In the corner, a small girl sat with tears in her eyes and hands over her ears. They were teasing her, like they did every day. They laughed at her, called her names, and kicked her, anything they could do to get a reaction. They called her dirty, a mutt. They said that she was ugly, unwanted, filth. She cried her eyes out, making her slightly tanned skin red with misery. Her dark brown curly hair would fall over her face as she bent to the ground in shame. How could anyone ever love me? she thought. This went on for days, weeks, months. Until the day she saw his halo, her angel.

                He was tall for a seven year old. His hair was black and spiked up into a Mohawk. His shorts were lower than the other boys and his shirts were two sizes too big. It was his style, his “swag” if you must (and partially his mother’s desire to keep the boy a set of clothes longer than two months at a time before he would grow them out). His eyes had a forever expression of boredom; his nose was defined and prominent.  He still had baby fat in his cheeks which gave him the face of a kid three years younger. His bottom lip was plump and pink, his trademark if you will. No one messed with him. The other kids respected him too much. They would move out of his way when he walked past them. They would give him their lunch on days that his mother was forgetful. They would play games his way and go along with his rules even if they didn’t make sense. They listened to him.

                It was another day. But for some reason it went too far. They kicked her down to the ground, messing up her yellow dress. They pulled her to a pole and tied her to it with a jump rope. Where these kids learned to these things was unknown but they still happened. They look turns insulting her. Monkey. Mutt. Butthole. Dirty. Worthless. No matter how hard she tried the tears would spring out, never ending from the pain.

                He was bored. Where were all of his friends? He noticed that they had all left from lunch early when he went to the bathroom. Outside. He nodded, padding his small feet across the cheap white tile of the cafeteria. As he walked, he heard laughter. They wouldn’t be having fun without him. That was impossible. He was the fun. His eyes remained bored; he was never one to show much emotion unless prompted to.

                Outside there was a crowd of kids, mainly all from the first grade crowded around the tether ball pole. They were laughing at something, but what? He made his way through the crowd silently, noticing as soon as people saw him they became quiet. He smirked to himself. Only seven and already had control of people. He finally made it to the front where he saw a boy in their grade, Minhyuk he recognized, kicking a yellow lump on the ground. It wasn’t until everyone was quiet that Minhyuk realized that something was wrong. His eyes widened at the site of the taller boy and he stopped kicking at once.  The boy moved away from the yellow mess and shrunk into the crowd, in fear of what the taller one would do.

                After glaring at Minhyuk for a few seconds his eyes diverted to the crying body in front of him. He bent down towards the weeping girl, brushing the brown bouncy curls from her pink face. Her eyes widened at the site of him. She knew who he was. She was scared of him like everyone else. She knew what he could do. The girl swallowed the lump in , preparing for the worse. His eyes scanned over her body. She was smaller than average. Her hair fell to the middle of her small back and her dress was dirty. He looked at her legs where the tanned skin was broken and blood oozed out. A small Hello Kitty necklace sat around her neck.

                Turning towards the crowd around them he told them to leave, not wanting to see any of them near her again. They scattered at the sound of his voice like bees being chased out of their hive. He turned back to the girl and smiled as he gave her a hand. She whimpered as he brushed the dirt off of her body, frightened from the contact. Each movement looked like a blow to her person, her mind still scarred from the earlier episode.

                “I’m Jiho.” His voice broke out quietly as he smoothed the wrinkles from her dress. Her face brought a look of confusion. She thought that his name was –

                “People call me Zico because it seems tougher. No one knows my name is really Jiho.” he smiled to himself. His mother had asked the teachers to call him that as he begged her continuously day in and out until the first day of kindergarten. Jiho felt that his name was only special enough for his mother and older brother. This girl was the first person other than those two to know his real name.

                created a small O as she nodded her head. “Sky.” She said in a whisper. “Like Hanuel but only in English.” Tears fell down her eyes as the older boy brushed the dirt caked on her skin. Was it possible for someone to be so nice?

                “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you from them.” He whispered to her, wiping the tears from her eyes. His chest ached; he had never shown such affection for anyone other than his family. It was a weird feeling. Like his stomach was turning, but it felt… good.

                Sky moved away from the contact. She didn’t want him to touch her. He might get it. He might get her disease. Her heart broke as she saw his unforgiving eyes widen in concern. It was the first time she ever saw them change. For almost a year she has watched him afar and never saw the emotion in his eyes change. “You don’t want to touch me.” She trembled out.

                His eyes grew worried. “And why not?” he tried to laugh but it wouldn’t work. His body betrayed him.

                “Because I’m dirty. They say it every day. That’s why I have no friends. They’re scared they might get it.” Her large brown eyes fell to her arms and legs. They were darker than his but not by much. It was a warm color but an unforgiving one. It made her unwanted.

                Tears fell from his eyes now. Jiho’s small hands cupped her face, raising her gaze to his. “You are not dirty. You’re beautiful.” It was something his mother would say to him and his brother whenever they would ask where their father was. When he would ask if his father didn’t like him because he wasn’t handsome like the other boys. His mind would always flash to Jaehyo, his neighbor, the kid that everyone gushed over because of his face. Jaehyo had a dad that loved him.

                “You’re beautiful. You have pretty hair that bounces everywhere and pretty eyes.” Jiho flushed out everything that he had noticed about the girl over the past year. “You always where that Hello Kitty necklace and you have nice thighs.” This made her laugh.

                “Thighs?” She looked down at her legs and slightly pulled up her skirt. They looked like any other pair of thighs. She glanced at him, noticing he was staring at them and then dropped her skirt. Her hand made a small fist and lightly tapped him on the arm.

                “And you have a pretty smile.” Sky felt her face flush darker, tinting her cheeks with a red. She looked at her feet and back up at Jiho, unknowing over what to do. She remembered watching a movie with her older sister and tried something for herself. Sky stretched forward and touched Jiho’s lips with hers. She giggled at the look on his face as she pulled away from the quick peck. She wasn’t the only one that was red now.

“I think that you should take mine.” His voice boomed out from inside the blue locker that his head was currently buried in. She stood next to him, standing no more than five feet tall. Her once curly locks turned into a long fountain of straight hair, thanks to years of hot blow dryers and strong chemicals.

“No way! That will sound too weird.” Her eyes rolled at the thought in her head. She would never take it.

“Like your name already sounds like a piece of artwork. Lee Sky-Hwa. Your parents weren’t really thinking when they named you that right?” she slapped him on the back of the head.

“Shut up! And why do you think I only go by ‘Sky’ you ?” she giggled as he rubbed his head. The older boy stood up from his locker, emerging with the notebook he was looking for. He dropped it into the bag in her hands carelessly before zipping it up and throwing it over his shoulder.

“You’re taking my name.” he bent down and kissed her on the forehead as she pouted. “But Woo Sky-Hwa sounds so ugly!” she whined as he laughed.

“Well we have exactly four years and twenty-eight days for you to get used to it.” he wrapped his arm around her small waist as they turned toward their class.

Eleven years. Eleven years since that day. The day that still replayed in her mind at nighttime, making her think of what would have happened if her angel didn’t come through. If his halo didn’t shine through.

She would always stop herself before she could think too much into it. She wondered what would have been of her. If she would have moved away, if they would have stopped teasing her. It was hard to know since she still got stares from her classmates. Especially the girls. They hated her for being Zico’s one and only. They hated that he was in love with a mutt, especially since they were Korea’s finest. Long hair, pale skin, pink lips and large eyes with an innocence and underlying iness. She was none of that yet was in a relationship with one of the best looking guys in school.

She had gone through a lifetime with Zico. They went through puberty together, awkward voice changes and horrible acne. They went to their eighth grade dance, every homecoming and their senior prom together, always dressed to the nines. She supported him when he decided that he wanted to become a rapper. She helped him set up the equipment in his basement and even sent his demos to several companies, which all wanted him. She helped his brother get through a difficult period with drug abuse and stood by the family’s side. She encouraged his mother to start her own business when she would come home every day miserable from work. They shared their first kiss in the sixth grade, innocent and awkward. They spent their first night together junior year of high school, embarrassing but yet sweet. She couldn’t have imagined her life without him, as pathetic as that sounded.

Sky was brought back to reality as he stopped short in his tracks, turning towards her. She looked up at Zico, eyebrow raised. Her eyes watched him as he pulled off his book bag and d on it until he felt whatever it was he was looking for. His dark his looked at her, they turned curved into his subtle eye smile.

“Sky baby…” he started, his English still funny in her ears no matter how flawless it was. She nodded at him, hiding the amusement on her face.

“I felt bad for not getting this earlier even though we already had made plans…” his voice trailed off as he ped his bag pulling out a small box. Sky’s breath caught in as she watched his hands tremble softly.

“But, I want it to be official. Lee Sky-Hwa, awkward name and all, be mine forever.” He opened the box and she laughed. It was a small ring, adorned with the famous little cat smiling up at her.