"JESSSSSSI! Me wanna play. Me wanna play!" 

"Steph, no. We still have to read this whole book, okay?" 

"B-but... Me wanna play." 

The five-year-old Stephanie whined at the five-year-old Jessica. 

"But Steph, Mrs. Kim told us to not go out until we finish this."

"But the story is boring."

"I know, but we really have to read this."

"Can you read it for me and you?"

"Well..."

"Pweaaaaaaaseeeeeeee?"

Stephanie pouted adorably to the older girl. 

"But Steph--"

"Pweaasseeeee, Jessi! Pweaseeee??" and the younger girl pouted a bit more. 

"But Mrs. Kim..."

Stephanie pecked Jessica's cheeks and pleaded to the girl with her puppy eyes. 

"W-what.. Uh.. Fine." 

Jessica sighed while Stephanie squealed and hugged the other girl tightly. 

"Yeheeey! I wuv you, Jessi!" and the younger girl embraced the older yet again. 

"I know." 

"And you wuv Steph, too." Stephanie grinned proudly while pointing at herself. 

"I.. I do." 

And so the day continued with Stephanie's adorable or annoying (in Jessica's part) whines of wanting to play despite Jessica's promise to play after they finished the book. 

--

"Auntie Jung, is Jessi there?" 

"Yes, sweetie. Just go to her room. She's probably sleeping." 

"Okay. Thank you, Auntie!" 

Stephanie bounced her way to Jessica's room. 

"Sshh. I have to be quiet." the mushroom-haired girl whispered to herself while tiptoeing to her best friend's bed. 

She saw the girl sleeping with her left arm raised above her head with her books scattered around her bed. 

And the light bulb in Stephanie's head glowed when she saw Jessica's pink and fluffy pencil case. 

--

"STEPHANIE HWANG MIYOUNG!!!" 

"Yes, Jessi?" the said girl stared innocently at Jessica and smiled. 

"Why did you do this?" 

"What? Steph did not do a thing." 

"Steph, are you not gonna speak the truth?" 

"Me not lying!" Stephanie pouted and fiddled with her fingers nervously. An act that she does when she's hiding something. 

"Stephanie Hwang."

And there goes Jessica's serious, almost adult, voice. Stephanie gulped. 

"Y-yes?" Stephanie didn't bother to raise her head up because she knows that Jessica's mad at her now. 

"IT'S TICKLE TIME!" 

In a split second, Jessica pounced on Stephanie that made the younger girl lie on her back on Jessica's bed. Jessica's nimble fingers found its way to Stephanie's waist, fully capturing the girl's weak spot.

"STOP! HAHAHAHAHAHA. JESS, ahhhh! PLEASE STOP!" 

"No! Not until you admit what you did." 

"Jess! Kyahahahahahahahahaha! Tis me! Tis me! Me did that! STOP, please." 

Jessica stopped immediately and glared at the girl. 

"Why? My face is clearly not a paper so why did you draw on it?" 

"Uhm, me was j-just... I'm.. Here." 

Stephanie placed a gift on Jessica's hands. 

"What's this for?" 

"Uhm, Happy Birthday, Jessi!"

Jessica grinned cheekily and ruffled the girl's hair. 

"You don't have to. You being here is enough."

"Eeek! You destroyed my hair!" Stephanie pouted while arranging her hair again. 

"You're so cute." Jessica did not resist the urge and pinched the younger's cheeks, the gift left forgotten on the other side of the bed. 

"And you look weird. Pfft. Wahahahahaha." Stephanie guffawed and doubled over in Jessica's bed while laughing and pointing her index finger at Jessica's face. 

"YAH STEPHANIE!" Jessica glared at the younger who seem unfazed and continued laughing. Stephanie noticed that Jessica turned quiet so she stopped laughing and immediately saw Jessica glaring at her hard. 

"Aww. I wuv you, Jessi!" Stephanie cooed and pecked the older's cheeks. 

"Eeww!" Jessica pushed the younger's face away. 

"Open my gift now! Now! Now!" 

Jessica grabbed the gift and opened it eagerly.

"There! It's so nice, right?" 

"Yes, it is. But Steph, why am I taller than you in this drawing?"

"Becaaaaaause you're older." Stephanie explained nonchalantly. As if it's the most obvious thing in the world. 

"Whatever you say, Steph. Thank you for this." Jessica, though embarrassed at first, hugged Stephanie and nuzzled her head on the crook of the other's neck. Stephanie was shocked, but recovered immediately and wrapped her arms around the older. 

"You is welcome, Jessi!" 

Jessica broke the hug just in time to see Stephanie's eye-smile aimed at her, just for her. Even though she looked ugly with all the drawing on her face, she doesn't care because Stephanie is beside her. 

--

"A BUUUUUUG! THERE'S A BUG!" 

A six-year-old Stephanie shrieked while hopping on one foot around the school's playground. 

"I know, Steph. No need to shout." 

"KILL IT, JESSI!" 

"Why me? I don't want to." 

"JESSI! I'M BEGGING YOU! PLEASE KILL THE BUG!"

"Why should I? You let me eat cucumber yesterday, so tell me, why should I kill that bug?" 

"BECAUSE... BECAUSE YOU LOVE ME!" Stephanie screamed with all her might causing all the students to look at them in question. Jessica glared at them, so they immediately continued what they're doing. 

With just a stomp of the older's foot, the bug stopped moving. 

"Jessi, phew. Thank you. You really are my hero~" Stephanie batted her eyelashes at Jessica. 

"Yeah yeah. Whatever, Steph." Jessica shrugged nonchalantly. 

"Psh. You're no fun, Jessi." 

"I know. No need to rub it in my face." 

"Meanie." 

Their banter was cut short due to the ringing of the bell. Everyone scampered to their classroom and scurried to their respective seats. 

"Class, we have a new student. Be nice to her, okay?" 

The students nodded their heads immediately. 

"Hi, I'm Kim Taeyeon. Six years old." the girl introduced while counting her hands to six and raising it up afterwards to let them see. An innocent act, indeed. 

"Okay. You can sit beside Ms. Hwang over there." 

Stephanie raised her right hand and smiled kindly at the new girl. Taeyeon walked slowly and sat beside the smiling girl. 

"Hi Taeyeon! I'm Stephanie!" 

"Hi Steppani!" 

"No! It's StePHanie." 

"I know, Steppani." 

Stephanie just smiled and suddenly she felt someone staring at them from the side. 

"Taeyeon, this is Jessica, my best friend. And Jessica, this is Taeyeon." 

"Hi, Jeshika!" 

"Name's Jessica, not Jeshika." Jessica stated, not even sparing Taeyeon a glance. 

Stephanie slapped Jessica's arm and scolded her to just let Taeyeon call her what the girl likes. 

"Whatever, Steph."

"Stop being so rude to Taeyeon." 

"It doesn't matter." Jessica shrugged. Stephanie stared hard at Jessica then turned her attention to Taeyeon. She decided that she's going to ignore Jessica for being rude to the dorky Taeyeon. 

--

"Steph, let's go home now." Jessica told the mushroom-haired girl who's busily playing with Taeyeon. It's been 20 minutes since dismissal time, yet Stephanie's still playing with the midget. 

"Tae-Tae, you're coming along, right?" 

Taeyeon nervously smiled upon noticing Jessica's venomous glare at her. Despite her being older, she can't help but be scared by Jessica's stare, or more like death glare. 

"I..."

"Of course she won't, Steph." 

"You're coming, right?" Stephanie ignored Jessica and continued talking with Taeyeon. 

Jessica huffed in annoyance. 

"Fine, I'm going now. You go home with this midget." Jessica spat and headed to her destination. 

"Ignore that girl. She's like that to someone who's not close with her. She's childish like that."

"It's okay. We're still 6 anyways. So, let's go home now." 

"Sure, Tae-Tae!" Stephanie linked arms with Taeyeon. They chatted about nonsense stuffs... Stephanie's obsession for pink, Taeyeon's love for peas, how they learned to read, Jessica's real nature.. And they didn't notice that they were in their neighborhood. 

"Tae-Tae, I'm going now. See you tomorrow!" 

"Sure, Ppani. My house is just there." Taeyeon pointed at a house that still has its Christmas decorations. 

"Okay.