Annie's been friends with Nam Joo Hyuk for a year. He had changed so much. When he first came to her private high school, he could barely speak English. He's now a promising point guard with a basketball scholarship to Stanford. Annie hasn't changed...
"Huh?" I looked up with a puzzled look on my face. We were doing our homework together in my small yet cozy bedroom after school.
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It was fate that brought him to my high school. I saw him standing by the lockers looking like a lost tourist in the middle of Time Square. I decided to help him. I guess it was the motherly instinct in me.
"Annyung." I said hello in Korean.
"You speak Korean?" He looked relieved.
I taught him everything I know about the US from what to wear to what teenagers liked to talk about. He taught me Kpop and we spent weekends watching Riverdale and Korean dramas on my bed eating shrimp chips, our favorite snack.
Fast forward a year, he hardly had any accent and he got a basketball scholarship to Stanford.
"What is a prom?" He enunciated looking me with puppy eyes.
Did he know I had a crush on him?
"Come on, Annie. Answer! " He wrapped his arm around my neck. I could feel his breath on my cheek.
"Ouch, you are heavy!!!" I started blushing and tried to pull away from him.
"You are blushing. I can tell! " He smiled not letting go of me.
"Ok, I think that's enough for today. Just because you got into Stanford doesn't mean you can fail English!" I scolded him like a teacher.
"You are so cute when you yell." Joohyuk squeezed my cheeks.
I desperately wanted him to treat me like a girl but I knew he thought of me like a sister. I barely saw him these days. He was the "popular kid" in school. Girls found him irresistible when he playing basketball. I had turned an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan. I, on the other hand, had stayed an ugly duckling.
Tomorrow was the day of the prom. I had secretly hoped Joohyuk would ask me so I had bought my dress a week ago.
"Ugh, why do you act like everything is a joke?" I said.
"Are you mad?" Joohyuk asked, his smile disappeared.
"I'm not going to see you in two months! I'm going to UCLA. You are going to Stanford!" Teardrops started falling wetting the pages of my textbook.
"I'm sorry, I don't want to see you like this," I said.
The next day, I heard loud honking noise.
There was a black limo outside of our driveway.
What was going on? I ran downstairs and saw Joohyuk in the foyer.
He got down on one knee. "Annie, will you go to prom with me?"
Was I dreaming? I hugged him and said "yes, of course!" in Korean.
He whispered something else in my ear, "will you be my girlfriend?"
We kissed realizing that we've both been waiting for this moment since the day we met.
