Year: 2000

School. Elementary school to be exact. There was no point really in our attendance in such a basic learning environment. We learned to count, add, subtract, read and write proficiently, but we never tried to delve deeper. The only thing the school seemed concerned with is our happiness at this age. We were constantly outside at one of the numerous recesses they had us go to, even at the age of 10.

We were in math hour currently, but half the class was squirming so much, the teacher had a hard time trying to teach us some new operations. I tapped my pencil impatiently on my pad of paper, ready to learn something new, but, as always, the poor teacher gave up trying to calm the class and let us out twenty minutes early to recess. I sighed heavily, shoving my blank paper pad back into my backpack. I grabbed my novel I was reading and reluctantly went outside.

I sat alone on a bench, not into playing childish make believe games or throwing a ball around. I was tired of doing these things. I’d much rather sit here, as I always did, and read books well beyond my reading level. It stimulated my mind. It was something different from the usual routine I went through day after day. It was a challenge.

A ball zoomed by my head, grazing the tip of my ear, causing me to look up. I saw a girl giggling as she ran over to retrieve the ball behind me. I grabbed it and threw it in the opposite direction she was running, making her efforts useless. She pouted, sticking her tongue out at me as she stomped back to where she had come from. Pfft, what a baby, I thought to myself, closing my book for a moment to look around.

I scanned the playground, running my eyes over the numerous play areas that were available to us kids. There was a boy kicking sand into a girl’s face by the monkey bars making her cry, a fight about to happen at the handball court, and a kissing session by some of the older kids by the bushes on the far right side of the playground. I sighed, about to continue reading when I noticed something appear in some of the cherry blossom trees on the far left side of the playground. By appear, I literally meant it appeared out of nowhere.

I shook my head, wondering if I already needed to eat something. I had to be delirious. Things just can’t appear or can they?

I looked over and watched the figure move about. I bit my lip, wondering if I was really losing it. I decided to leave my book on the bench and walk over to the strange shadow and investigate. As I neared the trees after successfully dodging multiple balls being thrown near me, I noticed it was a brunette man, a little shorter than average height, pacing under the trees. He didn’t appear to be one of the upper grade teachers, nor did he seem to be school faculty at all. I watched him for a moment, before I cleared my throat loudly to get his attention.

“Who are you? You don’t belong here,” I piped up, catching his focus.

“I can’t tell you,” he replied, his brown eyes wide with shock as if he had never seen a person talk to him before.

“Tell me,” I ordered, fixing my stance to show that I was not leaving until he told me.

“I already told you, little boy, I can’t tell you. It’s a secret,” he replied, trying to brush me off with a wave of his hand.

“Why is it a secret? Why are you on school property? You aren’t a teacher! You must be a ert,” I exclaimed, crossing my arms over my chest.

“No! No! Little boy I’m not a ert,” he began before I shook my head and cut him off.

“First off,” I explained, “I’m not ‘little boy.’ I have a name and that name is Luhan. Second off, you should be answering my question as to who are you before I get the teacher over here to get you sent off to the jail.”

I watched the man run his fingers through his hair several times, pacing in a complete circle three times before facing me.

“Alright, Luhan. I’ll tell you who I am, but you must not tell anyone else, alright?” he cautioned.

I blinked at him, examining the man thoroughly before I nodded my head. He took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose before he finally opened his mouth.

“I’m a time traveler. Not like the ones on TV that are fake and what not, but a real time traveler. There was an alteration in my genetic code when I was younger and now....I drift through different times and ages without notice,”

“And I’m supposed to believe that?” I laughed, finding it hard to believe that the elder had the nerve to display such an imagination.

I stopped laughing, however, when I met his gaze and noticed his eyes were unyielding from his statement. He had meant every word. I just knew it. It was that feeling you get when someone tells you something, regardless if you know them well or not, and you just know that they are telling the truth. Eyes never seem to lie.

“So if you are a time traveler,” I finally began, “what’s your name, age, and when will you be leaving?”

“I’m Xiumin, currently twenty years old, and I’m not sure,” he said, whispering the last bit.

I looked up at him, his large eyes warmer this time and felt comforted. He didn’t seem like a bad guy, just very sincere and seemingly....hurt? I stuck my right hand out, looking down at it, waiting for a reaction. Xiumin took my hand in his larger hand and shook it, a small smile playing across his face as he did so.

“Friends?” I asked, smiling back at him.

“Friends,” he whispered.

I looked back up at his face to see him fading into the distance like mist. Within a minute my hand was empty and cold from Xiumin’s absence. I sighed, walking back to the bench I sat at to begin reading once more.

A/N: Here is the first chapter! I will try to update as regularly as I can, but it will be a bit for the next chapter since I am going out of chronological order according to Luhan's life. How did you guys like the first chapter? When do you think Luhan will meet Xiumin again? Please don't forget to pay extra attention to the year each chapter takes place in to tell what age Luhan is! Year 2000 he's 10. In the next chapter's I will post Xiumin's age up with the year^^