Mark's POV-Age: 7
"Mom, I don't want to go to the park today," I whine to my mom, pouting in frustration. I swipe my hand away from her delicate hold, crossing my arms, not fooling around. All I want is to stay home and read more. I'm in the middle of Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone, and I'll be left on a cliffhanger if I have to stop reading now.
"Sweetie, it'll be good for you. You need to get exercise, and it's a good time to practice your Korean a bit more," Mom explains to me in English, despite wanting me to communicate in more Korean, though I'm practically fluent, "You can make some new friends, too."
I frown, considering her words for a bit. I guess I don't have many friends, and I spend most of my free time reading or playing outside with my father, who is going to the grocery store at the moment. Mom's right, I could make some friends, which I would like because I sometimes get bored on my own.
"But what if there are no other seven-year-olds?" I huff, wanting to only meet kids of my age. I walk over to my toy bin in the corner of the room, which I dive into, picking out a frisbee and a ball to bring to the park, conceding to Mom's orders.
"Then you'll make friends with other kids. It's as simple as that, Markie. You can have friends that are younger or older than you. Plus, if you become friends with younger boys, they will be like little brothers to you, and I know you've always wanted brothers," she coos mushily, bending down to kiss my cheek, which I try to reject. I don't like anyone kissing my cheek.
I've always wanted little brothers so I can have someone to play with and maybe boss around a little bit. I've asked Mom and Dad before, but they've just laughed sadly. It almost seems as though they want more kids too, but something tells me that it's not going to happen. But Mom gave me hope. If I do make more friends, they can be like brothers to me!
My mom holds our hands together, and with my ball and frisbee under my free arm, she leads me out of our comfortable apartment where I had seldom left from since I moved to Korea three years ago.
Hopping into the elevators, my mood changed from annoyed to excited, I press the button for the ground floor and skip around in the elevator until it comes to a stop. Skipping out, my mother chuckles, shaking her head in disbelief at me.
"Why are you shaking your head, Mom? What did I do this time?" I whine, grabbing the bottom of her cotton blouse.
"Nothing. Kids are just so silly," she exclaims as we walk out of the building, the bright sun hitting my face. Its warmth soaks into me, spreading through me. I sigh happily, running along the pavement, the directions to the park etched in my memory.
We reach the park, the greenest place in the city, with never-ending fields of grass and ginormous trees. I set my eyes on a playground in the distance, and I run over energetically to it, my mother lagging behind because she's walking, ready to get on one of the swings. I set my frisbee and ball a few feet away from me, and climb onto one of the normal swings, not the ones for little kids with the safety straps.
"Do you want a push, Markie?" Mom asks sweetly, appearing next to me, putting her hand on my back.
"No! I can do it by myself, Mom," I reply sternly. I'm old enough to do it myself, so I don't need my mother's help.
"Okay, okay. No need to get annoyed, Mark," she replies, chuckling at me again while ruffling my hair, "But that's my grown-up boy. Gosh, you're really growing up too fast. I'll be sitting on that bench over there, next to the slide, if you need me...Have fun!" Mom walks towards the bench, sitting down leisurely, opening up a thick, chapter book to read.
My legs barely touch the ground when I'm sitting on the swing, but using the tips of my toes, I give myself a small push and I start swinging my legs back-and-forth to gain some momentum. In no time, I feel like I'm flying up high, my stomach dropping every time the swing drops back down. Closing my eyes, I let the cold air hit my face, breathing deeply, enjoying this freeing feeling.
I swing for a while longer but come to a stop when I feel the urge to go throw my ball a little bit. Hopping off the swing, I walk over to the place where I left my toys, but when I look, it's not there. My frisbee still lies there, but my ball is missing. Looking around for it, I notice a boy, about my height, throwing something against the ground. And of course, after a closer look, it is my ball.
Suddenly annoyed, I frown, stomping over to the boy who stole my ball. I confront him, fists clenched by my sides, "Hey, that's mine! Can you give it back?" I huff, the boy's head popping up to look at me.
"No! Finders-keepers, losers-weepers!" he exclaims, holding the ball protectively.
"What? That's not how it works! You're annoying!" I shout, now getting angry at this boy, with a tanned, cute complexion, who's actually annoying, unlike his friendly appearance. If he would just give my ball back, I would've offered to play with him and let him borrow it.
"I'm not annoying! I'm Haechan!" he retorts snarkily. Wow, this boy, Haechan, has a smart mouth too. I realize I'm not going to get anywhere with this "Haechan," if I keep shouting at him because he's the type of person who shouts back and is as stubborn as a mule.
"Okay, Haechan. I'm Mark," I introduce, reaching my hand out for him to shake, trying to smile so I don't look intimidating. Haechan reluctantly takes my hand and shakes it gingerly, still holding onto my ball protectively with his free arm, "Please, can I have my ball back? I'll let you play with it now if I can also play with you. How about that?"
Haechan's expression softens into a cute smile, his chubby cheeks puffing out, "Sure, Mark. Can we play catch?"
"Yeah!" I agree excitedly, ready to play now that I've settled the argument with this unfamiliar kid.
Passing the ball for a while, I chat with Haechan, learning that he loves singing, playing pranks on his teacher, goes to the same public school I go to, and is one year younger than me. I immediately get excited when he tells me that he's younger, because now he has to call me "hyung," and I can boss him around. I didn't expect to become friends with someone so quickly, and though Haechan is a little bit annoying, I really like him.
"Aww, come on. I was hoping we would be the same age, Mark hyung," Haechan whines, pouting, "Now I need to be respectful when I talk to you." I look at Haechan for a bit, cocking my head and contemplating our new friendship curiously.
"Nah, you can just call me Mark. I have a feeling that we'll become pretty good friends."
"Yay! Thanks, Mark! And I have that feeling too," Haechan replies, grinning as bright as the sun.
In the distance, I see two women holding hands, walking with a young boy beside them. They make their way over to my mother, and it looks like they are starting a conversation, the little boy hiding bashfully behind the women. Soon enough, my mom points at Haechan and motions the boy over to us.
He walks over to us, twiddling his fingers behind his back. He seems a little shy, but smiles once reaching us, his eyes turning into crescents.
"Hi there, do you want to play with us?" Haechan asks eagerly. The boy, who looks about Haechan's age nods shuffling over to play with us.
"There's no need to be shy. We're nice people. Or at least I am. Haechan's a bit annoying," I joke, Haechan pouting at me, "My name is Mark. What's your name?"
"My name is Jeno!" he exclaims, opening up a little bit. We pass the ball around for a bit, even playing a bit of monkey-in-the-middle. Jeno seems like a nice kid, and I like him a lot because he seems to enjoy the things that I like, but Haechan says that we're both no fun.
"Do you want to play blind-tag?" Jeno suggests, shrugging his shoulders.
"That seems like a bad-" I start before Haechan interrupts.
"It seems like a great idea, Jeno! I'm not it!" he yells, touching his nose.
"Not it!" Jeno laughs, doing the same as Haechan, "I guess you're the tagger, Mark!"
"Fine," I huff, cooperating. I start counting down from ten, my eyes closed. When the countdown is finished, I start walking around blindly, feeling my way around the playground.
"You're such a slowpoke, Mark!" Haechan's babyish voice teases from somewhere to my left. That remark ticks me in the wrong way, and even though I know it's stupid, I begin to run to left, hoping to trap Haechan.
Then I crash into someone, hitting them pretty hard as I fall backward.
"Ow, ow, ow," whines a new voice, and I open my eyes to see a skinny boy with a slim face and a V-shaped chin, "Come on, what was that?" Sitting up the boy rubs his head in pain, and Jeno and Haechan rush over to us.
"Sorry," I say, scratching the back of my neck awkwardly, "I didn't mean to."
"It's okay," the boy stands up, brushing his dirtied pants off, rejuvenated and full of energy again, "I'm Jaemin, and you are?"
"Mark. This is Jeno and this is Haechan," I introduce, pointing to each one of us, "Do you want to play with us?"
"I think I'll pass. I don't want to get whacked in the head again. Plus, it would be awkward. You three already seem really close," he adds, examining each one of us curiously.
"We won't play tag anymore. I'm sure Mark doesn't want to bump into anyone else. Also, we just met an hour ago. We'd love to become friends with you," Jeno exclaims, smiling brightly.
"Okay, I guess I'll play with you all then," he agrees, Haechan rejoicing, "You have a pretty smile, Jeno," Jaemin adds, in a normal tone. Jeno blushes, but Jaemin didn't give his statement a second thought. I can tell that Jaemin is a pretty straightforward person.
We continue playing different games together, new people arriving at the otherwise uncrowded park, including one boy, most likely younger than us, sitting under a tree, playing with grass and dirt, looking like he's digging for worms or something, despite being dressed in pretty nice clothes.
Another boy, who looks a little older wanders over to him silently, and they start talking. But the thing that made me curious is that once they started talking, their eyes immediately lit up and they looked overjoyed. I want to see what's going on over there.
"Do you all wanna go see what those boys under that tree are doing?" I ask, and everyone shrugs, but we go over anyway. Approaching them, I listen to them for a bit and immediately realize that they are speaking Mandarin.
"Hi, do you speak Korean?" I ask slowly, not knowing if they are fluent. They both nod, one a bit more unsure, and pat the ground motioning for us to sit down.
"Hi there, I'm Mark," I properly greet them, giving them a friendly wave.
"I'm Jaemin!"
"I'm Jeno!"
"My name is Haechan!"
"I'm Renjun. I speak Korean fluently, so you don't have to worry about that," the older boy says. He gives off a very mellow, sweet feel, that immediately attracts anybody to him.
"I'm Chenle. I'm still learning Korean, but I'm getting there," the younger boy says happily. He seems a little mischievous, but not on the same level as Haechan. Something about him just seems...impressive, as if he's going to become very accomplished in some way.
"What are you doing?" I ask.
"I really like nature, so I was just digging for some worms and talking to Renjun. But Renjun supposedly doesn't like worms."
"That's right!" Renjun confirms confidently, "They're slimy and ugly."
"Just like Mark," Haechan snickers, and I just frown again. Why did I decide to become friends with him?
"Come on, Haechan! Why are you such a pest?" I question incredulously, slapping him playfully. Haechan pretends to look shocked, clasping at his arm overdramatically, causing everyone, including me to laugh.
Though Renjun stays away from getting dirty, the rest of us get in on the action, excavating worms then releasing them afterward. Jaemin even named a couple of the worms that the became attached to, which made us all laugh.
Being observant, I notice a boy, the smallest out of all of us playing alone on a mini merry-go-round in the park. He doesn't look sad, but he seems lonely and a bit shy. It also doesn't look like he had any parents or anybody come with him to the park. I poke Haechan's shoulder, getting his attention.
"Hey, Haechan," I whisper.
"Yeah?"
"That boy over on the merry-go-round looks lonely. Look, he's pushing it by himself. We should invite him over," I suggest, Haechan nodding in agreement. I turn to the rest of the boys and announce while wiping the dirt off my hands, "We'll be back soon."
We walk over calmly to the boy, so we don't startle him, our arms wrapped around each other's shoulders, stopping next to him.
"Hi there," Haechan greets, "I'm Haechan, and he's Mark. You look a little lonely, so I was wondering if you want to come over and play with us and a few other kids."
The boy stays silent for a little while, not giving us eye contact, with his head down. "We won't hurt you," I add, reaching for his small hand, like an older brother would, "We just want to be friends.
We wait a little bit longer, before the young boy whispers, "Okay." Haechan silently rejoices, and we hold his hands while walking over to the rest of the boys.
"He'll be playing with us too," I say, the rest of the boys smiling welcomingly, "What's your name?"
"My name is Jisung," he says a little louder, sitting down next to me.
"Hi, Jisung!" I remark as the rest of the boys introduce themselves.
"Sorry, I'm not usually this shy...I'm just kind of awkward," Jisung murmurs, lifting his head up, looking us up in the eye. I get a good view of his face, and gosh, I just want to pinch his cheeks. He's too adorable! I can tell the rest of the boys think so as well, especially Jaemin.
"You're too adorable!" Jaemin squeals, ruffling the young boy's hair.
"That's okay, Jisung. I was just wondering, how old are you?"
"I turned five a couple of months ago."
"Really? I'm five too!" Chenle exclaims, pulling Jisung over to him. I can tell that Jisung is already the baby of the group. I watch Jisung and Chenle, and they immediately hit it off, as I see Jisung visibly breaking out of his shell a bit more.
Everyone talks with each other, learning more, becoming friends with each one of the boys. I suddenly grow super happy and proud, now knowing that I have a big group of friends to play with. I'm also proud of myself because if I decided not to go to the park today, I wouldn't have become friends with Haechan, Jeno, Jaemin, Renjun, Chenle, and Jisung.
Just being with them now has given me the most comfort and happiness that I've experienced since coming to Korea a few years ago, and I find myself beaming every second of time that I'm spending with them, playing games, laughing, and having fun.
My mother suddenly walks over to me, "It's time to go, Markie. We have to get back home for dinner."
"No, Mom! I don't want to leave them!" I complain, whining to my mom, grasping onto her arm.
"So, you did end up making some friends," Mom smiles, looking at all of my new friends, "That's great, Mark. I like Jeno's mothers a lot," she adds, only familiar with Jeno, "So what are all of your names?" My friends introduce themselves, as I still pout, not wanting to leave them.
"Do we have to go?"
"Yes, we do. But if it makes you happy, we can come back tomorrow so you can see all of them. How about that?"
My eyes light up, "Yes! Thank you so much, Mom! Can all of you come tomorrow?" I ask hopefully, wanting nothing more than to play more with all of them.
"Yeah, of course, Markie," Haechan teases, using my mother's nickname for me.
"I would love to," Renjun replies, preoccupied with a butterfly that landed on his finger.
"Count us in!" Chenle and Jisung say in unison.
"What do you think the answer is, Mark?" Jaemin replies, smiling brightly.
"I'm in," Jeno adds. I beam at all of them, overjoyed that I get to see them again.
We say our goodbyes, and I walk back home with a new feeling in my heart and a new reason to be happy. It's not hard to realize now, even though we are all so young, that we're going to be friends forever. Connections like that are not just random; it was our destiny all along for all of us to just happen upon each other suddenly.
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Soft hours, amirite?
So, did you all enjoy this chapter?
This is the start of the flashbacks sections of the book, and I really hope that this piqued your interest, because it's only getting better, more adorable, and more emotional from here on out!
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