My feet crunch the frozen, shivering grass as I walk across the field. Ahead of me, I can see the blobs of color of guys running around. I shove my hands in my pockets and bow my head to the vicious wind. In my head, I’m rehearsing what I’m going to say: Wonwoo, I don’t understand, could you please explain what’s going on? Hey Wonwoo, we’re old friends. I know everything has been a little rough lately, but that doesn’t mean we can’t even look at one another. Wonwoo! I demand an explanation. Why did you ignore me today? I’m so intent on what I should say that I almost walk straight into the broad chest of a team player. 

"Woah," he says, steadying me. His eyes flick across my face, and he takes a step back. "Oh, you’re, uh, Wonwoo’s girl. I’ll get him for you." 

I am not Wonwoo’s girl. 

The guy runs off, heading towards the colored dark blue blob. He says a few words to him, carried on the wind: 

"Dude, it’s that girl of yours, what was her name? Homo or something?"

"She’s not my girl," Wonwoo says gruffly, not even bothering to correct the name. 

"Whatever, man. I think she wants to talk to you." 

I jiggle up and down a little, trying to keep warm. I catch the first half of Wonwoo’s next sentence: "Well tell her I don’t wa‐" but the rest is muffled as he turns away. But it’s not like it would take a genius to figure the rest out. 

The sharp wind is causing tears to sting at my eyes. When Wonwoo's teammate comes back and sees me nearly crying, he immediately looks at a loss. This guy is massive and tough, and I can't help but find it ammusing that it appears he can't stand to see a girl cry.

"Aw, come on now. I'll go get him one last time. You wait here. You'll be, um, be ok, right?"

What does he think I'm going to do? Suddenly fall down dead in the middle of the field? "Yeah." I say, shortly.

I watch him walk back to Wonwoo. This time, the only word I catch is 'crying'. It makes Wonwoo stop. I can almost hear his sigh, and then he starts walking towards my direction.

"What?" he asks.

I don’t know what to say. All the openings I thought of earlier have either left my head or seem terribly wrong. "I –''

"Look, I’m losing training time."

"Wait! I – Wonwoo. Why did you ignore me today in the corridors?" 

He looks at me incredulously. "You came here to ask me that? Jesus ing Christ, Momo. You rang me up on Saturday morning, saying you wanted to call it quits. I still adored you enough to accept that because I knew that I had been a real the day before. I thought that was it. Then, I get to school this morning, and what do I hear? Before you’d even broken up with me, you were kissing someone else at a party. And not just anyone. A goddamn girl. That girl who you had been ‘hanging out’ with nearly every ing second of every ing day! You had a sleepover with her. How long had you been with her behind my back?"

His face is red, his words sharp and accusing. I feel like I’ve been slapped. "It wasn’t like that."

"No? Then what was it like? Did you just suddenly decide to kiss her on Friday night?" 

I say nothing. I understand now. And I wish I didn’t. 

"We are over, Momo. I want as little to do with you and that girl as possible, do you understand?"

"Yes." The word is choked out. 

He stares at me for a second, and then turns and walks sharply away. 

After watching his retreating frame for a second, I do the same. 

Is what I feel for Mina actully disgusting? Is it unnatural? The way he said 'a goddamn girl', made me feel so repulsive, it was like I'd become something he couldn't stand. I'm just a teenager, just trying to find someone who makes me happy.

And Mina does that. She makes me smile.

She makes me laugh. I don't feel the awkward girl I am when I'm around her. I can laugh at myself, I can laugh at her, I am able to live life to the fullest.

I’ve always had an overactive imagination, and images of people taunting me, of ignoring me, of talking about me behind me back rise unbidden. But I push them back down. 

Mina makes me happy. 

I just severed the last of my ties to Wonwoo. 

I. Am. Free. 

When my phone starts ringing, I pull it out of my bag. It’s Mina. I wipe the last of the tears from my eyes and put on a smile, hoping she’ll be able to hear it in my voice. "Hey."

She launches right into it ‐ of course she does. That's how she does with everything. That's how she lives. "Momo. I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for coming around to your house uninvited last night. I know it turned out well – at least, I thought it did – but I shouldn’t have just turned up on your door and told your mom I’m your girlfriend. It put you in an awkward situation, and I’m sorry."

A bubble of laughter escapes my lips. "Are you kidding me? Alright, yes, at first, I was like ‘what the hell are you doing here?" I laugh. "But you don’t need to apologize – in fact I should probably be thanking you. My mom loves you."

Her giggle comes down the phone. "Your mom is awesome." I suddenly remember her mother, and the way she looked at me. And Mins saying that she hardly ever sees her dad, he’s always down in their garage painting. My train of thought is cut off when she says – "But hey, now I’ve got that off my chest, I was actually ringing you up for another reason."

"Yeah?" I say. 

"How’d you like to go on a date with me tonight? We’re a forty minute drive from one of the last remaining drive‐in movie theatres in the country. And uh... I only have my learne's driving license, but in our small town- well we both know the local sheriff won't care. I'd really like to go with you, so, are you free tonight?"

Suddenly, my whole conversation with Wonwoo is forgotten. This will be our first real date! 

"I’d love to," I say.