I was online watching videos and posting up new stories on my favorite site Asianfanfics.com. It was my usual. My grandma had just left after talking to my mom about the curtain she was working on. The moment she left, Mom scolded me about being on the computer so often and how it was affecting my grades.

“Eun-young, your test scores came in today,” she said.

“Really?!” I jumped up at ran over to her. I excitedly pulled the paper out of her hands and looked it over. The previous year I had gotten advanced in both Math and English, so I was anticipating the same thing this year. Sadly, I had advanced in English, but not Math. I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach like I didn’t accomplish an important mission or something. “This is not acceptable,” I said half-seriously. “I can’t have advanced in one and proficient in the other; it’s just not natural!”

“Well maybe you should spend less time on the computer and more studying math,” she commented.

You see, I had recently been more depressed than ever. The one thing that always cheered me up and gave me hope was U-KISS’s song “Some Day.” Oh, and my amazing boyfriend No Minwoo. But when my mom said those words to me, I felt extremely offended for some reason. It was as if I had finally become an outcast and nobody liked me, like I didn’t matter in the world, and like I didn’t have any right to invade in anybody’s life. It… hurt.

I stood in front of her for five seconds, then walked back over to the computer. I turned AFF off, along with YouTube, and hid out in my room for the next hour or so. It was my plan to cheer up or forget what she said. I really didn’t know why it made me feel so bad. Was it the fact that no one could see what I was going through and believe my smile? Was it because I kept smiling and telling myself that nothing was wrong, but everything was? Or perhaps I needed somebody to tell me everything I wanted to hear without lying?

I started crying out of nowhere. I pulled a pencil and paper out of my dresser drawer to draw out my feelings. I drew a heart with a knife through it, a head with an ax stuck in it, a few broken hearts. I personally liked them, since they reflected the way I felt. I had a sudden feeling of need and want—a need and want of Minwoo. So I decided to call him up.

“Eun-young?”

“Oppa~” I whined into the phone. “Can I come over for a while?” I sniffled.

“Eun-youngie, what’s wrong? Are you okay, baby?”

“No, my mom yelled at me, and I don’t know what’s wrong, but I just wish I could disappear. Please, can I come over for a while?”

“Of course you can babe. Do you want me to pick you up?”

“No, I can walk. See you there. Bye.” I sniffled and put my phone in my pocket. I knew I wouldn’t escape so easily because my mom was always watching out for me. I was always one to escape to Minwoo’s whenever I needed something to do or needed help with homework. I always did it without her permission. If I asked her, she’d say I couldn’t go, and I really wanted to, so I never asked; simple as that.

I made sure to not make any sound while going towards the front door. It was before the living room (where my mom was), so I was in luck. I silently unlocked it as best as I heard. The click of the top lock forced me to freeze in my steps. I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for her to come barging towards me, yelling and screaming at me for the thousandth time that month. Surprisingly, nothing happened. I would’ve investigated but I didn’t want to miss my chance to see Minwoo when I needed him most.

The moment I closed the door, I felt an immediate heaviness on my shoulders. I felt like a rebel, one that never listened to anybody. It wasn’t like I did anyway. The only people I listened to and would do what they asked were Minwoo, his five friends Hyunseong, Jeongmin, Donghyun, Youngmin, and Kwangmin, and their girlfriend Amber, Sulli, Victoria, Krystal, and Luna. They were all my best friends and always helped me and Minwoo since we were the youngest out of all the couples. Victoria and Donghyun were responsible and engaged, ready to be wed. They told Minwoo and I how to stay loyal to each other all the time, but I think we already knew how to do that. Jeongmin and Amber, they were never ones to give out the perfect information. But they knew how to have a good time and enjoy each other. Hyunseong and Luna were the shy couple in our group. Even though they were shy with everybody they didn’t know, they were always happy and cheerful with each other and our group. Youngmin and Sulli kind of had a rough relationship every now and then, but they knew how to keep each other company and enjoy time with each other. That leaves what Kwangmin and Krystal acted like. Kwangmin only understood Krystal half of the time he talked to her because she had moved from America and he asked her out without knowing she couldn’t speak a bunch of Korean. It was okay though; she understood enough to know what he said when he finally confessed that he loved her.

Before I knew it, I was at Minwoo’s house. I stood in front of his door, my tears drying up and staining my face. I didn’t want him to see it, but I had no choice. Either leave, or let him see. There was no way I could wipe them all away fast enough. I had already knocked on the door.

The person who opened the door was Mrs. No, Minwoo’s mom. “Eun-young! It’s a pleasure to see you here.” She smiled kindly and I thought about my life at home again and how much worse it was compared to Minwoo’s. I began tearing up again, but waited to get into Minwoo’s room before breaking down. I never wanted to cry in front of parents. They always worried and tried helping when really… they always make you feel worse.

“May I come in, Mrs. No?”

“Of course dear. He’s in his room.” She opened the door for me fully and I stepped inside. I weakly smiled and thanked her before walking down the hall to Minwoo’s room. I heard the sound of Guitar Hero being played coming from his room. I smiled unconsciously, knowing that it was his favorite pastime besides rapping, dancing, and reading.

I knocked on the door lightly. I knew he’d hear it; he had an awesome sense of hearing. The sound of the game stopped immediately. I heard the guitar being thrown on the floor and running towards the door. The door swung open. The moment I saw my boyfriend’s smiling face, I burst out crying. His smile immediately dispersed turning into a frown. “Awww, what’s wrong, baby?”

“My mom,” I sobbed into his chest. He wrapped me in a hug and pulled me into his room. It was all too familiar; the messy un-made bed, the empty chip bags, the dirty unwashed clothes on the floor, the fresh musky smells of the air, and the dusty television. It was why I loved Minwoo; he was a real man.

He sat us down on his bed. He sat against the wall and I leaned into him, unable to stop crying. I eventually did, but I was pretty sure it was thirty minutes later. I filled with love when I found Minwoo still rubbing my back and rocking us back and forth. Most boyfriends wouldn’t have done that. I was lucky to have someone as amazing as Minwoo.

“Can you tell me what’s wrong now Eun-youngie?” Minwoo asked, holding my chin up with his pointer finger and thumb. I gazed at him sadly.

“My mom told me that I should spend more time studying Math than being on the computer.”

“Well that’s not bad, but she still shouldn’t have said that. Doesn’t she understand that your entire life is on there? Well, I’m most of your life, but I’m talking about the rest of it.” He tried lightening the mood by winking playfully. I put up a weak attempt at laughing. Minwoo only frowned. What, was he against me too? Gee, it wouldn’t be a surprise. But he’s my boyfriend; he has to be good to me… right?

“Eun-young, I’m worried about you. You’re my girlfriend and I’m your boyfriend. I have a right to know what goes on with your life so I can make it better.”

That time I really smiled. Minwoo did the same and kissed me lightly on the lips. It was only our fifth kiss. Yeah, I counted the kisses. Was there anything wrong with that?

“You know you’re beautiful when you smile, right?” he asked in a deeper-than-his-normal-one voice. It sent shivers down my spine.

“You’re beautiful as well,” I joked, hugging him tighter around his waist.

“Okay, that’s enough. I’m not beautiful; I’m pretty.”

I broke out in giggles. I didn’t notice it but I was happy again. That was the power of No Minwoo, Boyfriend Extraordinaire.

“I love your laugh, Eun-young,” he whispered in my ear. Normally, girls would say their boyfriends whispered sweet nothings, but not Minwoo. I knew he would never do that to me; he was just too sweet. “I also love your hair, your lips, your eyes, and your nose. But do you know what I love the most?”

“Hmmm… my personality?”

“Well, I love that too, but most of all, I love you.”

Hmmm… surprise, yes. Disappointing? No way at all. It was the first time he said that to me, seeing as we had only been going out for six months. It really got my heart rate going when he kissed me deeper than last time. But I broke the kiss to talk to him about it.

“Are you sure, Minwoo oppa? I mean, you could just be mistaking your feelings for being in love with the idea of being in love. I’ve heard of guys doing that before, and I just don’t want you to be like them. I care for you too much.”

“Eun-young, what do I need to do to show you that I love you?” he asked, caressing my face in his hands. They were so big and warm. It made me feel safer than I ever had before.

“Nothing. You just need to stay with me forever.”

He hesitated. I worried instantly. I almost went back into my depressed state. “You… you lied to me?”

“No, I didn’t!” he immediately shouted. He took a deep breath and kissed my forehead. “I do love you Eun-young, but things can happen, you know? Between now and the time we want to get married things can happen that can screw up our relationship, so I don’t want to promise anything right now that could make you hate me in the future. Understand?”

I did, just a little. It gave me warmth knowing that he cared about me so much as to go to thinking that something could separate us in the future, and he didn’t want to make any promises that could hurt me in the future and make me hate him. Now isn’t that sweet?

“Yeah, I do,” I murmured into his chest. “But at least promise you’ll try your best to keep our relationship as perfect as it can get.”

“I won’t promise that either, but I will promise to be the perfect man for you.” He took his hands from around me and held them up in front of my face. “Just so you don’t think I’m going to go back on my promise,” he assured me. “Choi Eun-young, I promise that I will be the best boyfriend this world has ever seen and I promise to be your first and last boyfriend.” He put his hands back down. “Now it’s your turn to promise.”

I held my hands up. Instead of just watching them, Minwoo intertwined our fingers. I blushed. “No Minwoo, I promise to be your first and last girlfriend, and I promise to be the best girlfriend I can without boring you.” I gave him a little smile and wink. He grinned back and raised an eyebrow.

“You think you can bore me? Puh-lease, girl! There’s only one boring girl in my life, and that’s my own mother, even though I still love her.”

We laughed together, a pleasant feeling to me. It was nice to laugh with someone who loved me as much as I loved him, especially since he was my first boyfriend. Yeah, my first boyfriend. How rare is it to find a boy who could possibly be your husband and also you first boyfriend? Yeah, pretty darn hard to find.

We snuggled some more, but got bored (not that snuggling with him was boring). Minwoo pulled out his other Guitar Hero guitar and handed it to me, picking up the one he was using before I came over. He a song I didn’t know and started hitting the seemingly endless roll of notes. I did my best to place my fingers on the colored notes on the guitar as they came down the screen. Any time I missed a note Minwoo would turn around and play without looking, and STILL not miss a note. I never understood how he did that.

“UGH, STUPID THING!” I yelled at the screen playfully as I kept missing a string of green, red, and orange notes. Those orange notes were the hardest to reach since they were at the very end of the guitar neck near the head. By the time the whole song ended, my wrist hurt and I was actually kind of tired. I checked the time as Minwoo searched for another song. It was already 9:30, three hours after I left the house. I knew my mom was going to literally kill me when I got back home. It wasn’t like I cared though; I could spend the night at Minwoo’s and go home the next day and tell my mom she had an episode last night before getting drunk. She’d believe me. It had happened before plenty of times.

As if he could read my mind, Minwoo asked, “Hey, Eun-young, do you think you should go home? It’s getting kind of late. Your mom will be worried.”

“Awww, does my Yeobo not want me around anymore?” I asked him pouting cutely. He immediately got saucers for eyes. I covered my mouth and giggled. “Kidding~ I know my yeobo loves me.”

He sighed and smiled. “Good, I thought you were serious.”

“Why would I be serious about that? I know you love me and just so you know… I-I love you too.” I blushed and covered my face with my hands. I heard Minwoo chuckle and shuffled his way over to me. He was probably tired too; he always moved fast.

He grabbed my wrists in his own hands. He placed my hands in his and said one of the sweetest things ever: “You know what? I promise to marry you Choi Eun-young. I don’t think I can see anybody better to marry and have children with.” With that, he kissed me. I could literally feel the feeling through the kiss. And you know what else? He stole my first French kiss that night, too.

No, he didn’t steal anything else. He said we’d wait for that until I was ready for it. But besides that, I slept over at his house in his arms all night, smiling, happy, and content.

Now do you see why I call him ‘No Minwoo: Boyfriend Extraordinaire’? He’s everything a girl wants in a boyfriend—strong, courageous, and true. I don’t know where I’d be without him to this date.