March 29, 2006

“Excuse me. I need to go somewhere,” I said to Sulli’s umma. I didn’t mind how they reacted as I wore my slippers, walked out of their house and ran to Haeundae beach to unwind. I just felt that I needed it.

I strolled and wandered as I stared at the sea. Though there are people in the beach, walking in it makes me feel I’m alone as I reminisced my childhood. What I had here were childhood memories that I cherished. Whenever me and Sulli felt like going here before, we would just ask our parents and they’ll take us here in a snap. We’ll build little sand castles and swim at the sea for the whole day nonstop. That’s why probably our skins became really tan.

I sat at the sand and continued looking at the landscape of the beach. I closed my eyes for a while, felt the breeze of the sea passing through me, and listened to the eternal sound of the waves.

“There, it’s done!” Minho said as he removed the upside-down pail and revealed the sand formed with the pail. He was really happy on what he did, so he clapped.

“That’s not a sand castle!” Sulli said as she pouted and crossed her arms.

“It is!” Minho insisted.

“How could that be a sand castle if it’s that small?” Sulli complained as she pointed at it. She looked around and found a small yellow flag. She grinned as she grabbed it. She shook the sand off and hid it. Minho was baffled on why she was grinning. “There! It’s now a sand castle!”

Minho faced the sand castle and saw a yellow flag on top of the pail-shaped sand. They both clapped as Minho’s appa walked towards them, holding an Olympus Stylus Epic film camera. “Wow! That’s a beautiful sand castle!” Minho’s appa said.

“Jinja?” Minho said enthusiastically. His appa nodded while smiling.

“I made it look like a castle,” Sulli said cutely. They all laughed.

“Let me take a picture of you two,” Minho’s appa said. He neared his eye to the viewer as he was holding the camera with his both hands, with his index finger on the shutter.

Sulli and Minho smiled at the camera with the sand castle in between them.

“Hana, dul,” Minho’s appa said slowly. Before he could say ‘set,’ Minho made a hand peace sign and placed it on top of Sulli’s head. “Set,” he said as he clicked the shutter and the camera flashed.

I opened my eyes. It was such a great memory I had in mind. I sat there for hours, unknowingly, until the sun set. I stood up afterwards and walked home. I decided to attend the study hall session tonight, so I changed to my uniform, had dinner, wore my bag and went directly to school.

I opened the classroom and heard the class representative yell, “Choi Minho.” Just right on time, I thought.

“Present,” I said as I raised my hand slightly and smirked. The class representative looked at me and signaled me to go to my seat. I nodded and walked to my seat.

“Why are you not in class earlier?” Krystal asked me.

“Hm,” I said. “I just don’t want to.”

“Psh. Even if you’re a top student here, you still need to attend classes,” she said. I chuckled and the study hall session started afterwards.

After the session ended at about 11PM, I packed my things and got off my seat. I stretched my head and body before walking out of the classroom.

“Let’s go home together,” Krystal said as she walked with me. I sighed and nodded.

When I reached home, I said, “Be safe going home. Good night.” She nodded, waved her hand and smiled at me. I smiled back and went towards the door.

I knocked on the door and after a while, the doorknob twisted and the door opened.

August 2013

“Oh! Minho and Krystal!” Minho’s umma said. Minho and Krystal smiled and went in. “I’m glad you had the time to visit despite your busy schedule.”

Minho hugged her tightly and said, “If it’s a visit to umma, nothing’s impossible.” He chuckled and released his hug afterwards.

“I’m preparing a lot of food for us to eat later,” Minho’s umma said enthusiastically as she pointed at the sink. “Krystal, how’s your bakery, by the way?”

“It’s going great. More and more customers are visiting it,” Krystal said as she chuckled.

“Umma, I’ll help you cook the food,” Minho said. His umma nodded and they both went to the kitchen, leaving Krystal at the living area.

She decided to roam around the bungalow. While roaming, she found a door with a sign “Minho’s room” in it. She became curious, since she haven’t been into it ever since. She held the warm bronze doorknob, twisted it and pushed the white door slowly, barely making any sound. She looked around to see the dusty room of Minho. It was obvious that no one got into it after he moved to Seoul.

She continued walking and touched Minho’s bed and his other things lightly. Her footsteps and the birds chirping outside are the only things she heard in the room. Suddenly, she heard a thing dropped near the bed. She looked into it, and it was under the table lamp. She knelt and grabbed it. It was a small, flat, bronze key. She raised her eyebrow and was puzzled to what it is for.

She stood up and looked on what the key is for by inserting it to the keyholes around the room. After a while, she noticed the white drawer under the table lamp. She tried pulling it, but it was locked. She inserted the key to the keyhole and twisted it. To her surprise, the drawer was unlocked. She pulled the drawer and saw a dusty black notebook. She grabbed it and read what’s in it.

For every song, there’s a date on the top right part of the page. She suddenly remembered the day when she surprised Minho while he was on the sidewalk. Her face blushed and thought to herself, he wrote this for me before? She placed her hand on her cheek and felt her face getting warmer. She smirked and continued turning the pages. Suddenly, she realized that the songs written were great. Some of them are even better to what he wrote in the past few years. The theme of his songs in the notebook is the exact opposite of the theme of his songs now.

A bright idea popped out of her mind.

“If you don’t want to go to SM Entertainment, then I have no other way than to push you,” she thought. She placed the black notebook inside her bag and hid it with her other things.