Looking back now, it seems the most important times of my life were my teenage years, I’m not that old now, however I was a lot younger then, and a lot unwise. I never thought at the time everything would become so affected, I thought most things were merely a game and not to be taken too seriously, that's what I was told anyway. I grew up in a town called Jeju in South Korea. I was always thought to be some sort of special artefact to be looked upon and shared for an audience of thousands, you see, my mother a fully Korean woman, met my dad, A fully English man in spring of 1973 and had me 4 years later, making me the produce of a pretty misunderstood and pretty unappreciated type of relationship at the time, thankfully now, mixed children and adults of any two races can finally walk the earth as if it was built for them and only them, something that could never be dreamed of before. A few years later in 1989, I had started high school. I attended a place translated 'Kim Sojung' Academy for girls', it was an alright place, the teachers cared enough to teach the class and no other students really got into each other’s way. I will admit, I was a liked child, but I was nothing special, nothing could ever be special about a girl walking down the corridor in a hand knitted school jumper topped off with strands of hair flying in all directions. Although, even though I thought this, it was apparent I was breaking news around the school “have you heard about the girl over there, she's white.” I heard a girl whisper to her friend before they sloped off to their lesson. Even if I did have the opportunity to confront them about it, would there have been much point? I never disliked the way I looked, in fact I embraced it, I was proud to be unlike the others, however I did gain me much attention, which was sometimes not wanted.

The first time I bumped into him was in the corridor I think, either there or in the music room, he was a musical boy, always singing to himself or humming quietly when he knew someone was listening. “Are you lost?” those were the first words he ever said to me, we laughed about it later. “No, I have band practise, I just- have you moved music room 1 or something?” I said, checking my map of the Boys' School. I had to go to the boys school every Tuesday and Friday for band practise after school, I promise you, it was not my choice, my father just happened to be an avid Beethoven fan. I played the triangle. “Oh, it's not on today.” he said in a matter of fact tone, one I’d grow to love. “Mr. Jeon is on holiday.” I remember staring blankly at his face, not in a love sort of way, but in a 'how does a music teacher on a small wage get the money to get a holiday' look. “Oh, that's brilliant, I’ll have to wait here until six for my mum to pick me up.” I said sarcastically, checking my wrist watch, urging the minutes to go by quicker. “That's fine, I have to stay here until quarter to Six to finish cleaning.” The boy said, I noticed he was mopping the floor while I was rushing around like a lost soul in the corridor. “You clean? Here?” I asked. “It's a paying job, it was either this or living off my mother, and we don't want that.” He continued to mop the floor while I watched, I’ll be honest, the boy looked cute when he was practically hitting the floor with the mop instead of cleaning anything. “What's your name, I don’t recognise you?” I asked him, without sounding big headed or anything, I knew many people in the surrounding schools, I say 'knew' more like I could match the name to the face. “Oh I don't go here, no I'm done with school now.” he said in a hurry. “I'm Taehyung.. I think I know who you are though, You're um, Um” he snapped his fingers and stuck his tongue out trying to figure out the beautiful name of the practically glowing enigma standing before him, I can safely say that that is not an accurate description of 5 o clock me. “It's Dorothy.” My mum loved the Wizard of Oz, end of story. “Wow, that's an..” he paused for a second, trying to think of the word to describe one of the most hated names in 1989 since 'Chad'. “it's interesting, I like it” he said, with a grin on his face. I couldn't help but smile at the floor, I tucked my hair behind my ear and checked my watch, I had another 40 minutes until my mum would pick me up. Taehyung carried on mopping the floor while I browsed my options, I could've stayed there, or I could've walked home- No, it was too far away. I could stay with this boy I thought, he seems nice enough. “Hey, Taehyung? Is it okay if I-.” “HEY LOSER!” I looked up, I was stopped in my tracks by a loud voice from across the corridor, a boy with slick back blonde hair came running down the hall with a wet sponge in his hand, every step he took nearer took a chunk of my will to live away from me. Great, the first chance I get to meet a boy that is willing to talk to me, his greasy friend has to come and crash the party. “How are you still mopping this floor, literally, I've finished cleaning at least 4 classrooms.” He said to Taehyung, they both had huge grins on their faces, I struggled to find what was so entertaining about having to clean a school in your spare time as a job. “Oh shut up, this corridor is huge compared to your tine classrooms.” Taehyung lunged for the boy with his mop, instead splashing the surrounding area, including me. Both boys gasped. “Aish, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry” Taehyung said in a panic. I didn't care one bit. “It's fine really, they're just tights.” I laughed while Taehyung stood there awkwardly. The other boy just stared at me, with no regard that I was aware “Who are you? Band practise isn't on today.” he said rudely, I decided I didn't like him, I recognised him though, maybe he dated a girl in my year, I couldn't remember his name for the life of me. “Namjoon, this is Dorothy.” IT WAS HIM! The son of my English teacher at school. All I heard about a boy called Namjoon was that he was trouble. I heard he once went to jail because of robbery, I couldn't help but think that was just a rumour though. Taehyung looked at Namjoon, and then at me, I knew Namjoon recognised me when his eyes became full of life. “Aigoo, are you really Dorothy? You're the English one, or American? Aish, you're a lot prettier in real life, I think you dated my friend, he said-.” He asked me in a hurry, I felt as if I were a celebrity in front of two childish pre pubescent boys asking for signatures. “Yes, I couldn't imagine how you know me though… are you not the son of Miss Kim?” I asked him, he didn't answer, his toothy grin faded into a mere smile. “I'm leaving in 20 minutes okay? Meet me outside the science block.” he patted Taehyung on the back and threw his sponge into the bucket, causing a splash that hit both me and Taehyung. “Ha bye loser.. Bye Dorothy.” He said before he once again smirked, then proceeded to run off. “Sorry about him.” Taehyung said, I told him it was okay, it's not his fault if his friends are like that, and it certainly wasn't, all I know was that he was different and that I wanted to know him as much as possible.

I ended up staying with him until Six when my mum came to pick me up, I can't remember what we talked about, I wish I had I could've stayed there for hours longer talking to him. We sat there in the corridor with a can of Coke shared between us perched up against the wall, I knew this wasn't going to be the last time I would see him.