I. A colourless light from faraway 

A carefree man, he aspired to be

    He was a man of simplicity, nothing more than that. He closed his eyes, listening to the soft crashing sound of the waves hitting against the rocks. It was dead at night and there was not a single soul present at the Han River. There had been several cases of suicide, but it was that very eerie serenity that had brought him there, and strangely it pleased him.

A perfect man, he was perceived as

    In the eyes of the media and his fans, he was absolutely flawless. Blessed with exceptionally great looks and extraordinary talents, he was an enviable and respectable man in the showbiz industry. An idol who owned a posh Lamborghini, a luxury apartment, he had made things possible with his unwavering willpower and sheer hard work.

A painful past, he could never forget

    He came to Seoul alone, at a young age of fifteen to pursue his dreams as a singer. Life was hard as he struggled financially and he had to take up various odd jobs to pay for his rent, food and training fees. His dream came true as he finally made his successful debut in Korea and Japan.

    He used to depend on his devoted fans for strength to perform on stage. They were his energizers, his only motivation to work hard. He was grateful, he truly was. But, life would not always turn out as what you would expect. You have to pay a heavy price for such fame and it was his privacy that was sacrificed. As his private life became invaded by those Saeseang fans, every move he took was brought under the light and magnified by the media. He was unhappy, he was furious, he was upset and he was … But there was nothing much he could actually do.

    In the year of 2006, it was a dreadful year for him, he had almost nothing but misfortunes. First, he violated the traffic laws as he exceeded the alcohol tolerance level and was temporarily suspended from all activities for a hundred days. And the second misfortune struck him ruthlessly, when a man with the surname Han who claimed to be his biological father rose to fight for his custody rights. The custody battle was all over the news and the privacy that he needed never seemed to appear. He was hurt, but more than anything else, he was scarred for life.

  As they reached their peak in their life, there finally came a point of breakdown. In the year 2010, together with two other members, he filed a lawsuit against SM Entertainment and TVXQ eventually split out. It was a painful choice to make, for he did not want to abandon them nor did he want to be apart from them, but that was the choice he made, the choice he would never look back and the choice he would not regret.

A pathetic man he truly was

  It was 4^th February and he was all alone gazing at the beautiful starless night sky. He missed them, he missed Yunho, Changmin dearly for they were the ones who went through the painful times with him. And he knew very well what this day meant. Many had actually celebrated his birthday on the 26^th of January with him, but he had not forgotten the meaning of this day for it was the very day he was brought to the world. He had truly turned a year older that night, yet it was not a day called for celebration, at least not for him nor his family. He didn't have any of them beside him, and he was cold and lonely. He couldn’t help but to stifle a silent laugh, as he realized just how pathetic he truly was.

  What had she done to deserve such treatment? Why did she choose to hurt her? What was their friendship to her? She had no answers to all those questions she was dying to know and it was driving her mad.  

  She recalled those cherished memories and moments she had shared with her member, her roommate, her sister, her best friend. She could feel the pain within herself and it hurt her to the very core. She remembered how they met for the first time, how they had had their first heart-to-heart talks at night. She remembered the hard times they had been through together before their long-awaited debut. An innocent yet strong friendship between the two debuting trainees had since born that very night.

“Aren't you worried about our debut?” 

  “Of course I am. But, more than worried, I’m actually really looking forward to our debut.”

  “Do you think we'll do well?”

“Yes, definitely! Even when we’ve lost faith in ourselves, we’ve to believe in our other eight other members who would always be there as a pillar of strength.

And, that’s why we’ve nine members in our group.”

  “You're really mature and inspirational, Unnie.”

  “Ah, You can count on me.” A smile crept upon her full plump lips, as she patted her chest confidently. “Anytime, anywhere.”

 They cheered in delight as they brought their hands up in the air, waving hysterically. “YoonYul Daebak!”

  All of a sudden, a shrill feminine scream shot through the air, breaking the very serenity of that night.

  As he turned towards the direction, he saw a captivating beautiful figure who was breathing hard, taking in deep breaths. His eyes lingered over her wavy, dark chestnut-brown hair that had flown in the air gracefully, and the pure white dress she wore had made her look like an angel that had fallen from the heaven. Her goddess-like beauty had not hidden her pain for he knew the way she bit her quivering lower lips, and the way she looked up at the sky to prevent those threatening tears in her doe-like eyes from falling, he knew she was trying hard, yet barely able to suppress her overwhelming and suffocating emotions.

  That beautiful girl, who appeared to be so lost deeply in her thoughts that she did not seem to realize his presence at all. Her eyes were so beautiful and expressive for it seemed to tell a story, a very painful story that is. The way her eyes were so mysteriously dark, the way her eyes were filled with tears and the way her eyes were kept very focused simply mesmerized him deeply. She was not a broken angel, nor was she a lifeless doll. He knew she was a colorless light from faraway for he saw a strong, fearless, unwavering warrior in front of him. 

  On the 4^th Februrary, he met his beautiful stranger.

A/N: Hi, I've edited the first chapter to include Yoonyul here. Initially, I've wanted to write from the year of 2006 instead, but I changed my mind now. So the current setting is in 2012, with frequent flashbacks from the past, when they were trainees or during their debut. I hope you're not getting confused. If you've realized, I've intentionally not mention any of their names in this chapter. I'm currently writing from Jaejoong's POV, interesting isn't it? And every title of the chapter will be a line I've picked from the lyrics of their song 'Beautiful Stranger' by F(x). I really hope you're enjoying the story. Please comment and subsribe. :)