1998.

            I was six years old when I first met Jang Dongwoo, the annoying kid who had just moved across the street and was now on the front doorstep, knocking his fist against the wood with all his strength.

            “Lee Howon, come out and play with me! Your mom already told my mom that we’re the same age, so let’s go to the park and play some basketball!”

            I groaned upon hearing his loud voice and slowly trudged my body over to open the door, my sole purpose to chase him away so that I might avoid his chatter.

            No sooner had I turned the knob did he come bounding in, unwelcomed in the vicinity of my living room.

            “I’m Jang Dongwoo and you’re Lee Howon, right?” he asked me with a tilt of his head, studying my face with inquisitive eyes that shimmered in the soft sunlight.

            I nodded, unsure of what else to say in the presence of this strange boy with an even stranger, yet captivating, aura about him.

            “You look cooler than I imagined! Now let’s hurry before it gets dark out so I can see how good you are at basketball,” he said as he grasped my arm tightly and practically dragged me the three blocks to the court.

            To say the least, in the fall of 1998, my world changed. It was in those moments, that we became inseparable – the boy who always had too much to say, and the boy who rarely had anything to say at all.  It wasn’t long before the realization hit me that I adored his obnoxiously loud laugh, and loved the way his arm slung across my shoulder after a basketball game, despite our sweaty bodies.

            At age six, I liked Jang Dongwoo, perhaps more than I should have.

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            I was six years old where I first learned about White Day, clutching my mother’s hand as she struggled to create a clear path through the hoards of people spilling in and out of the sweet shop.

            “Mommy, why are all these people here?”

            “Tomorrow is White Day, honey. Tomorrow is the day where men are supposed to show women how much they love them by giving them gifts. March 14^th only comes once a year, so the streets are always this crowed with last minute shoppers.”

            My eyes widened at this information, another question tickling the back of my mind in that same instant.

            “But… what about other men? Can a man give another man a gift to show how much he likes him?”

            She abruptly stopped, her sweet smile slowly changing into a frown as she couched down to my height to look at me with a coldness that penetrated my body even in the spring air.

            “Lee Howon, boys are not meant to love boys, do you understand that?”

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            This is the first type of heartbreak, the slight fissure that develops when you realize that there are certain rules to love. It comes with knowing that there are people in this world that your heart simply cannot care for, no matter how hard you try and make it otherwise.          

            Though I didn’t understand the context of those rules at my young age, I adhered to them nonetheless, adding ‘boys are not meant to love boys’ to my mental list, following the usual ‘always bow to elders’ and ‘take your shoes off at the front door’.

            My feelings toward Jang Dongwoo were innocent, and in a sense, unavoidable, just like that first heartbreak on the eve of White Day that followed quickly after.