TWO ;

Minseok is 7 years old when her mother tells her they are moving out again. She should be used to it by now but she is not, still, in her small heart, she hopes for this to be the last time she is forced to leave behind a small part of her life. Her mother tells her that it will be the last day, tells her that she is as tired as she is and that their life in Korea will be forever. Minseok doesn't believe her, but she nods and smiles, because that's all she can do.

She recalls the other four times her mother told her the same thing. When she was three and they moved out to Seattle. When she turns five in her way to Canada. When she was six and they were living in Japan.

The last day of her little life in Beijing-China is spent with Wu Yifan, a kid that attends her school (and classroom). He is the same age as her but is too much taller. They are in the park near Minseok's house. She is sitting in a swing and Wufan is just next to her. It's almost Christmas and the park is covered with snow and his hands grab her smaller's ones and ask her to not cry.

It is a romantic scene.

The snowflakes flying around them lightning the night with white sparkles and Minseok closes her eyes when she feels Yifan's fingers running over her cheeks. But the expected kiss never came and instead, Yifan is whispering at her ear to lose weight because she is, well, fat.

Ok, Minseok didn't see that coming.

She tries to hit him but he takes her hand in the air and pulls her towards him. He hugs her and she knows that it is different from the other times. He doesn't say anything and she doesn't know if she wants to hear something else beside his jokes. Yifan buys her ice-cream in their way to Minseok's house. 

Yifan is not there when the taxi picks them up to take them to the airport. Minseok thinks she understands, still, when she is already sit and giving a last look to her house, she has the hope of seeing Yifan just one last time. But her mother closes the door and they are moving now and Minseok is looking at the streets and she is praying for just one more glance of the boy and one last goodbye and maybe tell him with her eyes that he is special and she will never forget him; but the taxi is turning to the right and the street -her street- disappear and she knows, he won't show up.

Minseok is on the plane. Her sit is right next to the small window, her mother is sitting by her side, reading a Vogue magazine and looking cool in her Prada glasses. They are both in First Class because her mom, being the Head of the Publicity department of the Korean Edition of Vogue, is able to, Minseok doesn’t complain.

The stewardess is sweet enough to melt her heart, he introduce himself as Kyungsoo and when he smiles, Minseok thinks she is having a heart attack because the boy is so cute. He ruffled her hair and offers her ice cream. She asks if she can get a vanilla one with chocolate chips and he nods.  

She is leaving the bathroom when Kyungsoo calls her. Her eyes smile when she notices the big creamy ice-cream in his hands. He walks her to her seat and before leaving, he leans over her and her hair, he tells her that she is the cutest girl he has ever met and it’s there that the reality hits her and she remembers Yifan again. And his husky voice and his beastly manners and the way he used to call her Xiumin and the way he used to her hair and the way he used to say –half joking, half true- that she was the cutest girl over the earth and she understands, she finally understands, that she lost her chance with Wu Yifan.

Her mother doesn't ask her why she is crying. She thanks her in her mind. She doesn’t talk to Kyungsoo again but she smiles to him when he waves her good-bye when they are leaving the plane.

Korea is big, to her opinion. It is big and noisy but much more beautiful than China and clean. Her mother is talking about the times they lived there, about the park Minseok liked to play at, the pre-school she attended, the small house they were living at just before their trip to Seattle. Minseok doesn't remember anything of that, she feels dizzy almost all the time.

"Korea is really pretty, mom" during the day, a wide smile on her face just to make mom proud.

But the nights are silent. The bedroom is drowning her with lullabies and dreams are filled with China, the parks and Wu Yifan, a tall Wu Yifan calling her name in the dark and his hands her cheeks...

Wu Yifan

She meets her new school with much less happiness than her mother. It's been already two months since they left China (to never come back again) and she has been doing so much better. She doesn't hate the old lady that gives her candies anymore. The guy that takes care of her mother's garden is now okay. She -now- greets the young guy that is always taking care of the front door of her building 'The Guardian of the Door' she calls him and he pets her hair and calls her Little Miss.

Minseok's weeks are fill with fun. Her mother is free and she takes her wherever she wants. To the park to play with her new bike. To the zoo to see the new dolphins. To the movie theater, to watch the latest movie starring a Frost Queen and her reckless sister. To the circus just because Minseok likes unicorns (her mother explains again that they are not unicorns, they are horses, but Minseok pouts and her mother knows it is a lost battle).

Her mother fills her days with daily basis of hugs and kisses. Minseok running away from her mother and her mother playing to catch her and Minseok laughs.

She is smiling again.

She sings in the shower every mornings and doesn't feel like drowning in the nights anymore. Her memories of China are slowly being replaced by the new ones she is making at her new life in Korea and she doesn't remember Wu Yifan that much now.

She is doing so good now.

The last day of vacations is spent inside their apartment. She is watching Pororo and her mother is talking on the phone. When she hangs up, she asks if she wants to eat pasta for dinner. Minseok agrees.

She wakes up early, her mother is still sleep so she showers in silence. She picks the vanilla shampoo this time. When her mother finally wakes up, she is already dressed in her uniform, her hair long loose over her shoulders instead of her usual two pony tails. After a while, when her mother is finally awake and dressed decently enough to take her to the school and go to work, she grabs her bag and her lunch box and leaves her living room after her mother.

When she arrives from school completely soaked, her bag has a red stain and she is still confused from the recent events. She leaves her bag in her bedroom and goes to the bathroom. She is undressing herself and turning on the shower when she recalls her first day and decides that the next day, she is going to ask Miss Yoona to pair her with other classmates because the current ones were too much creepy and that maybe, if it’s possible, she could be changed to another classroom, far –very far- from those boys.

By the time her mother arrives, Minseok has already washed her bag and her uniform and all the evidence of her disastrous first day at school is erased.

The next day, she doesn’t need to ask her teacher to move her seat because the boys are nowhere to be seen and next to her, a small girl with long brown hair is smiling and introducing herself as Kim Joonmyeon. Minseok couldn’t be happier.

She learns, after some days, that Kim Joonmyeon is younger than her, but she skipped a year because she is just that smart. Minseok learns that Joonmyeon is sweet and caring and she is always thinking in the other before herself. She is the responsible of the class and her biggest dream is being the President of the Student Council. She loves TVXQ and Sistar and she can dance ‘Give it to me’ better than Hyorin.  She loves water fountains and summer and chocolate.

Kim Minseok and Kim Joonmyeon take lunch together that day and just a few months later, they declare themselves best-friends.

Soon, her first year at school is ending and Minseok has learned just two things, very important things: 1) Kim Joonmyeon is the daughter of the owner of the biggest Hotels in the city and you should never ever mess with her because the consequences are awful and 2) Xiao Lu is one if the strangest kids she has ever met.

She is happy she won’t see this Chinese boy during her vacations and instead, she will spend her summer days with Joonmyeon.

Minseok doesn’t know she is very wrong.

Kim Minseok, a week soon to turn 8 years, bangs her head against her bedroom wall. She should know better. She should’ve known that those two creepy boys where not going to leave her alone. She recalls all the times she had the opportunity to ask Joonmyeon about the two boys but she never did. She should’ve read all the signs and prepare a counterattack. But it was already late, the invitations to her party were already sent, her mother had already bought her dress, the cake was already ordered and the place was already arranged.

Just how on earth could this ever happen?

Joonmyeon is lying over her bed, looking at the older girl sulking and pouting and crying, with curious eyes. She doesn’t understand how can, the fact that Park Chanyeol is her cousin, affected Minseok so much. Joonmyeon frowns trying to find a good excuse, but she doesn’t. She remembers her Chanyeol as a very funny boy, always making her laugh and playing with her in their summer house. When she asks Minseok to give her two invitations more, one for her cousin and the other for his cousin’s best friend, she didn’t think she was doing something wrong.

She laughs when she sees Minseok rolling over the floor and returns her view to her book. Minseok hugs her unicorn plushie even more.

When the new semester at school begins and Minseok is eight years old now and Joonmyeon is seven but she is still in her same grade just that in different classroom, she no longer hates Xiao Luhan and Park Chanyeol.

She abominates them.

So when she arrives to her new classroom and sees the two boys sitting there, she gives them her best ‘DO-NOT-DARE-TALKING-TO-ME’ glare and walks to the opposite side of the classroom. She sits there with her yellow bag and her face fixed on the board, ignoring the looks that the two boys are giving to her and praying for a miracle because she doesn’t think she is going to endure her life without Joonmyeon and alone with those two. When someone opens the door and Minseok is so concentrate in the board that she doesn’t notice the scenario in front of her.

She is surprised when someone touches her shoulder and she turns around and she finds herself facing a tall boy with a cute face but the most hideous hair-cut and she gives him a questioning look. The boy with the most hideous hair-cut asks her is the sit next to her is already taken and she is contemplating the idea of saying yes, but then, she realizes that the teacher will assign their new  seats and if she is alone, she could end up paired with the worst boys over the earth.

So she smiles to him and answers that the seat is free and the boy returns the smile and sits next to her.

‘Oh, by the way, my name is Jang Dong Woo’

Dong Woo brings to her life, what China used to. And after a year and some months of forgetfulness, she remembers Wu Yifan.

But Jang Dong Woo is a bit different, because while Wu Yifan used to treat her like some fragile, small porcelain doll, Jang Dong Woo treats her like any horrible older brother would treat her younger sister.

With Dong Woo (Woonie, because Joonmyeon liked the nickname) Minseok learns five things 1) Jang Dong Woo is the worst joke-teller of all the world 2) He has the biggest ego she has even seen 3) His bag is the gate to Narnia, she swears, because it seems to contain everything you could ever imagine. She means it. She asked him once to get her a kitten and he pulled out one from his bag  4) He is going to dye his hair red someday  5) Don’t mess with his dinosaur complex because that’s the last thing you could ever done.

Minseok and Joonmyeon love him, though.                                                       

But, by the end of that year, Minseok learns one more thing about Jang Dong Woo and it’s that,

 Jang Dong Woo and Xiao Lu hate each other very much.

NA: Sorry for taking too long <3