and stomping her foot down in the sand.

“Sorry, it's just you're different from the other girls I know,” Kikwang told her honestly - he didn't think it would ever be a good idea to lie to her because if she found out he was certain she'd kill him.

“Boys always say that to me,” Hyosung frowned, sitting down beside Kikwang, “but they never mean it in a good way. They think I'm too loud and too mean and that I'm trying too much to be like a boy.”

“I don't think that,” Kikwang said, “I think you're different but in a good way. Other girls are all the same and it gets kinda boring after a while. And you're not mean, you're just not afraid to say what you think and that's a good thing.”

“Thanks,” Hyosung blushed for the first time in her life; it was also her first compliment by someone other than her parents or relatives, “I'm Jeon Hyosung, by the way.”

“I'm Lee Kikwang,” he replied, copying the way she'd said her name, 'my mom says when you meet someone for the first time and you tell them your name, you have to shake their hand.”

He stuck out his hand to her and she wrapped hers around his and they shook hands.

When they had let go, Hyosung said, “I'm four, how old are you?”

“I'm four too,” Kikwang replied and then he asked, “Are we friends now, Hyosung?”

“No, not yet,” Hyosung shook her head and her curls bounced around her face, “we have to get to know each other a little better before we're friends and I can't be friends with boys anyway 'cos my friend Jieun says boys have cooties.”

“Well, my brother Joon says girls have cooties too so I can't be friends with you either.” Hyosung retorted, a little hurt that they weren't friends yet but he could tell she was only joking about the last part.

“I don't think you have cooties, Kikwang.” Hyosung admitted, not wanting him to think she was being mean.

“I don't think you do either.” Kikwang told her, then he thought of something else and asked her, 'Are you a killer robot, Hyosung? Joon says all girls are killer robots.”

“No, that's stupid,” Hyosung giggled and Kikwang decided it was his favourite sound in the whole world, “your brother's silly and so are you for believing him.”

A few minutes ago, Hyosung would have been hurt by her comment but now he knew that she wasn't trying to be mean she was just teasing him so he nodded, “Yeah he is kinda silly.”

“It must be nice though, having a brother,” Hyosung sighed wistfully, starting to doodle in the sand again, “I wish I had a brother or a sister to play with but I don't.”

“It is nice having a brother but sometimes he can be really annoying and we argue,” Kikwang told her, scooting closer to her to see what she was drawing, “who are they?”

He pointed at the four people she'd sketched in the sand and she smiled, “That's my mom and me and I've just drawn you and your mom.”

“They're really good, I can only draw stick people but your ones actually look like real people,” Kikwang smiled encouragingly at her.

And they did - it was easy to tell which ones they were meant to be: the Hyosung had curly hair and ripped jeans and the Kikwang had spiky hair, a big goofy grin and was holding a book like he had been when he'd first come to the park. But the part that Kikwang liked best was the fact that in the picture the Kikwang and Hyosung were holding hands.

“I like drawing,” Hyosung said very seriously, tucking her hair behind her ears, “one day I'm gonna be a famous artist and I'll draw lots of pictures of you.”

“I'd like that,” Kikwang grinned, “I like reading and someday I'll write a book and I put you in it.”

“You'd better make me super cool and really pretty,” Hyosung warned him, pointing at him with the stick she'd been drawing with.

“I will, I promise.” he laughed, holding up his hands to defend himself.

“Pinky swear?” Hyosung held out her little finger to him.

Kikwang smiled and linked his with hers and shook it, “You have to make me look really good in all your pictures.”

“Done,” Hyosung nodded, shaking his little finger solemnly, “can't back out now.”

“Don't want to,” Kikwang shrugged with a grin.

“Hyosung, we need to go now,” Mrs Jeon called from the bench, “say goodbye to Kikwang.”

Hyosung pouted at her mother but she eventually turned to Kikwang and said, “I gotta go but I'll make my mom meet up with your mom again and then we can play together again.”

“Bye, Jeon Hyosung, it was nice meeting you,” Kikwang said very formally, like his mother had taught him to.

“Likewise, Lee Kikwang, bye,” she smiled and walked over to her mother, stopping to wave to him.

“Hyosung?” Kikwang called after her.

“What?” Hyosung frowned, turning back to him.

“Are we friends now?” he asked with a smile that she would come to know all too well and love.

“Yeah,” she grinned and then she was gone, her hand in her mother's.

Kikwang looked down at the picture of them holding hands again and he smiled, hoping that soon he would get to hold her hand in real life too.

“What did I tell you, Kikwang?” Mrs Lee smiled at her son.

“Whatever, mom, other girls still have cooties,” Kikwang mumbled, walking back over to her and helping her pack up their things.

“Other girls? Not Hyosung then?” Mrs Lee asked, amused by the distinction.

“No, Hyosung's different,” Kikwang told her. He smiled again as he thought of the curly brunette-haired girl. "Yeap, she is different."

They would be bestfriends, all right. Mrs Lee smiled at her thoughts upon hearing Kikwang's confession, and walked back home hand in hand.

AUTHOR's NOTE:

Tadah! First chapter done? How do you like it? I hope it'll at least depict how their personality will be in my future stories. Anyway, thank you for reading! *big bear hug.