“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he leaned in for a hug and he held you there for a good moment before pulling back. You smiled at him and he hopped onto his bike and waved goodbye as he pedaled down the streets. You looked up at the giant billboard and sighed.

            His giant face was staring down at you. You were happy that a year and half was all it took for him to shoot to stardom. You had seen their song briefly when they first debuted and then that was it. Now, it was his twentieth birthday and fans have bought advertisements for him everywhere. It was like being haunted.

            You stared at him a little longer. His hair was no longer platinum blonde but a darker brown. He lost weight but in the picture, he was still the Daehyun you knew. Someone called out your name and when you turned, you were hit by the exact replica of the face you had just been looking at. He was back.

            You froze, not sure how to treat him properly. All the hurt from before surfaced and you had to literally swallow to fight to keep the emotions down. Daehyun called out your name again and jogged towards you. He stopped before he could touch you, keeping a respectful distance and stared at you.

            “You’re back.” That was the most you could muster.

            He stared at you and you felt uncomfortable under his gaze. It was all too much. He had grown taller and just being in his presence made your thoughts haywire. You couldn’t breathe properly. You weren’t prepared.

            “I did. We’re going to be having a fan sign tomorrow here and so I requested I came early to see my family.”

            You took a step aside. His family. Of course that was to be expected. You were just a coincidence. “It was nice seeing you. I think your mother’s home. She’ll be pleasantly surprised.” You stepped off the curb to walk around him but he grabbed your hand.

            “Wait. But I wanted to see you.”

            “What?” you were too surprised to even pretend to sound civil.

            He pulled you back onto the sidewalk and two elderly ladies across the streets recognized him and waved enthusiastically. He bowed respectfully to them and they crowed, “There’s our Busan Wonbin!”

            You watched the exchange sadly. “They’re all proud of you here. Goodness knows Busan has enough idols but they are most proud of you because you made it big so fast.”

            He stopped looking at them and focused on you. “Are you proud of me?”

            You shrugged. “Yes. I’m proud to have known you back when you were predebut. I’m proud that I saw your training years and you’re from our hometown, how can I not be proud?”

            He gripped your arms and you felt exposed. The two of you were in the middle of the streets. “But are you proud of me, as Daehyun, your Daehyun.”

            You stared at him coolly. “I lost my Daehyun two years and eight months ago the moment he went to Seoul to sign your contract.”

            He grit his teeth and you saw him bite down on his teeth. “You’re still mad at me.” It wasn’t a question, just matter-of-fact.

            You raised an eyebrow. “Mad? Who said?”

            Daehyun closed his eyes. “The company lifted the dating ban.”

            He said it as if it were supposed to mean something to you. “And?” You were beyond having hopes.

            “Is there someone else? Who was that?”

            “A friend.” You answered shortly. He didn’t deserve any answers.

            Daehyun nodded as if he understood everything. His grip on your arms loosened. “I see. Well, the fan sign is tomorrow, at our old middle school. Will I see you there?”

            “How did it feel?” You blurted out. “How did it feel to just drop everyone in your past and to get this new, glamorous life? How does it feel to be on all those talk shows and to have girls throw themselves at you every single second of the day? How does it feel to have your dreams come true?”

            “It doesn’t mean anything unless I have you.”

            “So that means you wasted one year and six months pining away for someone you pushed away?”

            He bit his lip and looked at the sky, a habit he had when he was going to cry. “I honestly had no choice. Did you think I wanted to do it? I didn’t want to lose my contract but I didn’t want to lose you. I handled it badly and I should have told you that we would stay together but back then I couldn’t see how. I thought cutting you off would hurt less.”

            “Did you even hurt?”

            His mouth opened and for the first time, he looked angry. “I won’t dignify that with an answer. How could you think I was fine with it?”

            You forgot completely that you were in public. “You threw me away and you practically tossed me out! You wouldn’t look at me. You wouldn’t even consider telling me when you decided, you had to make me find out. How can you do all that and tell me that you weren’t fine with it?”

            He narrowed his eyes at you. “I tried everything. I wanted to ask my mom to tell you. I wanted to call you but the company wouldn’t let me and I didn’t want to blow this into anything larger. In the end, I’m just a coward. I didn’t want to break down in front of you.” And after that confession, you could hear the tears start to choke his words.

            You looked at him, still in his fancy getup and shook your head. The tears were flowing freely now but you weren’t delusional enough to cling on. You had eighteen months to move on and you were pretty successful.

            You stepped out from his hold and looked him straight in the eye. “Daehyun, I’m sorry. Look at us. We’re two different people. Maybe things won’t work out anymore. Look, Dae, good luck in what you do. You will succeed. And yes, I am proud of you. I am proud that I was by your side every step of the way but now it’s time for you to move on. You left, and I’m letting go. I wish you luck at your fan sign tomorrow. Do well, and maybe this time, I’ll actually see you around and not just on television.”

            He was crying uncontrollably now and your heart hurt. You didn’t want to be the cause of this but for his sake, and yours, you kept yourself from giving in. You hugged him and he made to tighten his grip but you let go. “I’ll see you, Dae.”

sequel as so many of you requested

I thought long and hard about this and realized that I don't think a girl would want to go through this again and go back to their boyfriends once they become idols. It's so hard to live with and so for all those who wanted happy endings, I'm sorry