She decided that boys were not so smelly after all after she met him. After that day in his back garden, they, along with Uee, had become the best of friends. He often came to her house to play. They always met up in his back garden. Uee was sometimes there. On other times, when they were blissfully alone, they will do homework together, or just chat and talk about anything under the sun. Time always passed quickly with him by her side.

Overtime, without noticing it, her feelings for him developed into something more special, something to be cherished more. Although, at the time, she was still so young, too young, to realize that the feeling was called love.

She loved the way the childish him looked at her wordlessly like she was a treasure. She liked how he always managed to look so serious. She did not mind his smirk; it was all part of him, all part of what she loved. She worshipped the ground he walked on and he hers. The happiest time of her innocent eight year old days were spent with him because it was spent with him.

She remembered 22nd January 1995; it was her birthday. He came to her house and placed on her hands twelve flowers, eleven real and one fake. And he said quietly.

�We will be together until the last flower dies.�

In their childish minds they were not able to fully grasp the importance of their conversation. She only knew his words made her warm and fluffy inside. Without thinking, she had leaned in and kissed him, ever so softly, on the cheek. She blushed. He blushed. Her parents, who had already taken a great liking to him, had taken a picture of that precious moment, but she had no knowledge of it.

They had no idea that their precious friendship would be destroyed because of one stupid misunderstanding. One silly mistake.

It was his ninth birthday. She had asked him to meet her under the apple blossom tree in his garden. She had wait for him with her present for him in anticipation. But, anticipation gave way to disappointment, disappointment to fury. When he finally returned home, the only sentence he said was�

�Sorry, I was with Uee��

She did not wait for him to finish. She blew her top. She did not know why she was so irate. She did not know that she was just jealous. She shouted at his baffled face and because of her fury, his present, a crystal model car, accidentally slipped from her hands. And broke. She cried and ran back to her house. That was the last time she went to his house.

No amount of him knocking on her door would make her open it. Soon, even he became angry. He could not understand why she wanted to shut him out of her life just like that. Just because he was late. But he did not want to be out, even if she hated him.

Uee had explained to her that he was late because he had to comfort her. She had been reprimanded by her mother that day. He had seen her sitting on the swing sobbing in the neighbourhood playground and had stopped to console Uee. He had thought she would understand, that she would not blame him for being late. But he was wrong.

She was actually very guilty for misunderstanding him, but she was by nature a prideful person. And pride forbade her from apologizing to him.

They kept waiting for each other to take the initiative of speaking to each other. None did. They engaged in a cold war for the rest of the holidays. Her parents were puzzled why he did not come to tea anymore. Why, their normally vivacious daughter could not smile anymore. But they never asked anything about it. They respected their daughter in such a way.

The next time she saw him was after the holidays. On the first day of school, in order to make her notice him he put a frog into her locker. She was terrified and vowed to take revenge!

Then come a series of teasing, pulling at pigtails, tattle tales to teachers and squabbles amongst them. Once, when she was fourteen, she overheard him telling his new friend Joowon that she was ugly. She was soo furious that she resolved to turn into the most beautiful woman on earth! She turned up in school with new clothes on her body, make-up on her face and a glint in her eyes.

He had already become the most popular guy in the school then. She was hurt whenever girls hung around him. However, she had never shown it. She told herself that she was not about to lose to him. She was determined, to be popular..