{3 YEARS BEFORE HIS DEATH}

I remember the time when Seokmin had just joined the band. He was a timid looking boy, with thick rimmed glasses and a shy personality. He had a crew cut hairstyle, was relatively tall and had a pretty chiselled face. His nose bridge was evident and his cheekbones were so defined, it looked as if it could cut someone. 

"This is Lee Seokmin!!" Doogi PD said in an excited tone, "Please take care of him!! Seokmin-ah, these will be your fellow roommates!" 

At that, Doogi PD left the room and closed the door behind him. It was silent and all of us stared at the boy, waiting for him to say something. He, however, remained quiet and fiddled with his fingers, looking towards the ground and making no eye contact with anyone in the room. 

Seeing that someone needed to take the initiative, Seungcheol stood up first and walked towards the shy boy, who jumped a little at the sudden movement. I could tell he was probably scared out of his wits, but he had absolutely no choice now, but to trust us as we all knew that he was going to be our fellow bandmate someday. 

"I'm Seungcheol, currently the oldest in this group. I'm from Daegu!" He stretched out his hand and greeted the other to shake it, which the other did after much hesitation but continued to look as terrified as ever. If I was not wrong, his face was probably pale and he was breaking out in cold sweat. 

One by one, we greeted him and he begun to grow a teeny bit more comfortable by nodding and acknowledging that he had heard our names. I was the last one to say hello and with some form of confidence, I walked over to him and said,

"Hello! I'm Hong Jisoo, but you can call me Joshua! I'm from Los Angeles, USA! Nice to meet you and I hope we can be friends!" I stretched my hand out and the boy looked at me before taking my hand in a timid manner and shaking it lightly. 

I chuckled at his antic and I was not exactly sure but his face had a tinge of pink, rising from his cheeks. At that, I showed him around the studio which we currently lived in and since I had no one to share a tent with at this moment, I brought him to mine. 

"Just place all your things here! Make yourself at home and welcome to SEVENTEEN!" 

****

A few days had passed since Seokmin arrived and he was gradually becoming more talkative towards us. He was still quiet for most of the time, even if we were goofing around the studio and seemed to prefer to keep himself occupied with books in the tent and a portable reading light.

"Jisoo-ah, can I see you for a moment?" Doogi PD asked and I nodded, immediately doing as I was told. 

"What is it, hyungnim?" I asked curiously, wondering why I was called specifically, out of the entire group. 

"The CEO wants you to teach Seokmin basic English and bring him out of his shell. The CEO ain't so happy with his character, saying that he would never make it into showbiz like this. Also, he needs to know a little bit of English, since it is the world's most common language. Any questions?" 

"Why me, hyungnim?" At this moment, countless thoughts ran through my head at a speed of a bullet train, wondering why in the world was I assigned such a task, out of all people in the group. 

"Pretty simple," Doogi PD replied knowingly, "I've been observing for the past few days and he seems to be the most comfortable with you. Anyway, I need to rush off for a meeting so I'll meet with you guys again!" He said in a rushed manner, before rushing up the staircase to make his way to the company building. 

I walked back into the studio and everyone looked at me, as if I had been gone for a century. I only smiled and said, "Carry on guys. Everything's okay." They took it as it was with no questions asked while I made my way back to the tent that I shared with Seokmin. 

"Seokmin-ah." I said, as I took a seat opposite the boy whose head was buried in the book, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. 

"Oh hyung!" He looked up and placed his book by the side, looking at me intently with those hazel brown orbs of his. 

"I was wondering, would you wanna learn a little bit of English?" I asked hesitantly, a little worried to hear his answer and I braced myself to get a firm rejection. 

"That will be cool!" He replied excitedly, "I was never very good in my English in school but I really loved the language and I would want to learn it again if I could." His pupils dilated as he said those words, looking as excited as ever. 

"Cool! I'll officially be your new English tutor then. Class starts tomorrow, bright and early, so make sure you're ready!" I said with my relief and smiled a small smile at his excitement. 

"Yes hyung! I brought a journal with me and some pens so I think I'm ready!" He replied, while flashing a huge grin, which seemed to make the dimness of the tent seem a little less dark. 

"Jisoo, Seokmin, time for some practice!! Chop chop!! We need to work hard!!" Seungcheol knocked at the entrance of the tent. Taking Seokmin's hand, I motioned for him to get out of it and he did so willingly with the most rectangular smile I had ever seen. 

****

The next morning, Seokmin was up, bright and early. He had probably woken up before me and was now gently tapping my shoulder, wanting to wake me up as well. 

"Hyung! It's 8am already!!" He whispered loudly into my ears. "It's time for our lesson!" 

I shuffled in my sleeping bag and continued to snooze before Seokmin shook me more violently than ever, whining, "Hyungggg, you said our lesson was at 7.45am!! We're 15 minutes late!" 

After much effort, I got out from my sleeping bag and smiled, "Alright alright. Come, let's not disturb the others. Change and we'll head to a coffee place not far from here." He nodded, and dug out his toothbrush and clothes, sprinting off towards the bathroom. I, too, did the same, after I had taken out all the materials that I needed and placed them outside the tent. 

Soon, we had finally headed outside with our haversacks. For me, I only had a couple of pens and a notebook while Seokmin looked as if he had brought his entire bag of things, just like how he arrived. I volunteered to take some of his things for him, but he rejected firmly as we continued to trudge up the relatively steep hill. 

"We are here!" I said in between pants, "We only need to cross the road and we can enjoy some gourmet breakfast and freshly brewed coffee!" 

Seokmin smiled and we made our way there in comfortable silence. He proceeded to take a seat first, obviously tired out from carrying all his materials while I queued for the breakfast. As usual, I ordered the American Breakfast and 2 Energy Booster smoothies for the both of us, paid and sat opposite Seokmin who was back to reading his novel. 

I found myself, shortly after I had taken my seat, beginning to study his features. He had a whole load of concentration and honestly, he looked pretty good while he concentrated on something. It was fascinating for me to watch as well, that someone would love Literature as much as he did. His eyebrows were furrowed and his lips were pursed, trying to focus despite the hustle and bustle of the coffee shop. 

"2 American breakfasts and Energy Boosters for customer Hong Ji Soo!!" I stood up, prepared to get the food before I felt a hand on my shoulder, keeping me from getting out of my chair. 

"I'll get it hyung, no worries!" Seokmin flashed his signature smile again and walked off with a slight skip in his steps, heading to the collection counter to get our breakfasts. I sat back down but followed Seokmin's figure with my gaze, just in case that boy needed some help. 

True enough, he was halfway to our table before he almost lost his balance and nearly spilled the Energy Boosters all over a businessman's crisp, white t-shirt. I laughed and stood up, taking the tray from him, despite his protests. I felt the glare burning into my back but I could only smile at the thought. 

"Hyung! I could have done it on my own!" He complained as he sat back down, folding his arms like a little kid who got refused entry into a toy store. 

"Not without causing a mess." I said with a smirk, only to be faced with Seokmin's strangely adorable frown, but I remained nonchalant and relished in the taste of such a great breakfast to start a great day. 

Surprisingly, apart from Seokmin being a quick learner in the way of the English Language, we had also discovered that we had pretty similar interests. For example, we liked the same television shows and same type of music. I introduced him to some English music while he introduced me to a little more of the Korean culture. 

Living in America for 18 years and having to come back was difficult to adjust back to the cultures back here and Seokmin enthusiastically suggested that he would make me re-learn the culture as a repayment for me teaching him English. I chuckled at his cute suggestion, before I was met with a roll of the eye from him. 

By the afternoon, we were considerably close, to the point we walked with our arms placed on each other's shoulder back to the dorm, with wide smiles on our faces. 

"Hyung!" Seokmin exclaimed, "Can we do this again?"

"Of course we can! English is not an easy language to learn, you know." I laughed and he replied with a hearty laugh. 

"Yay! Thanks hyung!!" He gave me a hug round the neck and I pushed him away but smiled at the taller boy's cuteness.

****

{~1 YEAR BEFORE HIS DEATH}

From that day onwards, we had done many different activities together. We went bowling with the rest of the members, ate both delicious and exotic Korean food and even went to night markets and noraebangs when we had the spare time. 

Bit by bit, Seokmin was out of his turtle shell and soon became the life of the party at the dorm. With his bright personality and rectangular smile, he could make anyone smile in seconds and he made the room seem a lot brighter with his presence. 

As our debut drew nearer, it was more difficult for Seokmin and I to continue what we used to do every single day as practice was crucial at this point. However, despite the lack of time spent together, we were still tent mates and groupmates and hence, never distanced from one another. He was still the loving and all-giving Seokmin that I knew. 

It seemed so quick when we finally made our debut on KBS World's Music Bank with our self written, produced and choreographed Adore U, which was part of our first ever mini album, 17Carat. A whole load of emotions overwhelmed us that very day and we celebrated our debut with our fans and the fellow members. If we were lucky, we got to go home to meet our families again. 

However, our success did not come without a catch. 

Truthfully, our company was near bankrupt and because of the sudden rise in profits because of us, there was never much time for rest. Soon, we had to prepare for our next album and film additional videos for Adore U. 

At first, none of us were affected by it but subtly, some of us began to question whether we had made the right decision. It was also during this time that I noticed Seokmin's slight change in behaviour. Despite his on-screen behaviour where he would flash his signature smile and seem energetic, he was the exact opposite the moment the cameras were turned off. 

He still smiled but never as much anymore. Overtime, he became more distant and there were days we did not have any conversations at all. Despite the fact that we were roommates by then since we had enough to rent a dormitory, he was quiet and did not seem to be as happy anymore. Sometimes, I could equate him with a living corpse who did nothing but eat, sleep and perform. 

Unfortunately, none of us really had the time to see what was really going on as we begun to get embroiled in our own emotional issues. 

Sadly, it was also because of this reason, which made us end up walking the path of regret.

Hello readers! :D 

In light that my major examinations are nearly done, I've decided to post this chapter as a celebration of that and a gift to you all for being so patient. :) For those who have been checking out my other fanfics, I hope I would be able to update them soon when the time allows :( For now, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! ^^ Subscribe for more and feel free to comment! ^^ 

And don't worry, Part 2 would be up very very soon, so keep a lookout for it! :)