When Seohyun told Kyuhyun she was leaving, he didn’t believe it.

When Leeteuk told Kyuhyun that Seohyun was seriously leaving, he still didn’t believe it.

When Lee Soo-man made the official announcement that So Nyuh Shi Dae would be spending one full year and a half away from Korea to make it (or possibly break it) in America’s music industry, Kyuhyun couldn’t believe the stupidity of himself.

At the farewell party held at SM Entertainment--well, Kyuhyun couldn’t really even call it a party. Parties were fun, weren’t they? Parties were lively and full of excitement and...happiness, right? He couldn’t describe the atmosphere in the room as fun, lively, or happy. Or even remotely close to happy. Nor was it jovial. Or any other synonym of happy.

Sure, the lights were giving off a warm, golden glow. Sure, rainbow confetti and glitter littered the floor. Sure, streams were hanging off the ceiling and yes, the unmistakable pastel rose pink of So Nyuh Shi Dae stood out in the center of the room, on a banner that said: CONGRATULATIONS, SO NYUH SHI DAE! WE LOVE YOU!

But still; the mood was, Kyuhyun decided, gloomy.

The nine girls were dispersed in different spots around the room. The leader, Taeyeon, was in one corner surrounded by the other leaders. Yunho, Victoria, Onew, and Leeteuk, naturally. They were hugging her and giving her encouraging words, at least, that’s what it looked like from afar.

Jessica--though everyone called her Sooyeon--was wandering around.  She waved at Lina across the room and walked past Donghae and gave him a true smiled, but mostly stuck by her little sister, Soojung.

Soonkyu had been clinging on to Sungmin for the past eight minutes. They were a couple going strong for who-knew-how-long. Kyuhyun lost track. He smiled grimly at them. Did long-distance relationships ever work out?

“Brighter than gems Tiffany” certainly did not look as bright as usual. She was making her rounds, making sure to give every artist at least five hugs. She came towards him again and Kyuhyun laughed.

“Bye, Kyuhyun-oppa!” she tried to sound optimistic about it, but failed.

Kyuhyun opened his mouth to reply, but she was already gone, now at Jinri.

The maknae’s eyes roamed the room, searching for someone, but he found Hyoyeon instead. With Hyukjae, no surprise, he smirked. Kyuhyun thought Hyukjae looked rather nervous. Hyoyeon had to be one of the only smiling faces in the room. She was grinning and punching Hyukjae playfully, trying to get a response out of him. He could only give her half-hearted smiles back.

Kyuhyun pitied Hyukjae. It was so obvious he liked her. What would become of them?

The “twins”, Yuri and Yoona, were seated at one of the tables with some other fellow labelmates--Siwon, Yesung, Amber, Ryeowook, Key, Minho, Henry, and Changmin, to name a few. Kyuhyun considered joining them; the whole Kyuline was there, after all.

“Cho Kyuhyun!”

“Sooyoung,” Kyuhyun grinned, giving her a friendly hug.

“Did you think you were gonna get away with standing by the door the entire time, without saying a word to me?” Sooyoung asked defiantly.

Kyuhyun shrugged. “I don’t know; you seemed pretty content just talking to my hyungs and stuff.”

“Shut up!” she pouted. “Is there anything wrong with talking to these people I won’t see for a year and a half?”

“I guess not.”

“I’m gonna miss your stupid face, you know.” Sooyoung laughed humorlessly.

“Aw,” Kyuhyun patted his heart, “That warms me up, right here.”

“Don’t you have any sentiment at all?” Sooyoung scoffed.

“I’m just kidding,” Kyuhyun chuckled.

“I really will miss you, Kyuhyun.” Sooyoung pretended to wipe a tear away.

“Oh, who’s the one not being serious now?” he shot back.

“But there’s someone who will miss you more,” she put her hands on his shoulders and steered him to the small platform-slash-stage in the back of the room.

The stage would be used soon, to give messages of support, to say some final words, things like that. A girl was sitting there, alone, her legs dangling off the edge. She looked very pretty, dark brown locks curled perfectly, resembling a princess’s. The white dress she was wearing enhanced her royal appearance and grace. She rested her chin in her the palm of her hand and she was staring off into space.

“Well, I’ll leave you to it.” Sooyoung winked.

Of course. Of course, Sooyoung would do this to him.

Kyuhyun joined Seohyun on the stage and sat next to her. “Hi, Seohyun.”

She answered without so much as a glance at him, “Kyuhyun-op--I mean, Kyuhyun.”

“Still hard for you to drop the formalities around me?” Kyuhyun grinned.

“A little,” she admitted with a short laugh, finally turning her head to look into his eyes.

He was captivated with hers.

“So,” Kyuhyun trailed off, clearing his throat.

Why did he always feel so stupid around her?

“So,” Seohyun puffed her cheeks.

“Stop that,” Kyuhyun poked her face.

“What?”

“Aegyo.”

“That wasn’t aegyo!”

“Yeah, it was.”

“No, it wasn’t!” she hit his arm.

“And here I’ve been thinking all along that you were good,” Kyuhyun teased.

“You really want my last thought about you for eighteen months to be, ‘Kyuhyun, that jerk.’? Do you want that?”

She had hit the mark. Kyuhyun smiled apologetically. “Sorry.”

“So this it kind of it,” Seohyun mused, “It’s us against a whole new world.”

“You guys have Jessica and Tiffany; I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

“Not just the language barrier,” she shook her head, the curls bouncing slightly; it entranced Kyuhyun. “I’m going to be spending so much time away from home, from my family, from everyone, and--”

“From me,” Kyuhyun finished her sentence.

“From you,” Seohyun agreed, smiling sadly. “Is this goodbye then?”

Kyuhyun was silent.

“No. No, it’s not.”

“The time has come to say some final words!” Leeteuk’s voice came from the microphone.

Seohyun and Kyuhyun realized with a start that he had been standing there for quite some time.

“Would anyone like to go first?” Leeteuk asked the people before him.

“I would,” Kyuhyun stood up and took the microphone.

“Kyuhyun?” Seohyun blinked.

“Just listen,” he whispered.

Leeteuk stepped aside and both he and Seohyun watched Kyuhyun with curiosity.

“We all think that today, we have to say goodbye.” Kyuhyun began confidently. “We all think that we have to say goodbye to these girls we grew up with, shared memories with, shared high-fives and hugs and kisses with. We don’t have to say goodbye today. In my eyes, it’s not goodbye. We can say, ‘See you soon.’ instead. Goodbyes are too sad. Let’s not have the girls’ last image of us for a year be one of us looking like emotional wrecks.”

People laughed.

He glanced down at Seohyun; her eyes were glistening with tears. Leeteuk was beaming proudly at him.

“Never say goodbye, because saying goodbye means going away. And going away means forgetting.” he saw the teary, smiling faces of So Nyuh Shi Dae, Seohyun not included.

“Taeyeon, Sooyeon, Soonkyu, Miyoung, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona,” Kyuhyun took a breath and kept his eyes locked on Seohyun, sitting near him, looking up at him, “Seohyun.”

“See you all soon.”

The mass of people below the stage molded into one person in one great, big hug. Leeteuk squeezed Kyuhyun’s shoulder and entered the huge family embrace himself.

“So this isn’t goodbye,” Seohyun rubbed her eyes, standing up.

“I don’t think so.”

They found each other in the other’s arms for the first time, but definitely not the last time.

For you, Dulce!

I know this has a crapload of other random pairings if you squint, but I really like this idea. I based this off of a lovely, Peter Pan quote. :)

Ah. I need to work on writing SeoKyu. OTL

Comments are loved!