LIGHTNOVELONLINE chapter 6
5. At 6 years old, until you and I became childhood friends (5)
The friendship between Aki and me, which started by chance, became a bit stronger after being recognized by both families.
From being able to play together only on special days to seeing each other on weekdays, and then to meeting and playing together on weekends, it took exactly 4 weeks.
In just 4 weeks, which was neither too short nor too long, we became inseparable friends, and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that we felt empty without each other.
“Mom, when are we going to see Aki today?”
“In two hours. We agreed to meet at the kids’ cafe after lunch yesterday, didn’t we?”
“I want to see him sooner, can’t we leave early?”
“Wooju, we promised to meet at 1 PM. Was our Wooju such a bad kid who could break promises so lightly?”
“No. I’m sorry….”
“`
“……Heh, so cute. Woojoo, shall we play with Lego until one o’clock while we wait for mom?”
“No, I’ll just wait alone.”
“What, what? Woojoo, who always looked for mom, is rejecting mom……?!”
“Pfft…! Woojoo. You’ve grown up now, haven’t you?”
“……Are you laughing right now? Our Woojoo says he doesn’t want to play with mom-!”
Just like that, it was a daily routine for me to pester my parents because I wanted to go see Aki quickly.
“Papa, is it still far from one o’clock?”
“Um, let’s see. It’s twelve o’clock now. There’s one hour left until the promised time.”
“Yeah, I see…….”
“My daughter, time will pass on its own anyway. It will soon be one o’clock, so just wait a little longer-.”
“Papa, what about now? Is it still not one o’clock?”
“……Not even ten seconds have passed yet?”
Aki also pestered his father because he wanted to see me quickly.
“Woojoo, Aki. Shall we go home now~?”
“Mom, can’t we play a little longer? There’s still so much I haven’t done with Aki…!”
“A little longer, a little longer has already been three hours. The sun is about to set, so we should go and have dinner?”
“Huh? When did the time….”
“Woojoo~san, do we have to part……?”
“Yeah, it seems so. It’s a shame, but for today….”
“Hing…. I don’t want to part. Aki wants to stay with Woojoo~san longer…….”
“`
“……Aki, don’t worry. It’s not like we’re parting forever. We’ll see each other at kindergarten tomorrow, right?”
“Oh, that’s right. We’ll see each other at kindergarten tomorrow…!”
“Yes, so be careful on your way home today and let’s meet tomorrow morning. Got it, Aki?”
“Yes, yes, got it. Be careful on your way home, Woojoo~!”
When it was time to part ways after playing together until evening, we would hold each other’s hands tightly, promising to meet again tomorrow, and reluctantly head to our respective homes.
At that time, I really, truly hated parting with Aki so much that I would sigh deeply in the car on the way back home. But my parents seemed to feel differently as they watched me.
“Eunhye, isn’t it fascinating the more you see it?”
“Huh? What is?”
“Woojoo and Aki, I mean. Even though they can see each other again after just one night, they hold hands and act like it’s a melodrama every time they part. It’s like they’re Romeo and Juliet or something.”
“Why? It’s cute and nice to watch. And isn’t that how it is in the early stages of a relationship? You keep thinking about them if you stay still, and even though you just saw them, you want to see them again.”
“Really? I wasn’t like that, but Eunhye, were you like that when you were dating me?”
“…Hey, Joo Siwon. Do you really want to die?”
“Ah, wait a minute. Eunhye, I’m driving right now…!”
They said it was like watching ‘Romeo and Juliet’ when they saw my true feelings.
Well, to be honest, it’s not entirely wrong. After all, the relationship between Korea and Japan wasn’t that great to begin with, and our Ministry of Foreign Affairs is like a loudspeaker for the Japanese government.
But, Aki is the granddaughter of the Japanese ambassador to Korea, and I am the son of parents who are officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
As my parents said, even if we’re not exactly like Romeo and Juliet, aren’t we at least like ‘Romeo’s servant and Juliet’? Of course, for that to be true, Aki and I would have to be in a romantic relationship.
Ding-.
“Oh? Aki sent a text.”
“Where, what did she say?”
“Hey Joo Siwon, are you trying to change the subject? You didn’t do this when we were newlyweds, but now that we’re comfortable with each other, you keep saying strange things, huh?”
“Eunhye, I’m driving right now. And Uju got a text message. Aren’t you going to read it?”
“No, it’s okay. I can read Japanese.”
“…Huh? You can read Japanese?”
Dad, who was driving, looked at me through the rearview mirror, and Mom, who was sitting in the passenger seat, turned her head to look at me directly.
“Uju, you’ve never learned Japanese. But you can read it all?”
“Yes. Not everything, but I can read simple things.”
The reason I started teaching myself Japanese was, of course, because of Aki.
No, I didn’t like showing my parents the conversations Aki and I had.
It was embarrassing.
“Eunhye, just in case, check it once. Uju might have learned it wrong.”
“Oh, should I? Uju, can you read what Aki sent? Mom will check and tell you if you interpreted it correctly.”
“Yes, just a moment. Um, ‘Uju~san, what should we play at kindergarten tomorrow?'”
“Really? Let me see… Huh?”
“Why, is it wrong?”
“No, it’s right. It seems Uju can read Japanese.”
“What, really? Then our Uju can speak three languages now?”
“Uju, where did you learn Japanese? Did they teach you at kindergarten?”
Actually, the message from Aki at that time was in very simple Japanese, something anyone could understand with a little study. But the fact that six-year-old me interpreted it seemed to surprise Mom, and she looked at me with wide eyes.
“I just learned it from watching YouTube.”
“…Wow, really? Our Woojoo is smarter than we thought! Honey, could our Woojoo be a genius?”
“No way, I’m not a genius. YouTube is really good these days, right? There are even things like ‘complete a foreign language in 6 weeks.’ Kids these days are good with their phones, so they probably learned from watching those.”
“Oh, seriously. That’s why T’s are…”
“Why are you bringing up T’s now?”
“……”
I didn’t tell my parents at the time, but the real reason I was able to learn Japanese quickly when I was still young was…
[We agreed to finish teaching each other Korean and Japanese today, right? Aki!]
[Oh, right! Shall we finish that, Woojoo~san?]
It was thanks to Aki’s eye-level education.
No, to be more precise, it was an exchange education where I taught Aki Korean, and Aki taught me Japanese. But does that really matter?
Anyway, Aki and I taught each other our respective languages whenever we met, and when we got tired of studying our native languages, we would go out and play together.
“Woojoo, why do you always play with Aki? Are you two dating?”
“What’s dating?”
“Holding hands and kissing?”
“Well, then I guess we are dating?”
“What? Really…?”
“……!!”
Seeing us always playing together, our kindergarten friends started to misunderstand.
“Woo, Woojoo~san! You shouldn’t say things like that to others, they’ll misunderstand…!”
“Huh? What misunderstanding?”
“Well, the misunderstanding that Woojoo~sang and I are dating…!”
“Aki, do you not want to date me?”
“Th-that’s not… n-not really…”
“Then, shouldn’t we just say we’re dating?”
“N-no… th-that’s not the issue… ugh…”
With unintended pure words and actions, I made Aki, who was a bit more mature than me, feel embarrassed.
“Anyway…! Woojoo~sang! You shouldn’t tell our friends about this, okay?”
“Why not?”
“…It’s embarrassing. Aki doesn’t like being embarrassed.”
“Really? Got it. So, I just shouldn’t tell our friends, right?”
“Yes! That would be great. Thank you, Woojoo~sang!”
──Woojoo, Joo Woojoo~!
“Huh? Jaehyun is calling me. I’ll be right back, Aki.”
“Okay, go ahead!”
──Woojoo, be honest. You and Aki are dating, right?
──Huh? Oh, yeah! Aki and I are dating!
“…W-Woojoo~sang? Aki just told you not to say that…?!”
Again, I made Aki feel embarrassed by telling our friends what she asked me not to.
“Woojoo~sang! Seriously, you can’t say that Aki and Woojoo~sang are dating! Aki is embarrassed…!”
“Alright. I really won’t do it.”
“Really, can I trust you…?”
“Don’t worry, Aki. Just trust me!”
“Something feels a bit uneasy…”
──”Woojoo, can you come to the teacher for a moment?”
“Yes! Aki, can you wait here for a bit?”
“Mm-hmm…”
──”Woojoo, do you like Aki?”
──”Yes, I do.”
“……Oh.”
──”Yes, the teacher knows that too. But Woojoo, even though you like Aki, you shouldn’t play only with Aki. If you two keep sticking together just because you like each other and are dating, other friends won’t like it. Woojoo, you’re smart, so you understand what the teacher is saying, right?”
──”I understand! I’ll play with other kids too so Aki can make lots of friends!”
──”Good, as expected, Woojoo is smart! Now, give the teacher a kiss… Mwah, then I’ll count on you, okay?”
──”Yes!”
“……”
“Aki, I’m back!”
“……Woojoo~san, don’t kiss other girls from now on.”
“Huh? Why?”
“No, just stay by my side and don’t go anywhere…!”
“But the teacher told me to play with other kids too?”
“Ugh….”
I think it started from that moment.
‘……This won’t do.’
“Wooju~san, come play house with me…!”
“Play house? We already did that an hour ago-.”
“……Wooju~san?”
“Ah, sorry….”
Even though Aki heard the teasing question, ‘Are you two dating?’ every day, he strangely stuck by my side.