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A breeze carrying the gentle warmth of spring made the deep greenery of Central Park sway. The languid sunlight slid across the surfaces of the antique limestone buildings on Fifth Avenue, facing the park.
Underneath her one-piece school uniform, Jiyu wore the short-sleeved summer shirt for the first time this year. Ae-jeong had called Deaconess Song Sun-ye to pick her up, saying she couldn't do it today because she had volunteered as a preparation committee member for the school's charity bazaar.
Sun-ye, who was well past sixty, had been a babysitter who often looked after Jiyu since she was a newborn. Despite living in the United States for nearly thirty years, she wasn't very proficient in English. She played a large part in Jiyu becoming fluent in Korean.
Even Jiyu, who was severely shy around strangers, chattered comfortably like any other girl her age in front of Sun-ye, whose nature was warm and easygoing. As she walked toward Fifth Avenue holding Sun-ye's hand, Hunter's face suddenly popped up out of nowhere.
"Hiek!"
Jiyu stopped, startled.
"Come to the tree house as soon as you get home," Hunter whispered in a low voice into the ear of the frozen Jiyu, who had shrunk her shoulders.
The gazes of the children around them shifted toward them all at once.
Before he even heard her answer, Hunter disappeared into the crowd of students heading home as abruptly as he had appeared.
'Come to the tree house?'
In the courtyard of their apartment building, there was a tree house with a slide. It sounded like he wanted her to go there.
The courtyard's tree house was where Rosa would take the two of them when Hunter grew bored of playing in the playroom. Hunter was like a fireball, spitting flames in every direction.
While Jiyu rode the slide a couple of times or sat on the swing dangling her legs, he, unable to contain the explosive energy condensed within him, would climb up to the roof of the tree house and jump off with his arms spread wide as if he were about to fly away.
Jiyu would often hide inside the tree house, feeling drained just from watching Hunter. There, she would sit and quietly read a book.
Hunter also preferred running wild and turning the playground upside down on his own rather than playing with a bothersome bookworm. For that reason, although they were in the same space, they still played separately.
This was the first time Hunter had personally asked to meet. Even without doing so, they met far too often.
'Why on earth did he tell me to come to the tree house?'
As Jiyu stood there with a bewildered look, another face suddenly pushed into her field of vision.
"Olivia! Are you close with Hunter Hamilton?"
Sienna asked, her large light-blue eyes filled with curiosity. She was the most popular girl among the third-grade girls.
Startled, Jiyu hesitated before answering.
"...No."
Usually, Sienna had never spoken to her first. It wasn't because she held any particular grudge against Jiyu. She simply had no interest in a bookworm who sat in a corner reading quietly. She only played with the children in the group her mother had painstakingly formed.
Sienna's mother, Rebecca Reed, was famous among the third graders. Last semester, for a project where they had to choose and research a female role model from historical figures or celebrities, Sienna had proudly presented a board about Rebecca.
Rebecca was an alumna of Aster School who had become a women's wear designer after serving as an editor for a renowned fashion magazine. With hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, she unabashedly displayed her luxurious and glamorous life to the public.
Sienna also appeared on her social media frequently. Thanks to this, the mother and daughter were treated like celebrities at school.
Rebecca often threw wonderful parties for Sienna at their townhouse, and the third-grade girls were desperate to be invited to Sienna's sleepover parties.
Sienna tilted her head while looking at Jiyu.
"I think I've seen you together sometimes. Weren't you two friends?"
Is Hunter my friend?
Jiyu couldn't answer readily.
If she had to be precise, Hunter was the gatekeeper who held the key to the treasure island known as the library inside the playroom. He was someone she had to stay on the good side of if she wanted to keep going in there.
But she couldn't say such things out loud.
They had certainly spent as much time together as family members, but when they encountered each other at school, they were indifferent, acting as if they were strangers and not acknowledging one another. There was no special reason. Since they had been that way since kindergarten, it felt more awkward to suddenly act acquainted now.
Crucially, Hunter disliked her. Jiyu was no longer afraid of him as she once was, but she didn't like him either. That was why it was difficult to answer Sienna's question.
What do you call a relationship where you meet as often as friends but aren't close?
While Jiyu agonized over choosing an answer, Sienna frowned deeply, as if frustrated.
"Never mind then."
Then, tossing her honey-blonde hair, she turned away. Jiyu could hear her muttering as she walked away.
"She's so shy, it's frustrating."
Jiyu bit her lip and lowered her head. She knew what the children called her.
'Shy girl.'
Some people even used the expression 'painfully shy' within her earshot.
Jiyu had been afraid of strangers since she was little. Even now, she dreaded being the center of sudden attention more than anything.
Ae-jeong found her frustrating. She frightened Jiyu by saying that in a land like America, where extroverts are treated much better, she would be pushed around her whole life with such a personality. And she blamed Jiyu's personality on her father, Alan Parker. Alan was a timid and introverted man who worked in the back office of an investment bank and was completely dominated by Ae-jeong, who was twelve years younger than him.
When Ae-jeong made a fuss about looking for a debate academy, Alan comforted her, saying that he was just like Jiyu when he was young and that it gets better as you get older.
Jiyu sincerely hoped that was true. She wanted to be a bright, active, and confident person. But there was nothing she could do about her innate personality. Whenever someone suddenly asked her a question, her mind would go blank, and the words would get stuck in her throat. Ten honeybees would buzz and fly around in her stomach, stinging her sharply.
On the way home, Jiyu's shoulders slumped dejectedly. It wasn't even a difficult question, so why couldn't she answer? She could have just said they weren't friends.
It felt frustrating and foolish. And she resented Hunter.
'Doing something he never does, all of a sudden.'
Hunter stood out no matter what he did. When he appeared, attention naturally shifted toward him. And by extension, to the person next to him.
The party involved probably didn't care, but Jiyu found it uncomfortable.
It wasn't just because his last name was Hamilton; children with famous last names were common in Manhattan's top-tier private schools. Among the many children with ancestors who appeared prominently in textbooks—such as Lafayette, Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, and Kennedy—Hunter was just one of them.
The fact that he had a superior physique and was good at sports was an advantage in standing out among children of similar age. However, there were many other children who were tall and athletic besides Hunter.
The difference was that Hunter acted as if there was nothing in the world to fear. Wherever he went, he held his head high and looked down on others from beneath his high bridge of the nose. He never shrank back; he was bold and daring in everything he did.
If Hunter had been asked a sudden, random question, he wouldn't have been flustered like Jiyu. If it were hard to answer, he would simply ignore it, and if it were a stupid question, he would instead mock the asker.
Despite being so willful, the children followed Hunter.
Jiyu had never seen him alone at school. He would be surrounded by a crowd of friends, and the moment he left with a bored expression, the friends would call out to him and follow in a swarm.
Jiyu envied Hunter. She didn't envy his popularity at all. But she sincerely wanted his indifferent personality that didn't care about the gaze of others, and his self-esteem that remained unshaken no matter what anyone said.
Since such a 'popular boy' of Aster School had approached the 'shy girl' and suddenly whispered in her ear, it was only natural that the other children were curious.
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