Promise | J.JK

• prologue •

One summer. 2006.

"Go on."

My Mom turned to me from the front seat, with her beautiful smile. I looked out the window, and there it is, our new house. Right before my eyes. I opened the car door and ran outside. I felt hands around my waist as my Dad carried me. I laughed and looked at Mom, she was smiling at me too. I love it when Mom smiles, her eyes fade.

"What do you think, munchkin? We weren't able to find a pink house with ponies outside, so I hope this will do." Dad said, making Mom and I laugh. "Go and take a look around, we'll unload everything from the car." I ran to the front door and Mom opened it for me.

I ran around the house, up and down the stairs, in and out of every room, until I found one with my name on the door. "Avery," I read the wooden letters hanging for the door. I opened the room, and it was bigger than I expected. There was a big sized bed, a king size maybe? I smiled as I saw a bookshelf with lights hanging on it, and my dolls were neatly lined up on the shelves. There was a huge closet too, and I saw my clothes and favorite hoodies inside when I opened it.

Right next to my bed, is a huge window. I pushed the curtains aside and looked at the view of our new neighborhood. There were many people walking around, they're all very white and has small eyes. Just like my Mom. I guess all Koreans look alike.

"YAH!!! JEON JUNGKOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

There were 3 kids chasing a boy down the road. One of them caught him, and the other one pushed him, making him fall to the ground. They were on the front lawn of the house that's right in front of ours. He started crying, but the the 3 boys who were chasing him continued kicking him, and shouted words at him that I can't seem to understand.

"Kumanhae!!!!!!! Kumanhae!!! Jjebal!!!!!"

I know these words, my Mom taught me these words. But the boys are not stopping. I quickly got out of the room and ran down the stairs, and ran straight out of our house.

"Stop!" I shouted. All of them looked at me, including the boy they were picking on. The three boys walked away from him. I stood in front of him, and shouted, "Go away!"

They stared at me with blank expressions, then laughed. "Dugusaeyo? (who are you?)," one of them said, and they all stopped laughing. They started walking towards me slowly, with mad faces. I picked up the hose that was next to the boy on the ground, and started splashing water on them. They started shouting korean words at me again, but I didn't stop til they left. They ran, turned to me, then ran again.

I dropped the hose and turned to the boy who has now stopped crying. "Are you okay?"

He was just staring at me, with his mouth open. I stared at him too, and he was slowly moving his face close to mine, examining my hair. He's weird.

"Are you.....okay?" I asked again. This time, his face looked as if he just woke up from reality and he suddenly moved away from me. He stood up, and ran to the house's front door. I guess that's where he lives. This house looked a little bit similar to ours, except it's bigger.

Just as I was looking up at his house, something caught my attention. Something inside the windows above is moving. I realized it was him, the weird boy. He was hiding behind the curtains, looking down on me. I ran back to my house and went back to my room. I looked out my window and saw him. Our windows our just across from each other, the road separating us. I waved and smiled at him, but he continued to just stare at me. I grabbed a pen and a sketchpad that's lying on my study table right next to my bed. I don't remember how every korean person said it, but I heard it a lot from my Mom. I wrote:

ANONG HASAYO

I ran to the window and he was still there, so I lifted my sketchpad and showed him what I wrote. He stared at it for a few seconds before he grinned widely and bursted out laughing. I guess what I wrote was wrong. I watched as he continued to laugh and disappeared. After a few minutes, he came back with a piece of paper, and on it was a very ugly handwriting, but I can read it clearly.

HeLLo.

He showed it to me while smiling, as if he's proud of what he wrote. I loved his smile. I love his eyes. I found myself smiling at him too. Little did I know, that our smiles were the start of something wonderful.