Chapter Text
Minjeong reminds Jimin of snow.
It was snowing when they first met.
In late November, a five-year-old Jimin moves into a new neighbourhood. The unknown is scary for a child so young. The house is barren. Sterile white walls and vast open spaces make a young girl feel small and uneasy. The house is a completely new build, lacking the comfort that a lived-in appearance would give. It almost reminded Jimin of the clinics she went to when she fell ill. It’s nothing like her old home, which was cosy and warm with well-worn furniture and soft, carpeted floors.
Her parents notice her unease - though that is hard to miss with her uncharacteristic silence. Usually such an energetic and bubbly child, her bright and radiant demeanour is completely absent. Her eyes are wide with anxiety, on full alert. After unpacking a few basic belongings, the Yus decide to take their daughter to the football field to play.
Zipping her up in a puffer jacket that was just a tad too big, her mother coos at her daughter who looked more like a light blue Michelin man than anything else, only her slightly puffy cheeks peeking above the collar of the jacket. Her dad laughs softly and fixes a knitted green dinosaur hat for the finishing touch. Jimin clutches tightly onto her parent's hands, arms fully stretched out. Her tiny legs make it hard to match their larger strides, but every now and then when she falls a little too far behind, her parents would swing their arms to fling her up into the air, causing her to break out a fit of giggles.
Once they finally reach the football field and pass through the metal gate, Jimin’s eyes almost shine looking at the perfect blanket of soft snow, tunnel visioned to the point where she completely misses the other girl quietly working on her snow masterpiece.
Snowflakes dance as they gently sway in the air, getting caught on the tip of Jimin’s nose as she looks up. Though invisible to the naked eye, even a slight breeze will cause the smallest irregularities in their structure, affecting the way the ice crystals form, grow, and stick together.
Eager to play, Jimin digs in her bare fingers and rakes through the fluffy texture before compacting it into a tight ball. The ice feels cold in her hand, crunching as she presses it tightly. Gathering the snow together, the ball became bigger and bigger until it went up to her knees.
Jimin is a little bit of an opportunist, seeing another large ball just a few strides away from her, she sees this as the perfect chance to speed up her progress. Barrelling down at full speed, she rolls towards it and swiftly picks up her own snowball, crashing them together.
She’s mindlessly compacting the two snowballs into one big mass when she hears a voice call out to her.
“Hey!”
A small figure hobbles closer, almost waddling like a penguin.
“That was mine!” She sulked, her lips pouty and eyebrows furrowed. Jimin takes a moment to look at this person. She was small like her, but even smaller. And she had these cute eyes that admittedly looked a little cross with her at the moment with the way they were held in a disapproving glare. Her lips were almost quivering, so she was either really cold or really upset – and for some reason, Jimin already felt that she wanted this girl to be happy all the time.
“I was making a friend for Joraengie…” She starts, looking down at the snow on the floor. “But you killed him!” She yells, pointing an accusatory finger.
Great. First day moving into a new town and she already has upset someone!
Jimin’s mouth forms an ‘o’ shape in surprise. She’s not a troublemaker - anything but. Back in her old school, even when her teacher shows the slightest disapproval she feels like crying.
“I-I’m sorry about Joraengie- I-I didn’t know-”
“No no. That's not Joraengie,” She corrects and points behind her to a near-perfect snowman, sculpted as perfectly as a five-year-old probably could, completed with twig arms and a scarf. “That’s Bob.”
“Bob? Okay- Sorry, Bob.”
“Girls, is everything okay?”
An adult, Jimin guessed, was probably this girl's mother approached closer.
Suddenly the girl's eyes fill with tears and she begins to cry- and cry loud! Sniffling and wailing as she points a chubby finger in Jimin’s direction.
“SHE KILLED BOB!” She wails. Jimin holds out her own hands in defence, shaking them in denial.
“I didn’t know! I’m sorry! Please don’t cry-”
“Jimin?” She can just about make out the sound of her mother’s voice coming closer, observing the situation. “Oh my gosh, what happened?”
Jimin! So that's the perpetrator's name!
“JIMIN KILLED MY SNOW MAHAHAHANNNNNN!” The girl continues to sob.
“Mum…” Jimin’s own voice starts to shake. She really is a sensitive soul, back then especially so. The idea of making someone distraught, being a cause of trouble, being disliked is deeply distressing, feelings too strong to be held in such a small body. “...I really didn’t mean to do it…” she starts to sniffle, the tip of her nose red and running and not just from the cold air.
Jimin’s mother smiles, glancing over to the other mother with a knowing look, who returns the gesture.
“Minjeong,” she starts, bending down to place a hand on her shoulder to stop her from crying even more, her free hand rubbing against the tears on her warm, flushed, and slightly pink cheek. “I’m sure our friend here didn’t mean it.”
Jimin nodded frantically. Finally, a voice of reason around here! “Minjeong, I really didn’t mean to hurt Bob. I’m sorry.” She apologises properly this time, addressing her by name in hopes of fixing the situation. Minjeong’s expression was still sour, brows tightly knitted together.
“How about you guys fix Bob together?” Jimin’s mother suggests.
“Isn’t that a fantastic idea?” Minjeong’s mum adds on, ruffling her daughter's hair before readjusting a white knitted cap.
Jimin approaches Minjeong like how she would with the cats that she loves so much. No sudden movements, moving slowly so as to not startle. Noticing that Minjeong isn’t pulling away, she takes a slightly bigger hand into her own and pulls her back towards the large snowball.
“Come on! If we work together, Bob will be fixed in no time!” Minjeong doesn’t talk back but follows, and before long, the smaller girl has forgotten about all her worries and her hostility towards this stranger.
She smiles brightly towards the taller girl as they place what remains of Bob near Joraengie so they can be close to his friend. When they finally finish adding details, they find that Bob’s twig arms are touching Joraengie’s.
“Look, they’re holding hands!” Jimin comments. She turns over and sees Minjeong smiling brightly for the first time and it makes her smile grow wider too, breaking out into a full on grin when Minjeong wordlessly interlocks their fingers together.
“Matching!” She adds with a giggle.
Three parents glance over their children, breaking up their pleasant chat as they watch them play together happily.
Problem solved.
After a mini snowball fight (that was promptly ended after Minjeong’s snowball accidentally slammed into Jimin’s pinky) and some snow angels, the fun had to come to a quick stop when tears began to roll down Jimin’s face.
“Are you okay?” Minjeong asked. Jimin turned to her, puzzled.
“Huh? I’m fine!” Jimin smiles, slightly confused as she scratches against her dinosaur cap.
“You’re crying!”
“What?!” Jimin taps at her own cheeks, and sure enough, she isn’t lying. “Oh? That’s weird.”
“Mama!” Minjeong cries out, all the parents start to run over.
Realising how the situation looked, Jimin was quick to clarify the situation before Minjeong could get into any trouble. “Minjeong didn’t make me cry! I’m not sad!” She sniffles, trying to show her best smile.
“Aww baby,” Her dad coos, brushing away her tears. “You’re just too cold, you're crying!” He laughs. “I think it’s time to go home.”
“But I want to play more with Minjeongie!”
“Well lucky for you, Minjeong so happens to live right next door! So you will probably be seeing her a lot too.” Her mother adds.
“Minjeong darling, would you like to invite our new friends over for some hot chocolate?” Minjeong’s eyes almost sparkle at the idea of hot chocolate, her absolute favourite. Oh- I guess bringing a friend along is good too. She nods.
During the walk back Minjeong is rather quiet, but she held Jimin tightly, leading the way because her mother mentioned that Jimin is new, which explains why she’s never seen her around before. Without saying anything she brings their conjoined hands to her face and turns it so that Jimin’s palm is facing her mouth.
“What are you-” Minjeong doesn’t answer back, instead she blows hot air over Jimin’s small palm and then sandwiches it between her two hands, rubbing together to create some friction, copying what her dad does when she’s cold herself. Taking her own blue gloves out of her pockets, she slides them over Jimin’s hand to keep them nice and toasty.
If Jimin was crying because she was cold, then naturally she should try something to keep her warm, right? After all, her mother tells her pretty girls shouldn’t cry… though her dad added after that it’s okay for everyone to cry so she doesn’t really know... And then right after that, they just got louder and louder and-
When Jimin stops looking at her now gloved hand, she takes a moment to observe the young girl’s expression, caught in deep thought with her eyebrows cutely furrowed. Her focus doesn’t stay on the girl for too long though, blame her small five-year-old brain if you want, but she was a little too focused on the warmth in her palm and how soft the gloves felt on her skin.
“Blue is my favourite colour!”
Though the girls were quite different, that was something they had in common. Minjeong makes a mental note. Yu Jimin likes blue, just like me.
“I like blue too.” She says softly.
“Thank you for lending me your gloves, Minjeong.”
Minjeong beams and Jimin’s heartbeat rings in her red-tipped ears.
–
Jimin didn’t know it yet, but that day would start the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Minjeong might be small, but she makes it her responsibility to keep Jimin company at all times.
Jimin was quite worried about joining a new school. Coming from a different city, not to mention, in the middle of the school year meant that everyone had time to make friends already while she wouldn’t know anybody.
But now that she has Minjeong, it seemed that all her worries were for no reason. Minjeong is happy to show her around, sit next to her during class, and play with her whenever they have free time.
On top of that, the girls would meet up almost every day, whether it was at a house for a playdate, or out in the park after school, or for lunch or dinner during the weekends.
When Christmas rolls around, a party is hosted in Jimin’s new home. There are still some boxes that are yet to be unpacked stashed away in the conservatory, but the Yus put in an excellent effort setting up the decorations together, with colourful streamers and tinsel decorating the walls of the house, and a beautiful, tall pine tree adorned with ornaments with making the perfect centrepiece. The kitchen and living room were completely open. A large dark oak dining table sits at the back of the living room, getting a good view of the television in the middle of the room, just across the sofa. It’s Boxing Day so the kids are practically bouncing off the walls eager to open their presents, but they have to sit still through an extended Christmas dinner. It was hard to get a turkey, but the Yu’s decided to make a delicious roast pork instead with a crackling crust. Their friends in China taught them how to make it a few years ago. The meal was fit with all the usual sides of roasted potatoes, carrots and parsnips, and roasted bacon-covered brussel sprouts, all served with a thick brown gravy. Jimin eats a little bit like a gremlin - but if that gremlin was also stinking cute with a big toothy smile, the corners of her mouth covered in sauce and bacon grease while Minjeong eats slowly and neatly, happily savouring her food with big fluffy cheeks. She doesn’t end up eating a lot, much like her father.
A variety show is playing on TV. A bunch of famous celebrities gather to explore a new concept in line with their game show.
In this episode, the cast undergoes Regression Meditation, where they are guided by a hypnotist to explore their past lives.
Jimin’s mother flickers her gaze away from the TV and back towards her guests. “Would you ever be interested in regression meditation?” Jimin’s mother asks Minjeong’s.
“I’m not too sure of that, I don’t really believe in that stuff.”
“I don’t know,” Minjeong’s father cuts in, voice gentle and thoughtful. “I think the idea of exploring our past lives can be… Revolutionary almost. Finding out about what decisions we made in the past, what could have been, learning through and from it, it’s almost like a new frontier of sorts.”
The adults don’t miss the audible exhale Minjeong’s mother takes. Closing her eyes firmly as she purses her lips. “But that's exactly the problem.” She counters back, firm. Jimin’s parents knowingly glance at one another. “We shouldn’t know everything. If we are left caught in what-ifs, we can forget about the one life we do lead. Shouldn’t we be focusing on that instead?”
“Why does that matter to you? I thought you didn’t believe in that stuff .” Jimin’s mother immediately feels bad. Her innocent question turned into this tense atmosphere. Eyebrows furrow and tension builds.
“I don’t think exploring possibilities means we don’t lead our own lives. It can be used to see what you can do to improve your own, make it better.”
A voice answers back louder. “Or it could be escapism. An expensive one at that.”
A charged energy remains in the room, though completely missed by both young girls, who are still entertained by the TV and all the flashy editing. Clearing his throat and trying to find a way to diffuse the uncomfortable air, Jimin’s father lets out a sigh when he sees that both girls have finished dinner. Excusing them and himself from the table, Papa Yu brings the girls just before the arch in the living room that leads to the hallway to their bedrooms. There, he takes a marker, asking Jimin to stand up straight. Drawing a line pressing against the top of her head, he marks down her height, fixing it with the date. Excited, Jimin pulls Minjeong to do it next, and when it’s done, she sees how she’s just a little bit taller than Minjeong.
When the girls are finally allowed to open their presents they rush under the tree. Reading the names, they pass the gifts to their parents as they try to find their own.
“This one’s for you, Minjeongie!” Jimin says as she passes the gift. Though quite large for their small bodies, the gift was light, the paper crinkling as it was hoisted over the older girl’s head. “And this one is mine!”
Excitedly, Jimin tears apart the wrapper as Minjeong carefully tries to unpick the tape, keeping the paper perfectly intact the best she can.
“It’s a Care Bear!” Jimin smiles, giving the white plushie a tight hug. Her parents let out a breath of relief as she seemed happy with her new toy. But when Minjeong unwraps hers, also a Care Bear, but instead with a bright light blue coat, the Yus look towards each other anxiously.
You see, both the Kims and the Yus had planned to get the latest Care Bears for their kids, but when Mama Yu went to the store, only white Care Bears were left.
Both girls are excited at first, happy that they both received the same gift, but after a moment Jimin looks over at Minjeong’s blue bear, then back to her own, trying to hide a little pout that shows her disappointment. She takes a deep breath and puts on a small smile.
Even though it was just a waver, Minjeong realises it immediately. She stares back into the reflective glassy surface of the bear's plastic eyes, seeing her own face, slightly distorted with a fishbowl effect in its dark reflection.
“Jimin, can I have the white bear?”
Jimin’s eyes light up, but she’s hesitant, her hands are now lightly grasping the blue stuffy. “But… don’t you like blue too?”
Minjeong smiles, switching the two bears with each other. “White is my favourite colour.” She says.
“Really, well that's perfect!”
The party ends only a few hours later. Minjeong’s father carries her on his broad shoulders, holding onto her little legs. Minjeong’s mother stayed back for a little, having a chat with Jimin’s parents. Perhaps the effects of the alcohol made her want to open up some more.
“Minjeong-ah, it was really nice of you to give Jimin the blue bear, you’re such a sweetheart.” He says softly.
“Jimin’s favourite colour is blue.” She answers back matter-of-factly, eyes staring up at the night sky, blanketed with constellations of stars.
“Well isn’t yours too?”
Minjeong smiles. “No. White is my favourite now.”
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