It was a Friday morning that I first met Yoogeun. I was glad I met him then, and still am. Leaving Leo that morning made me feel a bit down, but that doesn’t matter I suppose, as it only means that he was happier. After leaving Leo’s house, I walked wherever my feet took me thoughtlessly until I came by a neighbourhood I recognized. I had done a few jobs there before and hadn’t returned in a while, but everything was exactly how I remembered it to be.

Children were running everywhere, and it was the perfect opportunity for me to make a new friend. Making new friends was my favourite part of my job, and I guess that’s why I was hired. I stopped by each kid, waiting for a response, but I didn’t get any, and so I continued moving on until I came to the last house on the street. I began to doubt that I’d find anything here, and so leaned against the garden wall of the last house, thinking about where I should go next.

When I couldn’t think of anything, I decided that I’d try once more, and turned around to face the house behind me. There in the garden, I spotted a young boy. He had big dark brown eyes and black hair that was slightly curly at the end. I knew his face from somewhere, but I couldn’t quite remember where.  Looking at him making sounds while ramming his red fire engine into the police car made me laugh as I thought back on how Leo and I used to play, and to my surprise, the boy stopped and looked at me. Right into my eyes.

“Hi.” I said, nervously. As much as I enjoyed making friends, I was still nervous at it. There’s always the chance when someone doesn’t want to be your friend, and while I’ve been lucky not to have encountered that before, it doesn’t mean that it won’t happen.

“Hi.” the boy replied, slowly putting the two toy vehicles onto the grass.

“What’s your name?” I asked, gently kicking the garden wall.

“I’m Yoogeun. What’s your name?” he smiled.

“I’m Onew.” I looked at his fire engine. “I like your fire engine, by the way. My bes- my old best friend Leo had one just like that and we used to play with it all the time. It’s got a stupid name, though, because it can’t drive through fire because it melts.” I said as I shoved my hands into my pockets, causing my shoulders to hunch up past my ears.

Yoogeun rolled around on the grass, laughing. “You put your fire engine through fire?” he screeched.

“It’s called a fire engine, isn’t it?” I said, defensively.

“No you dummy! It’s for putting out fire!” he rolled onto his back, kicking his feet in the air.

“Hmm…” I thought about that one for a while, thinking about what I could say. “I’ll tell you what puts out fire.” I said matter-of-factly. “Water.”

Yoogeun hit himself lightly on the side of the head and screamed. “Doh!”, making his eyes go cockeyed and then fell over on the grass.

I started laughing. He was really funny.

“Do you want to come and play?” he asked me, raising his eyebrows questioningly.

I grinned at him. “Of course. Playing is my favourite!” I said as I jumped over the garden wall and joined him on the grass.

“How old are you?” he looked at me suspiciously, frowning. “You look like you’re about my aunt’s age, but she doesn’t like to play with my fire engine.”

I shrugged. “Well, then your aunt is a boring old gnirob.”

“A gnirob?” he screamed with mirth. “What’s a gnirob?”

“Someone who’s boring!” I said. “What age are you anyway? You look like my aunt.” I accused him, causing him to fall about the place, laughing.

“I’m only six!”

“Oh.” I shrugged. I didn’t actually have an aunt, but I did it to make him laugh. “There’s nothing only about being six.”

Just as I was about to ask him more about himself, the front door burst open, and both Yoogeun and I looked towards the door.

“GIVE ME BACK MY KEYS NA YOUNG!” a voice yelled desperately from the inside of the house. A flustered woman marched out of the front door. She had curly, bright red hair, frantic eyes, and red cheeks. As she passed us both by, she stopped momentarily and gave Yoogeun a thumbs-up, grinning.

“See ya, kiddo.” With that, she hopped out of the front gate and into a car parked by the roadside.

“NA YOUNG!” the same voice from before screamed. “GET BACK HERE!”

Finally, the owner of the mysterious voice came running outside. She looked really different from the previous lady. She had her dark brown hair tied back neatly, and she wore a smart grey trouser suit, which didn’t quite match her high-pitched voice.

The other lady, the one with the red hair, grinned at her before driving off. The lady let out a frustrated groan as she threw her hands in the air before marching back into the house. I looked to Yoogeun. He was clearly shaken.

“Who was that?” I asked.

“That’s my aunt.” he whispered. “She looks after me.”

“Oh. And who’s the one in the car?”

He slowly pushed the fire engine back and forth on the grass. “Oh. That’s Na Young.” he said quietly. “That’s my mom.”

“Oh.” I said. I could tell he was upset. “So I guess Na Young’s not your girlfriend then.”

His face immediately lit up and he giggled. Not as much as before though.

“So who’s your friend Leo that you mentioned earlier?” he asked.

“His name is Leo William Recipon.” I smiled, remembering how Leo and I used to play.

“Leo Recipon is in my class!” his eyes lit up.

Then, it clicked. “I knew I’ve seen your face from somewhere. I used to see you every day when I went to school together with him!”

“But I’ve never seen you before.” he said, narrowing his eyes.

“Of course you didn’t see me.” 

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End of chapter~

Re-read the book after I wrote this out, and I realised it's quite similar.

Well.,..I'm planning to change things up a little bit later.

What did you think?