Age 10

It's Friday morning.  Young In is sitting under the library lamp post.  Jongin is standing by the lamp post.  They're waiting for the bus.  There's no one but them, because no one lives on this side of the neighborhood.  All the other kids live closer to the school, so they don't have to wake up early every morning to catch the bus.  They could probably walk to school.  The idea of walking to school sounds like a great idea, but Young In would rather sit here and wait for the bus with Jongin.  That seems even better.

"Jongin," Young In says.  "What do you want be when you grow up?"

Jongin fiddles with the loose button on uniform jacket.  "Me?  What do I want to be when I grow up?"

Young In nods.  She thinks asking these types of questions is a good way to pass the time.

"I don't know yet," Jongin says.

"You don't know?"

"Well, actually, I want to be a lot of things."

"Like what?"

"A firefighter?"

Jongin steps out into the middle of the sidewalk and holds out his hands and makes a shhhh sound with his lips.  He's putting out a pretend fire with a pretend hose.  "So I can save the world," he says. He jumps up as high as he can.  "Or maybe an astronaut, so I can go to the moon.  Or an athlete, so I can make lots of money."  He shoots a fake hoop with a fake basketball then runs back and forth, pretending to steal the ball from other players.  

Young In watches him and laughs.  A wonderful laugh in response to wonderful imagination.  Jongin bounces the fake ball for a while longer before passing it to Young In.  She tries to catch it but misses and they watch the fake ball roll away.

After a while, Jongin stops jumping around and spins in a perfect circle on one foot.  This time it's a real circle on a real foot.  

"Most of all, I want to be a dancer."

"A dancer?  Why?"

Jongin shrugs.  "I don't know," he says as he comes to sit down.   "I just like dancing."  He's breathing hard, probably from messing around, but he's still smiling.  

Young In looks at him in the eye and she notices the way they light up when he says, "Dancing."  Those are the only words he has to say and she knows he's happy.  She knows he's telling the truth.  Now she knows for sure that Kim Jongin loves dancing.

"What about you?" Jongin says, scratching his head.  "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Young In pulls her knees into her chest and wraps her arms around them.  She breathes in deeply and exhales as she watches her breath collect in a cloud in front of her face.  She wants to think for a little while.

Jongin says he wants to be a lot of things.

Young In wants to be a lot of things, too.  But what?  She could be one of those people who shoot high and dream big and don't give up just because things don't go their way.  One of those people who change the world by being themselves and brighten the day by saying "Good morning."  One of those people who work hard to make things right and act strong even when they aren't.

Jongin says he actually wants to be a dancer.

And Young In knows exactly what she wants to be.

"Amazing."

"What?"

"When I grow up," Young In says, "I'm going to be amazing."

Jongin looks confused for a moment before he bursts into a fit of laughter.  They're both laughing and Jongin has never seen Young In laugh so hard.

He rubs her head and she shrinks away, fixing her hair.  He ends up sitting down beside her and they're still laughing. Laughing so hard that the streets don't seem so empty , and the day doesn't seem quite so long anymore.

7:30 am