My Platinum-Blond Childhood Friend Is So Pretty

1 – 01. Becoming Best Friends with the Refined Platinum Blonde Princess

Alicia.

Alicia Cecilia Blomberg.

When she, with a Korean mother and a Swedish father, came to Korea at the age of 5 due to her father’s business, not everything appealed to her.

Actually, she had no thoughts at first, but she quickly grew tired of the excessive attention she received when walking down the street.

Although most of the looks were filled with favor towards the cute platinum blonde girl, it was too burdensome for her as a young child.

“Annoying. Feels like I’ve become a deer.”

Like the deer she had watched at the zoo holding hands with her dad, she felt like a spectacle for everyone outside.

She disliked the attention from people outside, and in the daycare she attended, the opposite—avoidance and indifference—made her life difficult.

“Alicia~ Do you want to greet these friends?”

“…Hello. Hi.”

When she first came here, she thought playing with kids her age was much better than being with tall adults.

A Korean mom. A dad who learned Korean after marrying her mom.

Thanks to her parents, she also knew a bit of Korean and was quite good at it for a 5-year-old who had Swedish as her mother tongue.

But since she didn’t use it frequently, the pronunciation was a bit unclear.

“Yoonji, want to play with blocks together with Alicia and the teacher here?”

“No! I’m playing over there!”

Tadadak!

“……”

“……”

“……Should I do it with the teacher?”

“…I want to read a book.”

Rather than Mi-Chu’s classification, the students with hair of a different color and a different feel of skin and appearance stood out more. They couldn’t even communicate properly.

This was enough for her to be isolated in the daycare.

Alicia, who was both smart and perceptive, noticed it immediately on her first day.

That the other kids were wary of her. That there wasn’t a child who wanted to greet her and play with her like Mel and Chrischer did in Sweden.

Similar, but different.

“I don’t need you either. Fairy tales are much better.”

So, from the day she entered the daycare, for about a week.

She pretended to be strong and immersed herself in countless fairy tales.

It wasn’t because fairy tales were interesting. She simply preferred playing and running around rather than sitting down and playing.

She just pretended to study by reading fairy tales.

Thanks to her mother, she was somewhat familiar with the language of the country she would live in in the future.

She watched Korean videos on YouTube at home, and read fairy tales at the daycare, trying to become even a little similar to the children around her, to be able to have ordinary conversations.

“What should I do… What should I do, Teacher Yeongeun?! I don’t know how to handle this…!”

“W-well…Let’s help Alicia with her studies as much as possible since she’s making an effort…”

“Is there no other option…?”

The daycare teachers also knew. They knew that Alicia was making an effort to assimilate with her surroundings.

At just five years old, it was truly remarkable that she was putting in effort instead of crying and complaining.

If there was a problem, it was that due to her noticeable appearance rather than her inability to speak, the other children couldn’t easily approach her.

They couldn’t reveal that cruel truth, so they decided to help Alicia with her studies at least.

Since their attempts to make the children play together in the beginning had failed, they knew that forcing the kids to stick together would only cause more pain.

And so.

Alicia would occasionally sneak glances at the other children while studying with fairy tales.

The daycare teachers, who found Alicia both adorable and pitiable for being unable to fit in with the other kids, silently watched her.

This situation continued for about two weeks.

The child entered the daycare.

Lee Doyoon.

Due to a delay in moving, the registration had been done in advance, but the boy ended up coming to the daycare only after the move had taken place.

And then.

“Do you want to draw together?”

Unlike the other children, the boy immediately approached Alicia and asked her to draw together.

For a boy who had just arrived at the daycare, it was a sudden and unexpected behavior, as it was natural for a child to feel anxious about being separated from their parents.

Although it was sudden.

The teacher, who was holding Lee Doyoon’s hand and taking him to the playroom, as well as the other teacher who discreetly paid attention to Alicia nearby.

“Go for it! Be strong! You are our hope!”

Everyone supported him with one heart.

Alicia’s problem was partly due to her prickly personality, but the biggest issue was that the other children couldn’t approach her.

That’s why, like the current Lee Doyoon, seizing the opportunity to approach first was extremely valuable.

The teachers who knew how much Alicia made other children feel sorry for themselves didn’t doubt that she would be delighted and play with him during this golden opportunity.

They didn’t doubt… but…

“It’s disgusting.”

Betraying all those expectations, Alicia turned her head indifferently, as if she had learned that phrase from some bad YouTube video.

The teachers shook their heads.

They thought this situation would escalate.

Although he was only 5 years old, the language-related development of children these days was much faster compared to the past.

Especially when it came to curses, they quickly learned them through various video media.

They thought the boy, who received such a harsh rejection, would get hurt and cry, or at the very least, would no longer approach Alicia.

They thought one of those two reactions would happen.

However.

“You’re Princess Aru, right? I love that! Let’s draw together! A drawing…uh?”

Whether it was because of his unclear pronunciation or because he didn’t pay attention even after hearing it, the boy who had just arrived at the daycare ignored Alicia’s solid defense with one ear.

Not only that, but with immense friendliness, he approached her even closer, and now he realized that he had no drawing tools for himself and became flustered.

Witnessing his anxious behavior, Kim Mina, the teacher in charge of the Sunflower class, moved like a supernova.

“Hey, here’s the sketchbook! Dooyoon, you like drawing? Want to draw together with me?”

“Thank you!”

Quickly, she handed them the sketchbook, along with colored pencils and crayons.

In that moment, she could see.

“….”

Looking at Dooyoon, who didn’t seem to care about her words despite Alicia unintentionally snapping back with rough words to the peer’s pure approach she hadn’t experienced before.

She observed Dooyoon, pretending to be indifferent while holding the colored pencils.

“Hey, what’s your name?”

“…Alicia.”

“Alicia?”

“Alicia!”

“Wow… even your name sounds like a princess! I’m Lee Dooyoon!”

“Hmph.”

Lee Dooyoon with thick black hair, smiling warmly and engaging in conversation, and Alicia, the platinum blonde girl, reserved but earnestly responding.

That’s how their first meeting went.

Naturally, they became best friends in the kindergarten’s Sun Class.

***

As a child, I loved playing with Alicia.

The thought that the princess I had imagined existed in reality made me excited just by being around her.

However.

My wish to draw princesses with that princess.

It couldn’t be realized due to Alicia, who wandered around the kindergarten as if to release something suppressed within her.

For the first two or three days, I drew pictures alone with colored pencils beside her reserved face.

A few days later.

She must have realized no matter how much she grumbled, I stubbornly stuck around, as Alicia allowed me by her side.

“Alicia! Let’s draw…”

“Go ahead.”

“To draw…”

“Go ahead.”

“I want to draw a princess…”

“Go ahead.”

“Let’s go on the swing.”

“A swing?…”

“Swing.”

“Do you want to start with the swing? Let’s ride the swing and draw a picture!”

“Alright.”

She seemed modest and obedient like a princess, but she turned out to be a self-centered queen herself.

I was also someone who acted in my own pace, but I ended up disregarding all that and started following my own desires.

I did enjoy drawing, but I didn’t mind playing actively with Alicia either.

Yes.

I just fell in love with Alicia at first sight.

Her appearance was that of an ideal princess I had always imagined, so I could enjoy doing anything with her.

So we rode the swing together.

“Slide… Migreondul.”

“What’s that?”

“That.”

“A slide?”

“Let’s ride it.”

“Uh-huh… Let’s ride the swing and draw pictures…”

“That.”

“A picture…”

“Ride.”

“Just ride and draw pictures on that?”

“Let’s go ride.”

We also rode the slide.

“And that over there.”

“We can’t draw pictures if we ride that, right?”

“That.”

“A seesaw?”

“See… saw. Let’s ride the seesaw.”

“What about drawing pictures…”

“Si. So.”

“Here.”

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We rode the seesaw.

There was no room for my opinion there.

Although I couldn’t let go of my passion for drawing, I willingly followed her.

And every time.

Instead of fighting over who would ride first whenever we wanted to get on, thanks to the children who quietly avoided and stepped back.

No.

Because of them.

Alicia became more attached to me during these times. For her, I was her first friend in Korea, and her only friend.

Actually, it was a “good thing” for me. I could play alone with Alicia.

And during nap time that day.

Thanks to the consideration of Alicia’s teachers, I, who had been sleeping next to her since the first day, heard her whispering voice as she lay beside me, holding onto the collar of my clothes and letting her beautiful platinum blonde hair flow onto the pillow.

“Eli.”

“Hmm… Eli…?”

“I’m calling you Eli.”

“Alicia, right…?”

“Eli.”

“Alicia…”

“Eli.”

“Eli.”

“Hmph.”

Only when she heard me pronounce “Eli” correctly with sleepy eyes that I allowed myself to sleep.

Her white cheeks were tinged with peachy color, and a smile lingered on her lips.

At that time, I didn’t know why she did that, but as I grew up a bit, I realized that it was a nickname.

Originally, it was just a name granted between close friends, but at that time, in our country, only Alicia’s parents called her Eli.

I was added to that.

After just a few days.

As her one and only best friend.