How much longing has to fall like snow for the spring days
to come?

The boy sat silently at the breakfast table in his grandmother's kitchen. The scrambled eggs in front of him sat nearly untouched. He wasn't hungry, but his grandmother was watching so he pushed the food around with his fork, feigning a look like he was actually eating.

For someone so young his mind was consumed with thoughts that were beyond him. Worry wrapped itself like a vice around his neck and slowly squeezed tighter. Tighter. Tighter. Until his breath came in strangled gasps and his chest burned like hellfire.

"Yoongi," his grandmother's gentle voice dragged him from his consuming thoughts. "You're not eating," she observed.

The boy set down his fork, "I'm not very hungry," his voice was barely louder than a whisper. His grandmother sighed.

"You have to eat, Yoongi. I know things are confusing right now, but it's going to be alright," her assurance didn't help.

Looking into the older woman's eyes he could tell that she too was worried. She couldn't convince him that things were going to be fine when she didn't believe it herself.

"When can I go home, Grandma?"

Her graying brows drew together as her eyes turned glassy. "Not for a while, Yoongi, I'm sorry. I know the situation is confusing to you right now, but just try to make yourself at home here. Alright?"

The young boy watched his grandmother for a moment. She held her tears back and pasted a smile on her face but he knew that she worried more than she let on. Reluctantly, he nodded. His grandmother smiled softly.

"Good," she sighed, "Why don't you go play in the backyard and I'll wash the plates."

"Okay," he slid from his chair and padded slowly through the kitchen and out into the backyard.

It was a small yard but his grandmother had worked hard to make it nice. She filled the space with multicolored flowers and trees that were currently sprouting blossoms. Yoongi wandered sluggishly down the stone path that wound amongst the plants.

It was strange to be here, at his grandmother's house. The suitcase that his dad had packed for him a couple days ago was still sitting in his new bedroom, untouched and unpacked. In it were all his clothes, and a small notebook that had been gifted by his mother, it was still untouched. He couldn't bring himself to ruin the pristine white pages with his jumbled thoughts and messy scrawl.

His breath came out in a quiet sigh as he sank down to sit on the grass, between a patch of tulips and tall shrubs. Yoongi's mind struggled to wrap around the events of the past few days.

The frantic shouts of his father that rang through the house. The screeching of sirens as the ambulance came skidding down the road. His mother's pale face as she lay limp on the kitchen floor. The medics that rushed through the house with a gurney. Following behind the ambulance, his dad's foot pushing harder and harder on the gas pedal. How his mother smiled so weakly as she lay in that hospital bed, trying to hide her pain. Both his parents breaking the news to him.

It was all too much.

He sprung to his feet. The thoughts had finally become too much and his head began pounding. Yoongi moved slowly over the stone pathway, back towards his grandmother's backdoor as he stared at his feet. He couldn't see who was coming down the path in his direction.

"Oof!"

"Ow!"

Before he knew what hit him, he was laying on the ground, with someone in the grass next to him, their legs tangles awkwardly. Yoongi groaned.

"Why did you do that!" He shouted as pain throbbed through his back.

The girl whipped her head around, probably to look for him, but her hair kept falling in her face, blocking her view. She looked about his age, maybe younger. Yoongi pushed himself to sit up and scowled as the girl scrambled to sit as well. She was small and thin, maybe even a bit too thin. Her brown hair was long and messy, constantly falling out of her ponytail and into her eyes, which were large and held a pure innocence.

"Why did you do that?" He repeated, snapping out of his curious examination of the girl. The pushed herself up by the elbows, finally sitting upright.

"I-I um—" she stumbled awkwardly over her words. "I'm sorry," she mumbled hesitantly, turning her comic-book eyes to the grass.

"Who are you?" Yoongi asked, trying to ignore the sad look on her small face. How did she even get into his grandmother's backyard? Did his grandmother let her in? Why would she do that?

As Yoongi watched, the girl lifted her gaze to glance up at him through her thick lashes. She looked so small, and something flashed through her eyes for just second. Something he recognized. Sadness.

The girl swallowed nervously, her eyebrows drew together, and she took a deep breath, opening her mouth to speak.

"I'm Yah Chaerin! Nice to meet you," she smiled widely, making her large eyes crinkle cutely.

Yoongi watched her in confusion. He didn't understand this girl. He yelled at her and she just smiled and introduced herself. His forehead crinkled as he just kept looking at her, until her smile slipped and her chocolate eyes turned down to the grass. Her small fingers twirled around blades of grass.

"I'm sorry I knocked you down," she whispered. "I didn't mean to hurt you." Truth and regret rang clear in her voice. Chaerin made it sound like knocking him down was a step towards the end of the world. He didn't understand this girl at all.

Yoongi's eyes trailed down to look at her hands where they ripped at the grass, but his attention was quickly drawn away. His vision zeroed in on the long cut on her knee and the blood that dripped steadily down her leg.

He sprung up from his spot on the grass, walking quickly down the stone path and into the house. His grandmother wasn't anywhere in the kitchen, but at the moment he was glad. It would be bad if his grandmother thought that he had caused Chaerin to fall down.

He rushed through the kitchen and then hurried back outside, wet rag and bandages in hand. The girl was strange, sure, but that didn't mean that he would just leave her alone with a bloody, scraped up knee.

Yoongi tread back down the porch steps and down the stone path that led to Chaerin. As he wound around the corner, she came into view. She still sat dejectedly in the grass, mindlessly pulling up the blades between her fingers, seemingly unaware of her injury.

Yoongi ventured closer to her, stopping when he was just a couple feet away. She jumped in shock a bit when she noticed him standing there but raised her eyes only enough to glance at his shins.

Slowly, so he wouldn't scare her, Yoongi knelt down in front of her. But the movement still startled her and she finally looked up enough to meet his eyes. For a moment they just stared at each other.

She looked sad or maybe disappointed, but whatever the feeling was, it didn't look good on her, she looked better when she smiled. And looking at her, Yoongi wasn't mad anymore that she had knocked him down. After all, it was an accident.

While she was zoned out, Yoongi carefully reached forward and swiped the wet cloth over her bloody knee. She jumped in fright, glancing around until her gaze landed on his hand, which continued to clean her wound.

Yoongi worked slowly to clean the gash, making sure that no more blood was dripping from it before he carefully pasted a bandage over the cut. He tossed the bloody cloth aside and their eyes met again.

The girl stared at him like she'd never seen another person in her entire life. It didn't look like she was going to move or speak anytime soon. He sighed, it looked like he would have to be the one to speak.

"I'm Min Yoongi."

Her face immediately broke out in a smile when he spoke. "I'm Yah Chaerin!" She spoke happily.

"I know. You already said that," Yoongi said, his face blank as he watched the girl in front of him.

"Oh," her smile fell a bit, "Sorry, I'm nervous," she tilted her head down and focused on the grass by her feet.

"Why are you nervous?" He wondered.

"I just," she hesitated, "I'm not good at making friends," she whispered.

Yoongi stayed quiet for a moment, just observing the girl as she picked at the grass.

"Me neither," he admitted.

And it was true, he'd never had many friends back home. 

Chaerin's eyes flashed up to his face in surprise. An unspoken feeling passed between the two.

Understanding.

Authors Note:
Hey, hi, hello!
So I'm determined to keep a regular update scheduled for this book (fingers crossed). So I'll probably be updating it every Tuesday or Wednesday.
Happy reading! 😊