Worth It - An ONF Fanfic

Worth It.

I don't like new people. Especially those who aren't around my age...

So when our neighbors I've known for all my eight years moved away one day, taking their (also) eight year old son away with them, I was upset. Especially as there was little hope for me staying in communication with their son, my friend, because the only mode I had was the old land line that was connected to an ancient phone hanging on a yellowed wall near our kitchen. It wasn't in great shape, and filled with static white noise a lot of the time. I grew up in an Asian subdivision of my town, a neighborhood where immigrants flocked to for jobs and the opportunity that America promised. My dad was susceptible to their empty promises, and it wasn't long before we discovered that our neighborhood was far from perfect. It had been filled with cheaply constructed houses and appliances that constantly broke down on us. Our land line was just one example of the lack we had in quality, and it didn't take long before my friend and I lost touch completely.

Not long after that happened, a moving truck pulled into town.

It parked at the vacant house next to mine, and two adults immediately clambered out. Seeing them made me groan, uninterested, but I stayed watching, just in case. However, as a girl, easily twice my age and with eyes glued to her phone, stepped out, I walked away from the window I had been watching from. I figured that at that point, there was nothing left to see. Instead, I decided to head out to our backyard, which featured a sand pit my father had dug next to the house for my benefit.

There wasn't much to it; just a small hole in the ground filled with a mountain of sand and surrounded by a fence of grass. But it was fun to play in, and there was almost enough there for me to make a sand angel in. Plus, if I dug deep enough in it, I might reach mud.

But as I got to the sand, I realized that I wasn't alone. A young boy with brown hair and matching eyes looked up at me with a wide smile. "Hello!" He greeted politely. It took me by surprise, as I'd never seen him before in my life. And yet, here he was, sitting in my sand, digging in my hole with my tools behind my house, smiling at me.

Just who did he think he was?

"Who-" I began, but I was cut short by his loud and highly obnoxious voice. "I'm Seungjun! I just moved in next door." He pointed with a pudgy finger that matched his chubby cheeks to the house with the moving truck. "Your mom said I could play back here while my mom and dad deal with the boxes. I didn't know I'd find you too!" He let out a shrill giggle, and it made me gag.

Look: having a new friend would have been nice. But at that moment, being with Seungjun was just plain annoying, and I didn't warm up to people that fast!

He looked at me with wide and expectant eyes that screamed childish, but somehow brought myself to speak.

"Um.. Hi." I said slowly. "I'm Hyojin."

Seungjun stayed in my backyard for hours, and I just stood aside, watching him build knights in the sand and make the sound effects of a dragon with his mouth. He had a wild imagination, but he talked too much. Plus, I had come to find out that he was only six years old. Two years younger than me! I didn't want to be seen with babies like him! However, somehow I knew that it wouldn't be the last I saw of him, and it was the very next day that I was proven right.

Seungjun was nothing if not persistent. I like to think that I was quite obvious in my distaste towards the kid, but he stuck with me. Day after day he visited my backyard just for the sand pit, and day after day his questions of me joining and playing with him turned to him begging for a friend.

It went on like this for months.

Until finally, I realized that maybe his bright attitude wasn't so bad after all.