Revised on 11-04-20

"Because everything happens for a reason"

“Eunji! Not so fast! Wait for us!” A small group of girls yelled her way, but Eunji was a stubborn 12-years-old girl, and if her friends weren’t fast enough for her, well it was their problem, not hers.

“Just run faster! We’re almost out for summer!” She beamed, holding onto her backpack as it swung on her shoulders, her running making her long, dark, and straight hair fly in the air. The corridors of her school were empty, only her loud steps echoing as she ran, doors lining on her left and right. She was closer and closer to her well-deserved freedom.

That last year of elementary school had been rather troublesome for the young girl. Not only had she been picked on more than before due to the other kids getting old enough to realize she was different, but she also had developed the capacity to retort to them more crudely, which meant detentions and punishments for her bad behavior.

She tried not to be affected by it, used to be the difference among an ocean of white people. Her parents – or the two people who had taken her from that terrible orphanage – were white. Everyone in her neighborhood was white. Everyone at her school was white. There were a few exceptions, some others with almond eyes and darker skin like her, but they were rare, which gave them the title of ‘atypical’.

But then again, she was Eunji Kang. She was an Asian among the Americans, but she was unique in her own way and she was proud to be. Plus, she had a couple of things she could brag about whenever people were picking on her.

“Oh, really? Well then let’s see who gets to the tree first, uh? The fastest the coolest!”

“Well at least I don’t need any glasses to see the world around me!”

Needless to say, she found herself staying later after school a bit more than she wanted to, and the last day of school wasn’t an exception. She found it incredibly unfair, but she had a couple of friends who were willing to accompany her before heading to one’s home for their little group’s pool party, a celebration to the end of a chapter and the beginning of another.

It had been quite hard for her to make friends in such an hostile environment, and her behavior wasn’t really welcoming either, but not everyone had considered her physical differences. If she was rude towards anyone criticizing her foreign traits, she still wouldn’t forget the ones who made her entry in the scholarship world a bit less disappointing.

“Just slow down a bit! There are still teachers in the school! If you get caught again, we’re leaving for the pool party without you!” The slowest shot at her, making Eunji roll her eyes. After a couple seconds of thinking, she finally slowed down a bit until she stopped, looking behind her and frowning as she realized the girls weren’t behind her anymore.

“Well…” She mumbled to herself, silence filling the hallway once again. She scratched the back of her neck and pouted. When she caught her breathe and looked towards the door to the school yard, she simply shrugged and started walking again before stopping abruptly, the sound of some random chatting coming her way.

…which was weird, considering it seemed to come from the slightly opened door in the hallway on her left, at the opposite end of the corridor.

A small frown covered Eunji’s face as she took hesitant steps toward the said door. The sounds were getting a bit louder as she came closer, but she was still wondering how it was possible for her to hear this much from afar. Were these people yelling?

She finally got in front of the door, noticing it was the director’s office. Quietly, she peeked through the small gap of the doorframe, watching as the school’s director was talking with a quiet voice to someone she had never seen before. The stranger was rather tall and imposing. Just by the way the director was acting in front of him, it was clear the man was intimidated by the latter’s presence. The foreign man was wearing a clean dark blue suit, probably made perfectly for him. On the left side of his jacket was pinned a small flower Eunji had never seen before. The oddest yet most surprising flower ever.

The tiny stalk was a bright green color, a leaf just as green hanging under the large petals of the flower. Its center was a mix of pink, red and orange, which was rather uncommon for a flower, but what hit the most was the yellow, blue and dark green petals opened so beautifully around the center.

Eunji might have been only 12 years old, but she knew flowers usually didn’t have green on their petals. It was making it so pretty, though, and alive, too. It wasn’t fake.

The girl continued exploring the stranger’s feature, trying to associate his face with someone she had seen before since the city she was in was rather small, yet the man was completely unfamiliar. His skin was white and his short and fancily placed hair a dark brown color. He probably was just another American like any other, yet there was something different with him. Something she couldn’t put her finger on.

She stared some more at the stranger’s eyes, completely ignoring the two men’s chatting that had become a bit more active. She was captivated by their dark brown color until they suddenly changed, the man’s irises becoming a bright golden shade.

Eunji gasped, startled by the sight and stepped back, losing her balance and her bottom hit the floor with a loud thud. The room she was peeking in became quiet. Way too quiet.

The silence was thick, the girl’s breathing stopping abruptly as she tried to hear if any steps were coming closer to the door. If she was getting caught by her director peeking in his office, she could say goodbye to her pool party. She had fallen behind the door and couldn’t see inside the room anymore. She wanted to stand and run, but she opted for staying as quiet as possible, listening for anyone to come and catch her in the act.

“Eunji! What are you doing there on the floor? The door is the other way, dummy! We thought you were long gone outside already..” Kaithlyn, one of her friends, yelled at her from the intersection of the two hallways, a frown on her face. Eunji’s other friends popped in her sight, all looking at her worriedly.

“Did you fall or something? That’s for running so fast!” Another said, going her way and helping her stand back up. Eunji thanked her and brushed the dust away from her skirt, looking at her friend. The chatting in the other room started again, the two people seemingly forgetting about the girl’s presence, or simply not paying attention to it anymore.

“Ugh, it’s so quiet here! Come on, we surely are the last ones in the school. I can’t wait to be away from here.” Her friend added before taking her forearm and bringing her back to the right corridor. So quiet? What about the stranger and their director in his office? Wasn’t she hearing them?

Eunji shrugged it off, preferring to keep shut not to upset her friends even more. She followed them out of the building and to one of their houses, the sun shining brightly and showing just how of an amazing summer vacation they would get.

The stranger’s golden eyes didn’t seem to want to get out of the girl’s mind, though, and it bugged her to no end. She kept seeing them in her head, how they had changed from their deep dark color to the sparkling yellow. Then she would see the man turning his head to look back at her, but she knew that part was only from her imagination. She slipped out of their range of view fast enough. He couldn’t have seen her, could he?

Either ways, none of that matter was her concern anymore. It was clear and limpid that she wouldn’t dare put a foot on that school’s yard anymore. Not ever.

***

8 years later

Baekhyun bowed to the fans along with all the other band members as the public, a sea of bright lights, cheered and screamed the boys’ names over and over again. They had just played their encore and the concert was coming to an end. They all moved in their line, watching each other with a bright and proud smile on their face as they bowed again.

“We are one, we are EXO! Thank you everyone!” Junmyeon screamed in his microphone and the fans went crazy, screaming desperately, asking for more, but unfortunately the nine boys exited the stage, not without bowing again and waving at everyone.

Baekhyun sighed and removed the sweat from his face as soon as some staff lady brought the tired boys some towels before taking their microphones.