It was only like yesterday when I first saw her.

It was in the heat of summer, in that old tree house near the school’s playground, were I first had a glimpse of her crescent eyes.

She was a transferee student from America.

And I was a small-town student from Jeollado.

We couldn’t understand each other at first; her being used to English and I being a no-English-speaking person, I thought we wouldn’t be friends…at all.

But I guess life hands us unimaginable things to grow.

The teachers like to let us roam by ourselves in recess so we pretty much do what we want, be with whom we want to be and just chill the way we want to.

As per my usual loner routine, I climbed to my cave—that old tree house nobody in my section can go into.

You know why?

Because they can’t climb.

And I’m the only one who can.

KeKe…

Being a poor rural kid, I had nothing to call mine.

So it makes me happy that I now have something no one else can come into.

This tree house is mine.

All mine.

But then, things took a wild turn when I saw her inside my tree house.

That Tiffany Hwang!

How did she sneak in here faster than me?

She named a pretty little Barbie doll TaeTae and gave it to me.

And before I knew it, she had already invaded my territory with her scheming diplomatic skills.

Oh! That alluring eye-smile.

Oh! Those shiny toys.

She reeled my heart into her hands and now I can’t say no.

But I can’t really say that I dislike it.

In fact, being alone for years made me a little bit happier now that I have a friend to play with.

We would ride carpets and pretend were flying all over the world.

We would play house; I would be the husband and she would be the wife.

And it was so much fun.

The tree house that was once MY world became Tiffany’s and Taeyeon’s.

It became OUR own little world.

Until Ken came.