year 2011
the two were 9 years old.
sohee walked into her classroom. she was still the class leader, along with sunwoo. she got to her seat to get ready for the next class only to realise little doodles in her notebook. the texture of a typical wooden pencil with its youthfulness contrasted what was doodled.
fattie, fishball, jumbo
sohee closed her notebook holding back any tears she felt try to escape. she was at the age where being 'chubby' was no longer seen as adorable. every adult pointed it out, everyone her age made fun of her. truly it was a lose-lose situation.
the only person who wouldn't purposely make fun of her appearance was sunwoo. she still hated him though. working the past two years together as class leaders made her want to puke almost everyday. but he was nice at times.
she looked over to said boy who was already looking at her direction. he stuck his tongue out and rolled his eyes. issues this boy, she thought to herself.
"hey jumbo. you know, i think they made dumbo the flying elephant after you. they were so inspired by you they made a whole film!" some of the boys walked over to sohee to tease her just as she was about to flip open her textbooks.
she rightfully ignored these bullies. her mom always told her that she was beautiful, no matter her appearance and she believed it. she won't let a couple of pre-tween boys ruin her week. "what? are you deaf now?" one of them started poking at sohee's ear.
"stop it" the girl stood up and glared at the boy. "she's not mute everyone! she speaks! jumbo speaks!" the clutter of boys in the classroom started laughing, and so did the girls. at that moment, sohee felt so alone. she wasn't particularly close to anyone in her class but she was always fine with it. but on that day, that very moment, she felt like the loneliest person in that classroom.
the boy that poked her fingers at her pushed her down to her chair and was about to pull her hair when sunwoo grabbed his hand. "stop it. thats enough" he said sternly. he was always the 'good cop' when it came to the class leader duo but he didn't feel like being particularly nice that day.
the boys shuddered at sunwoo's face and tone that they immediately apologised. "why are you apologising to me? shouldn't it be to sohee here?" he questioned. for being a hot-headed 9 year old, he sure was scary.
"sorry sohee" they muttered under their breath and hurried away. sunwoo rolled his eyes and went back to his seat. the two didn't speak a word about it after that incident. it was always that way, though they hated each other, sunwoo looked out for sohee and vice versa. they just never acknowledged it.