Resolving the Dispute
After I arrived at school, I pushed Lee Sia away every time she tried to come close to me.
"Hey..."
"......"
"Park Siwoo, why are you ignoring what I say?"
"......"
"Ugh!"
By the time lunch rolled around, I had already found a seat far away from Sia.
Because the place was packed with girls, the stares kept coming my way while I ate, but I ignored them all and kept eating in silence.
Time passed quickly, and it was almost time to head back home.
While I was waiting with nothing else to do.
Suddenly, Mom showed up with someone else.
"Siwoo-ya! Let's go eat tteokbokki!"
"Sia! Hurry up and come!"
Right then, Mom and Sia's mom walked over together.
I thought, well, that's fine at least, but for some reason, it turned out we were all heading to the same bungeoppang place.
"It's been a while since I came to a bungeoppang shop."
"Really? Our house visits ours sometimes because Sia loves the eomuk."
"We like it too, but not as much as Sia does."
It felt completely natural to end up sitting at the same table.
And on the opposite side were me and Sia.
Sia kept stealing glances at me but quickly looked away.
She'd stare straight at me, then whip her eyes to the side if I glanced back, and repeat the same pattern over and over.
I gave up trying to figure out what she was doing and just waited for the food to come.
"Tteokbokki for two, sundae for two, eight pieces of eomuk, and six pieces of fried stuff!"
Perfect timing, the food arrived.
"Here, eat up. If you're still hungry, just let me know."
"Okay..."
"Yeah..."
Mom told us to hurry up, so we all started eating without a word.
I tried dipping the tteokbokki first... it wasn't that spicy after all.
But Sia kept sipping water or fanning herself with her hand whenever she took a bite, clearly finding it too hot.
While we were still eating, Sia's mom suddenly spoke up.
"So, did you two play together nicely today?"
"...!"
"......"
When Mom asked if we had played well together, Sia's eyes went wide, and I just kept eating silently.
We obviously hadn't played at all if I hadn't even said the words "we played."
I was about to tell the truth anyway, but right before I could open my mouth.
"It's... hot..."
Sia said with a pout.
"Aigoo, why are you forcing yourself? Go drink some water right now."
As Sia ran over to the water cooler to cool down her burning tongue, Sia's mom leaned in and whispered to me.
"I heard Sia told you not to get too close to me."
"......"
"It's because she's still inexperienced... she's not actually hating you, so we can still be close like before... right?"
Mom's voice was warm and gentle.
I looked straight at Mom, waiting for her answer.
"......"
She just smiled at me without saying a word.
That smile meant she was completely handing everything over to me.
I had always been happier just with my own family, but... spending time with Sia wasn't a bad thing.
Playing with her or doing those little pretend games together wasn't bad at all.
So...
"Okay."
"Thank you so much, Siwoo-ya."
Sia's mom smiled brightly as she thanked me.
Mom reached over and gently stroked my hair without a word.
After that bungeoppang meetup, we headed straight home.
The next day at kindergarten...
"...Hi."
Sia greeted me with a little hesitation.
"Hi."
I replied to her.
"...!"
As soon as I answered, Sia's whole face lit up like a flower blooming.
From then on, we started acting like best friends at kindergarten, the way we used to.
Of course, later Sia apologized to me.
"Um... I'm sorry..."
"It's fine, we're friends."
When I accepted it, Sia's little sniffles were... a secret.
It had been a whole year since I started kindergarten.
At first I hadn't adjusted well, but after a year of being there, I had made lots of boy friends.
Of course, I still didn't get close to the girls, and the reason was simple.
"Siwoo-ya, let's play together, not with the other kids."
"Sure."
It was all because of Sia.
After we had that little fight before, Sia's mom had stepped in to make us make up, and ever since then she had warned me strongly not to play with the other girls.
So unless it was a group activity I had no choice in, I always stayed glued to Sia.
One of the things that happened because of that was...
"Siwoo-sia! Let's go!"
"Yes!"
"Yes."
It was all thanks to Sia's mom.
After a year, Mom and Dad had become even busier.
Because of that, it got harder and harder for Mom to come pick me up.
I had always walked home by myself before, but now she had stopped doing it too.
So Sia's mom stepped up.
Once I knew I would be alone after school, she told me...
"Then I'll have Sia watch over you!"
When Mom and Dad were looking for a daycare, they decided to send me to Sia's house instead.
This was possible because our families sometimes played together at each other's houses.
Mom and Dad loved me because I had been their first friend at kindergarten, and Sia's mom loved me because Sia had only ever mentioned me as her only kindergarten friend.
From then on, after school, Sia's mom would pick me up along with Sia and we'd go straight to Sia's house.
Being at Sia's house wasn't weird at all.
Her dad was a captain on a distant fishing boat, so he rarely came home, and we were always just the three of us.
We had met her dad at the end of last year when our two families went to the buffet together.
He had seemed so fun and gave everyone lots of love... just like our dad.
His work made it hard for him to come home too.
Because we kept crossing paths, we had actually had meat parties at each other's houses, so it felt like my own home now.
"Come on! What should we do to play today!"
"Hmm... what do you want to do, Sia?"
"Um..."
Even when we were thinking, there was only one thing we were going to do anyway.
Draw with crayons together, do puzzles, read picture books... or if nothing else, go out and play at the playground.
I personally didn't like going out to play much.
I had been fine in the cold, but now that I was running around, I'd sweat a lot.
And playing with Sia always meant other kids would come over... it was annoying.
So I didn't like going out to play...
"Let's go out and do water gun fight today!"
"...Sure..."
Water gun fight... it didn't make me sweat much, but the problem was that the water would soak my clothes and make me feel gross.
But if I didn't do what Sia wanted, she would definitely sulk for a long time, so we went out anyway.
And then...
— SPLASH! — SPLASHHHHH!
"Kyahaha!"
"AHAHA!"
"Take this!"
"EPUPU!"
I ended up having fun too.
Of course, the result was...
"Hey... you're completely soaked."
"I was playing with the water gun."
"...From now on I should pack spare clothes."
When Mom came to pick me up, I was drenched head to toe.
It was because I had kept playing with Sia so much that I hadn't noticed how late it was.
"Son, let's just dry your hair."
We headed home with only our hair dried from Sia's house.
Of course, the next day I caught a light cold, but...
Even after kindergarten, Sia and I still had lots of fun times together.
Then, one day...
Sia's attitude toward me changed suddenly.
On a hot summer day, Sia and I had decided to play at her house.
We were playing inside when suddenly everything felt boring.
Sia and I sat quietly on the sofa watching TV.
"Let's just go out and play!"
"Hmm... it's hot, and the playground's still under construction."
"There are other playgrounds besides this one!"
"Hmm..."
Because the apartment complex was crowded, there were plenty of playgrounds nearby.
So even if Sia wanted to go to another one, it wouldn't take long walking there.
I was thinking about it when Sia's mom agreed to let us go...
"Sure! Being outside is way better than staying inside!"
"Yay!"
"......"
"Let's put on sunscreen before we go!"
We rubbed sunscreen on, packed the water guns, and headed outside.
It was pretty warm outside, but by the time we reached the playground it had cooled down a bit.
When we got to our target playground, there were already kids there playing water gun fights.
I wanted to leave, but...
— SPLASH!
"Kyaaah! I hit it! I hit it!"
Another kid's water stream had hit Sia right on target.
"Eek!!!"
Sia immediately picked up her water gun and charged forward.
I glanced at Sia's mom, who was smiling warmly.
I grabbed my water gun and ran after her too.
"Hey! Sia! Let's go together!"