"Sorry, kid. You're too short to go on this ride."
Thirteen-year-old Soyeon's shoulders slumped as she pouted, looking up at her older sister and her friends. "Y-you won't go without me, right?"
Minnie chuckled, following her friends onto the ride. "I'm not going to wait fifty years for you to grow until I ride this, dummy. Hold my popcorn."
Soyeon held back a cry and she ran away from the ride. She didn't want to see how much fun Minnie and her friends were having. She sat onto one of the theme park's benches, looking down at the popcorn. Minnie would kill me if I ate even one kernel since she bought this, she thought, turning away from the treat sadly. But, what she didn't notice until right now was that there was someone even more miserable than her, sitting right next to her. Soyeon's ears perked at the sound of someone crying and looked to her left. Next to her was a girl who looked about her same age, tears staining her cheeks as she continuously wiped them on the sleeve of her sweater.
"What's wrong?" Soyeon asks, frowning.
"I– " she stops to sniff, turning towards Soyeon to make sure she wasn't a scary stranger. Nope, just a kid like she was. Not scary at all. "My parents left without me, and th-the front desk called them, but they didn't pick up— what if they never come back?"
"Oh, I'm sorry," Soyeon pats her shoulder comfortingly. "Do you.. Do you want some popcorn?" She extended her other hand out to the girl.
"Sorry– um, I'm allergic to dairy."
"It's kettle corn," Soyeon told her, smiling.
The girl let out a small gasp of surprise before reaching in and grabbing a big handful of it. "Thank you," she says, mouth full.
"Oh my god! Yuqi-yah!" A pretty woman runs up to both of them, wrapping her arms around the girl. "Are you okay? I'm so sorry, honey.."
"I'm okay, Mommy," Yuqi says, munching on the popcorn, "this girl made me feel better!"
Her mother turns to Soyeon and nods to her in thanks, but that wasn't enough for Soyeon. What if she never saw this girl again? She didn't have a phone, nor any slip of paper... So, she just stuck her hand out once more. "You can have the rest."
"Really?" Yuqi's eyes twinkled as she looked at the popcorn box.
"But in exchange, you have to play with me next time you come here! I go every Saturday."
"You're such a sweet girl," Yuqi's mother cooed, brushing a strand of hair out of Soyeon's face kindly before making sure Yuqi was holding the popcorn securely and walking away.
Soyeon waved goodbye to Yuqi, smiling hard.
And Yuqi waved back.
BONUS:
"SOYEON WHERE'S MY POPCORN—!!"
