Zelo and I were childhood friends, in fact he was like a younger brother to me.

When I was younger, my parents were always busy with work. Hence, they had left me in the care of Granny Choi who was known for taking care of the neighborhood children. That was when I first met Zelo.

I was 8 and he was 6. According to Zelo, he had thought that I was a boy when he first saw me. I couldn’t blame him though. I was pretty much a tomboy when I was younger. I still remember him calling me ‘Hyung’ when he first greeted me. Granny Choi then gave a smack on his head.

“Choi JunHong! Don’t be rude, she’s your noona. Be nice to her ok?” Granny Choi said.

Zelo obediently nodded and he’s been stuck to me ever since then. Being the only child, I liked having this younger kid around. He was like my personal butler. I used to order him around and a lot. We would play wrestle and there were several occasions where I made him cry.

When I was 12, my parents got divorce and I got made fun of by the other kids at elementary school for not living with both my parents.

“You’re pathetic. Your parents got divorce because they didn’t love you.” One of the girls said. I was being cornered by a bunch of girls at school who had found out about my situation.

“You’re lying!” I cried out but they were obviously not listening.

Just then, Zelo slammed open the door of the classroom and pushed the girls aside. “Stop it!” He yelled. “What do you know about love? Don’t say such things when you don’t understand anything.” He then grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the classroom. I had no idea where he was bringing me to but I held onto his hand, I didn’t mind it at all. The other students were looking at us we walked through the hallways together. Minutes later he had brought me to the back yard of the school. We were sitting under the shade of a big tree.

“Are you ok?” He asked. His voice was softer and gentler compared to before.

I nodded. I was already sobbing away. It was the first time I had cried in front of him. He shifted his body closer to mine and reached out his hand. He was hesitant at first but he soon placed his hand on my back and started patting me.

“Granny does this to me when I feel sad and I always feel better afterwards.” He said naively. I never noticed how kind and thoughtful he was until now. I had no idea what overcame me but I snuggled closer to him. There was something about being close to him that made me feel safe. It was then that I had started seeing him a different light.

Since then, I started spending more time with Granny Choi and Zelo. I was envious of how closely knitted the Choi’s were. Before I knew it, they had started accepting me as part of their family.

A few years down the road, puberty happened.

Physically, I was morphing from a tomboy to a ‘young lady’ or so that’s what my mum would say. The boy who had always been a few inches shorter than me had a growth spurt too. Without realizing it, Zelo was inches taller than me and it became harder for me to grab him in a headlock. Physically, we were both changing but our friendship remained the same. Mum used to lecture me about how Zelo and I were having too much skinship for a boy and a girl who wasn’t a couple but her words fell on deaf ears. Even though we were both growing up, we still had a fair share of skinship. I guess it was because we both didn’t mind it that such skinship came naturally, just like when we were kids.