Donghae was awaken by a text message he got from Dara telling him that she’s got an early emergency meeting and there’d be no need for him to pick her up since she has already left for work. “Aish, such a workaholic”, he commented after he read her texts. He dialed her number and tried to contact her but he was just redirected to her voicemail so he was left with no choice but to leave her a voice message. “Dara-yah, you should’ve called me so I could bring you to work. Have you had your breakfast? Don’t starve yourself, arasso? I’ll see you later. Don’t think too much about me, okay?” he chuckled and ended his voice message.

He felt tired then he remembered cooking everything yesterday for Dara’s surprise party. It was mainly his idea but he had to ask Thunder to own up to it. He can’t ask help from his friends because they might find out the real score between him and Dara. Not that he doesn’t want to, but he respects Dara’s conditions, because if it were him, he’d shout to the world that he is dating none other than Sandara Park. He smiled and got up.

Later that day, Donghae dropped by his parents’ house for lunch. His mom requested him to come over since she really missed her son so much. His older brother couldn’t make it as he’s currently out of the country. His mom was cooking lunch when he arrived at their house, he gave her a light peck on the cheek and proceeded to greet his dad inside his office, “Abeoji, you just came back and you’re working already?” he asked his father.

“Oh? You’re here? I wasn’t working, I’m just going through some files your brother has sent me”, his dad said.

“It’s still work related. Your doctor told you that you should be resting more these days.”

“That’s why you should learn to run the business with your brother so I won’t have to work”.

“Dad, we’ve talked about this”, his dad knows that as much as possible, he doesn’t want to intervene with their family business. His brother is good at it, as for him, his company provides all the design and marketing related stuff their family business needs.

His dad just chuckled, “I know, son. Since you were a kid, you’ve always got a mind of your own and I’m glad you were able to spread your wings and explore. You have no idea how proud you’ve made me and your mom.”

“Thank you dad… but let’s not get too dramatic. This is so not you.” He laughed.

“Must be a part of growing old. You know, when you’re old, you get all the feels.”

 He just laughed at him. At his age, his dad surely knows the terms used by the youngsters nowadays. “Dad, I’ll be in my room”, he excused himself and went to his old room.

Donghae was welcomed by the familiar feeling of his old room. The room where he grew up and spent most of his adolescence days. He was not able to come home for a while and his room was left untouched. It still looks the same since he left. He went through his shelf where a couple of his books were sitting. He noticed several black books with “highschool1”, “highschool2” until “highschool4”, written all over the spine. He took it out and scanned through the pages. He recalled, it was one of his many sketch books way back in high school.

A particular drawing of a girl resting under the shade of a big cherry blossom tree got his attention. He smiled when he recalled that day.

Flashback Junior High School

Donghae’s family just moved in to their new house in YGE village. Their house is just near his new school. He didn’t want to move to a new house since he never wanted to leave his friends, but at his young age, he was left with no choice. Their new house was bigger than the one they used to live in. The only thing he likes about this ‘new house’ is that he finally gets a room of his own. Before, he used to share a room with his older brother.

It was his first day in his new school. Everybody was staring at him giving him the “new kid” vibe. He didn’t like it but does he really have a choice? When he got to his class, his new classmates were so loud and they seem to be familiar with each other. He sat at the last row near the window and waited for the teacher to come in. “Hey, new kid?” a chubby guy sitting beside him asked.

He nodded shyly, “Y-yeah. I’m a transferee. My name is Lee Donghae.”

“Donghae? Ahhh. I’m Choi Seunghyun but call me TOP. Why did you transfer? You got kicked out?” asked the guy.

“Uh, no. We just moved in to our new house, my parents thought it’d be more practical if my school’s near the area.”

“Ah I see. I thought you’re one of those rich kids who transferred because they got kicked out because they got involved with so many fights and getting into trouble all the time. Which village did you move in to?”

“YGE Village.”

“No way, yeah? YGE? You’re the new kid on the block?”

“Uh, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I live there too! The other day, my friends and I saw a family moving in their stuff in the house near ours. That must be your family. I guess we’re not just gonna be classmates, we’ll be neighbors too.”

 Donghae smiled at the thought of having a potential friend, “yeah, I guess so”.

“You should meet my friends, join us later at lunch. That is if you have no other plans.” TOP invited him.

“Sure. No problem.”

Their teacher arrived and introduced him to class as their new classmate and began his lecture for that day. Hours passed, it was finally time for lunch.

“C’mon, I’ll introduce you to the other guys.” TOP said.

He followed TOP to the cafeteria and they approached 2 guys sitting on one of the tables.

“Ya! Listen up, this is Lee Donghae, a transferee and apparently our new neighbor. His family just moved in our neighborhood. Starting today, he’ll be hanging out with us.” TOP introduced him to the other 2. “This lanky guy over here with the panda eyes, that’s Lee Seunghyun, I know we have the same name that’s why we call him Seungri”, TOP said.

“Ya! Cut with the panda eyes!” Seungri complained and turned to him, “Annyeong, Lee Donghae! I’m Lee Seungri. TOP is the art enthusiast in our group and Kai is the ballerino while me, well... I'm the most handsome among these two.”

Donghae just chuckled.

“Over here”, TOP said placing both his hands on the other guy’s shoulders, “this is Kai, he’s the youngest among us three. He’s a really great dancer and is usually quiet so don't be shocked if he gives you the silent treatment. It's just normal, he does it all the time.”

“Nice to meet you, bro”, Kai said holding out his hand.

Donghae shook Kai’s hands. “Nice to meet you guys”, and he bowed before them.

“Oy! Quit with the politeness and let’s eat! I’m starving!” Seungri said.

They ate their lunch while the other guys are busy asking him several questions like, what’s the name of the previous school he attended, how many time he’s dated, they also asked him about his hobbies and apparently they have one thing in common, they all love soccer.

Then suddenly, a group of girls laughing caught his attention. There were 4 of them, one sporting a really thick eyeliner, the other one has a short hair, the girl in front of her had her hair tied in a high pony tail and the last one that really got his attention was the girl who’s got one of the most beautiful smile he’s ever seen.

“That’s Chaerin, Minzy, Bom and Dara”, said Seungri when he noticed him look at the girls from the other table.

“Huh?” Donghae was dumbfounded.

“Those girls, the ones you were looking at. That girl with mesmerizing eyes, that’s Lee Chaerin. The one with a short hair that’s Gong Minzy while the girl sitting in front of them the one with her hair all tied up that’s Park Bom, apparently TOP got all the hots for her and lastly, the girl sitting beside her that’s Park Sandara. They live in the same neighborhood as ours so technically they are our neighbors too.” Seungri explained.

“Yeah, we pretty much grew up together but we rarely hang out these days. You know high school, our interests becomes different girls do their thing while us boys do ours.” TOP added.

He just slowly nodded, still had his eyes locked at the girl named Sandara. “I see. Aren’t you close with each other?”

“We we