just like we never left
-haebaragi
 

Seohyun made lots of promises when she was younger, sixteen. She had made promises
with her self, perhaps the reason why she is now a successful architect. She had made pinky-
promises with significant people too, Kyuhyun for example, and with old, but never once
forgotten, friends.

Back in highschool Seohyun had made friends. Not a lot, but they are perfect. First year, she
meets a girl named Hyoyeon who was always very funny and at times, a little too violent for
her liking. Hyoyeon sits beside her hurriedly as she sways her way in the classroom's back
door, the grace of her dancer physique working in full.

Seohyun wasn't the super friendly type, she'd rather finish her packed meal in the benches
while reading books for the next class or eat fast then head to the library but Hyoyeon was.
So at the end of their morning classes, Hyoyeon formally begins their friendship with a hand-
shake and an introductory message, "Hi! I'm Kim Hyoyeon and we should be friends!"

She takes her hand and responds with small details about herself too because excessive
information is not always good. Seohyun believes that trust should be earned. "My name is
Joohyun! But I've always been called Seohyun by everyone." 

Hyoyeon takes her to the cafeteria during lunch and meets up with her childhood buddies
(they were all guys, Seohyun takes notice). The one with a gummy smile was called Hyukjae,
the one with sideswept hair was called Donghae and the guy who seemed uninterested was
called Kyuhyun.

In the long run, Seohyun belonged into the circle that Hyoyeon had introduced her in. She now
knows that Donghae's mother and Hyukjae's father are married, making them step-brothers.
She knows that Hyoyeon dreams of becoming a dancer, sharing the same dream with Hyukjae,
but she also writes well. She now knows that Hyukjae has a tiny crush on the dancing queen
(tiny, just tiny, Hyukjae claims when Seohyun accidentally discovers he is the guy who slips
letters into Hyoyeon's locker).

What she doesn't know then was that Kyuhyun had been jealous of the popular boy of the
other highschool who had professed his love for her.




Seasons changed and on Autumn of their second year, Seohyun receives news that Donghae
fancies the American exchange student. Hyukjae and Hyoyeon on the other hand, are both
busy for a dance competition which explains why most lunch breaks, Seohyun is left to eat with
Kyuhyun and the lovestruck Donghae who doesn't share much on the conversation and is
practically nonexistent.

Kyuhyun to Seohyun was at first in the category of cold and silent types. He talked only often
and does not include himself when the group plays around and at times kills the fun with his
sarcasms. He is always serious and strict, a kind of perfectionist.

But that was before Seohyun spent more time with him during lunch, with the dancers out for
practice and the Romeo on his quest to stalk his Juliet. Kyuhyun turns out to love pranking his
friends and his sarcasms are actually funny. He talks a lot but retorts to being introverted when
surrounded with unfamiliar people. He cares not a little less than any of them in the group but
he shows it in the weirdest of ways.

By the end of their second year, Kyuhyun started walking Seohyun home. He tells her it's not
serious and he's only doing it to protect her (from Yonghwa, the guy from the other school who
can't control his hormones on Seohyun). It became a habit to a point where Seohyun feels unsafe
to walk home without him, even if other guys keep asking to walk her home; and where Kyuhyun
feels it is his duty. The walks home ends up having ice creams or watching movies even if school
is out on weekends.



Eventually highschool has to end. The night of their graduation, the whole gang is out for a party.
They soiled their souls with fun and merriment, because this moment is the ending of a four-year
cycle of tears, of sweat, of dreams. Tomorrow would begin another chapter and they had to pave
this journey alone. There were promises to never hold each other back, to be free and soar and
become what they ought to be, like what cliche endings often say. They promised to be separated
while keeping connected, and to go back in this very place--a coffee shop in their neighborhood
owned by the parents of a fellow classman, Jongwoon--as someone new, but always the same,
just like they never left.

And now Seohyun keeps this promise, arriving first in now Jongwoon and Yuri's cafe. She surveys
the place and everything comes back to her now, as if she had left the memory of her past here
for safekeeping and now retrieves each piece forher to reminisce. The framed message boards from
way back hangs in each wall and Seohyun spots the graduation dedications they made:
 

'I WILL BE A DANCER!'
 

'I'm going to miss everyone!'
 

'Fighting!'
 

She smiles, thinking how young they were then and how they've grown up and probably how
most of them have remained the same even if ten years had passed. Like how Kyuhyun still
scribbles messages at the bottom of her books reminding her to eat and stop being the 'hard-
working Joohyun' that she is. Or how he keeps this ten year-old promise he once wrote on the
coffee shop's message board:



'Let's be together until we grow old, Joohyun-ah'



"I've parked the car near the entrance," Kyuhyun gives her a peck on the cheek. "Are we the
first here?"

Seohyun giggles, "As always!"

"Shall we buy coffee? It's too cold now. What do you want?"





















'Let's do that :)'
 

part one: seokyu. I didn't intend this to be a multi-fic but it just turned out like this. kekeke tell me what you think. :D