Entering Elementary School
After sharing a meal with Sia's family, the fact that I had graduated from kindergarten finally felt real.
But my daily routine hadn't changed much at all.
That was because my relationship with Sia remained exactly the same even after kindergarten ended.
Oh, there was one thing that had changed, though.
Until now I had been heading off to kindergarten each day, but from here on...
Ding-dong~
"Ah, come in."
"Hi, Sia. Where's your mom?"
"She's in the kitchen for a moment…."
"Ah, Minjeong! Come on in."
"Were you cooking?"
"Yeah. You haven't eaten breakfast yet, right? Want to eat before you go?"
"I'd love to, but I have to head out right away today too."
"Aww… that's too bad."
"I know. Here, have this."
"You really don't have to bring something every single time…."
"Come on, you're always watching Siwoo for us. This is the least we can do."
"We enjoy having Siwoo over, you know?"
Every morning, I went straight to Sia's house.
Because of that, my everyday life stayed pretty much the same.
"Hi, Siwoo."
"Hello."
"Well, I should get going. Siwoo, you have to behave yourself, okay?"
"Don't worry, Siwoo's super well-mannered."
"Hearing you say that puts my mind at ease. Okay, I'm really off now."
"Bye, Mom."
"Byyyyye~"
Mom waved at me as she left.
Left behind at Sia's house, I spent the day exactly like I always did there.
"Siwoo, want some breakfast?"
"Yes, please."
"Good. Come sit down and eat with Sia."
Because I ate at Sia's house so often, they had started keeping a set of dishes just for me.
Unless we were playing outside or eating out, we always had Auntie’s homemade meals, so she had bought extra tableware to match.
Once breakfast was finished, I spent time with Sia.
We read books together or watched TV.
And since we would be starting elementary school soon, we began studying before lunch.
We sat together at the desk, working on our worksheets, when—
"Kids, what do you want for lunch? Anything you're craving?"
"I'm fine with anything."
"Whatever Siwoo wants."
"Then what would you like, Siwoo?"
"The rice that Auntie makes."
"Alright, let's go with that."
After we finished lunch—
"Okay, shall we study together now?"
"Yeees."
"I don't want to…."
"Is that because you don't want to study with Mom, or because you don't like studying at all?"
"……."
"Anyway, what problems couldn't you solve?"
"This one for me."
"This one… and this one for me."
"Okay, okay… let me see…."
After lunch, Auntie would always look over our studies.
We told her which questions we couldn't solve from the morning worksheets, and she explained them slowly and patiently.
"Whoa, our Sia is getting really good at math now!"
"Yeah… Siwoo helped me a lot."
"Is that true?"
"I only helped a little. Besides, Sia helped me too."
"That's right, you're both doing so well."
Teaching each other the things we didn't understand made studying feel a bit more fun.
After studying with Auntie for about an hour—
"I need to go take care of some housework, so you two play nicely, okay?"
"Okay." "Okay~"
Auntie left to do her chores.
While Sia and I fooled around, studying or playing, she would call out—
"Kids, come have a snack."
—and bring us fruit or bread.
Most of that fruit and bread came from the loaves my mom brought over.
"This bread is delicious. Where is it from?"
"It's from the department store."
"Wow… no wonder it tastes better than regular bread."
"What about you, Sia?"
"It's good for me too."
"It matches your taste perfectly… Did Siwoo pick it out?"
"Ah, yes. I chose it yesterday when we went."
"My goodness, our Siwoo is going to be really popular someday."
"Why…?"
"Because boys with this kind of sense are always popular."
"I see…."
"Sia, you're going to have to work hard, aren't you?"
"…?"
"Hmph… he's mine."
I wasn't sure what she meant by "mine," but anyway, our days continued like this.
I had once heard that repeating the same day over and over was boring, but that didn't apply to me at all.
Even if the days repeated, each one felt incredibly meaningful.
Besides, they weren't completely identical anyway.
Today my parents had personal errands, so they weren't home, but when they were around they played with me and Sia a lot.
Last week we all went sledding together.
And even without special outings, we spent all kinds of time together—walking around town, visiting the library, and more.
Because of that, the time I spent at Sia's house was never boring.
In fact, it was fun, and I always looked forward to going over.
While I enjoyed each day like this, before I knew it, the elementary school entrance ceremony was right around the corner.
Today was March 1st—Independence Movement Day—so we had the day off. Tomorrow, March 2nd, was finally the day I would start elementary school.
The thought of entering elementary school filled me with both excitement and fear.
Unlike kindergarten, which I had gotten used to after my first day there, this was a completely new environment.
But there was one big difference between my first day of kindergarten and now.
"Sia, are you excited for tomorrow?"
"Yeah. I'm really excited."
It was thanks to Sia, who was right beside me.
Just having someone I knew with me was enough to calm my heart.
"We're meeting up tomorrow, right?"
"Probably? Why, is something wrong?"
"No, I was just curious."
With nothing else to do, Sia and I were playing at her apartment complex.
My parents had worked late the night before, so Auntie had come to pick me up that morning and make me breakfast.
Now my parents were home, but I was the only one who had come over to Sia's for a meal before heading outside.
Even though it was March, the weather was still cold, so we were bundled up warmly as we swung on the swings side by side.
We let our bodies sway gently back and forth, chatting about this and that to pass the time.
The conversation wasn't anything special.
What we did yesterday. There was a funny part on TV. That picture book was interesting. Things like that.
We tossed all kinds of random topics back and forth.
Then Sia suddenly asked—
"We're in the same class. Want to go together?"
"Mm… yeah, let's do that."
"Okay, got it."
A little while ago, the class assignments had been posted on the school website.
When I searched for my name and Sia's name, we were surprised to find out we had been placed in the same class.
Both our moms were overjoyed when they found out.
They felt much more at ease knowing we would be together.
Of course, Dad worried that the two of us only hanging out might mean we would make fewer friends, but Mom insisted that wouldn't happen and stayed happy about it.
"It's a promise. We'll go to elementary school together too."
"Yeah, I know."
Sia held out her pinky finger, so I hooked mine with hers to make a pinky promise.
The next day, I stood on the playground of Noah Elementary School.
Noah Elementary didn't have an auditorium, but its massive playground was its defining feature.
That's why all the first-year students were lined up there for the entrance ceremony.
Time passed, and the ceremony began.
They played the national anthem and the school song, but I only knew the national anthem, so the rest was just boring.
I glanced at Sia standing beside me and saw that she looked incredibly bored too.
I moved my hand slightly and poked hers.
Poke.
When her hand was poked, she glanced at me, then—
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
—started tapping the back of my hand with her fingers.
We passed the time playing finger games like that, and the boring parts went by faster than I expected.
This concludes the entrance ceremony for Noah Elementary School. Parents, please speak with your children and then proceed to exit. Thank you.
At that, the parents behind us came rushing forward in a crowd.
Among them were my mom, Auntie, and Uncle.
The reason I found them so quickly was simple.
If I looked for the prettiest person in the crowd, that would be Auntie, and the second-prettiest was my mom.
Uncle was always standing right next to the prettiest one.
I grabbed Sia's hand and ran toward Mom.
"Siwoo!"
"Sia!"
Both moms ran to us and pulled us into tight hugs.
"Our son is starting elementary school… You have to do well, okay, son?"
"Yeah. I will."
"Our daughter, don't get hurt and have lots of fun at school."
"Okay."
"If anyone bullies you, just hit them hard. Got it?"
"Got it."
"What are you teaching the child?!"
Auntie smacked Uncle for telling us to hit people, shutting him right up.
Watching them, we said—
"We'll do our best!"
"We'll do our best."
—and then headed off to our classroom together in good spirits.
Our class was Class 2 of the first grade.
When we entered the room, everyone was staring blankly, but the moment we walked in, all eyes focused on us at once.
By now we were used to it, so we ignored the stares, walked over to the window-side group—the first row—and sat down together as desk mates.
The window seat let in warm sunlight, and the warm air from the ceiling heater reached us perfectly.
After hanging our bags and indoor shoe bags on the desk hooks, we were chatting about this and that when—
"……."
I kept feeling eyes on us.
It was probably because I had purposely let Sia sit on the window side so she could stay warm.
Just as I was wondering what to do about it—
Slide.
"Hello, everyone. Nice to meet you~!"
The teacher opened the front door and came in, which finally reduced the staring.
It was almost eleven o'clock, so the teacher had entered the classroom.
"Now that it looks like everyone is here, let's do some introductions. My name is Kim Hyun-ok, and I will be your homeroom teacher for the next year. Please take good care of me."
And with that, our elementary school life with Sia had begun.