My Best Friend

Her name was Kang Hye Jin. To others she may be the only daughter and heir to the famous K Group of Industries, but to me, she was just my best friend.

The first time I met her was when my grandma brought me home. For a 5 year old seeing the grandeur of the estate was like jumping inside a fairy tale with its very own secret garden. As I held my grandma's hand tightly, I saw a little girl, dressed in a little princess dress, surrounded with what seems to be dozens and dozens of dolls near the flower beds.

As we approach, she ran towards my grandma and eagerly exclaimed " Grandma, you kept your promise. You brought me a friend to play with."

"Thank you, grandma" she said as she hugged my grandma waist "You're the best"

She then turn towards me as she held out a hand and said "Hi, I'm Kang Hye Jin. You must be Eun Su right??"

While I tentatively held hand, she suddenly proclaimed "From today onward, we're going to be my best friends." She stated it so confidently leaving no room for doubt. And so just like that we became the best of friends.

It was only later that I learn what a lonely child she had been before my arrival. Born with a silver spoon she had all her needs attended to before she even asked except no amount of material gains could filled the void of being loved. Brought up by a succession of nannies, she hungered for her parents love as each of them were busy in their respective lives with little time to spare for the young child. Her Dad was always out of the country expanding his empire whereas her Mom immersed herself in charity works and the like leaving behind the child who tinkered around the house with no one for company. Occasionally she would drag the servants to play with her but they too had little time to spare from their household chores. Alone the little girl would then pretend the dolls to be her playmates, giving them names as she played and converse with them all by herself relieving some of her loneliness. So when she finally found a friend her happiness knew no bounds.

Kang Hye Jin was a box of contraries. She was petite and cute with stunning good looks and big brown eyes, loyal to a fault and mischievous beyond compare. She'll drag me along into all kinds of mischief such as breaking all her Dad's expensive cigars to keep him from getting cancer, to cutting down her Mom's exquisite dresses for our very own fashion show, to gluing the meany teacher's chair when she punished us unjustly. But when caught, she was always the first to own up to her mistakes.

She was also the one who convinced her parents to sent us to the same school citing that I with my quiet nature would be a good influence on her and as I was quite good in studies she won't lack for a study partner. Hence, from the moment we met we have always been inseparable.