Thirteen seems too young to be in love. However… Love is an emotion where you can’t be too young or too old, because in love there is no such thing as an age requirement. And yes, at the age of thirteen I did fall in love.

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                “Jae, I will leave now so be a good boy. I’ll pick you up later at four.” Mrs. Im said as she closed the door in the office.

                JB wasn’t happy to be in the hospital…again, in fact he hated it because in this well lit room he had never once heard a good news. The only thing he ever heard was the news that broke his heart, broken countless of times that he thought he’s used to it. Only used to it, not immune.

                “Ah, Jae how have you been?” The doctor asked in a fatherly tone as soon as he entered.

                “Good, I guess.” He then smiled half-heartedly.

                “Hmm…You look unhappy, are you okay?”

                “It’s nothing, just had a bad day that’s all.”

                “I see.” The doctor slightly chuckled. “You should loosen up kid, you’ve always been serious for such a young age. Aigoo, let’s go. It’s time for your check up.” The doctor stood and he led the young JB to the other room.

                As soon as the check-up was over, JB went to the hospital’s garden.  It was only three in the afternoon, so he still had an hour left before his mother arrives.  While waiting, he sat on one of the benches and read his favorite book. He was totally absorbed in the book until a loud and boisterous laugh filled the air. JB wanted to ignore it, however the laughter was just too loud that he can no longer concentrate on what he was reading. So, he went to the laughing girl who was sitting on the grass, ready to confront her.

                “Excuse me, can you please lower your voice? I’m trying to read.” The girl didn’t answer, instead she laughed louder than before. “Hey! I’m talking to you. Stop laughing!”…”I said stop already.”  Annoyed by the girl who seemed unaware of his presence, JB pulled out the earphones from the girl and disconnected it from the laptop.

                “UWAAAHHH!!!” “UWAAAhh!!!” The girl suddenly bursts into tears.

                JB panicked at the sudden outburst. “H-hey, st-stop crying.” He said, lowering himself in an attempt to console her. The young girl looked at him and cried further. “I’m sorry! Please stop crying.” Seeing how the girl wasn’t going to stop, JB stood up and run away. He hurriedly went to the hospital’s canteen, bought a chocolate flavored ice cream and run back as fast as he could. He was going to give it to the girl, hoping that it would make her stop. When he was just a meter away, he accidentally tripped and spilled the ice cream all over his shirt.

                “Pffftt. Wahahaha. Hahaha.”

                Usually, JB hated to be laughed at. However, seeing that the girl stopped crying and was now laughing again, he too became happy.

                “Are you okay? Here, take my hand.” The girl helped him stand up and gave him a warm smile.

                That smile froze him for seconds and then his heart begun to beat faster than usual...  The girl noticed that the boy was indeed frozen as he was still holding her hand.

                “Uhmm.. you can let go now.”

                “Huh?”

                “My hand.”

                “oh…yeah” He then let go…and let out an awkward laugh.

                “By the way, are you new here? What’s your name?.”

                “I’m Jae. You?”

                “Princess”

                “Your name is princess?”

                “No. It’s my nickname, that’s what my father calls me.”

                “but you seem more like a teddy bear than a princess…”

   “A bear?! WHAT?!”

   “Aha! A Bear princess, that’s what I’ll call you!” JB was about to more when his mother arrived.

                “There you are! Jae, I’ve been looking all over for you and… What happened to your shirt?! Are you okay?!  Are you hurt? Aish. Let’s go, we need to clean you up soon.”

                “Bye Jae!”

  “Goodbye bear princess.” JB answered while happily waving his hands to his new found friend.

~~~

                JB have always hated Mondays as it was his weekly check-up and treatment schedule. But ever since he met his bear princess, Monday became his favorite day of the week. Don’t get him wrong, he wasn’t looking forward to his check-ups but rather he was looking forward to spending another hour with hi