How you may ask this all began?

 

I was six years old back then. I was playing with Wooyoung oppa in the garden with a game I called pass the ball when the butler came in with a boy. I actually asked him to join us but he just shook his head. Then, I asked his name and what's their business. But when he said they don't have any business, I started ignoring him. I just continued playing with oppa. I was running after the ball when I tripped, not because I'm clumsy but I think it has something to do with my leg surgery. I just recovered from a leg surgery, so I guess, I wasn't that strong yet. Woo oppa helped me up but the boy laughed at me.

 

“You're so fat!” he said. Okay, I was fat before but after seeing him laughing at me and calling me fat, I swore that I would do everything to lose weight. Then, I started hating the kid. No one dared to laugh at me before. Not long after that, I found out that the boy's father was hired as Dad's personal assistant/driver/bodyguard while his mother became our cook. I even hated him more when I found out about it.

 

I mean, who was he to ridicule me when he was just a lowly servant? I actually shrieked at him, saying that he was just a servant so he has no right to ridicule me. But that didn't stop him from calling me “fat kitten”.

 

My seventh birthday. . .We had a party at the house. I received a lot of gifts from Dad's friends as well as the other rich kids. I was in my room that night, opening my gifts when I stumbled upon a badly wrapped gift with a card that says: Happy birthday, Kitten. –J.

 

I assumed it was from that boy. I was actually surprised to receive a gift from him because well, first, it was established that we hated each other. Hate is an understatement. I think “loath” would be better. Second, I never imagined that he could afford to buy a gift. But oh well, moving on, so I opened the gift. And what's inside made me scream at the top of my lungs.

 

A plastic box of worms!

 

Yes, that's right. He gave me a box of worms! Ah, I so enjoyed watching him being scolded by his parents. But no, I didn't settle for just scolding. So, I set out for revenge. I remembered asking our gardener for help at that time. I asked him to collect a jar of ants for my school project.

 

So, I went to the Kwons' room. At that time, the pest doesn't have his own room, yet. I poured all the ants in the cabinet. But, there's a little flaw in my revenge, though. I mean, who would have thought that they all share the same cabinet? I guess they're that poor. So yeah, the clothes of the boy as well as his parents were full of ants. And my Dad found out about it.

 

I got scolded. But I stubbornly apologized to any of them. Why would I stoop down that low, eh? But my Dad went berserk, leaving me no choice but to apologize to Mr. and Mrs. Kwon. As for the boy, well, I didn't apologize to him. I remembered throwing a tantrum when Dad insisted me to apologize to that boy. But I remained stubborn.

 

By the time I was nine years old, I started losing weight. But the boy only teased me more.

 

“Hey, kitten, you're getting thinner. Did you eat all the mice in the house already? Come to think of it, I haven't seen any lately. Oh, wait! I think I saw one running to your room. That would be a nice dinner, neh?” he winked.

 

That night, I didn't sleep in my room.

 

It went on like that for the next three years or so, becoming worse, actually. I even resorted to ruining his school projects, assignments, etc. while he just continued taunting me and doing all those little pranks of his. We always end up at the principal's office during that time. We would go home with wet or stained uniform, ruined shoes and bag, disheveled hair, smelling either mud or food and even garbage sometimes; bruises or cuts.

 

By the time I was fourteen or fifteen, I started hanging out with my friends outside more than in the house, so the fights lessened a bit. Actually, every Christmas and summer break, the pest would always go somewhere for vacation and so would I. Dad would bring me to different places.

 

But everytime we see each other, expect that a disaster would always comes next.

 

Then, by the time I was sixteen and so was the pest, the girls started noticing him. THEY even said he looked so cute and hot and y with his blonde hair. Ugh, bear with me people! It's so hard hearing those descriptions. I mean, wasn't he contented with his dark brown hair? He's so obvious. He's so obvious in showing that he's so trying hard to catch attention. He thinks being blond is cool, eh? Why, I beg to disagree! He can change his hair color all he wants but that wouldn't change the fact that he's just a peasant! A mere servant! An ordinary employee! A pest! He’s nothing but a pest who always pesters and annoys and infuriates me. And to add insult to that, even my inner circle girlfriends took interest in him. So, we ended up hanging out at my place more often. But well, as expected, a disaster would always arise every now and then. There was this one time when he was mopping the floor. The girls were in my room at that time. I sneaked down to get myself an ice cream since I don't want the girls to know I'm eating ice cream. I mean, it's totally against the no-carbs, no-fat kind of thing that girls do. I hid in the kitchen while eating ice cream. Every spoon I put into my mouth, I would close my eyes and savor the moment. I was in that position when someone coughed. I jumped in surprise and threw the glass of ice cream into the air. It landed noisily on the floor. I looked up and saw the pest smirking. I felt a bit relieved that it was him because if it was one of the girls, I'll be dead by now. But then, he ruined my moment!

 

“Ya! That's the last batch of ice cream in the house and you just wasted it! Look at what you've done!”

 

“I didn't do anything,” he answered.

 

“If you didn't sneak up on me, I wouldn't have been startled and the ice cream wouldn't be spilled!” I fired. I looked down at the ice cream at the floor, teary-eyed.

 

“I'll buy you one later,” he said.

 

“No, thanks! I'm sure you can't afford it. And besides, you might put poison into it. I'll buy one myself.”

 

“Okay. I'll just tell the girls you went out to but yourself an ice cream.”

 

“KWON JIYONG!”

 

And so, my friends started to notice that we were beyond hate already. One day, they dared me to take a photo of him in the shower, and well, you know what happened. He just became more popular with girls. I swear, I didn't see that one coming. Like, duh! Who would fall for a guy who's so thin? CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT'S SO CUTE AND Y about him?

 

By the time I was seventeen, you would have thought I'd already learn my lesson about his gifts. But well, curious little me still went on opening his gift. “BOMB!” I screamed at the top of my lungs and went running to the door, stumbling along the way. I was running down the hallway when I saw him laughing his heart out, all fours on the floor.

 

“Bomb, she screamed. Ah, you should have seen your face!” he laughed. “That was just a toy.”

 

There was a difference on my eighteenth birthday, though. I expected him to pull off another stunt on my party but he didn't. Two days after the celebration as I was making my way to the car while he was doing his gardening duties, I heard him speak. “Happy Birthday, Kitten!” he called out loudly. I stopped and looked at him but he wasn't looking at me. His eyes were focused on what he was doing. I shrugged it off and went on my way. Later that evening, I arrived a bit late. As I reached my room, I saw something on the floor: a stuffed, white kitten with a pink ribbon around its neck. I suddenly knew who left it there. And I was 100% sure that there's something nasty about that toy. I mean, it’s from the pest! Surely, there's something hidden in the little toy that would scare the hell out of me. I value my life so dearly, so I called a maid to pick it up for me, just in case. As the maid adored the toy and squeezed it, it made a squeaky sound: “fat kitten fat kitten” over and over again. I felt myself turned red with irritation. I grabbed the toy away from the maid's hand and marched towards the pest's room. I barged into his room without knocking. My eyes turned into tiny slits as I saw him on his study table.

 

“Ya! Your pranks won't work on me anymore! And I'm not cheap! I don't accept cheap gifts like this especially from someone like you!” I shouted. I threw the kitten in the trash bin that I saw in the corner of his room. “Right where it belongs,” I said, then left his room.

 

And on the next year of my birthday, I didn't receive anything from him anymore. Ha! Good to know he learned his lesson already.

 

~o~

 

I went to Dad's room. “Dad, you want to talk to me?” I asked, then, fumed as I saw the pest in the room.

 

“The principal called me. Your performance in school is getting worse. Jiyong just attested to it.”

 

I turned to the pest. “Why you ungrateful little pest!”

 

“I'm just telling the truth,” he shrugged.

 

“Telling the truth?!” I breathed. “I'm not as stupid as you think I am. Like I don't know what you're trying to do! You just want to show up a good face to Dad so you-”

 

“Dara, that's enough.”

 

“But Dad, I-”

 

“I'm gonna hold off your credit cards.”

 

“My credit cards?!? But Dad, come on! You can't possibly do that” I whined and started using my technique. But the problem is, Dad's not looking at me, rather, he was looking at the pest.

 

“Unless of course I see an improvement within this week.”

 

“But Dad, how am I going to do that in just a week?!”

 

“What do you think Jiyong is doing here? You can ask him to tutor you.”

 

I looked at the pest the same time he looked at me. “Sir, I think I misheard you. You're not actually asking me to tutor this. . . I mean your daughter, are you?”

 

“There's no way I'm going to let him tutor me, Dad!” I seconded.

 

Dad was silent for a while, then, he sighed and turned to face the large glass window. “Take it or leave it, Dara.”

 

I was fuming. There's no way I'm going to let him tutor me! And there's absolutely no way I'm going to ask him since he strongly protested against it, too. I'm not gonna stoop down that low. If he doesn't want to tutor me, fine! I think I can stand a week without shopping and hanging out with my friends.

 

Ugh, that was a total lie!

 

NO! I CANNOT LIVE WITH THAT!!!!!!!

 

An idea suddenly came to me. Finally! This is my chance to get closer, and I mean intimately closer to Wooyoung oppa!