-L. Joe’s POV-

It was summer. I was ten, studying taekwondo. I belong to the advance class with several kids, all seemingly ordinary until one person caught my eye. At a very young age, that kid didn’t look like most kids. His hair was cropped up into stylish spikes while his wide, bright eyes made him look androgynous. He neither talked nor played. We were all boys in that class or so I thought and it was only a matter of time before I saw the other kids picking on that peculiar child who kept to himself all the time and refused to talk to anyone. We knew his name though – Jin. He was rich, that we knew since every afternoon, we would see him boarding a limo and everyone seemed to think that he’s a stuck up rich kid who doesn’t want to mingle with the ‘commoners’. The notions that parents teach their children are more stuck up than those kinds of people. I watched from the sidelines, wanting to know what he would do. He fought well, but the thing was that he was outnumbered and there was just no way he could defeat them alone. He got a good punch on the face and that started to worry me. He looked too lanky for a boy so I had to put a stop to what was going on. I towed the kid away. His lip was split and he was crying so I did what my mom would when I felt like that – I bought him ice pops. He refused to show his face and didn’t want to take the cold treat from me so I took his hand and placed it there. After a while, he seemed to have the confidence to trust me and we both sat down at the back of the gym where we were having our lessons.

“It’s Jin, right?” I asked and he nodded. I smirked. “Don’t you ever talk?”

He just shrugged and continued eating the ice pop, staring at the grassy lawn. It was so hard talking to him. For some reason, I felt drawn to him. It was like he couldn’t survive the world without anyone looking after him.

“How old are you?”

“Nine,” he said in a very soft, girly voice. It hit me then. The ‘he’ was a ‘she’. No wonder she couldn’t fight them off despite her skills. Dang it, I knew she was too pretty to be of the male gender.

I chuckled then, patted her head. “Just tell me when those boys are picking on you again, arasseo?”

She smiled up at me then. “Ne, hyung~!”

Hyung? She called me hyung… That’s how it all began and since then, we’ve been joined to the hip.

I smiled at the thought of it, shaking my head. It was really funny how I’ve mistaken Kang Soo Jin as a boy. I’ve got to say that she had a pretty weird sense of style even when we were kids and that didn’t seem to have changed even as we entered high school. She dresses up like a guy, well…she dresses up like me and if it weren’t for her long brown hair, she would have easily been mistaken as one of the good-looking guys in our school. Many times, guys at our school thought they were becoming gay because of her. Well, she looked pretty cool as a guy and she also had fan girls because of that.

That night, I was waiting for her to come down to their massive foyer. It was really evident how rich her family was. They owned a big food company that distributes goods all over the world, but her parents were the coolest people I’ve met. At odds to what people were saying about them, the Kang couple welcomed me into their home and graciously accepted me though I belonged to the middle class. They never made me feel like I was different. To them, I was family. I really liked them. They were fun people. They even insist on making me stay with Soo Jin at their house whenever they left for business trips. They loved their only daughter too much and they don’t pressure her into becoming what she didn’t want to be. They even let her dress up in whatever way she wanted except for that night.

It was the night of the Spring Waltz at our school, but since there had been a lot of funding, the school decided to hold it in a hotel. Of course, I’m her date. Who else would it be? Mrs. Kang was surely taking her fill of the joys of having a daughter to dress up and this is one of the rare chances she had. I could already imagine how Soo Jin was reacting to it. She didn’t like spending time putting on makeup or fixing her hair since she just tucks her locks inside a cap or a beanie. And because she insists that her skin is perfect, she doesn’t apply any makeup either. She’s stuck up like that, but who could dispute her when she’s always right?

I was standing by the huge window, looking out at their courtyard, still imagining how Soo Jin would look like in a dress. Oh well. She went to order a dress online and after it arrived, she hid it so that I wouldn’t see it. I didn’t know what the big deal was except that she kept on telling me that she wasn’t expecting the dress to be like ‘that’. I couldn’t be sure what that meant, but she surely hated it. I glanced at the wall clock. It was almost six thirty and the program starts in half an hour. I sighed. What was taking her so long? I was already itching to go up the stairs and barge into her room, but she forbade me to.

“I’ll kill you if you take as much as a step towards the stairs,” she threatened me a while back. I merely smirked at her, shaking my head. I wonder when she’ll change. I mean, she has to act like a real girl someday. She’s already seventeen, a junior in high school and yet she acts all manly. Did I mention that she punches hard and she had her own share of brawls? She’s really something.

“H-hyung…” I heard her voice from behind me. She sounded like she was about to be beheaded. I turned around, not expecting what I saw. Clad in a navy blue cocktail dress with her dark hair swept up with tendrils hanging loose, all I was able to do was stare at the goddess in front of me. It reminded me of the day I met her and how I started liking her the moment I found out that she was a girl. I never doubted it that she would come out stunning dressed like that. Yes, I’ve liked her since then, but my efforts to make her see that were thwarted every time she called me ‘hyung’. Tragic.

I didn’t even realize that she was already in front of me, waving her hand. “Yah! Are you okay?” she asked me, a hint of ridiculing in her slightly gruff tone.

I snapped out of it and nodded. “Ooh, not bad, Jin.”

She frowned at that. “What do you mean ‘not bad’? I look hideous!” she whined.

I shook my head. If only she knew how she was making me feel. “No, you’re not. You’re pretty hot.”

Soo Jin’s eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets as she gaped at me. “You didn’t just say that.”

I sniggered and she threatened to hit me, or so I thought. She reached over my collar and I was thinking that she was going to throw me out of their house. “What are you doing?” I said, taking a step back.

“Your tie is askew,” she said flatly, avoiding my eyes.

“Oh…”

I stayed still as she began undoing my tie, tying it back in a better knot. All along I was just looking at her, my fingers aching to run themselves through her hair. I thought she was oblivious, but she said, “Stop staring at me like that. You make me feel like a freak.”

I rolled my eyes at her then and her mother came bounding down the stairs, holding a camera. When Soo Jin saw that, blood practically left her head. “Oh no!”

“Oh yes!” Mrs. Kang interjected. “Picture time~!”

“UMMA~!” Soo Jin growled, trying to take the camera from Mrs. Kang. “Don’t do this to me!”

Mrs. Kang chuckled. “Honey, you look beautiful. Now go and stand beside Byung Hun and let me take your picture.”

She shrugged. There was just no point in trying to argue with her mom. “Fine!” She took her place beside me and stood up like some goon.

“Aigoo, Soo Jin-ah!” her mom complained and she fixed her posture. Right after that, her mom began taking pictures, but she wasn’t smiling in them. “Smile, honey!” A stiff smile slowly made its way across her face then just like that, it turned into a smirk. Mrs. Kang lowered the camera and stared at us thoughtfully. “Byung Hun-ah, put your arm around her waist,” she said flatly.

“Eh?” I blinked slowly, taking a step away from Soo Jin.

She did the same, only that she was looking at her mom. “BWOH?!”

Mrs. Kang arched a brow at us. “What? The two of your are best friends. It’s not like…unless…”

Soo Jin laughed nervously. “Yeah, right. L. Joe hyung, just do as she says so we could go. We’re going to be late.” I just nodded, sniggering as I placed my arm around her waist. I felt her flinch, but she maintained her smile. “Take the picture now, umma.”

Mrs. Kang took the picture and right after that, Soo Jin towed me out of their house, gritting her teeth. Before we were out, I saw a tinge of pink on her cheeks. I smiled to myself as she pulled me towards the sedan we were going to use. She was too tense and I knew that didn’t bring anything good. I stopped walking and pulled her instead.

“Kang Soo Jin,” I said firmly and she looked up at me, more like glared.

“Ne, hyung?” she said.

“Relax, will you?”

She bit her lower lip, blinking slowly. She always does that. Dang, she looks cute! “I am trying to,” she mumbled.

“No, you’re not.” I smirked at her.

She smirked back at me. “You’re one to know. I already miss my football jersey and I couldn’t breathe inside this thing. I feel like a sushi wrapped in tight seaweed.” She then looked at me from head to foot. “I’d bet that tux is cool to wear.”

This girl just doesn’t fail to make me laugh. I held her by the shoulders, staring intently through her eyes. “Jin-ah,