I just sat there, listening to Lizzie.  I never thought about why she broke up with me.  I always thought about her.  Hell, she was and still is the only woman for me.  I know I will always think that.

          She took a deep breath before starting.  The first thing she talked about was how we met.

          I smiled as I listened to that part, remembering the way I found her sitting beside what would become our tree with a sketchpad in her lap.

          “I was just sitting there with a blank sketchbook in my lap, a pencil in my hand, and a head full of thoughts.  I was thinking about the two years I’d been back in my birth country, and I was loving it.  Then, all of a sudden, some older teenage punk comes up to me.”  She smiled as she said this because I started sulking when she said “teenage punk.”

          “And he said, ‘Hey pretty girl, what are you doing?’  I remember wanting to speak in English just to see if he would go away, but I looked at him.  I had a thought.  ‘This guy, he looks different somehow.  Maybe I should be nice to him.’  I could’ve been a smartass in Korean, too, but I was nice and simply said, ‘I’m sketching.’  I looked towards the scenery I was drawing from, and, again, the punk spoke.

          “He sat down beside me, glancing over my shoulder, and said, ‘You’re really good at that.’  I was surprised by his actions.  This guy was bold, not a jackass, and he didn’t look too bad.  I started to wonder if something was wrong with him.”

          I laid back on her bed.  “You know, if I had known all this before, I probably would’ve walked away.”

          Lizzie laid back.  “Ji, shut up and listen.”

          I put my arm under her so it wrapped around her shoulders.  “Ok, I’ll be quiet.”

          She her side, lying her head on my chest.  “I was just starting to shade the tree I’d drawn, when suddenly out of nowhere, the kid speaks up.  ‘I’m Jiyong, Kwon Jiyong.’  He stuck his hand out to me, and I looked at him stupidly for a second.  But, I eventually took his hand and introduced myself as well.  ‘I’m Lee Lizzie.’  I felt a little uncomfortable because, compared to his, my hand was tiny.  I felt like a baby having their hand held by their father as a newborn.  But I didn’t mind, seeing as I was a small child for my age of twelve.

          “I went back to focusing on my sketch, but the kid wouldn’t leave me alone.  He started asking a lot of questions.  ‘I’m sixteen, how old are you?’  ‘Twelve.’  ‘What school do you go to?  What grade are you in?  Where do you live at?’  Just question after question after question was being thrown out.  It was starting to nip at my nerves, so I stood up.  ‘I have to go home now.’  I took my blanket and folded it up, putting the sketchbook and blanket into my big travel bag.  I started to walk away, but it didn’t stop this stranger, Kwon Jiyong.  ‘Let me walk you home.  It’s not safe for little girls to be walking alone.’  ‘I’m fine.  My older brother is here.’  I found my brother on a bench, napping.  I gave him a firm smack across the face, and he immediately woke up.

          “Of course, he was delirious.  ‘Where am I?’  I only grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him with me.  ‘Come on Oppa, we have to go home.’  ‘Why Lizzie-ah?  I was having such a good nap.’  I didn’t say anything to him.  I never did talk when I was walking home.  It was my time for thinking about things I never told anyone else.  I realized that the teenage punk Jiyong was still following us, though.  ‘Look, will you just go home and leave me alone?’  Seung-hyun of course had to look back.  ‘Oh, hey Jiyong hyung.  What are you doing?’  He went to go do one of those weird guy handshakes I never understood, but I didn’t stop walking.  My brother just had to call me back.  ‘Lizzie-ah, you know what Eomma said about you walking home alone!’  I turned around, stopping where I was.  ‘Then come on!’  I turned back and turned a corner, realizing the two teens were right behind me.  ‘Took you long enough,’ I muttered under my breath.

          “My brother laughed.  ‘Well it doesn’t help when you keep walking baby sis.’  I only glared straight ahead of me and walked.  ‘Why is he still walking with us?’  I didn’t look back to show the annoyance on my face.  ‘Lizzie, you should be nice.  This is Jiyong hyung from school.’  ‘We’ve already met,’ was all I said.  I sighed in relief as we made it home.  I walked into the house and went upstairs to put my bag up.  I went back downstairs and strolled into the kitchen to see my mother.  ‘Hi Eomma.’ I hugged her waist from behind, pressing my face into her back.  I loved it because she smelled like the brownies she’d just finished.

          “She turned and hugged me.  ‘Hi pretty baby girl.  I’m glad to see you’re home finally.  How was the park?’  At home, Eomma would talk in English.  I loved it, because I still missed our home in America.  ‘It was ok Mama.  I met one of Oppa’s friends there.  He’s annoying.’  I sat at the counter in the kitchen while my mother cut one of the brownies.  My brother came in, laughing.  Of course, you were with him.  ‘Mama, is Daddy supposed to be home early tonight?’  I’d asked her without realizing you and Seung-hyun were in there.  I thought it was funny when I spoke to my Eomma in English because you had the most confused look on your face.

          “Eomma turned around.  ‘Seung-hyun, you brought a friend.’  I remember the sheepish look he gave her as he introduced you.  ‘This is my friend Kwon Jiyong, Mom.  He doesn’t speak English, though.’  She just smiled warmly, radiating her maternal personality throughout the whole room.  ‘Nice to meet you, Jiyong.’  You just smiled at her.  ‘Nice to meet you, too, Mrs. Lee.’  She just giggled a little.  ‘It’s Jung, but Lee is fine, too.  You’re welcome here anytime.  As long as someone is here, of course.  Do you babysit?’

          Lizzie just shook her head against my chest.  “You know how I felt when I heard her say that.  ‘Mama, are you saying what I think you’re saying?’  She just looked at me.  ‘Baby, you know how Daddy and I feel about you being home alone.  I have to take your brother to the doctor tomorrow.’  I just looked down, pouting, while I ate the rest of my brownie.  Of course, you’d said you’d babysit for her.  My brother even asked my mother if you could stay the night over so you wouldn’t have to walk over.  That made me worse.  I locked myself in my room the rest of the night and the next day.  As time progressed, you were coming around more and more, and I finally started warming up to you.  It was hard, but you managed to grab my attention with certain things.”

          I smiled, remembering all the things I did to impress Lizzie just so she’d give me some notice, much less talk to me when I watched her.  “You know how hard I worked, too, right?”

          She smiled.  “I remember Ji.  Now shut up and let me talk.”

          I “zipped” my lips.

          “A couple years passed by and you and I were finally really close friends.  I remember my freshman year in high school vividly.  I hung around with Hoon in school, and everyone thought we were together.  Even you thought we were.  I could tell you didn’t enjoy the thought either, because when you’d come over, you would act strange and different around me.  I was upset, always asking myself questions.  ‘What is wrong with Ji?  Did I do something wrong?  Do I look bad?  Do I smell weird?’  I changed a lot of things, because I had developed feelings for you the year before.  I did it to appeal to you.  It only seemed to make you all the more distant from me.  So I waited at home one day, knowing you were coming over to spend the night so you could hang out with my brother.  He’d left to get some stuff from the store since Eomma and Appa were out of town for the next few days for a vacation.

          “When you came in the house, I immediately looked up.  ‘Ji, can I talk to you?’  All you did was stand there, dumbfounded.  ‘S-s-sure Li,’ you finally managed to stutter out.  I turned and sat on the couch in our living room.  It was the place you, Oppa, and I would watch movies when you were over.  You sat beside me, not looking at me.  ‘What is it Li?’  I looked down.  ‘Is there something wrong with me, Ji?  Did I do something wrong?’  You were confused and looked at me now.  ‘Huh?  Why do you think that?’  I was already starting to get upset, but I held in my hurt.  ‘You’re being distant with me, Jiyong.  You always act weird around me now.  What changed you?  You’re not the Kwon Jiyong that I know.’

          “You sat there again.  I scooted closer to you to see if you’d flinch or move away again.  ‘Ji, talk to me,’ I whispered.  You turned your head away.  ‘I can’t feel this way about you Li.’  ‘What way Ji?’  ‘You have Hoon.  I don’t want to ruin it for you,’ you said, and you stood up to leave.  But, I caught your hand and stood up, looking up at you.  ‘Kwon Jiyong, what the hell are you talking about?’  ‘You’re dating Hoon.  I don’t want to ruin your relationship with him.’  I shook my head.  ‘Who told you that?’  ‘Have you not heard the whole school talk about you guys?  They always say ‘oh they’re the cutest couple in the school.’  It’s so annoying.’  All I could do is laugh.  I wiped the tears from my eyes and looked at you.  ‘Ji, he asked me out, but I told him no.  I said I didn’t want to ruin our friendship, not to mention I like someone else.’  You sighed.  ‘That guy’s a lucky guy Li.’  I sighed.  ‘You idiot.  Don’t you realize anything?’  I shook my head and walked towards the stairs to my room, but this time you grabbed me.  ‘Lizzie, what is it?’  I still had my right hand on the railing.  ‘Ji, it’s you.’  ‘Y-You like me?’  ‘I have for a year now, Ji.  Look at all the signs.’  I slid my wrist from your grip and went upstairs.  I shut myself in my room and sat on my bed.  I felt like crying.  I thought you were the blindest person I’d ever met.  The first boy I ever liked romantically, and you didn’t see the signs I threw at you.”

          “Well excuse me for my blind stupidity, Li.  It’s not my fault the whole damn school wouldn’t shut up.  I still remember how the jealousy felt then.”

          Lizzie covered my mouth.  “Ji-Ji, shut up.”

          I glared at her, pulling her hand away.  “You know I hate that.”

          She giggled and sat up.  “Well I hate how you interrupt.  This is important.”

          “Get back here, and I’ll shut up.”

          Lizzie rolled her eyes, but she laid back in my arms, cuddling close to me again.  “So anyways, I was in my room.  I heard a knock and looked up.  ‘What do you want Ji?’  ‘I want to talk to you.’  ‘I don’t feel like it.  Go away.’  ‘Li-Li, come on.’  I pouted because you used the voice that you knew would make me let you in.  So I got up and unlocked my door, opening it to a crack.  ‘Talk.’  ‘Li, can I come in?’  ‘No.  Talk from here.  You’ve got five seconds to start, or I’m locking myself in here again.’  ‘Li, do you know how long I’ve liked you?’  The fact that you said that to me made me freeze and I opened the door.  ‘What?’  ‘Li, I’ve liked you almost since I met you.  You’re stubborn as hell and you are kind of a jerk when you don’t know people, but I like you.’  That’s when you took my hands.  ‘Li-Li, will you be my girlfriend?’  I smiled and wrapped my arms around your neck, kissing your cheek.  ‘Of course I will Ji.’  That’s how we became to be a couple.  Now the other stuff comes…”  She sighed.  “Are you sure you want to hear this, Ji?”

          I just nodded.

          “Ok then…”