1. But Teacher Said No

Mihyun has been having a hard time with all the big words they’re teaching in Kinder- janitor, janitress, yellow-blue, yellow-green. She feels the urge to hide whenever Teacher starts to introduce a new word. And she does: she crawls under one of the tables, so Teacher will never remember to ask Mihyun a question she doesn’t want to answer.

But Hoseok, her favourite classmate, spots her hiding place one day. And even though Mihyun insists this is my spot, Hopey, my spot!, the boy squishes himself in between two chairs anyway, and smiles widely at her.

It’s nap time, he informs her. Teacher’s looking everywhere for you.

Mihyun’s eyes widen, and two tiny hands reach out to shake Hoseok’s shoulders. “Don’t tell!” She whispers fearfully. “I don’t know the answers to her questions.”

Hoseok’s smile widens, revealing the gap in his gums where his first milk teeth have fallen out. “I won’t, if you let me teach you a word. I heard it from my noona yesterday.”

Mihyun’s small fists curl. She doesn’t like learning new words, she wants to shout, except Teacher would hear her if she did.

“Boyfriend,” Hoseok whispers, reverently. His voice echoes against the bottom of the table.

Funny, Mihyun thinks. It doesn’t sound like a very hard word.

“Like a friend that’s a boy,” Hoseok explains. “But it’s a really special kind of friend, that’s why you put the words together. Boyfriend.”

She likes how the word sounds, and is about to tell him when suddenly Hoseok blushes beet red and starts rocking back and forth. “Mihyun, can I- can I be your special friend?”

Mihyun laughs, because Hoseok looks so funny with his tiny fingers twiddling back and forth across his blue jumper, and reassures him immediately. “Of course. You’re already my special friend, Hopey.”

And to make sure he knows, she crawls forward and pecks him on the cheek, because that’s what special friends do.