My childhood was ordinary.

I remember nothing. As in, I remember having nothing, being nothing. Just a doll for my mother to play with. A sweet little girl in well-pressed dresses, seated in my father’s lap as he bragged to associates. I was a little thing to show off, a thing to be carefully stowed away until it is needed again.

I remember no friends, no games, no fun, and never any laughing. I was sure I didn’t know how to laugh.

Of course, there’s the faint little condescending chuckle that every popular girl is obligated to perform.

But besides that.

The first time I laughed was when I first met him.

I had attended an exclusive all-girls school for elementary and middle school, making me even more isolated than I might have been otherwise.

I had underlings. No equals. Apparently the school wasn’t exclusive enough for there to be equals for me.

But for high school it was different. It was an even more exclusive co-ed school. Here I could have equals, my parents told me. It was a privilege and not a right.

When I first walked into the door of my homeroom, I scanned all of their faces. The daughter of a conglomerate here. The son of a fashion tycoon there. All below my own family. And they would try to get my attention and favor in any way.

But I spotted one boy whose wealth equaled my own. Choi Siwon. His family had reaches in everything, but had started out small in the movie business.

We were the two richest people in the school, but we couldn’t be more different. He was laughing, genuinely laughing, when I first saw him.

Perched on a desk, one leg up on a chair and an elbow around one knee. Surrounded by friends. Real friends. So social, so happy. I should stay away from him, I thought. I can’t bring him down to my level, I thought.

His smile was so natural and so free. I was curious. I was drawn to him, like a moth is to a bright, glorious flame.

Cautiously, I picked a seat directly to his left, near the window about halfway from the front of the room.

I turned slightly and leaned my cheek on my hand lightly. He dashed to his seat and sat down with a breathy laugh. Twisting around in his seat to respond to his friend sitting behind him, he catches my eye and smiles.

“Hi.”