“Master Insoo, the Madame would like to have a word with you,” an elderly maid told Insoo one afternoon. Insoo nodded, got up from his seat, and followed the maid out of the room, wondering what it was that the Madame had to tell him.

A moment later, the maid opened the door to the Madame’s office and ushered Insoo inside. He bowed politely to the maid before walking into the room where his grandma – the new head of the household – was waiting for him with three people he had never seen before. One of them was a beautiful girl around his age with long black hair wearing a yellow sundress and the other two he guessed were the girl’s parents. “Insoo,” his grandmother said, “come here, please.”

He did as he was told and walked over to his grandmother’s side. “What’s going on, Grandma?” he then asked.

“Insoo, now that you’re thirteen years old, it’s time to start planning your future,” she replied. Insoo looked at her confused. Madame Kang continued and pointed to the young girl, “This is Lee Hyuneun. From this day forward, she will be your fiancée. You’re going to marry her when you two get older.”

Insoo’s eyes widened. She was his fiancée? He was only thirteen! And what was she talking about ‘planning his future’? The only future he was worried about was what he was going to do his book report on. His mind then wandered to the necklace his mother had given him and he unknowingly grabbed ahold of it. Three years ago, his mom had told him to give the girl he marries the necklace, but he wasn’t ready to give it away yet.

The door suddenly opened and Seulki barged in carrying a tray of teacups that was far too big and heavy for her. Madame Kang sighed and placed an irritated hand on her forehead as they all watched the girl stagger into the room. Without sensing the mood of the room, Seulki walked over to the table that was in the middle of the group and tried to place the tray down without spilling anything.

“Seulki!” Madame Kang yelled, causing Seulki to jump in surprise. She looked at Madame Kang with worry. “How many times have I told you to knock before you enter a room?” Seulki bowed but didn’t say anything. Madame Kang looked at Hyuneun and her parents. “Good help is so hard to find these days, please forgive me,” she said, trying to laugh it off. Once again she turned her attention to Seulki and said, “Seulki, from now on, Hyuneun and her parents are VIPs in this house. You are to do whatever they say, alright?” Seulki nodded silently.

Hyuneun chuckled softly as Seulki bowed once again and ran out of the room, closing the door behind her. “Grandma, I don’t want to get married,” Insoo then said as politely as he could, turning to Madame Kang.

“Insoo, you will do as you’re told,” she replied sternly. Then, turning her attention to Hyuneun she said, “Now Hyuneun, why don’t you go out of the room with Insoo and play for a little bit while the grown-ups discuss this matter a little more, okay?”

Madame Kang motioned for Insoo to take Hyuneun and leave and he nodded understandingly and held out his hand as he was taught to do, and Hyuneun took it after a moment. They both then got up and scurried out of the room. Once the door closed, Hyuneun let go of Insoo’s hand and blushed. “Why are we getting married?” Hyuneun asked, “I thought only adults got married.”

Insoo shrugged. “We can’t do anything about it,” he stated, “So we might as well do what they say for now.”

Hyuneun nodded and waited for a minute before continuing. “Who was that girl from before? She seems nice.”

“That was Seulki,” Insoo said cheerfully, “She’s my best friend. Do you want to meet her?” Slowly, Hyuneun nodded again and Insoo grinned. He took her hand once more and led her through the mansion as they looked for Seulki. Eventually they found her at the top of the stairs, talking to herself. “Seulki,” Insoo called out.

Without looking up at the two figures, she began to speak aloud to herself and to the boy she knew was there. “Why does she hate me so much?” she rhetorically asked, placing her head on her hands and sighing loudly.

Insoo looked back at Hyuneun and motioned for her to wait while he walked up to Seulki. “She doesn’t hate you,” he said supportively.

“Yes she does!” she snapped, “She’s always yelling at me and making me work all the time! She hates me!”

As Insoo gently patted her back, Seulki snapped out of her dream world and looked at the two figures. “Seulki, this is Hyuneun,” Insoo then said, “My grandma wants us to get married when we grow up.”

Seulki looked at Hyuneun and then back at Insoo. “Married?” she asked, “Does that mean that we won’t be friends anymore?”

Insoo laughed and said, “No silly, we’ll still be friends.”

Hyuneun coughed nervously. “I don’t have many friends,” she then said to Seulki, “can we be friends?” Seulki smiled broadly and nodded. “Where do you live? I can go visit you and we can have sleepovers and have so much fun!”

Seulki chuckled and pointed behind her. “I live over there,” she stated, “I’ve lived here since I was young. So if you come and visit me, you’ll get to see Insoo too.” Then, she frowned. “I forgot something. I’m not allowed to play with you. Whenever you’re here, I have to do everything you say. I’m supposed to be working when you’re here.”

“That’s okay,” Hyuneun said with a smile, “Since you’re supposed to do everything I say, I’ll just tell you to not work and to have fun and play with me!”

Seulki and Insoo looked at each other as if to say ‘can she do that?’ and then Insoo shrugged and turned to Hyuneun. “Okay, you can have Seulki sometimes,” he stated, “But I get her most days. After all, she’s my best friend!” He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tightly, ruffling her hair in the process.

“Hey!” Seulki yelled, pushing him away, “Stop messing up my hair!”

Insoo grinned and stood up, taking Hyuneun’s hand in the process. “Come on,” he said to both of them, “let’s go play for a while!”

“Last one down the stairs is a rotten egg!” Hyuneun laughed, and they all began their trek down the steps.