I go by the name of Xeng. As many of you might know, I was born in Thailand. I came over in the year 2002. When I was applying, I didn't know my birthday, so they gave me one. I was born in 1987. Yeah, I know, I was only 15 when I came to the USA. But in reality, I believe I was older. Oh well, that just means I have more of a chance to go to school and learn stuff. I started as a freshman in high school. New to the states, I was quiet like your new comer Hmong boy. Slowly, I started befriending more and more Hmong people. The guys were always about playing and girls. And the Hmong girls were always about being good and school work.

Slowly, throughout the year, I started to become someone new. Not that quiet Hmong boy who didn't want to raise his hand in case he had the wrong answer. But I went to become a flirt. All the girls in school knew me, even the guys. There rarely was a single girl that ever made it pass me without talking with me.

Well that is until this one particular girl, who recently transferred to our school. Her name was Nkauj. When I first saw her, I thought she was a beauty. A true beauty. I just love the way she smiled with her eyes. It's like you could see happiness browsing her eyes. I started talking to her because I wondered if I stood a chance. Finally, a girl that I wondered if I could get with her. Someone who was worth stopping being a flirt for.

Then one day, as I was talking to her, one of friends was there too. Her friend asked me if I knew we had the same last name. Wow, was I stunned. I didn't know what to think and so I asked her. She confirmed to me that she was yet the same last name. My mind puzzled and felt defeated. Deep inside, I hid away anything that I started with her because my my morals, I couldn't talk to someone of the same clan name. I'm not saying it's wrong, but I'm for doing it myself. Love can make people do some crazy stuff.

After that day and the little discussion, I stopped talking to her. Only to eventually slip out my real feelings for her and talk to her. Yet, I knew it was wrong to do so, so I held back. You know, it's like when you see the answers to the test on the table and nobody is there looking. You just want to take the answers, yet you don't want to get caught and you know it's wrong.

Weeks went by, I started to notice her less and less. I continued on with my daily tasks of enrousing girls. On that day, I was sitting around with Kor. Out of the blue, Kor says to me, "Xeng, Nkauj said she's not coming to school no more." I thought he was joking. He continued, "She said it's because of you that she doesn't want come to school anymore." What? What did I do? I haven't even talked to her for weeks, or I couldn't remember when I last did. I just shrugged it off, not thinking anything.

Suddenly one day, one of girl buddies, Lia, came up to me. She asked me what I was doing. Well, I looked around and was like, I'm just talking to that girl. What's wrong with talking to girl when you're a single guy? Nothing, I presume. In a straight forward action, she said, "Don't you know that you're hurting someone doing this? Don't you know that someone really likes you?" I chuckled to myself, of course there's someone who likes me. I joked to her, "Who would like me, I'm a fob?" In secret, she explained to me that Nkauj was the girl who really liked me. I was baffled. I told her, "Didn't you know we're both the same last?"

Lia looked at me confused. "No, she's not," Lia argued back. "What, go ask her yourself. I asked her last time and she confirmed it for me," I replied. "No, you got it all wrong. She really likes you a lot and you're hurting her by talking to every single girl you see," Lia responded with aggression. So I agreed to go talk to Nkauj.

It was passing time and I caught her in the hallway. "Nkauj!" I called out to her. She turning her head my way, I could see the sparkles fly like in those Korean movies. It was like time stopped for us. Just me and her, everyone around in the hall just walked around us. Our eyes planted in each other.

Click here for Part 2.