[[ Once Upon a Time ]]

Once upon a time, there was this boy.

His name was Choi Sung Woo.

And I hated him.

Even to this day, I don’t know how Choi Sung Woo and I became best friends.

“Eun Sung ah, why are you so UGLY??”

See what I mean? How could I be friends with somebody so mean?

“Choi Sung Woo why are you so mean?”

“What?” Sung Woo looked seriously at me. “You want me to lie?”

Sung Woo had this funny habit of leaving me speechless, even if I had already heard his insults a thousand times before.

“Choi Sung Woo, I hate you.”

Sung Woo laughed and flicked me lightly on the forehead. “No you don’t,” he teased. “You love me, Kim Eun Sung.”

[[ In the Beginning ]]

I remember walking into class on the first day, and seeing Choi Sung Woo in the seat next to mine. I remember thinking that school was going to be hell this year, with Sung Woo in my class.

We had a funny friendship, Sung Woo and I.

“Eun Sung ah.”

Sung Woo sounded serious.

“Do you consider me a close friend, or just a friend?”

I paused in whatever I was doing. Whatever I had been expecting to hear from Sung Woo, this was definitely on the bottom of the list.

“Well do you consider me as a close friend or just a friend?”

Sung Woo didn’t even need to think about it. “A close friend.”

I don’t remember if I was smiling – it felt like I was. “Me too.”

In the beginning, I didn’t know what to think when Choi Sung Woo started calling me. At first it was just for homework, but then our conversations extended for hours and past any possible range of homework discussion.

And then he started calling every night. I ignored him for the most part, in the beginning. I figured it was some sort of practical joke to him and his friends – back then, I wouldn’t have put it past them to do something so mean.

“Eun Sung ah, what are you doing?”

“Watching