To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love.

- Jane Austen

The first time I met him, I was seven and he was nine. It was the first day of my new school and I was nervous. I didn't know where I was supposed to head since I forgot the direction I was told to follow - I was a little child after all who was being made to attend a new school much against her wish. I was almost on the verge of tears when someone a little taller than me (I was quite tiny back then for an average seven-year-old) approached me. With my teary eyes, I looked at the person - a boy of around my age - who was already looking at me with kindness in his eyes. He asked me if I was a new student and I immediately nodded my head, as I couldn't find my voice. I was kind of scared, you know how as kids we are taught to be wary of people. I was no different, in my head I was contemplating whether I should ask him for help or not. He was wearing the same school uniform as me which meant either he was a classmate or a senior. A part of me was certain that he would help me if I asked him, however the other half of me - the one that heard countless stories of strangers kidnapping little children by luring them with sweets - was unsure of asking his help. Although, it seemed a bit absurd because he was my age and why would someone my age would want to kidnap me and what for what - to play house-house or tea party? Sigh. I was such a crazy kid back then.

"Don't worry, I'm not a kidnapper."

The tall boy must have read my face, which is still pretty much an open book for people to read and gauge my thoughts. I wasn't sure even then if I should take his help or not, but since I was getting late I was inclining toward a yes to his help.

"You won't offer me sweets, will you?"

"What? Ha-ha, no. Didn't I tell you just a few seconds ago that I'm not a kidnapper?"

"You did...I was just confirming."

"Huh, as if sweets are the only way to lure stupid children like you."

"Huh?"

"Nothing, let's get going. I don't want to be late for my class either."

I nodded, deciding to slide his remark about me being stupid as a compensation for his help. He asked me to follow him to the administration office and I did quietly. When we reached the administration office, he asked a kind looking lady to help us and she immediately got to work.

"What's your name, Miss Little Girl?"

"Claire. Claire Laker."

"And which grade have you been admitted in?"

"First."

"Okay."

She went back to her computer screen where she typed something, while I waited. The boy stood beside me in complete silence. I could see other kids of our age running toward their classes through the glass door of the office. The boy didn't seem to be in any rush, though few minutes back he acted as if he couldn't dare to be even a second late for his class. I didn't know if I should be relieved that he was staying back to help me or be angry that he first acted cool. Well, now that I think, I should've been just grateful that he stayed back with me because it somehow lessened my anxiety on my first day in new school.

"Okay, so, Ms. Laker, I looked up your details and you've been assigned to section Lily of First grade. Just go straight from here and take the first right you'll find your homeroom with the picture of lily on the door. Good luck for your first day."

"Thank you."

I left the office with the boy following me closely behind. I tried my best to not cry as I became extremely nervous about meeting new people and I guess the boy seemed to have noticed it, too. I didn't want to embarrass myself, so I thought to keep repeating the direction the nice lady told me. It also made me feel a little better, but the closer I was getting to my new homeroom, the sicker I felt in my stomach.

"Claire, c'mon, I'll take you to your homeroom."

The boy offered me. I was so nervous that I couldn't even speak anything and just nodded in reply. He shook his head and took the lead.

"What's your name?" I asked him. At least, I should know who was helping so that I could go home and tell my mum about the nice tall boy when I tell her about my first day.

"Noah. Noah Jung."

"Oh okay."

We didn't speak again till we reached my homeroom.

"Ms. Moore. She's your new student." Noah entered the homeroom before me and informed the teacher. The teacher seemed young and sweet, so I felt half of my worries gone already. I was very scared of getting a cruel teacher. I mean as a seven-year-old, you never wanted to have a scary teacher because that just makes school even a more terrible place to be. However, I was fortunate and that just helped me adjust sooner in my new school. And I crossed paths with Noah a few times in school as the academic session progressed. We didn't talk much, just exchanged greetings and went on our ways. Not that I wanted to run in to him more than we did, but it was refreshing every time we met in the school corridor or the playground. Of course, it kind of is a matter of pride, too, to be friends with someone senior in school, so people around me sort of in awe of me. Ha ha, it's almost like being a celebrity, but I enjoyed every minute of the special treatment I received from my classmates. As for Noah, he remained pretty much oblivious to this.

One night, my mother informed me that my father's friend and his family would be visiting us the next day and have dinner with us. I was looking forward to it since being an only child, I hardly had anyone to talk to or meet at home. School was the only place where I could meet people and talk as much as I wanted. So, I cleaned my playroom - which meant keeping my toys and books in the shelves designated for them - and made sure my cat Smiley didn't cause any trouble because my father's friend also had an only child - a boy and I wanted him to like me. I just wanted a playmate, and my father's friend's family lived in the neighbourhood next to ours.

The doorbell rang and there walked in Noah along with an older guy, Will, who seemed a few years older than us. I was kind of disappointed to see that it was Noah - we weren't friends, y'all know, right? - and his brother was in fact a good six years older than me. And I hoped at least one of them to be a girl. So, all my plans to get playmates went into gutter. Still, not wanting to be a spoilsport, I escorted them to my playroom while our parents exchanged pleasantries. The older guy didn't seem much interested in my toys or books - he was a teen already, so it was understandable for him to find my toys and books unamusing. He sat down on my bean bag in a corner and busied himself with his flip phone, probably texting. However, unlike him, Noah seemed pretty amused with my toys - not books, obviously - and we sat down to playing with few of my new toys including a kitchen playset. While his brother continued to stay busy texting, Noah and I made perfect playmates which was surprising for me because we weren't close at all to begin with. He played the husband and I was the wife as we played with my kitchen playset. I played my part of an attorney (my mum's an attorney) who stayed busy the whole day, so didn't have time to cook. Noah played his part perfect to a T as a loving husband who loved to cook for his wife. We continued to play for quite some time, until we were called by my mother for dinner.

We resumed playing for some time after dinner. It was a nice change for me as I usually had play alone with Smiley who prefers sleeping over playing with me for most of the times. By the time, Noah and Will had to leave, Noah and I already promised each other that we'd have a playdate soon and both of us were already looking forward to it. Will wasn't that interested in our playdate, but he said that he'd like to visit us again - in my house, he could use his phone without any nagging from his mother. Anyway, I was more excited for my playdate with Noah, so I just nodded and bid them bye.

In the following weeks, Noah and I turned out to be great playmates for each other and we had a playdate almost every day. Whenever the playdate was at my house, Will would tag along with Noah so that he could use his phone while Noah played with me. When at their house, he would always stay behind with us to 'supervise' us while we played, although, he hardly ever looked up from his phone screen. Not that it bothered either of us. Noah and I would even play together at school during our break time and it was always fun to be around him. He was funny and always had nice game ideas. I liked being around him, even though I was just a first grader who would make more friends as I grew up, I knew Noah would always be my first close friend - my best friend, who would eventually become the love of my life.

As we would hang out together for majority of the times, Noah and I naturally grew close to each other even when we were in our teens. He was a Junior in high school when I started as a Freshman and to be very honest, it was a big relief to have a senior I knew at the crazy place called high school. It was very different from elementary or middle school and I faced a tough time adjusting there. However, the break time remained a favourite of mine because that was the time I would meet Noah without worrying about being late for class. I meant, we would run into each other while on our way to our respective classes but those few minutes were never enough because we always had a lot to talk about - like teachers, homework, our crushes, video games, books, lunch menu...regular stuff. By the end of my high school, all the seniors and my new classmates assumed that Noah and I were a couple and that we'd been dating for a long time. I didn't know why they would presume that since Noah and I were just like any other pair of friends. We talked about stuff that most people talked about and it seemed platonic to me. Although, I wouldn't deny that sometimes I would feel jealous when Noah talked about a hot girl in his Biology class or his lab partner in Chemistry. I think he acted weird when I did the same, you know, telling him about the cute guy who would lend me his pencil every time I forgot mine or the basketballer who asked me for my number when I helped him with French. It never occurred to me that these little moments of envy could be indicative of our feelings for each other which had long stopped being platonic. We never discussed this until the day Noah asked me for his Junior Prom.

"Why do you want me to attend your Prom as your date. It's your prom, you should ask that hot girl from Biology or your lab partner. Why me?"

"Err...I don't think I want to attend my prom with either of them...I want to attend my prom with you."

"Why though? I mean I know as your best friend we've done most of the things together...but isn't prom like a big deal? You should ask someone you've been crushing on to be your date for the prom and not me. Who knows you might actually end up finally getting a girlfriend?"

"Umm...that is why I'm asking you?"

Did I hear it right? Noah - asking me - for the prom - because he wants - me - his girlfriend - WHAT THE HELL?

"WHAT THE HELL?"

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

"Claire?"

"Noah?"

"Are you okay?"

"I don't know."

"Look, if you don't feel the same way I feel about you, then it's okay. You don't have to reciprocate my feelings...we'll just continue as best friends. Don't worry 'bout a thing."

"Noah, I...."

"It's okay, Claire. I understand you don't have romantic feelings for me. I'm okay."

Although, he tried his best to mean what he said, his eyes gave away his lies. He wasn't okay, and so was I. I mean I did kind of liked him in a romantic manner but never had the guts to tell this to his face. Why would I even when I knew I'd lose him as my best friend. But now that he took the initiative to come forward and confess his feelings for me, I could freely take a step forward and tell him what I'd wanted to tell him for quite some time.

"Noah, I like you, too."

"Really?"

His eyes got bigger in shock, probably because he wasn't expecting to hear this. Well, I was surprised, too, when I first heard him profess his feelings for me. Though, he looked cuter. Did I say he had puppy eyes? The kind of eyes if you stared at would make you like him instantly. Now that I confessed, I thought I did have the right to drool at him.

"Yes. I mean I kind of like you more than just a best friend, though, not exactly as a romantic interest yet."

"Do you mean it's sort of like a crush?"

"Well, you can say so."

"Um...so are we going out?"

"Are we?"

"If you want to...I'm okay if you don't wanna date me."

"Let's see each other."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Cool."

"Cool."

And that's how we started dating each other.

We dated all through Noah's Senior year of high school which ended with lots of tears on my side and deep sighs on his. We experienced moments we never had before, you know like our first kiss. It was magical and toe curling, I mean just talking about it would make me feel all giddy with butterflies in my stomach. And times when we would rush to meet each other in the corridors for few seconds before every class. It was sweet, crazy, fun, wonderful - all at once. I don't even know what I used to feel while waiting for the classes to end so that I could walk home with him, he wasn't any better. Our friends would often make fun of us for spending most of our time together which to be very honest wasn't anything different except that our label was - we weren't best friends, we were boyfriend and girlfriend. It felt awkward initially to introduce ourselves as each other's boyfriend and girlfriend, but the time of his Senior Prom we were used to it. His Senior Prom was nothing short of a dream for me, it became my second most special night of ours, the first being his Junior Prom when we first started going out. The way he swirled me around when we danced to Lady Antebellum's If I Knew Then I wished for time to freeze so that I could keep living that moment. Of course, time didn't stop and we soon had to say goodbye to each other as Noah had got accepted to a university a hundred miles from me. It hurt worse than I'd imagined to watch him leave just after we shared our last kiss. I wanted him to stay, at least till I became used to the idea of being away from him. But then again, we don't get to choose everything in life. Most of it is already decided for us which impacts our paths and we fool ourselves into believing that we have some agency to decide for ourselves.

Since Noah was my best friend and not just my boyfriend, the last two years were pretty monotonous. I attended school, then go for my part-time job before going home where I'd have a pile of homework and applications to finish for the rest of the day. Though, the weekends were fun because I got to talk to Noah to my heart's content. We would discuss about academics, part-time jobs, friends and ourselves. He would always tell me to apply to his university so that we would be together again for at least a couple years before he graduated. Honestly, I wanted us to be together again as soon as possible. I hated being away from him because I missed my best friend a lot more than I missed my boyfriend. I hated having to wait for the weekend to even have a decent conversation with him since he was free only on weekends. I would spend time with my other friends, but it wasn't the same as they didn't know the inside jokes that I shared with Noah. It just wasn't the same, but I was glad for the weekend calls as it made the distance bearable.

After all the yearning, lonely days, crying, missing, sleepless nights I managed to graduate from high school. To be honest, I was more excited for Noah's prom than I was for my own. It wasn't certain if Noah would make it for the prom and I wasn't interested in having anyone else as my date, even though, Noah kept pursuing me to as he didn't want me to miss my prom. But thankfully, he made it for my Senior Prom and that again became one of my most favourite nights. And what followed the prom was a night I wouldn't want to forget ever...it was unforgettable. We had longed for each other all through the time we were apart. So, when we were finally together, it was too irresistible to resist each other. And we loved it, too. Somehow, it made us feel much closer than earlier. The intimacy we shared was definitely something I had never shared with anyone else, and I didn't want to either.

The little time we had before fall, we made sure to spent most of it together. It would help us both for the long months of separation that were ahead of us. And it was magical. We never realised how fast the time flew between all the long walks and quiet conversations we had. I know it sounds absurd and highly exaggerated, but I guess that's just how one feels when they are in love. And we indeed were passionately in love.

It was our last day together and I didn't know what to feel. I had been accepted in a university 200 miles from his, which meant we wouldn't get to see each other often. It was saddening but to become an attorney like my mum, I had to struggle through a long-distance relationship with Noah, who was studying to become an architect. We were trying to make the most of the last few moments we both had together, so that it would suffice for the long months when we had to go without seeing each other. We had a lot to say, yet staying quiet by each other's side was serene. Perhaps, silence at times says much more than words can ever.

"Noah, do you think we'll be fine?"

It wasn't that I didn't have faith in us - I had plenty, but still the fear of 'what if' engulfed my heart every once in a while that I couldn't help myself. Maybe, I loved him just too much or maybe, because he was my best friend.

"Yes, we'll be. Why do you ask?"

"Just like that."

"Just like that? Are you scared?"

"Maybe, I'm not sure."

He didn't say anything. We were walking near the old city fountain that had been our favourite spot since we were kids. It was like the intersection between my house and his, and we would often spend our time here playing with our toys when we didn't want to be home. We had made countless memories here, including our first kiss. Hehe, that still remains as my favourite memory of ours.

"Does the distance scare you?"

"A little, yes."

"Me, too. It scares me, too, Claire."

"We'll be alright, won't we? We survived through the two years of long-distance relationship, we might as well survive through it again."

"Hm, I guess we will."

"Are you unsure, Noah?"

"A little."

"Why?"

"What if you find someone more interesting and cool than me? Some hotshot lawyer or a senior?"

"Hm, that definitely is a possibility. And if this really happens, I'll be in such a dilemma."

"What the hell?"

I laughed. The cute little jealous Noah - he wasn't little by any sense, he was 6'1 and easily towered my 5'6 frame - seemed even cuter with his cheeks slightly red with anger. I kinda liked teasing him. I mean he was somewhat naive and for most part couldn't tell apart a joke from the tone. It made him even more attractive to me or simply I was crazy. I still am.

"Aw, someone's jealous."

"You better not joke about such serious issues."

"Okay, I won't. Fine?"

"Fine."

And we continued to walk for a hour or so more. I didn't want it to end, because at the end of it we had to go our separate ways and I was dreading it. But everything comes to an end, so did our walk.

"So...."

"So...."

"I'm gonna miss you...a lot."

"I'll miss you, too, Noah."

"You better not give attention to any hot senior, no matter what."

"Yes, sir. And the same applies to you. You better stay wary of pretty juniors or else I'll come running to your dorm."

"I'd love that."

He winked at me and I blushed. I didn't want to, but it just made my cheeks turn a good shade of red and Noah had a nice time teasing me over this. When I finally grew tired of his teasing, I yelled goodbye and stormed toward my home."

"GOODBYE, NOAH JUNG!"

But before I could even take a second stride, I felt him pull me back by my hand and the next second I felt his lips on mine. They were soft and warm and I couldn't help but respond to his lips. It was hard not to. It was our last kiss and we wouldn't get to share this moment for at least a few months, so I allowed myself to live it to the fullest.

I wrapped my arms around his neck as we deepened the kiss and his hands found their way around my waist. A few seconds later, we broke apart but only to kiss each other again. I didn't even know how long it lasted, but to me it still is one of the most unforgettable moments we had with each other.

How I wish, we hadn't broken apart that day, only then we wouldn't be where we are today. Shattered and heartbroken.