Way Back Home

Spring Day

"Oof!"

"Ow!"

Before he knew what hit him, he was laying on the ground, with someone in the grass next to him, their legs tangles awkwardly. Yoongi groaned.

"Why did you do that!" He shouted as pain throbbed through his back.

The girl whipped her head around, probably to look for him, but her hair kept falling in her face, blocking her view. She looked about his age, maybe younger. Yoongi pushed himself to sit up and scowled as the girl scrambled to sit as well. She was small and thin, maybe even a bit too thin. Her brown hair was long and messy, constantly falling out of her ponytail and into her eyes, which were large and held a pure innocence.

"Why did you do that?" He repeated, snapping out of his curious examination of the girl. The pushed herself up by the elbows, finally sitting upright.

"I-I um—" she stumbled awkwardly over her words. "I'm sorry," she mumbled hesitantly, turning her comic-book eyes to the grass.

"Who are you?" Yoongi asked, trying to ignore the sad look on her small face. How did she even get into his grandmother's backyard? Did his grandmother let her in? Why would she do that?

As Yoongi watched, the girl lifted her gaze to glance up at him through her thick lashes. She looked so small, and something flashed through her eyes for just second. Something he recognized. Sadness.

The girl swallowed nervously, her eyebrows drew together, and she took a deep breath, opening her mouth to speak.

"I'm Yah Chaerin! Nice to meet you," she smiled widely, making her large eyes crinkle cutely.

Yoongi watched her in confusion. He didn't understand this girl. He yelled at her and she just smiled and introduced herself. His forehead crinkled as he just kept looking at her, until her smile slipped and her chocolate eyes turned down to the grass. Her small fingers twirled around blades of grass.

"I'm sorry I knocked you down," she whispered. "I didn't mean to hurt you." Truth and regret rang clear in her voice. Chaerin made it sound like knocking him down was a step towards the end of the world. He didn't understand this girl at all.

Yoongi's eyes trailed down to look at her hands where they ripped at the grass, but his attention was quickly drawn away. His vision zeroed in on the long cut on her knee and the blood that dripped steadily down her leg.

He sprung up from his spot on the grass, walking quickly down the stone path and into the house. His grandmother wasn't anywhere in the kitchen, but at the moment he was glad. It would be bad if his grandmother thought that he had caused Chaerin to fall down.

He rushed through the kitchen and then hurried back outside, wet rag and bandages in hand. The girl was strange, sure, but that didn't mean that he would just leave her alone with a bloody, scraped up knee.

Yoongi tread back down the porch steps and down the stone path that led to Chaerin. As he wound around the corner, she came into view. She still sat dejectedly in the grass, mindlessly pulling up the blades between her fingers, seemingly unaware of her injury.

Yoongi ventured closer to her, stopping when he was just a couple feet away. She jumped in shock a bit when she noticed him standing there but raised her eyes only enough to glance at his shins.

Slowly, so he wouldn't scare her, Yoongi knelt down in front of her. But the movement still startled her and she finally looked up enough to meet his eyes. For a moment they just stared at each other.

She looked sad or maybe disappointed, but whatever the feeling was, it didn't look good on her, she looked better when she smiled. And looking at her, Yoongi wasn't mad anymore that she had knocked him down. After all, it was an accident.

While she was zoned out, Yoongi carefully reached forward and swiped the wet cloth over her bloody knee. She jumped in fright, glancing around until her gaze landed on his hand, which continued to clean her wound.

Yoongi worked slowly to clean the gash, making sure that no more blood was dripping from it before he carefully pasted a bandage over the cut. He tossed the bloody cloth aside and their eyes met again.

The girl stared at him like she'd never seen another person in her entire life. It didn't look like she was going to move or speak anytime soon. He sighed, it looked like he would have to be the one to speak.

"I'm Min Yoongi."

Her face immediately broke out in a smile when he spoke. "I'm Yah Chaerin!" She spoke happily.

"I know. You already said that," Yoongi said, his face blank as he watched the girl in front of him.

"Oh," her smile fell a bit, "Sorry, I'm nervous," she tilted her head down and focused on the grass by her feet.

"Why are you nervous?" He wondered.

"I just," she hesitated, "I'm not good at making friends," she whispered.

Yoongi stayed quiet for a moment, just observing the girl as she picked at the grass.

"Me neither," he admitted.

And it was true, he'd never had many friends back home. 

Chaerin's eyes flashed up to his face in surprise. An unspoken feeling passed between the two.

Understanding.

Authors Note:
Hey, hi, hello!
So I'm determined to keep a regular update scheduled for this book (fingers crossed). So I'll probably be updating it every Tuesday or Wednesday.
Happy reading! 😊