episode_0001

The girl was mixed race.

His father is Russian and his mother is Korean.

Her father and mother worked in the trade industry, and she was born in Korea.

I was educated in Korean as my native language.

I grew up normally in an ordinary environment.

But even so, something followed.

Sight.

Eyes followed me wherever I went.

Eyes on her unusual appearance continued to follow her.

‘boring.’

The girl who entered kindergarten had no friends.

It wasn’t that there was any personality problem or anything.

I’m not the type of person to approach first, but I’m even less of the type to push away someone who approaches me.

It’s just that the kids didn’t come near her.

The children thought she was pretty because of her gorgeous appearance, but they had no intention of getting to know her.

At best, it is difficult for kindergarten children to accept the differences of others.

Among the children who all have black hair, he is the only one with silver hair.

That alone was enough to cause children to feel repulsed.

The girl didn’t attach any particular significance to it.

I never even thought about being lonely.

By nature, the girl was not a person who cared much about others.

No, to be precise, I was indifferent to almost everything.

In her short seven years of life, she had never once worked on something with passion or determination.

That kind of personality made her not hurt by this situation, but on the contrary, it made it impossible for her to escape from it.

It was the same in the last year of kindergarten.

Grumble-

Sze-

The girl placed a sketchbook on the floor and drew a picture with a pencil.

Drawing was the girl’s only hobby.

In the picture, one could do and create what one wanted.

The biggest advantage is that it is a hobby that can be done alone.

That was what appealed to her the most.

I never got tired of drawing or drawing.

Therefore, most of the girl’s kindergarten time was spent drawing.

Because when I draw, time passes quickly and it is fun.

It would be the same today.

“What’s your name?”

Until a boy appeared.

Hair that hasn’t been cleaned but is shiny.

Obsidian-like eyes and sharp-looking eyes.

The face has thin lines, but the body has the skeletal structure of a kindergartener.

The boy asked the girl with an expressionless, but somewhat flushed expression.

“….?”

The girl tilted her head and expressed doubt.

Because while she was in kindergarten, no one came up to her with an expression like this.

Having rarely talked to children her age before, she didn’t know how to respond.

“….?”

“….?”

When the girl didn’t respond, the boy also tilted his head and looked at her.

Two expressionless boys and a girl.

The two looked at each other for a long time without saying anything.

Around this time, a nearby kindergarten teacher looked at the two and looked at them in confusion.

The boy opened his mouth again as if he knew something.

“Oh, I have to say my name first.”

“….”

“My name is Baek Si-hyeon.”

Baek Si-hyeon.

It’s that kind of name.

Baek Si-hyeon, Baek Si-hyeon, Baek Si-hyeon.

The girl didn’t know why, but that name stuck in her head.

I didn’t know why, but…

And just like that, silence came again.

“…Isn’t this…?”

“…Ah.”

When she said nothing even though she said her name, the boy looked at the girl again in confusion.

Then the girl realized that she had to say her name too.

When I think about it now, it was my first experience with a child my age thinking about myself.

She said her own name.

“Liya.”

“Liya?”

“Abreliya Kailon.”

Abreliya.

Abreliya Kailon.

It was a girl’s name.

Sihyeon smiled very faintly at her name.

“Pretty.”

“…Pretty?”

“Your name is so pretty.”

I was praised for being pretty.

I’ve been told many times that I’m pretty, but right now it feels different.

An unfamiliar sensation, as if somewhere inside my chest was tingling.

How should I respond in a situation like this?

After a moment of contemplation, the girl, or rather Riya, also opened her mouth.

“You’re cool too.”

“…Name?”

“Yes, name. Sihyeon… I like to sing it.”

Riya liked Sihyeon’s name.

I still didn’t know why, but it felt just as good as when I first started drawing.

At that time, Sihyeon saw the picture Riya drew.

A drawing of a landscape drawn in pencil on white drawing paper.

“You’re good at drawing…”

Sihyeon’s words were not empty words.

Even for someone who knows the level of painting, Riya drew really well.

It was never at kindergarten level.

A landscape painting that looks at least like middle school.

However, while admiring such skills, Sihyeon looked more closely at the scenery in the painting.

The landscape that Riya drew was one that Sihyeon also knew.

“Kindergarten.”

“Did you draw it in kindergarten?”

“Yes.”

The scenery of the kindergarten she is looking at.

When drawing a picture, this is what I see most. So this is the easiest shape to draw.

Although there were no people in the scene, the interior was depicted very well.

It was a drawing where things needed to be where they needed to be, even though the lines were not yet clear.

“I haven’t finished drawing yet.”

Riya moved her hand again, covered in graphite from the pencil smudge.

The smudges stood out even more against her pure white skin, but she didn’t care.

“….”

Sihyeon looked at Riya and sat down quietly next to her.

There was no word between the two.

Neither of them really liked talking, and they couldn’t stand a quiet atmosphere.

Rather, I liked this atmosphere.

This atmosphere of quiet togetherness.

So Sihyeon quietly sat next to me.

I watched her draw until the end of kindergarten.

#

Several days passed.

The two did not talk much for about three days.

It’s just that when Riya is drawing, Sihyeon sits next to her and watches her.

The occasional conversation ended after four sessions at most.

At first glance, it seemed like they were not interested in each other.

“What should I do…? It would be a big problem if Sihyeon and Riya ended up falling out like that…”

“I’m worried about Sihyeon too. Both of us can’t get along with kids…”

Both Riya and Sihyeon were a worry to the kindergarten teachers.

Two kids on the outside.

Neither of them had any friends and had no intention of making any.

Even though it may not be a big deal now, the difference in human relationships will become more visible as you grow.

Although Si-hyeon approached Riya a few days ago, the two did not have a proper conversation during that time.

The teachers are also anxious because they don’t know when Si-hyeon will get tired of them and leave.

Of course, Sihyeon had no intention of leaving at all.

‘Good.’

Rather, Sihyeon liked this appropriate distance.

He felt good just by being quietly by Riya’s side.

It was nice just to be next to her shining brightly.

I still felt the same way I did when I first saw her.

That’s why he walked away from the confusion in his mind and looked at her.

Even though she didn’t say anything, Riya clearly recognized him.

towards actions rather than words.

“Eat this..”

“Meat?”

“Yeah… Don’t you like it?”

“I like it.”

“Thank goodness..”

I intentionally sat next to Sihyeon during lunch and even gave him his favorite side dish.

‘Is it right to do this..?’

Riya’s own sign of liking towards Sihyeon.

No, it was a huge favor for Riyaro, who had never expressed proper gratitude or favor to anyone before.

Because it was Riya who was trying hard to show favor just by looking at her from the side.

Anyway, the only time these two were away from kindergarten was during nap time.

To be exact, Sihyeon took a nap, and Riya did not.

‘This body… is not efficient.’

Is it because I use my brain despite my young body?

When it was time for a nap, I felt drowsy, like a ghost.

Because of that, an inevitable nap is inevitable.

Now that it’s almost nap time, I’m starting to feel drowsy.

Riya opened her mouth after drawing for the first time in a long time.

“Sihyeon… Are you going to take a nap..?”

“Yes, I’m sleepy.”

“Ummmm…”

With those words, Riya stops drawing as if she is a little worried.

Not long after that, nap time came.

Sihyeon’s seat was in a corner.

It wasn’t a very good experience to be mixed in with those kids and get kicked.

I was about to sleep after getting into the blanket feeling a little tired.

“…?”

Someone pushed through the blanket that Sihyeon was covering and came inside.

When I lift my heavy eyes and look ahead, I see this.

It was the pure white silver hair and clear blue eyes that I had been seeing over and over again for the past few days.

“Liya…?”

Riya looked quite strange as she had never taken a nap before.

Unlike Sihyeon, who looked like she was about to fall asleep at any moment, Riya’s eyes were clear.

“Let’s sleep together…”

“Together…?”

“Yes, don’t fall….”

After saying that, Riya reached out and grabbed Sihyeon’s arm.

Riya squeezes his arm tightly with her two small hands as if she doesn’t want to let go.

The next moment, Riya suddenly looked at him with anxiety.

It was so expressionless that I couldn’t tell unless I looked closely.

She also didn’t know why she was anxious.

No, I didn’t even know that this feeling was anxiety in the first place.

It was just that I was no longer indifferent to Sihyeon, who was now favored in my heart.

“I don’t like it…?”

Riya asks, holding his arm even more tightly.

Sihyeon also responded by holding her arm.

Even though it was in her sleep, it didn’t change the meaning conveyed to her because it was her innermost thoughts.

“I don’t like it…”

“…Really..?”

“Yes… Okay…”

With those words, Sihyeon closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Riya, who had been watching him like that for a long time, wrapped both hands around Sihyeon’s arm and closed her eyes as well.