Uri Wookie is enlisting on June? Okay. I’ll try to be calm about this despite it adding to the pain of Minji . . . Okay.

Goodness!

Fine!

Just enlist Kyuhyun too already so they can all go back and my ELF heart could be completely happy again!!! (burst in tears)

My name is Donghae and I’m the newest transferee here in YG University.

My dream school.

Don’t get me wrong. I love Lee Soo Man Medical School in Mokpo. That province is where I found my bestfriends, Eunhyuk and Seulgi. The monkey and I were classmates since pre-school while Seulgi came when we were in our first year in the secondary. Mokpo was a really nice place to live in. I wasn’t really planning on leaving our humble province. I was contented and happy even though Eunhyuk left us when college came. He went to Seoul when his father was accepted to become a cook in a Korean barbecue restaurant there. I was so used to Eunhyuk pestering me around that’s why I was really nervous when the first day of being a college student came. I felt alone. I passed the entrance exam in Lee Soo Man Medical School and through time, enjoyed the new friends that I met and the course that I took, B.S Nursing. I graduated second in our college; the first was the school president’s son, Lee Minho, a B.S. Biology. Handsome although a little bit arrogant guy. Seulgi kept on telling me to complain that I got higher grades in the final rating than Minho, said the school staff. Like for real. But I really didn’t dwell on it. I like Minho. He was really nice to me. It’s just his mom was so scary so maybe Mr. Lee Soo Man nim just gave whatever she wished about. What was important was that I still got a scholarship when I enrolled again to my M.D. dream.

Is being a doctor my dream job when I was asked in Gr. 1?

No.

I wanted to become a Kpop idol and dance on TV! Wave to my fans and give out autographs.

But that’s sillier than my Geological Science teacher.

I want to become a doctor, so that I can still have the chance to be with the ones I love.

I want to become a doctor because maybe . . . Just maybe . . . This time I can save somebody from that blinding light.

Something I couldn’t do when that light took both my parents when I was just a 9 year-old boy.

I had no relatives to comfort me at that miserable time of my life but I had Eunhyuk and Seulgi hugging and crying with me. After the funeral, Eunhyuk’s father kindly asked me to just stay with them. I was more than thankful and at the same time, grieving. I worked part time in anywhere I could find that was hiring just to continue schooling and living.

Because that was what my parents would want me to do.

Continue living.

In every recognition or graduation day, I always see to it to give their tomb my medals and certificates. I know it makes them happy up above.

I was happy in Mokpo. In Lee Soo Man Medical School. But YG University . . .

It is an institution every student couldn’t stop from talking about. I even remember my parents telling it was their dream to set foot in there. There was a time when they told me that they’d do their best just so I could study in that school. I belong there, they said. All those recognitions. Praises. World class teachings and facilities. That was why when our adviser told us that the eldest son of the president, Yang Soo Hyuk, would visit our school for a talk, everyone was ecstatic! They said his staff was giving free passes and a lifetime card of free usage of YG University’s library. It was even bigger than South Korea’s National Library. They said it could be compared to that of Harvard’s. So, I woke up early just to get a seat in our small auditorium that day. The event hasn’t started yet when Seulgi ran to me, panting so hard, saying that Lee Soo Man nim wanted to talk to me. Immediately. I was in a dilemma back then. Should I give up my precious seat and the chance of getting that free library card or ignore the president just for a little while? But I was taught to respect elders’ orders so I told Seulgi to sit on the chair for me while I ran my way to LSM’s office.

I got the biggest shock of my life when I saw a guy who almost looked like a real vampire who had ruled the world for decades. He had a pale skin, perfect nose and and a very intimidating aura. And nope, I’m not gay. It’s just that Edward Cullen could really not match Yang Soo Hyuk in any criterion. Our school president and him were laughing when they got a glimpse of me. I forgot my manners when I stood in front of them. Mr. Yang Soo Hyuk was a prince while I was . . . well, I was me?

I found myself nodding as he told me how amazed he was to the thesis that I made during my last year in Nursing. He said that he wanted to use it for more in depth research purposes. I was self-conscious then but was absolutely proud and happy that someone like him acknowledged my work. Maybe he’d give me a library card. Yaaas! My last thought as he extended something to me.

His business card.

I was puzzled but became more when Mr. Lee Soo Man began patting my back and congratulating me. I didn’t really understand for my focus was on that library card. It turned out I was given full scholarship in YG University.

It was 8:45 in the morning. His first day of class. His first day as a med student in YG. Donghae stood proudly between the two, very tall poles: the university and South Korea’s flag. The flagpoles were situated on top of the highest place and the center point in the school. 500 huge steps to be exact to get on top of it. There were dancing daisies around the place.

The warm, morning breeze welcomed him with his heart surging with so much pride and gratitude. Donghae’s right hand was holding on to his silver, heart-shaped locket on his neck.

His omma and appa’s only pictures that he had.

He took off the necklace and looked at the pictures dearly. “Omma. Appa.” Donghae wiped the tear that fell on his cheek. He felt silly crying alone on top of those staircases but he couldn’t help it. It was his parents’ dream too. “We’re here.”

The locket was raised to its highest as he threw his right arm upwards and shouted, loud and proud in that early October.

“GET READY, YG UNIVERSITY!”

The flags fluttered strongly against the wind.

“DOCTOR LEE DONGHAE IS ON THE WAY!!!”

But he didn’t think that way would be really painful to walk on.

He could feel his nerves and muscles throbbing after standing for 7 hours straight in their classroom. To his dismay, Window 4 was already closed when he got there. At exact 4 P.M. it closes? But our class ends at 4. But then his hope didn’t falter for he would just come early in the morning tomorrow.

Donghae began walking towards the main gate of the university.

He had always rolled his eyes when his colleagues in SM’s Medical School would talk about YG University. How huge and tall the buildings are. How it looked more like a grandiose castle than an institution. How every student seemed like famous celebrities with they way they strolled in the hallways. It was over the top but now as Donghae stood outside the Jinusean Building . . .

Yeah.

It looked like a grandiose castle with the princes and princesses walking passed by a peasant like him.

The whole school was painted with white, gray, light brown and Sapphire blue color. It takes him 30 minutes of walking to reach his building from the gate. And that was mostly just straight walking. No wonder luxury cars of Lamborghini and Ferrari were parading everywhere. There was an everyday car show in that school. If his uniform in SM was just all simple white from head to toe, YG’s more detailed. The male uniform was composed of a white long sleeves top with a gray collar and a patch of the school’s logo on the left side of his chest and a dark blue sleek pants. His three months salary in tutoring kids in Mokpo were all spent in buying that he was wearing as of the moment. And that was his only uniform. He had to handwash it when he gets home. Earl