3 years ago

“Youngwoon-ah!” as I turned around hearing a familiar voice calling my name I saw Han Geng running towards me with a wide smile on his face and while waving his hand holding a piece of paper. “Youngwoon”, he said when he came to a stop in front of me and trying to catch his breath, “I made it!” Looking at my best friends’ smiling face I knew what he was talking about and I couldn’t help but smile back. “Don’t just stand there smiling stupidly, don’t you have anything to say to me?”, Han Geng said his face taking a more serious expression. “Yes, I know you win!”, I said giving him a thight hug.

We have been friends since elementary school and it has become a habit of ours to make bets about anything and everything. This time we both are about to graduate from high school. Han Geng’s dream is to become a professional dancer and actor, because of his equal love for both. To achieve that dream he has always dreamt about attending the most prestigious academy of the arts in Seoul. Though, a few months back when the applications were due Han Geng suddenly felt insecure about applying. I tried to encourage him like a best friend would, but he wouldn’t listen. So out of irritation I challenged him of not being able to enter and knowing that my friend has a huge competitive nature, he immediately jumped at the ‘insult’ (I really didn’t mean) and declared that he would so get in. Yes, I know it was really childish, but it did bring us a good result.

I have always believed that he could make it. Me, on the other hand, I wasn’t too sure what I wanted to be. Ofcourse, I had some redeeming features as the most handsome one at the school (self-declared), I was good in sports, my school grades weren’t bad, but I just didn’t know what I wanted out of life. I hadn’t given much thought about what I wanted to continue to do after High School. My decision was quickly made though, when one day an old veteran soldier came to our school to give a presentation in our class (when it was “Think about the Future”- week at school). It left a deep impression on me, I couldn’t stop talking about him and his stories for days. So I made the decision to directly enlist after graduation and that also gave me two more years to think about what I really wanted to do, but for now I couldn’t be more excited.

This however meant that after graduation me and Han Geng had to go our separate ways, it wasn’t easy it wasn’t painless, because I knew I would miss my best friend terribly and I supposed he would feel the same. The night of our graduation we went out with our friends to eat, drink and sing. When the night was drawing to a close, me and Geng walked home together side by side, feeling elated and in high spirits from the party, in peaceful silence. After reaching Han Geng’s home first (we lived across from each other), we only shared one hug, one that said everything for both of us.

We’ll meet again, my friend.

That night I had a hard time falling asleep. Memories of the life I’m about to leave behind started to fill my head and each one made me feel happy and foremost safe. Things however were going to change and I felt like the next day would bring a new beginning into an unknown future which made me have lots of different feelings.

I felt hesitant, maybe a bit scared, but most of all excited and anticipating what tomorrow would bring.

For me the following years felt like they flew by. The training on camp was hard, but it was satisfying, knowing that you were training and fighting for your country and the people you love. I also didn’t encounter any really horrible things, as these years this country and surrounding countries have been living in relative peace. During this period I still received letters from my family, friends and ofcourse also Han Geng. His letters came frequently the first year, the second year a bit less, but even I was more busy the second year. However I always made time to read his letters and enjoyed reading them a lot.

In his letters he writes that he has been really doing well at the academy and enjoying it immensely. He was in awe when he first arrived there, because the campus was huge and beautiful with all its different art department buildings, facilities and greenery. Enrolling in dance and acting classes was his main objective, but of course he also had to take courses obligatory for their curriculum like (cultural) history, a foreign language, mathematics, which I sensed from his descriptions of the classes were not always able to capture his attention. He also described the dance classes to be on another level and the acting lessons as really challenging. He had to train a lot until his muscles all over his body were aching, to be able to keep up, because the competition among students was quite though. The academy was full talented students and they were all competing to be the best, but I could tell he was really happy nonetheless to be able to challenge and improve himself to achieve his dreams, which made me happy for him as well.

1 year ago
After two years of my obligatory service, I almost decided to stay, but I missed my family and friends dearly too. So I made the decision to go back home and try to get into a university to continue my studies, which would give me better future perspectives ofcourse. The moment I returned home, I was warmly welcomed home by my family. Though it struck me quite a bit that nothing had changed much, as I expected there to be a lot of changes, because I felt I changed a lot. Gaining new experiences, I felt I had grown up. How wrong I was, I would find out not much later.

The second day after my return I decided to visit Han Geng’s parents, but the moment I wanted to step out of the house, my mother stops me and asks, “Youngwoon-ah, were are you going?” I told her that I was going over to Geng’s place to greet his parents, but looking at my mother’s tense face I knew something was up. “Sweetheart, come here for a second and sit down. I have to tell you something.” Slowly I sat myself down on the couch not knowing what my mother was going to tell me. “I know this is not going to be easy for you to hear, but to make a long story short. The Han’s don’t live here anymore, they moved back to China just a few months back.” Hearing this, I didn’t understand, why and how? What about Han Geng, that was the first thing I thought and asked my mother about. “Han Geng didn’t go with his parents back to China, even if he maybe wanted to. His parents didn’t want him to drop out of the academy especially after having already paid for his second year and wasting the opportunity to study at such a prestigious academy.” I was glad to hear that my best friend was still residing in the same country, but I was wondering why Han Geng himself didn’t tell me anything about this. His parents moving to back to their home country, leaving him behind is not a small matter.

My mother filled me in about what she knew about, how Mr. Han lost his job during the first year and Mr. Han started to help out at their beauty salon run by Mrs. Han. However after the arrival of a new and trendy beauty salon of a well-known franchise, their business started to decline as well. It was getting hard for them to pay for everything, probably even living expenses, especially with Han Geng’s college fee being pretty high (of which I knew that Han Geng only allowed his parents to help him pay for it, because it was really high). They decided to go to China where living expenses are less expensive, with relatives that could help them and look for new opportunities to make a living again. More than this my mother didn’t know either, because the Han’s were persistent that everything was fine and that they didn’t need any help with money even if it was offered. I knew they were proud people, like my best friend had always been, probably one of the reasons he never said anything about it in his letters. After coming to know all this, I couldn’t get out of the house quick enough to go and find Han Geng. I needed to see him, to check out for myself how he was doing and ofcourse I wanted to see him after such a long time as well.

I drove to the academy and upon arrival the size of the campus overwhelmed me. It was exactly as Geng had described, enormous, impressing and beautiful. I didn’t know where to go and begin to look for him, so I had to ask someone, looking around I didn’t really pay attention to my surroundings and walked into someone. From the impact the other person fell backwards and with a quick reflex I could catch him in time before he fell on the ground. “Oopff, that was a close call. Thank you and sorry, I wasn’t looking were I was going!”

Looking up at the guy, I just caught, my eyes instantly grew bigger. He was absolutely stunning, I could hear my heart starting to thump harder. This feeling, it was new to me. I was at a loss for words, so I only stuttered something like “T-that’s o-kay”. I could have hit myself on the head for it, I felt really stupid just staring at him like that. He really looked like an angel, though. Then some other guy suddenly appeared beside us and pulled the guy away from my arms and immediately started to fuss over him asking if he was alright or if he was hurt. The second guy was really handsome as well, tall, well-built and had a perfect handsome face.

Suddenly the angel started talking again “I’m alright, stop fussing Siwon”, turning to me he looked at me apologetically and said “I haven’t seen you here before are you looking for something?” I couldn’t really stop my mind from reeling and my heart from pounding, but the question shook me out of my stupor remembering the reason I came here, I asked if they could tell me how to find a student attending this academy. They pointed me to the students’ administrations building and said to ask there. I quickly thanked them and walked towards the appointed building. Walking inside I immediately walked to the counter and started to ask the woman behind it questions about Han Geng and his whereabouts. The women first looked at me oddly and said to me that she couldn’t give me his schedule and housing information to just anyone because of privacy reasons. I started to argue with the woman and said that it was important, that he was my best friend etcetera, but it didn’t help, she wouldn’t budge. While causing quite a ruckus at the counter I must have attracted some attention, because someone suddenly patted on my shoulder and when I turned around I came face to face again with the angel, I meant the guy I bumped into earlier.

“Excuse me, who exactly are you looking for?”, he asked. Looking back at him I was a bit mesmerized again, but told him that I was looking for a student named Han Geng who dances and does acting. I saw some recognition lighting in the guy’s eyes.

“I don’t personally know him, but I think Siwon has mentioned someone called Han Geng before from his acting classes. Come with me and let’s ask him.”

He started pulling at my arms to come with him, I looked at the hand holding my arm and to the guy attached to it. Walking behind him, I had to know his name and asked him.

“My name is Park Jungsu, but people call me Leeteuk. And you, what’s your name?”

“I’m Kim Youngwoon, and during my military service people started to call me Kangin, so you can call me Kangin. Nice to meet you”

The smile I received in turn struck me again. I began to become more curious about this guy, and wanted to know what he does here and what he likes, so I continued asking him those questions.

“My major is music, I like to sing and compose music and I also like to become a MC that’s why I also take a minor in broadcasting.”

I was definitely intrigued by this guy and wanted to get to know him better, but before I knew it we were already at the place of our destination.

We were standing in front of one of the big buildings on campus; this one seemed to stand out though with its lavish ornaments and grand stature. I was looking at the building with interest and awe, it was really beautiful.

“Are you coming?”, Leeteuk’s voice broke through my awestruck state successfully.

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A/N: My first attempt at a chaptered story, don't know if I will be able to continue it. Let me know what you think of it!