"Gege!" a six-year-old Miya calls out, tugging at the sleeve of the taller boy's shirt.

Kris turns around, concern making its way to his features when he sees tears flowing down the little girl's cheek.

"What happened, Miya?"

"Gege, the-the boys say I-I can't play with th-them," Miya blubbers.

"Why?" Kris asks, even though he's already considering making his way to the group of younger boys across the field.

Kris is eleven, but he's tall for his age, and he has an angry-looking face that Miya finds strangely comforting. But most kids find this intimidating enough.

"B-because they say soccer is n-not a girl's game."

Kris cuts his chain of thought right there. Miya looks up at her gege as he smiles down at her. This eases off half her problems, because she knows her gege doesn't smile often.

"It's okay, Miya." He momentarily rests a hand on her tiny shoulder. "Come play with us."

Miya smiles, carelessly wiping away one tear. "Can I?"

Kris gives a pleasant short laugh, bends down and properly wipes her tears away, and takes her hand. He introduces Miya to his friends.

One of them, Minseok—a chubby kid that Miya instantly nicknames Baozi gege, and gets the nickname, "Young Volcano" from—smiles the widest.

Kris signals for them to get up, and they start their game of basketball—with a little six-year-old girl tagging along her beloved gege.

When Miya thanks Kris at the end of the game, he smiles coyly.

"You're welcome, pretty Miya," he says.

**********

"Gege!" a twelve-year-old Miya calls out, tugging at the taller boy's shirt.

Kris turns around, concern making its way to his features when he sees tears flowing down the little girl's cheek.

"What happened, Miya?"

"Gege, one of the-the boys said I'm not p-pretty," Miya blubbers.

Minseok, the friend of Kris that Miya was closest to, turns around when he hears this. "What?" He sounds shocked.

Kris scowls. "Miya, wait with Minseok. I'll go settle this."

Kris is seventeen now. And taller than all of his classmates. He still has an angry-looking face that Miya still finds strangely comforting. A twelve-year-old bratty boy doesn't stand a chance against him.

While Kris scolds the boy, Miya stands next to Minseok.

She's tall for her age, Minseok notices.

And pretty.

"Minseok," Miya begins, sniffing. She stopped calling him Baozi gege a couple of years ago, when he suddenly lost all the baby fat and turned handsome—against the laws of Mother Nature, as Kris put it.

"Hmm?"

"I'm pretty, right?"

Even though Min