Prologue

HYOYEON

Fifteen Years Ago

They formed a circle around the water tap against the brick wall of the house.

One by one they filled a box with different coloured water balloons. As he tied

one of the balloons, Hyoyeon quickly turned to see his teenage brother laughing

and shaking his head at them.

“Make sure Mum doesn’t catch you, Hyoraeng!” Mingu yelled out. His parents had

called him Hyoraeng after his grandfather who served in Vietnam. His family called

him Hyoraeng, others called him Hyoyeon, the name he'd rather be called by. He was

the only Hyoyeon in a class filled .

“I won’t!” Hyoyeon called out as he turned his attention back to his group of friends.

Giving them all a stern stare. He didn’t want to get in trouble for ruining his

parent’s garden party.

“We can hit those annoying girls across the road with the water balloons. If we

hit them enough, they’ll leave us alone!” Sooyoung said. Hyoyeon looked at his best

friend as he handed out the small coloured water balloons.

“Sooyoung, don’t lie! You like, like Yoona!” Donghae teased. For an eight year old, Donghae

towered over their group of friends. Ever since prep, they had all been in the

same class. Except for Key, Donghae’s brother. Key was a year younger than

the rest of the group of five friends. Sooyoung gagged before turning off the tap.

“Yoona’s pretty,” Heechul pointed out as he stared at the blue balloon in his hand.

Hyoyeon watched as Heechul shrugged his shoulders at the group.

Sooyoung let out a laugh, “yeah, pretty annoying!”

Heechul's face contorted at Sooyoung’s comments. Hyoyeon nudged Heechul  with his shoulder

and offered a reassuring smile.

“Can we not hit Nicole? She helped me home when I fell off my bike last

week,” Hyoyeon said. He took a few balloons off Key, his small hands unable to

carry as much as the other boys could.

“Fine! We won’t hit her. Donghae, go get the super soakers and we’ll surprise them

from the bushes of old man Peter’s garden.” Donghae nodded at Sooyoung. Hyoyeon placed

the water balloons in the pockets of his shorts. He adjusted his baseball cap as

he quickly rolled the sleeves of the long sleeved shirt his mother chose.

“We should go before we get caught!” Key warned. If they were to go back

near the deck, they would all get caught. Hyoyeon led them to the side gate of the

fence. Sooyoung reached up and unlatched the gate and held it open for their friends.

Hyoyeon waited until all his friends made it through the gate and towards the

driveway.

“Kim Hyoraeng!” he heard his mother yell. Hyoyeon let out a heavy sigh as he

nodded at Sooyoung to go ahead before closing the gate. He turned around to see

his mother tapping her foot at him.

She's mad!

“Are you going to go hit those nice girls with water balloons?” she asked

already knowing the answer. Like any other young boy not wanting to get in

trouble, Hyoyeon  lied.

“No, Mum! I swear! I wasn’t.”

“Don’t you lie to me, Hyoraeng!” the corner of his mother’s mouth twitched. Hyoyeon

stuck his hands in his pockets and felt the water balloons. His eyes fell to the

concrete path instead of his mother’s disapproving green eyes.

He heard footsteps and raised his head to see his father walk over and stand

next to Hyoyeon’s mother. “Come on, Hon. He’s just being a kid!” his father,

Mr. Kim, defended.

“Hon, I don’t want those poor girls’ parents at our door step,” his mother

explained, the irritated tone in her voice clear. Hyoyeon looked at his father and

silently pleaded for mercy.

“We weren’t going to hurt them, Mum. We were just gonna scare them, honest!”

Hyoyeon  pouted. He knew his mother hated it when he pouted, it was her form of

weakness and he hoped it would get him off the hook.

“Your mother is right, Hyoraeng. You could hurt those girls. How about you come