I smiled to myself as I took another sip of my soda. Everything seemed to taste sweeter recently. It’s hard to explain what has really been going on in my mind. That story goes back far longer than anyone else ever knew.

If life were like a movie, the first scene would be set in the middle of a frigid winter. The camera would be focused on a girl sitting all alone on a park bench with snow falling all around her. After a moment the camera would pan out to a boy walking down the white, frosted trail. He is walking aimlessly through the snowy afternoon, looking about him for anything at all. As his eyes fall on the girl sitting only a few feet away he freezes. She was looking at nothing in particular, her expression unreadable. His heart skips a beat as he blinks a few times. He longs to join her there and to know what she’s thinking about. Though he tries, he can’t find it in himself to move forward. All he can do is watch entranced as the snow drifts down to where she sits.After that the screen would grow dark. For a while now I thought that might be the end of that story...

Even now as I think of that day I could still feel the cold biting at the tip of my nose. It’s hard to believe that any of it was real. For a while I was almost sure that I had dreamed it all up.

The snowy day in the park.

The girl sitting on the bench, surrounded by a halo of snow.

The beating in my chest… And the desperate desire to be by her side.

Not a day pasted by that I didn’t think of that girl. Her angelic face was carved deep into my memory. And with every day that beatiful image seemed to grow stronger inside of my mind. When I saw her walk by on her way to class one day I knew it was true. It was no dream. That day had been real. She was real. When things like this happen in life, it's a sign that it’s meant to be. It had to be fate. How could it not be?

But every time I tried to go up to her I just froze in place. I was stuck standing in the snow again; only able to watch as she walked by, and feel my heart beating out of my chest. So many times I had tried to push myself forward just to rush back to the safety of my friends; every time secretly hoping she would notice me. I had never felt so shy before. It’s kind of embarrassing to admit it, even to myself.

“Yo, you still with us?” Chanhee’s voice broke my train of thought. Chanhee and I had known each other for as long as I could remember. He knew me better than anyone else.

“Of course I am. Where else would I be?” I answered with a smile. Guess I was a bit too obvious for my own good.

“Just making sure,” Chunji said in a musical voice before popping a potato chip into his mouth; a bad habit of his. I always told him, if he kept eating potato chips at that rate he would turn into one.

“We were almost sure you got lost in that head of yours. You were just sitting there with this weird dazed look on your face,” Ricky laughed as he imitated L.Joe.

"It was more like this,” Changjo said making a more extreme expression. Both he and Ricky burst into laughter. Those two had a pension for making a joke out of everything.

“Aw, come on guys. He can’t help it…,” Niel interrupted their laughing with a serious nod, “we all know he's been broken for a while now. It isn’t nice to make fun of him for it.” He said the las in a near whisper.

“Speaking of which, have you talked to her yet?” Chunji interjected, nonchalantly popping another chip into his mouth.

“The report is doubtful,” Ricky whispered over to Changjo with his best newscaster impersonation. Earning him an elbow in the side from Niel.

“I’ll have you know I’ve done better than just talk to her,” I threw back at Ricky, unable to control the urge to defend my pride. All of them looked at me with an almost insulting amount of shock on their faces.

“Oh?” Niel asked eagerly. A smile drifted back to my lips as I nodded in response.

“Did you finally ask her out then?” C.A.P.’s husky voice shocked us all. He had been sitting there so quietly I had forgotten he was even there.

“I did,” I simply stated. It took all I had in me not to tell them everything right there. I had always had a hard time keeping my mouth shut around them.

“Really? What did she say?” Chunji almost screamed. Needless to say he had been urging me to talk to her for months now.

“Did she give you an answer?!” Niel leaned forward.

“How did you ask her?!” Chunji blurted. He was so excited that he nearly dropped his bag of chips. By now we had a collection of people looking our way curiously. My mind raced with possible scenarios, but none that seemed plausible. Maybe I should’ve thought through this earlier. Niel and Chunji watched me in anticipation.

*What do I say? All I can think to say was that we met in a church… Wait, I’ve got it.* I cleared my throat dramatically before beginning.

“Well, it was about a week ago now…," I said in what I hoped was a good story teller voice, " I got held up after class, and by the time I was ready to go home everyone had already left. So I began my long walk home alone. I had been having horrible luck all day, and my walk home was no exception. Only about ten minutes later it started to rain. It wasn’t long before a little bit of rain turned into a full blown storm.” I threw in the rain storm for creditability. Last week was unusually rainy.

“The rain was falling so heavily I couldn’t even see a foot in front of me. So I decided to duck into a nearby church till the rain calmed down, or at least till I could get cell service again. It was horrible! I was soaked through to the bone, and the cold air in the church wasn’t helping much. For a moment I thought I was all alone in the cramped little sanctuary, but when I looked up the row of pews I saw her sitting there looking like she got caught in the same situation. It turned out being stuck in the rain was the best bad luck I’ve ever had.” all the word flowed out of my mouth in what appeared to be a believable fashion.

“But what did she say though?” Niel and Chunji sang in unison.

“She said…,” I drew in a slow breathe. Every one of them had their eyes on me. I turned and look at each of them, letting the suspense build.

“Yes, of course!” I said victoriously.

“Congratulations!” Chunji cheered as he hugged me. Niel simply smiled at me.

“Took you long enough, kid,” C.A.P. said as he put his hand on my shoulder.