Saturday is the day Sehun likes the most and he bets every twelve-year-old boy in the radius of 500 meters from his house is the same.

Firstly, he doesn’t have class which is initially a good thing itself even though he will miss all the mischievous pranks he plays at school with his classmates. But what makes him more excited about Saturday are other two reasons.

 One is the permission to go playing at the playground near his house (under a condition that he must be good for the whole week). Sehun and his hyungs always meet up on Saturday and Sunday’s morning. There are ton of things they can do at playground. They can talk about random stuffs, bring out their electrical tablets to beat each other over newest games or even split into two groups to play soccer or basketball.

They decided to dissolve The Hulk and The Dragon three years ago when the two leaders went to junior high. Joonmyun hyung said it was childish while Yi Fan hyung added it was only for kid and back then since they graduated from elementary school, they were no longer kids. Only Sehun and Jongin pouted sulkily as soon as the news was announced whereas the others didn’t seem to care that much because well, some of them would be juniors the following year.

“Screw them!”  Jongin hissed when they were walking back home “You and I will found our own gang.”

Sehun bit his lower lip waveringly. It didn’t sound like a good idea to him.

“I don’t know. What’s funny about that anymore?”

The darker skin boy didn’t reply to that as his shoulders dropped, continued heading to their house. Not until they reached Sehun’s front door did Jongin’s eyes suddenly sparkled in joy

“Hey, how about we having sleepover on Saturday’s night and doing all the childish things we want?” Jongin proposed in a mimicking tone just like their leader did earlier and Sehun couldn’t help but bursting out laughing.

“You mean every Saturday?”

“Yeah. What do you think?”

Sehun didn’t need to have a second thought before nodded his head vehemently

“Okay, I’m in.”

That is exactly the second reason Sehun loves about Saturday.  It’s like killing two birds with a stone. They can be a little more mature in the morning and still be kids when the night comes. They have a secret fun on their own and enjoy themselves a different kind of fun with their hyungs. Sehun thinks his life is complete to have someone like Jongin as his best friend.

 

 

 

Today is Friday and Sehun is not in a good mood. Jongin called yesterday to tell him that he would be away for a relative’s visit with his mother so Sehun didn’t need to come over, which meant their drawn battle starting last Monday would not be settled down as planned. “I’ll buy you some tteokbokki when I’m back. Don’t miss me too much okay?” the tanned skin boy laughed over the phone before hanging up and Sehun pouted on the other side of the line because he didn’t have a chance to scream “I will not, you dumb” in response.

Stuck with the annoyed thought the whole day, Sehun bids a goodbye at his friends beside the school gate, turns on his heels and walks home alone, pondering on what he’s going to have for dinner. He asked his mom to cook curry chicken with milk and sweet potato for him tonight this morning after hearing one of his friends in class blabbering about how delicious it was but his mother seemed not interested in trying new dish at all.

His deep thinking is abruptly interrupted by a asive smell from a street vendor’s shelter. Sehun halts in front of the large pan of delicious tteokbokki, unconsciously swallows his saliva down.

“Hey little boy” the elder woman cordially waves at him, a warm smile plasters on her face “Do you want some?”

Sehun bites his lip, brows furrow in sincere focus. It looks like he’s torn between eating or not since it’s only two hours before dinner and his mother will probably scold him if he leaves his dish unfinished. But inside the young boy’s head is merely the image of Jongin laughing, tteokbokki in hand, teasing him with his ty grin. It makes Sehun tighten the backpack’s strap, rummage into his pants’ pocket. Finally finding the last pennies of his weekly allowance, he grinds his teeth, mentally declares I can buy my own tteokbokki then lifts up his chin and claims arrogantly as if to prove his determination

“One serving please.”

Sitting on one of the swings in the playground near his house, Sehun happily pokes a piece of soft rice cake with sauces. Although it’s not as good as the one Jongin usually shares with him (that dumbhead refused to reveal where he bought it), eyesmile still vaguely forms under his bangs. When he almost finishes the whole snack, he sees a woman walking toward his place. At first he thought she was the mother of one of those noisy kids playing by the Ball house behind him because she has been looking at this direction for a while, but when she takes off her sunglasses and smiles at him, he knows it was him she has been targeting at.

“Hello sweetie.”

Sehun his lips nervously at the sudden friendly greeting, the kidnapping scene of a movie he watched last month pops up on his mind.

“Hello aunty.”

He politely replies, simultaneously stands up so that if there is something happens, he will have enough time and space to escape. This woman comes alone so it’s not too difficult for him to fight against her.

“You live near here?” she smiles at him again and Sehun sniffles

 

Where I live have nothing to do with you!

 

“No.” he lies, eyes doesn’t flinch as if he’s prepared for the worst.

“No?” the woman’s brows twist a bit but they immediately loosen at ease “But it’s okay. Well, I’m from SM entertainment. We will hold an audition at the end of this month. Do you want to join us? Here is my card.”

 

This is weird. Kidnapper is not supposed to reveal their identity.

 

Sehun receives the card uncertainly and takes his time to examine it. There even prints the number and SM entertainment logo.

“Can I have your name and your home’s number? I’ll ask your parents’ permission for you if you want.”

The generous offer snaps Sehun out of his daze. He looks at the stranger standing in front of him one more time before steps back and runs off without saying anything. This is so cliché. Of course she needs his name and home’s number to blackmail his parents. He should have listened to his mom’s warning about talking to a stranger in the first place.

He turns left at the convenient shop and keeps running until he can’t hear the sound of either her heels echoing on the hard surface or her voice calling “Yah, wait!”, chasing after him. Sehun stops and leans back against a wall, trying to regain his breath. It’s a good choice to stuff his stomach with tteokbokki previously otherwise he couldn’t make it this far.

Poking his head out of the hiding place to make sure no one is after him anymore, Sehun gasps in horror when a familiar figure catches his vision. That woman is panting hard, hands gripping on her hip but her eyes still cast the whole area like a crafty cat.

Too busy in thinking about how he can break this blockade, Sehun doesn’t know there is another person staring at him from behind, probably wondering what he is doing. When he turns around and their eyes meet, a broken accented voice comes to his ear.

“Se…Sehun? Is that you?”

Sehun blinks a few times, his brain is too occupied in analyzing his situation with that elder woman to make any response to this question.

The other boy fastens his paces toward him, continues chirping loudly

“It’s you isn’t it? Oh my God. I’m Luhan. Do you remember me?”

He hardly opens his mouth to answer that when a noise from the other side of the wall is heard getting closer. Sehun doesn’t know why he grabs the boy’s hand and starts stomping out of his corner, not even looking back. But this time he can’t go any further because of a super extra weight he’s dragging along. After another ten minutes running, Sehun has no choice to unlock their hands and writes down his name and number in the woman’s note in a huff, not forget to leave a sarcastic remark.

“There, you’re happy now.”

Not until she ruffles his hair and bids a goodbye does he shift his attention to the Luhan guy beside him. He’s pretty sure they don’t live in the same neighborhood since he doesn’t remember seeing him anywhere nearby. He’s a bit taller than Sehun but his face is kind of childish with big round eyes and small pink lips. But the weirdest thing is when Sehun held his hand, it somehow felt like he had touched something that fluffy before.

“Who are you?” he finally asks, scanning the stranger from head to toe.

“I’m Luhan. You don’t remember?”

Luhan pouts and Sehun scratches his nose, shakes his head awkwardly as if he made a big mistake asking this question.

“I’m Yi Fan’s cousin.” the taller one begins gesticulating wildly while saying incoherent words nonstop “We met five years ago….the mimic battle….I shot you and err..…China?”

The last hint brings Sehun back to one of the most dramatic scenes he’s ever witnessed so far in his life with Kim Jongin main starring. He claps his hand after a long minute recalling the not-so-sweet memory, eyes turn into thin lines as he grins big

“Ah, Luhan….hyung.”

He quickly adds the word “hyung” because he’s not a seven-year-old kid anymore, even though people won’t easily tell who is the older one between them either.

“Yes, finally!”

Luhan lets out a contented giggle and Sehun is lost track of time again, wondering if the Chinese could pretend he didn’t understand Korean like the old time so that he would neither have to use honorific nor be treated like a dongsaeng.

 

 

*********

 

 

“WHAT DO I MISS? WHAT DO I MISS?”

Jongin screams while running toward the big tree in the playground, where all his friends are gathering, almost jumps on Sehun’s back, making both of them lose their balance and fall over the hard ground. Ignoring the annoyed grumble from Sehun, Jongin beams widely at the rest of boys, asking again

“What do I miss, hyung?”

“Well, Jongdae is grounded for getting detention at school, Sehunnie was practically scouted on street and I had my own revenge on Chanyeol for stealing my food.” counting his fingers, Baekhyun halts for a split of second to stick out his tongue at his taller friend, who is whining I just want to help you finish the lunch faster, then ends with a chuckle “Ah, and Luhan hyung is back.”

The tanned skin boy seizes Sehun’s neck in his arm, shooting him an icy glare

“You told me you’re kidnapped.”

“I said I was almost.” Sehun corrects emphatically, nudges him on the rib so that he lets his poor neck free “Turned out I was not. If it wasn’t because of Luhan hyung, she would not have a slight chance to catch me.”

“Who's Luhan?” Jongin finally finds this name interesting

“He’s Yi Fan hyung’s cousin.”

“Yi Fan hyu….Nooooooo” Jongin springs up like someone has just electrified him, fear written all over his face "What is that creepy baby face doing here?"

Sehun’s eyes open wide in surprise because he doesn’t expect Jongin’s memory would be much better than his, especially when that boy is a type of person who always forgets to bring along his towel to the bathroom or gets scold for leaving his homework home frequently.

"I don't know. Maybe he wants to take Sehun back" Chanyeol doesn't give away an opportunity to tease his dongsaeng, because well, everyone surely remembers the embarrassing scene back then.

"What? I already traded my lollipop with him the last time"

His precious friend shrieks into Sehun’s ear and if Joonmyun isn’t quick enough to kick Chanyeol to make him shut up, he’s gonna be a deaf boy soon

“Stop messing with him.”

“I just answer his question hyung” the younger one fakes a pout, rubbing his ankle in pain

“You’re not helping though.” Joonmyun retorts then shifts his eyes to Jongin who is clutching Sehun’s elbow tightly, waiting for his explanation “I heard from Yi Fan that Luhan hyung’s father got a promotion so they had to move to Seoul.”

“So it means he’s going to live here?”

“Uhm” this time it's Sehun to speak up, eyes sparkles in joy “He even asked me to teach him Korean.”

Actually after their first fateful encounter last Friday, Sehun came across Luhan again at the supermarket yesterday when he went shopping grocery with his mother, while the Chinese was wandering around alone, buying himself milk and fruits. There was no need to tell how cutely polite Luhan was and his mother couldn’t help but complimenting him a lot. At the end, somehow Luhan managed to get her permission to have Sehun tutor him if he needed help with his Korean. Sehun didn’t have chance to give his opinion since he’s too absorbed in thinking about how he could pinch those chubby cheeks without got hit on the head.

“You? Teaching Korean?” Jongin bursts out laughing “Did he lose his mind?”

“What do you mean?” Sehun says in a huff, arms folding against his chest

“Okay, let’s think about it. If he really wants to learn, he will hire a professional tutor or at least ask someone smarter, Joonmyun hyung for example, right? He will not find a kid like you to teach him. Unless he’s hiding something…….Nooooooo”

If anyone walks by and sees them, he will probably think they are a weird group with a tanned skin kid looks like he’s having a mental breakdown, a milky face boy staring at the first one dumbly while the rest don’t care that much, being buried in their own game. Sehun half wants to prove his capability of teaching a foreigner his mother tongue but then uncertainly decides not to talk to Jongin about Luhan hyung any time soon because his best friend seems to take anything involving the Chinese boy not very well.

 

 

**********

 

 

Luhan glues his eyes to the glass door of the shop, hands playing with the menu on the table. It’s easy to see some schoolgirls sitting nearby his cube are spazzing over his cuteness. He flashes them another strained smile before taking a gulp of his water, clearly not feeling comfortable under their admired gaze, wondering what takes Sehun so long to come.

Luhan didn’t try to conceal his affection for Sehun since the first time they met five years ago. He even told his parents that he already found someone he wanted to be with forever when they flew back home but they just laughed it off as if it was the biggest joke of the year. They probably thought he was having a childish crush on a girl and didn’t find it interesting enough to keep in mind.

He started studying Korean right after he entered his first year of junior high when his parents reluctantly accepted his strange demand to know another foreign language besides English. Luhan reasoned it might help him to communicate more with Yi Fan in the future and ignored his mother last comment why? you can always talk to him in Mandarin.

Then God didn’t betray his effort when his father suddenly got a promotion to be the General Director of a new branch in Korea and the whole family had to move to Seoul. There was out of word to describe how happy Luhan was to hear the news because finally, he had his chance to practice Korean with Yi Fan or at least that’s what he told his mother for being hopping around the house in joy.

Luhan thought it would be different when he saw Sehun this time but now he realizes he hardly knows anything about the younger one, not to mention that they’re still kids after all, so maybe it’s better saving these feelings for a not-so-far future and focusing on making himself become a someone special to Sehun first.

It’s considered as a good luck for him since Sehun seems to be a bright and friendly boy so he has no difficulty to approach him. The only thing he concerns is the way Sehun’s facial expression changes everytime he mentions Jongin, his best friend, and Luhan somehow finds himself a little bit jealous over this tiny thing.

A delighted smile spontaneously plasters on his face as a familiar figure walking toward his direction. Sehun plops down on the chair on the other side of the table, beaming at him

“Hi hyung!”

“Hi Sehunnie!” Luhan points his hand watch “Didn’t your class end like an hour ago? Why are you so late?”

Taking off the snapback, Sehun uses his fingers to comb his messy hair

“Jongin taught me some dance move.”

Luhan pushes his glass of water toward him, eyebrows twist wonderingly. He still needs times to get acquainted to the native accent, plus Sehun is talking way too faster for his own good.

“Dance?”

“Uhmm. For the audition next week.”

“Oh..that..I can teach you too.” Luhan suddenly bites his lower lip, mumbling almost inaudible but Sehun catches it fast enough.

“Hyung, you can dance?”

“Err..well, a bit.”

The Korean lips curves into a wide smile as the waitress brings out their bubble tea which were already ordered in advance by Luhan, happily pokes the straw into the big cup and takes a huge gulp. After a long minute, his eyes finally turn back from a crescent size to normal one, nose exhales a pleasant snuffle

“You should show me someday hyung. Jongin said I was the worst learner he’d ever met. But he still agreed to coach me. He yelled at me a lot though.”

Sehun ends with a pout, obviously recalling the last hard hour practicing with his friend at school.

“I will never scold you.” Luhan makes a slip of the tongue, earning another ear-to-ear grin from the latter

“I know. You’re a good hyung.”

It’s just a simple compliment and Luhan feels undeniable joy tickling under his toes. But the fact that Sehun chatters about Jongin all the time immediately snaps him back. He has to find something else more interesting to talk.

“So you want to be an idol?”

Sehun stops stirring the ice in his cup to give that sudden question a serious thinking before his lips nervously.

“I don’t know. I just want to give it a shot. But Jongin really does. He also enters a competition named er…youth something, I don’t remember. That’s why….

 

Urghhh…Jongin again. Jongin Jongin Jongin!!! When will that name…

 

…he can’t come with me next Saturday to the audition.”

 

…stop being repeated i…Wait a minute, did he just say..?

 

Luhan’s eyes lightens up instantly, hands clutching his cup, leaning forward a bit enthusiasticall

 “I’ll go with you.”

“Really? Thanks hyung. You’re the best!”

As his expectation, Sehun bounces up and down like a toddler but what makes Luhan more satisfying for the rest of the day is the tanned skin boy’s name doesn’t have a chance to appear in their conversation any more.

 

 

**********

 

 

SM Entertainment font gate is packed with people when they arrive. Sehun’s heart beat keeps racing as he grabbing Luhan elbow, threading his way through the crowd.

“Don’t worry. You’re doing fine.”

The Chinese gives him an encouraging smile and pats his shoulder since his face’s expression is too anxious.

“I’ve never performed in front of many people before.”

Sehun his lips out of habit, finally lets go off the older one’s arm.

“Just show them what you showed me yesterday. They’ll love it.”

“You think so?”

“Of course! Now be confident.”

Luhan slightly pushes Sehun into the waiting room, not forgets to shoot him the last cheering gesture along with the brightest smile. Because of the chaos, Sehun asks him not to hang around here and meet up with each other after the audition at the bubble tea shop outside the building. As much as he wants to see the younger one right when he finishes his turn, Luhan has no choice to agree unconditionally.

Half of hour later, Sehun hops on a chair opposite him with a cup of bubble tea, sweat’s trait still can be easily seen on his forehead as an evidence of a nerve-racking selection.

“How was it?” Luhan beams at him, obviously waiting for a long story of how he passed the audition spectacularly

“Fine.”

Sehun short answers, shoulders drop a bit and Luhan knows something went wrong. He carefully examines every inch of the latter’s face to see whether that reply implies a good or bad news before clears his throat hesitantly

“What did they say?”

Regardless of his sincere concern, Sehun remains his poker face while stirring the straw at the fastest speed, causing a small vortex of tea inside his cup.

 

This can’t be good.

 

Luhan mentally pulls out his hair. He tries to dig deep into his brain to find words of comfort but his vocabulary is basically drained out. He blames himself for not paying more attention in class when the teacher talked about how to console someone (he never thought he would need it someday because as far as he remembered, Sehun seemed to be very good at making people cozy)

“Sehun ah…”

Few seconds of silence heavily passes by and a loud volley of laugh is burst out from the other side of the table.

“Gotcha hyung!”

The Chinese boy is dumbfounded for a moment then finally understands he’s just got trapped. He pouts and reaches out to flick the younger one real hard on the nose. Suddenly being attacked, Sehun yelps in pain

“Ouch, that hurts!”

“Yah, it’s not funny.” Luhan folds his arms sulkily, throwing him an icy glare “You know I’m worrying about you.”

Sehun continues his giggling, his eyes even turns into a thin line. It’s not his initial idea to play a trick on his hyung like this but seeing how Luhan biting his lip cutely while looking at him previously, he couldn’t help it. Luhan always gives him feeling of wanting to caress his fluffy hands, pinch his cheeks or even share his candy, not like the urge to wrench each other until they’re out of breath whenever he plays with Jongin.

At first he thought it’s because Luhan looked just his age or maybe because he’s from a foreign country. Then again he remembered Yi Fan hyung also came from China but he didn’t feel the same way (he’s actually scared of him and hid behind Joonmyun hyung’s back when they met for the very first time). The unexplainable sentiment somehow makes his meeting up with Luhan a tiny more excited than the playdate at Jongin’s house every Saturday night.

“Will you stop?” Luhan’s huffy voice finally brings him back to the Earth “Now tell me what happened.”

Sehun keeps a big grin on his lips, still can’t conceal his joy

“They said I did great. The next audition will be in another three weeks.”

“Wow, congrats Sehunnie! I know you can make it!” Luhan almost forgets the reason why he’s been sulking for the last minute.

“Thanks hyung.”

“Oh so that means you will stay back and practice with Jongin again?”

Luhan doesn’t realize his voice can change so quickly like that, from a cheerful tone to a plaintive one, but it’s too late for him to take it back. Sehun presses his lips tightly for a split of second before shaking his head in response

“Nope. This time I think I’ll do it with you.”

“You will?”

“Of course. You’re my best friend.”

They stare at each other as both of them can’t believe what has just been said. Luhan tightens his knuckles in victory while Sehun rationally lets out an ah-so-this-is-what’s-it-all-about exhalation.

“Really? I thought Jongin was your best friend.”

The older one wants to make sure he isn’t dreaming because there is no way he can defeat Jongin this easily.

Sehun scratches his neck ponderingly. It’s true, Jongin was his best friend and Luhan was just a stranger. But that was about a month ago. Now something has changed and he guesses best friend is the most suitable word to describe what Luhan is to him.

“Well, Jongin is my oldest friend.”

Sehun smiles at Luhan one more time before dragging a huge gulp of his bubble tea. He wonders what Jongin will react when he tells his used-to-be-best-friend about the result of this audition as well as his new label tonight. It’s not bad right? At least, if looking from a different respect, Jongin is still in the first place in one of his friend’s categories while Luhan is in the lead most of the rest.

(of course Jongin doesn’t need to know about Luhan’s part in any time soon)