Put Your Hand In Mine | TaeGyu

Prologue

It was a cold gloomy day, so most of her classmates were going for a hotpot with their parents.

As they should. She snorted.

Two months had passed since she moved to Korea and joined Sunshine Kindergarten. A totally new place, full of new people who weren't willing to be friends with her. After all, why would they? They all have been sticking with each other like littermates and she has joined at the last of her kindergarten years.

So as she slowly padded, among other students who were running through the hallways because their parents had arrived to pick them up, until she reached the front door.

"Oh, Kang Wooju?" The teacher at the front desk called. "Uhh, your father seems to be late today as well."

Wooju sighed, then looked up, and flashed her brightest smile. "It's okay, ma'am. I shall play in the nearby park."

This way, Wooju found herself placing her backpack on the bench of the park, and licking her ice cream. The whole ordeal had one good thing about it: she got different kinds of eatery every day because the front desk teacher felt bad for her.

One to two peaceful licks to her ice cream, then she suddenly felt like someone was looking at her. Reflexively, she turned her head to her right and found a tall figure, covered in black casuals with a black baseball cap and mask, standing not too far from her.

The man suddenly felt embarrassed and looked away. Wooju scrutinized, she was going to teach a lesson if this man now tried something. Her father had taught her some tricks to deal with weirdos in the street. Besides, she had an orange belt, huh, the teacher said she had amazing karate potential.

Before she spoke, the man took a step forward and started in a meek voice, "Hello, um, can I take a seat with you?"

Wooju didn't say a thing and turned away. After a few more licks at the ice cream, she realized the man was still there. Darting her eyes towards the man, she caught him staring at her ice cream. Her eyes went wide, proving that she got those from her father.

So this weird man was actually prying on her ice cream, and not her!

"Ahjussi, do you want some?" Wooju offered her ice cream to the man, instantly causing huge embarrassment. The man turned away, fake coughing. "No thanks, I'm on a diet."

That caused Wooju to giggle. She patted the seat beside her. "You can sit with me, ahjussi."

Said man did look a bit surprised, but he took the seat at last. Wooju gobbled up her ice cream and noticed the occasional glances the man threw at her ice cream, and every time she found it funnier.

"Ahjussi, tell me honestly, why do you keep staring at my ice cream?"

"What....uhh....no! I'm sorry." Again, he looks away, embarrassed.

Wooju retreated, then licked, still staring at the man with her wide eyes.

"Okay, I'll be honest." The man sighed. "I miss those days when I could decide what I should eat, okay? I just....miss the candies but I have to stay on a diet."

"You can just give up the diet." Wooju shrugged as if it was only obvious.

"Such a sweet summer child!" The man gave her a delicate pat. "My work requires me to do so. When you're an adult, even the thing you love to do the most will drain you out."

"Why? What do you do, ahjussi?"

"That....is a secret."

Woah, that offended her a bit. Wooju was good with secrets though. She grew up in Gwangju, where everyone she knew were always whispering around her. Her neighbors would often try to offer her chocolates just to find out if she knew anything about her mother. They'd sometimes just gossip amongst themselves. Most of the time, she knew what they chatted about but she never told her father that she knew...why her mother left her or him or both of them.

"Does your job doesn't allow you to have friends as well?" She asked the man instead.

This time, the man seemed to give it a proper thought, "Well, not really but I can't just go and meet my friends whenever I want. Man...I badly need a break from everything." He said the last words more to himself, gazing softly at the dull sky.

"Then I can be your friend." Wooju smiled brightly, a cute dent appearing in her cheeks. She knew she couldn't relate much to his situation but she knew how it felt to be lonely sometimes.

The man's eyes softened. Wooju quickly added, "But only in one condition!! You have to tell me your name!"

The man just giggled throwing his head backward, he found the little girl's dedication amusing. "I feel like you're very good with secrets."

Wooju nodded, being acknowledged was nice. Then the man took off his cap and mask, and Wooju felt the air being knocked out of her chest.

"Hi, I'm—"

"Ben....AAAAAA—mmph!"

"Hush!" The man instantly covered her mouth, swiftly putting back his mask, and then looked around to make sure no one saw or heard anything. Now Wooju knew why this was a top-secret!! She had to keep it safe!!!

"You might know me by the name 'Ben'." The man's eyes warmed again as he smiled inside his mask. "But my real name is Choi Beomgyu."

"Beongyu...?"

"Beomgyu," he repeated.

"Beon..gyu.." Wooju was a bit embarrassed to not be able to take the name properly.

The man chuckled softly, covering himself back. "For you, I'm Beom-ah."

"Beom-ah?"

"That's right, little miss."

Wooju's smile spread wider as she shook hands with Beomgyu.

He was a heartthrob in Korea and beyond but for her, he was a friend, whom she just met under a lifeless tree and felt instant comfort.

Only if little Wooju and the top star were aware that they shared a bond so precious that the universe itself was on to something to bring them together.