Miu’s POV

On the way home, I didn’t know why, but it wasn’t some I could stop thinking about. The way he said just brought so much…feeling to me. ‘You’re my first friend’ he said It with such an innocent smile, I couldn’t bring myself to say it back. You’re my first friend too Gikwang. I don’t know how it came out for me to say I’d stick up for him, but I just don’t understand why anyone would want to hurt him, he’s an easy target and because he does nothing about it, everyone can have a go, but that doesn’t make it okay. I walk through my front door forgetting that I was ‘angry’ at my parents for sending me to a new school.

‘Miuna!’ My mother shouts across the hall. It’s a big house, but I miss my old one still. Ugh. Miuna. Another weird Japanese name, I preferred Miu because it was shorter, but it still didn’t make it anymore stupid. It was a made up name. ‘What’ I dryly answer, forgetting I hadn’t seen any of my parents for days. My dad pops out of the living room and goes up to me, he stretches his arms out for a hug but I stand there. Awkwardly, he…pats my head? Really dad?

‘How was your first day?’ he asks as my mum walks over to us to join him. ‘My first day was yesterday. Meaning today is my second day of school, not my first’ I break it down for them. I’m being so y to my parents but they’ll never understand how I have to cope with moving schools every 10 minutes, it’s tiring, and I was even offered to stay in Busan with my grandparents, instead I had to come to Seoul with my parents. ‘Oh right, well how did it go?’ My mother asks, she can tell I’m upset and she’s trying to hide the fact that it’s her fault. It’s their fault for never being home. Ever. I do everything by myself. ‘It was great’ I say sarcastically whilst kicking my shoes off and heading upstairs.

‘Did you make any friends?’ My dad says hopelessly before I disappear from the ground floor, before heading up the last stairs, I turn back. ‘Yes’ I say with an uncomfortable smile. ‘Oh! Well who?’ Mother asks me, she seems so surprised to the fact that I have friends. ‘One friend. A boy. He is a boy and he is my friend’ I dryly reply. They give me confused looks before I head up and lock my room. I love confusing my parents into making them think I’m crazy. It’s fun.

Gikwang’s POV

‘Gikwang’ my mum calls. I peek out of my room and see her across the kitchen. She signals me to come over with her hand and so I do, strangely, because my mum never wants to talk. ‘Sit’ she says smiling, pointing at the chair. I awkwardly do so and look down. I’ve done something wrong. I know it. ‘I wanted to ask you about school’ I look up to her and I notice something…she’s worried, her eyes are sad and she looks like she’s being crying. She sniffs with a painful smile on her face. ‘S-school..it’s fine’ I say just staring at my upset mother. ‘Really?’ She doesn’t believe me. She thinks I’m still being threatened and pushed around, well she’s not wrong. ‘Yeah’ I say, realising it’s not like that anymore. I have someone now. ‘I made a friend today’ feeling so childish like a boy coming from his first day of school, a glint of sparkle in my mother’s eyes

‘You did?’ She says, drawn in and interest, it had been a while since I saw my mum curious for something school related. Everyday I got home and it would be a new thing, a bruise on my face, my bag missing, my tie thrown away, but today I could tell, my mum just wanted me to be happy. ‘Yeah, her name’s Miu and she’s…nice’ I laugh at the last word because there was no way to describe her. At times she was nice, other times she was just…honest? ‘Is she pretty?’ My mother asks, normally I would get awkward and red but it’s time’s like these that I realise I love her, and I want to make her happy to. I sit next to her and for the first time in a while, my mum and I have a nice conversation. I think about Miu’s appearance. She has milky brown hair, it’s regular length although I’ve never seen it down. I don’t know if she wears make up because I’ve not seen her up close, but she has nice eyes and a really sweet laugh. Her lips are quite plump and her cheeks are pink most of the time, but she has a generally small, and petite look. She’s cute, and her uniform suits her. I think about it for a while and it comes to me. ‘Yeah…she is pretty’ I say dazing off, but before my mum gets the wrong impression.

‘But, she’s just my friend’ I say and hands pinch my cheeks, my mum plants a wet kiss on my face and kisses my head. ‘I’m proud of you Gikwang’ she whispers and she’s gone. All I’m left with is what I could remember of Miu, and somehow, I spended the day thinking about her, and how she defended me.