"Haneul-ah, who's this?"
Since Seung-ah didn't answer, Seol-i turned the arrow of her question toward me.
I naturally gave her a simple explanation in response.
"...The girl who sits next to me?"
"Next to you?"
"Yeah."
Seol-i glanced back and forth between Seung-ah and me...
*thump thump thump*
*creak*
She plopped right down in Seung-ah's seat.
I had no idea what was going on and could only look back and forth between Seol-i and Seung-ah, but Seung-ah looked totally unfazed as she gazed at Seol-i and asked,
"Mind if I call you Seol-i?"
"...Yeah."
"Then how about Seol-ah, wanna sit here?"
Seol-i's eyes sparkled as she looked at Seung-ah at the suggestion.
Without a moment's hesitation, Seol-i nodded, and satisfied with that, Seung-ah made her one proposal.
"Just get permission from the teacher."
"From the teacher?"
"Yeah."
Without the slightest hesitation, Seol-i toddled straight over to the teacher.
What incredible initiative. I never imagined Seol-i had this kind of drive in her.
After chatting this and that with the teacher, she came back looking all dejected. It seemed like it hadn't gone well.
Her face was a total picture of gloom—she must've been turned down pretty bluntly.
"Seol-ah, what'd the teacher say?"
"She said no... Rules... Gotta follow them..."
Seol-i really seemed to get it completely, that she had to follow the rules.
I was comforting Seol-i while Seung-ah looked at us and offered her regrets.
"That's too bad. But we'll come hang out with you every break time."
"...R-Really?"
"Yeah, for real. Aren't we friends now?"
"F-Fwiend..."
Her pronunciation came out extra cute since she was on the verge of tears, but that wasn't the point.
What mattered was how easily Seol-i accepted the word "friend."
No way, Seol-ah? You pushed me away so hard when I tried to get close, but you bond with Seung-ah this fast? Does that even make sense?
I nearly felt a subtle sting of hurt, but thankfully, our wary little Seol-hamchi didn't back down so easily.
She started to nod but then looked at Seung-ah and declared very firmly,
"Not... fwiends... Me and..."
"Not friends?"
"Yeah..."
"But Haneul's my friend?"
"Haneul's fwiend...?"
Seol-i glanced at me, looking all downcast.
Seung-ah saw that and immediately broke into a bright smile, starting to persuade her.
"If Haneul's your friend and Haneul's my friend, doesn't that make you and me friends too?"
"Uh... Y-Yeah..."
Pure and innocent little Seol-i didn't have the logic to counter "a friend's friend is a friend."
In the end, Seol-i nodded and became friends with Seung-ah.
...Not to sound weird or anything, but it felt kinda like getting NTR'd.
I worked so hard to become friends, and she just snapped it up with one click.
*
Thankfully, it wasn't NTR.
Not only that—no cold-shouldering from Seol-i toward me while she only sought out Seung-ah, no bullying from the two of them driving me down a ruin route.
Seung-ah was a truly amazing kid.
What I mean is, at this age, boys and girls play strictly separated.
Girls with girls, boys with boys.
Except for a tiny few, that's how it goes.
Seung-ah was one of those rare exceptions.
"Seol-i~!"
As Seung-ah and I approached Seol-i, she came toddling over to us with a doot-doot-doot.
She looked between Seung-ah and me, then slipped right between us and sidled up closer to me.
Better to say she stuck even closer to me.
Even seeing that, Seung-ah didn't tease Seol-i—instead, she chatted with her about the presentation they'd just done.
Though "presentation" might be too much; self-introductions fit better.
In the previous class, the whole room had gone around introducing themselves.
Seol-i was last, so she stuck out the most, mumbling just her name all shy-like before sitting right back down.
"The teacher's too much. How could she make everyone introduce themselves? People who wanna get close figure it out on their own."
"But... Maybe the teacher had to... for that reason...?"
Unlike the grumbling Seung-ah, Seol-i was considering the teacher's intentions.
As expected, our Seol-i has a heart on another level. How can there be such a kind kid?
"What about... Haneul...? What do you think...?"
I answered her question right away.
"I think the same as you."
Seol-i immediately broke into a big grin at my reply.
Seung-ah, who'd been looking back and forth between us, started throwing questions our way.
"So how'd you two get close anyway?"
At that, Seol-i darted behind me to hide, so I answered for her.
"We just kinda ended up friends at kindergarten."
"Kinda ended up?"
"Yeah."
Seol-i wasn't as guarded with Seung-ah anymore, but she still hid like this if she got embarrassed.
How could even this be so cute?
"I see."
Seung-ah eyed us with a bit of a pouty vibe before slyly suggesting something good.
"Hey, wanna hang out with me today?"
"With you?"
"Yeah! What about you, Seol-i?"
"Uh, I... I wanna..."
Seol-i peeked at me from behind, checking my reaction.
I kept a totally casual face, and that seemed to give her courage—she nodded.
Seung-ah nodded vigorously in delight.
"Then let's play together!"
"But where we going?"
The answer to where we were going was somewhere totally unexpected.
Where? Right in front of school.
*
The snack bar. Seung-ah shouted "Dad!" as she went inside.
An uncle inside was prepping for business.
"Daaad~!"
"Seung-ah's here~?"
The uncle welcomed her with open arms, and Seung-ah introduced us to her dad.
"Dad! This is Seol-i! And this is Haneul!"
"Oh~ Seol-i and Haneul, huh? I'm Seung-ah's dad."
"H-Hello...!"
"Hello, sir."
Seol-i and I bowed politely in greeting, and the uncle nodded with a pleased smile, clearly liking it.
"Dad! One serving tteokbokki and one blood sausage!"
"Uh, wha...?"
Seol-i panicked, so I spoke up for her.
"We're good."
"No way! Eat up! My dad's tteokbokki is suuuper good!"
"But we didn't pay..."
"We're friends!"
Seung-ah shut it down flat with "We're friends!"
And the uncle, clearly cut from the same cloth, chuckled heartily and got right to making tteokbokki.
Bonus: "Eat tasty and it's free today~."
Seol-i, who'd been watching me, was soon mesmerized by the tteokbokki and went to peek, with Seung-ah joining her to watch Dad cook.
I warned them just in case.
"Don't get too close."
"I know, I know~"
"Yeah...!"
Seung-ah's casual "I know" and Seol-i's big nod—they looked like super close friends already.
Even though they'd just met today.
"Oh, right! Dad! This! The school notice!"
"I'll look after I'm done cooking~"
"Yeah!!"
Seeing Seung-ah way cuter and more aegyo around family felt kinda weird.
Though it made sense as a side only shown at home.
Soon the tteokbokki and blood sausage were ready, and Seung-ah's dad brought it over to us three.
I took wet wipes, cleaned my hands, then nagged the two a bit.
"Wash your hands first."
"Yeah! Got it!"
"Okaay... Haneul, you sound like a dad."
I tossed their used wipes in the trash while Seol-i obeyed sweetly and Seung-ah grumbled.
Meanwhile, they dug into the tteokbokki and sausage.
The uncle came over as I dumped the trash, patting my shoulder lightly.
"Haneul's awfully mature, huh?"
"Haha... Thank you, sir..."
Lately, I'm hearing "mature" a lot.
Maybe I should seriously study how to act my age.
"Tteokbokki's getting cold. Go eat quick. Otherwise Seung-ah and Seol-i'll finish it all~?"
"...Yes, sir!"
I dashed back as brightly as I could, joining them to chow down on tteokbokki.
It was seriously as good as Seung-ah said.
"Hee hee hee hee."
Seol-i looked super satisfied too.
Anyway, after stuffing ourselves, we bowed our thanks and left the snack bar, heading home separately.
Of course, I walked Seol-i home myself.
"See you tomorrow, Seol-i."
"Yeah...! See ya tomorrow...!"
The two, now super close, waved brightly, and I hoped their bond would grow even tighter.
With me right there too, ideally.
Thankfully, my wish came true.
After that day, Seol-i and Seung-ah became inseparable besties, and I was always by their side.
At least until elementary graduation.