The first promise

The second time Adonia saw Min Yoongi, it was a Tuesday. She had just returned home from school, skipping through the front door of their house with her mother close behind her. While her mother briefly told her that she would be in the kitchen making dinner, Adonia hummed in acknowledgment as she made her way to the living room, pulling out her sketchbook from her backpack and getting to work.

She hadn’t known how much time had passed before loud voices carried into the room and she felt the cushion beside her on the couch dip under the weight of someone else. Only when she glanced up did she realize sitting beside her was her brother’s friend, Yoongi.

Now, Adonia had successfully found out a few things about the boy beside her over the past few weeks that he had become friends with her brother. While Seokjin was busy gaming, she would nag and nag and nag him to tell her more about his friend, to which Seokjin always teased her, telling Adonia that he was too old for her. She had only huffed and rolled her eyes, deciding to keep her mouth shut and deal with the information she had already gathered.

And to her diary, it all went......

Min Yoongi was his full name. He was around the same age as her brother, so about twelve, almost thirteen—around a little over one or close to two years older than her, but two grades apart due to the cut-off. He was new to the team, just recently moving to Seoul from Daegu because his father got a new job there and apparently it was paying better, so they decided to enroll Yoongi in the same school that Seokjin went to. 

That also meant that he had begged his parents to let him join a local basketball team in hopes of maintaining some familiarity with his old life. And he was surprisingly good, already mastering most of the positions and slowly improving their team bit by bit. And . . . he had the prettiest eyes Adonia had ever seen. (Although, the latter fact being one that she had added entirely on her own.)

And as he sat beside her on that couch, she realized his eyes were even prettier than she had originally noted. When he offered her a small friendly smile, she could have sworn she was going to puke a butterfly.

But the boy turned away a second later and she realized she had been staring up at him with a wide (maybe too wide) toothy grin.

she heard her brother call her name, drawing her attention. Only then as she turned to look at her brother did she realize Yoongi was only sitting beside her because her brother and his other friend from the team, Jung Hoseok were occupying the only other couch in the living room. And then she realized why they were in there—they wanted the TV and that meant Seokjin would be nagging her to leave them be any minute.

“Nuh-uh, I was here first,” Adonia quickly groaned out before her brother could say a word, stomping her feet on the ground.

Seokjin sighed. “We’re watching a horror movie. You’ll get scared,” he told her, his brows raised. He thought he was so much older now since his birthday would be in a few weeks, but she was older too. she'd be eleven in December . She could so watch a scary movie.

“I like scary movies,” she lied. “I watch them all the time.” Another lie.

"You still watch Matilda," Seokjin countered. "You're practically four."

Adonia shot him a look. "I'm ten, you four-eyed freak."

While Seokjin gave her a pointed look and lifted his glasses up his nose, Hoseok gave a small laugh. she, however, glanced at Yoongi beside het, seeing he was looking at his friends, a small smile on his face.

Fortunately for her, Seokjin let her stay as he started the movie. But she immediately lowered her eyes to her sketchbook, drawing to distract herself from the noises coming from the television. About thirty minutes in, trying to mask her fear by drawing more and more, she heard Yoongi speak . . . to her.

“That’s cool.”

She stopped and looked up at him, speechless. “What?”

“Your drawing,” Yoongi whispered, pointing at her sketchbook. “I think it’s cool. You’re . . . really good.”

Adonia turned bashful. “Oh. Thank you.”

A scream from the television, however, made her jump, causing her eyes to squeeze shut.She opened them, slightly more embarrassed now as she avoided eye contact with the older boy. Her eyes drooped to her sketchbook a second later, too embarrassed to look him in the eyes. One look from those feline-like eyes would surely make her embarrass even more, and she had done enough of that tonight. But the boy didn’t let her dwell in her embarrassment for much longer before he reached behind him, grabbed a pillow, and offered it out to her.

Adonia glanced between the pillow and Yoongi’s face.

The boy only offered a small smile. “Block the screen with it,” he began. “It helps . . . a little.”

She smiled, bashfully. “Thank you,” she mumbled as she took the pillow and rested it on her knees that were bent to her chest. And he was right. The pillow did block the screen, allowing her to rest a little easier now that she didn’t have to endure the jump scares through her peripheral.

And just when she thought her heart couldn't beat faster, Yoongi whispered to her, “Don’t worry, I promise I won’t tell your brother you’re scared as long as you don’t tell him I am too.”

Adonia blinked.

Yoongi scrunched his nose as he held out his pinky finger, gesturing for her to solidify the promise.

And how could she oppose?

She couldn’t.

Adonia reached for his pinky with a grin on her face, linking their pinkies together and shaking. This was their first promise, but she could tell it wouldn’t be the last.

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