how cliché it'd be to describe sooa as the shy popular girl who was best friends with the outgoing popular boy...

sorry, but that's exactly what's gonna happen.

the fantastic eleven, consisting of eleven high schoolers who've been best friends since primary school.

some fully korean, some fully japanese, one fully chinese- and some mixed of everything.

even if they were all different ages, the eldest being a '00 liner and the youngest an '05 liner, you'd never one anywhere without the other ten.

well, with the exception of a certain two.

kim sooa and hwang intak go way back- further than the womb days.

their mothers had become best friends in their earlier middle school days, both girls promising the other to never leave her side, through thick and thin.

when they both became pregnant at 17, it was.. not accepted well.

many onlookers called them foul names, claiming vile things had happened and that even worse would happen.

the pair helped the other keep her head held high, never missing a check-up or a vitamin.

when the kim girl went into labor only six and a half months into her term, the hwang girl worried for her best friend- pinky promising to never leave her side.

even in the back of an ambulance, the night of may 25, 2003.

chaewon's hand was crushed by chaeyeong's own, the latter struggling to keep her breathing steady, the sound of her best friend's voice being her only succour. the encouraging words which fell chaewon's lips soothed her heart, being told she'd be able to do this- even if it seemed impossible.

later in the night the two found themselves in the hospital, droplets of sweat drenching the younger chae's body, only to be wiped by the older's cloth-covered hand.

chaewon's eyes squeezed themselves shut, a natural reaction when the sound booming directly next to your ear is your best friend's throaty, distressed cry and your circulation is at its breaking point.

but she didn't mind.

she never did, especially not when her eyes laid upon the babygirl she held in her comforting arms, 13 hours after their arrival to the hospital.

she looked over, eyes landing on her sleeping best friend. she looks tired, she thought- however soon internally giggled at the notion. of course she's tired, she just completed one of the most difficult tasks of a woman's life- childbirth.

her orbs turned into pits of admiration for the younger girl, questions of whether or not she'd be able to complete her assignment in an approximate two and a half months appearing in her mind.

news flash- she did.

chaeyeong repeated her unnie's actions as they'd switched roles, holding her lips against the older's hand as she gave the final push- the sounds of a baby's cry filling the room.

"you did it, you did so well," she spoke into won's dampened hair, the older crying out in relief.

a week later, they found themselves in their shared apartment, bottlefeeding the other's baby.

both chae's eyes sparkled with amazement as they looked at their adopted godchild, wondering if they'd be as close as they themselves were.

the younger of the pair suddenly had a bright idea, looking up at her unnie as she burped the baby boy.

"remember the promise we made in middle school?"

chaewon looked up from the baby girl, "we said 'let's stay best friends forever' and then shared a banana milk," she responded, giggling at the memory.

"right," she said, looking at her daughter and back to the boy in her arms, "it came sooner than expected, but do you still wanna keep the second one?"

"let's make our kids get married in the future?"

the younger nodded, "deal."

years later, the chae pair stayed back as they watched intak and sooa playing in their shared playground, their melodic screams and giggles filling the air.

"school is starting soon," the now 20-year old chaewon softly spoke, yeong looking over at her.
"why though.." she dragged out, "can't we just wait until they're seven like everyone else does?"

won looked over at the younger with are you serious? eyes, "do you really want to make our kids wait to develop their social skills?"
"well.. they're gonna end up marrying eachother, anyways.. who else do they need besides themselves?"

"the bridesmaids and groomsmen? there is no way we're paying for the entire thing.. these kids have expensive taste."

yeong giggled, nodding her head, "you're right,"

the pair sat in a comfortable silence before speaking up at the same time,
"wanna do the international one?"
"wanna do the international one?"

they chuckled at their uncanny similarities, happy at their similar thoughts on how to go about staring their kids' school life.

"does intak's say the same?"
"'intak seems to get along with the same group of classmates.. but it's only ever them. perhaps you could talk to him about not sticking to the same crowd and spreading around.'?"

chaeyeong slammed the paper down on the counter, won doing the same.
"so what if they stay with the same kids? is it a crime?"

"mommy, mommy!" the girl's exclaim filled the parking lot, intak chasing after her with a wide smile on his face.
"we made new friends today! they're baby babies.. they're so cute!"

"yeah! and one is half.. um.."
"japenese, innie!" the girl mispronounced, sounding as confident as ever.
"yeah! japenese!" the slightly younger blindly agreed, smiles filling the chae pair's faces.

"yeah? will the baby babies be added to your friend group?" yeong asked the two, sooa's eyes lighting up in excitement.
"innie! innie! they can be in our group!"
"yeah!" he agreed, highfiving the girl as they were buckled into their carseats.

the eleven, including their moms instead of the pair, walked behind intak and sooa in the airport.

they walked in as far as they were able to, the pair holding all their important legal documents in one hand, rolling their luggage with the other.

the pair started off by hugging their group, all eleven teens embraced in a group hug.
"don't forget us,"
"please don't replace us with new zealanders.."

sooa laughed, "it'll be hard to if you all promised to call at the same time every day,"

taeyang shrugged, speaking at the same time as minjeong, "it's to make sure you two don't leave us,"

the travelling pair laughed in delight, letting go of the large embrace before moving to their mothers, going into a smaller circle.

"stay safe,"
"don't do anything bad,"
"listen to your host family,"
"study hard,"
"eat well,"
"stay together."

"yes mom's," the pair said in sync, quietly giggling afterwards.

( 结束 )