[o n e]

♤Prologue♤

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"Mom?"

"Yes, darling?"

"You always make promises to me and my big brothers."

"I always do, honey."

"Some people said promises don't last forever... And it isn't always kept and that it's always broken... Is that true mommy?"

"..... I don't know baby.. But for me it isn't"

"Why do you say that?"

"Because when I make promises, I always keep them. No matter how big or small, if it's for you and your big brothers, I wouldn't dare break it"

"Well... can you promise me one more thing?"

"Of course, anything for you sweetheart"

"Promise that you won't leave me. Oh, and my big brothers too. And that you'll love us and stay with us forever."

The woman was taken aback by the little girl that sat in her lap, currently looking up at her with hopeful eyes.

"Ji-rae... What about when you grow up? There will be a time when you will need to be by yourself with your brothers... Someday, you will have to..."

"Have to what, mommy?"

"Someday.. I will have to go somewhere.. very very far from home.. and I will have to leave you.."

"Then we'll go with you!"

"You can't, Ji-rae... It's a very long and tiring journey there.."

"But.."

"Don't worry. I will promise to still love you and your brothers even if I'm not that close to you."

"Then you promise you'll come back from the trip right? You promise that we'll stay together after that? We'll see eachother again right?"

"I will, darling. I promise. We'll see eachother again. But what I can't promise is that we'll stay together forever"

"But..."

"..?"

"You aren't leaving yet, right mommy? Please don't leave yet.. I'll miss you" The little girl hugged her mother tightly, as if her mother would vanish forever and never come back if she let go.

"I.... I'm sorry baby.. But I have to."

"No mommy. Please, not yet.." The girl tried to hold back her tears as she felt her mother slowly begin to drift.

She closed her eyes to blink the tears away and when she opened them again,

She was gone.

What she saw in her mother's previous place was instead a white butterfly.

She stared at it as it began to fly farther away from her.

"N-no, please..." she pleaded reaching her hand out, hoping it would come back to her and never leave.

However, that hope had vanished as she saw the butterfly far, far away, and up above. Flying farther away from her.

She closed her eyes and cried, still silently pleading.

When Ji-Rae opened her eyes she found herself lied on the grass, under a tree.

"Huh?.."

The 6 year old child sat up and looked around, wiping away the tears that were on her eyes. She noticed that she was in a garden, a meadow maybe. She was surrounded with different flowers that were in full bloom, some are small and some are big.

"Why am I here?" Ji-Rae wondered while she scanned the scenery around her.

"Ah" she put her hand on her head, finally knowing why she was there, "Right. Me and him were supposed to meet here"

She spotted a white butterfly fluttering close by. She stared at it, failing to notice it fluttering closer to her.

By the time she noticed, it had settled itself on her knee, slowly opening and closing it's wings to show off it's color that were as clean and pure.

Ji-Rae frowned.

"Why are you here? Came here to tease me again? I told you, you don't need to watch over me while mom is gone!" She said, staring at the butterfly that was settled comfortably on her knee.

The only thing the butterfly did was open and close it's wings. This however, annoyed the girl more.

"Why would she even go through the trouble of sending you over here anyway if she can't come here herself? I want mommy to come here, not you! I miss her, not you!! I don't need you! Now go!!" The annoyed child fumed, tears slowly appearing at the corners of her dark brown eyes in both at the mention of her long-gone mother and annoyance.

"Go!!" She shooed the butterfly away, swiping away the tears that were earlier threatening to escape from her eyes.

The butterfly left her knee and flew away, fluttering on to it's next desired destination. Ji-Rae huffed and calmed herself.

"Mean Pest..." she crossed her arms and huffed again.

"JIJI!!!" A shout of a boy came from a distance. Ji-Rae turned her head towards where the shout came from.

She saw a brown haired boy with a fair and pale complexion running towards her with a smile, smiling and waving at her as he got closer and closer.

The boy stopped when he was a step away from the girl. Ji-Rae stared up at him while he smiled.

"Hi Ji-Rae!" The half-American-half-Korean boy said in english, smiling down at the girl.

"You.." Ji-Rae said while she stood up.

The ever so kind boy perked up, "Ye- Ah!" He got cut off when the girl hit his chest, making him shield himself with his arms in case the girl wanted to hit him more as punishment.

"You're late, you idiot! I was waiting for you for an hour now! What took you so long, huh? I fell asleep from waiting!" The girl pouted.

"Sorry Jiji. I had to help Uncle cook. Hehe" he laughed, still smiling despite the hit he got from Ji-Rae.

"Tch.. It's okay.. Just don't make me wait again! Okay? You know I don't like waiting.."

"Oh really? I thought you were really patient. I remember a time you told me you would wait for me to come back from a field trip even if it took-"

"Ah shush shush! You can stop now, I get the point!" She covered the boy's mouth to stop him from sputting out more words she didn't need to hear.

She laughed at the look her best friend gave her, but it was short-lived when she felt something soft and wet glide across her palm.

She pulled her hand back and noticed it was a bit wet with the boy's spit.

"Hey! Gross! Why'd you lick my hand!" She wiped her hand on his shirt while the said boy laughed.

"You were covering my mouth dummy, what do you expect?" He laughed.

"Forget it.. So, what are we gonna do now? It's late now, so we can't play anymore. It'll be dark soon"

"We sit down" The boy sat and pulled Ji-Rae down to sit next to him.

"Then?" The girl asked.

"Hmm..." The blue-eyed korean American thought, "Oh I know! We kiss~" He joked.

"KOMA!" He got a smack to the head from the embarrased and red-faced girl next to him.

"Ow! I was kidding!" He held Ji-Rae's hand and chuckled. "We're just gonna talk about what we did today. No kissing!"

"Good. I don't like kissing, it's gross" Ji-Rae crossed her arms.

Ray-Jin laughed. "By the way, why do you call me Koma? You can just call me by my name you know? Also don't you think the nickname 'Koma' sounds more like a pet's name?"

"I like Koma! Plus I gave you the nickname because I got it from 'Korean-American' by playing with thenwords a bit" Ji-Rae giggled at what she thought was a genius idea.

"But it still sounds like a pet name.. I'm not a pet.." The boy pouted.

"Well, you are in most cases. Because you act like a puppy and you look like one! So it suits you" Ji-Rae smiled.

"Hmph.. I sti-"

"Ah! I forgot!" Ji-Rae straightened up, cutting her pouting friend off.

"Wha-"

"Did you get to study for the quiz?" She asked quickly, turning to her best friend.

The boy stared at her for a minute, before his eyes widened.

"I didn't get to finish." He put his fingers to his lips, rubbing them to his lips in sudden shock.

"Can you help me with mine? The teacher wants us to answer the quiz in english but I'm not good in english"

"I don't know, Uncle said I shouldn't share my answers with anyone when it comes to homework.." The hesitant boy looked to the side.

"Please?~" Ji-Rae pleaded, giving the boy her best puppy eyes.

He thought for a bit but then agreed, "Alright. But, you have to promise me to help me with mine. Okay?"

"Koma, you know I'm not good at english" Ji-Rae stared at him with a look.

"What? It's only fair. I help you and you help me!" He grinned and began speaking in his fluent language, "Teamwork makes the dream work~ Remember? Now promise me!"

"Aishh okay.."

"English~"

"What? Why?"

"Please, I like hearing you speak english"

Ji-Rae giggled.

"Yes, I promise"