Naeul opened the door and quietly crept inside. She was still thinking about the guys she met earlier as she made her way home. The way they spoke to her, the way they treated her, it really felt as if they were really close to each other. To add to that, when they approached her, she expected to feel scared, appalled or anything between those lines. But no, she felt secured and somewhat happy to see them. Deep down she knows she’s happy.

Talking to them feels like home.

“Oh you’re back.”

Naeul jumped, startled with the sudden presence in the room. She looked to where the direction of the voice came from and smiled. “Myungsoo oppa. You’re here?”

The lad nodded and walked towards her. “Auntie invited me for dinner. I asked her where you are and told me you haven’t come out of your room the whole day. But I knew better.” He chuckled. “So how’d you do it this time? Tied blankets and through the window?”

Naeul frowned and punched his arm lightly. “Yah, I don’t do that anymore.”

“Oh please.”

“I sneaked out through the back door.”

Myungsoo laughed and ruffled her hair. Naeul pouted as she tried to fix it and block Myungsoo’s hand from doing any further damage. “Aish, yah oppa!”

“Naeul! Myungso! Dinner’s ready!”

Naeul stuck her tongue out and ran to the dining area. “Eommaaaaaa! Myungsoo oppa’s bullying me again!”

Myungsoo had always been the uptight, big brother Naeul never had. They met in America a few days after her surgery. Myungsoo was at the hospital visiting his mother and because they were both Koreans in a foreign land, they figured it would be nice to have a friend with the same mother tongue. Besides for Naeul, it was good having company around your age when you’re stuck in the hospital for so long.

Your mom joined you in the couch carrying with her a bunch of what seemed like albums. “Naeul-ah,”

“Eomma,” She replied. “What’s up? Are those photo albums?”

Her mom nodded. “You really loved taking polaroid pictures. You brought that little camera of yours everywhere you went. See? It accumulated this much.”

“Whoaaaa…” Naeul said, looking at the stack of photo albums. “I must’ve had a lot of free time then.”

She took one of the photo albums and opened it. The first photo she saw was a full body shot of her wearing her school uniform. “High school….? No, middle school?”

Her mom nodded and flipped the page. “Yes, it was when you were still in middle school. It’s weird. You actually collected a lot of photos during this period compared to the rest.”

You looked at the photos on the next page. Some were your selcas, some were just random things and spots you like in school. “Wow, I can be a photographer!”

Naeul browsed through the album while her mom looked at the others. She was already halfway when a certain photo made her stop.

It was a photo of her along with 6 boys; the boys she met earlier. “Oh, this…”

Her mom looked at the photo she was staring at. “Oh my, you guys look so cute and playful back then! Wow, Changjo’s indeed so tall for his age.”

“Eomma, you know them?!”

“Of course,” She replied. “They are your closest friends, Naeul. You met them during middle school when you transferred. They’re really playful and a bunch of troublemakers. But they’re really nice kids.”

You continued browsing through the album and saw that most of the photos remaining are of you and of L.Joe. “Hmm… we look really close…”

“Eomma, do you know him?”

Her mom looked at the photo she was pointing to. “You mean Byunghun? Of course I do. Isn’t he the one closest to you amongst the six?”

Naeul couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She looked at more of the photos and is slowly believing what her mom is saying. “Really…”

“I do hope you meet them soon though. I haven’t seen the boys in a while.” Her mom said. “Anyway, I’ll leave these here okay?”

Naeul nodded and her mom left the room after that. She continued looking through the photos and found out at least of them were pictures of you and L.Joe.

“What? It’s cute and fluffy! Besides, I wouldn’t mind having a hug buddy when I sleep.”

“You could hug me.”

That earned a slap on the arm from the girl. The boy pouted and rubbed the affected area. “Ow! I was just kidding. Alright alright, I’ll win that toy for you.”

“It’s not a toy!”

The boy rolled his eyes as he handed his payment to the crew. “Oh please. It’s a stuffed toy. It still has the word ‘toy’ in it.”

“Just win the teddy for me please?” The girl asked, ignoring the silly explanation of the boy.

“Fine, fine. Jeez.” The boy then focused his attention to his targets, aiming the gun at them. It only took him 3 tries to knock down the one needed to win the stuffed toy.

“Omo, oppa you did it!” The girl squealed as the purple huge teddy bear was handed to her. “It’s so adorable!”

The boy smiled as he watched the girl admire the teddy bear. She looks so happy. Her smile is so sincere. He was happy even though he was hesitant to play the game at first. He was thankful he didn’t choose today to at some shooting game.

The girl then came up to him and hugged him as she whispered on his ear, “Thank you so much.”

It only took that to make the boy blush. “Y-You’re welcome…”

The girl pulled away and smiled. “I’ll name it after you.”

--

Naeul woke up with that dream still playing in her head. She was sure the girl was her. The boy’s face however was blurred. She could only make out the color of his hair; a deep shade of brown.

Then suddenly, she felt sad. For some reason, she felt as if she should remember who the boy was. In her dream, she felt so happy. She wanted to feel that again.

“Puh-lease. He start dyeing his hair into weird colors ever since Naeul Noona left,” Niel commented. “Are you in a rebellious phase, hyung?”

“Shut up.” L.Joe replied. “Where are they? First class is about to start.”

“Here!” They looked to their left and saw CAP, Chunji and Changjo walking briskly to them. CAP gave them an apologetic look for making them wait. “Sorry we took long, Changjo’s so slow we waited in front of his house for about 30 minutes.”

“You’re exaggerating!” Changjo said.

The classroom door opened and in came the teacher, who headed straight to the podium. “Before we start our lesson for today, I have an important announcement. You have a new classmate!”

A nervous looking girl entered the room. L.Joe looked at her and he swore his heart skipped a beat. The girl had long hair, rosy complexion and familiar warm eyes.

It’s her. The person he most wanted to see.

Chunji, who was sitting beside him, was surprised as well. He had no idea Naeul would be entering the same school they’re in. He looked at his friend and saw that he was as, if not a bit more, shocked than him.

Nope, it was more. L.Joe looked frozen in his seat. He knows L.Joe wouldn’t do anything rash but somehow this made him worry.

“New student, introduce yourself.”

Naeul responded to the teacher’s demand in a shaky voice. “H-Hello… my name is Jeon Naeul.”

“Ms. Jeon is a transfer student from America. I trust everyone will treat her well.” The teacher explained.

“Ne~”

L.Joe couldn’t take his eyes off of her as she made her way to the seat in front of him.

He couldn’t thank the heavens enough for giving him that opportunity.