I never regretted the path I have chosen—the path that we fought our tooth and nail for, our blood, sweat and tears staining every step we had taken. The road to fame was not easy, and I would admit that sometimes I would feel lonely—but regret would mean a betrayal to thousands and thousands of people who had supported us throughout so many years.

No, I wouldn’t dare to betray them like that.

Not when these people had cheered us up when we were down, scolded and forgave us when we made mistakes, believed in us even when they had to wait, loved us—even if, regretfully, we couldn’t name them one by one. I wouldn’t repay their support with my regrets, like a transgress son who bit the hands of the parents who had fed and raised him.

But sometimes, in a brief moment of weakness, I imagined what could have been—if I was simply Jung Pilkyo, or Steve Jung if you would prefer, and Shin Hyesung never existed; if you were simply Mun Junghyuk, and Eric Mun was nothing but your English name.

Would we have been happy?

Here's the deal: years ago, there was a fork on the road I was walking on, it diverged into two—I took the risk and auditioned for the career I never thought I would enter, and it brought me to you. I never knew, not even until this day, whether it was a blessing or a curse.

Destiny worked in a mysterious way, and I couldn’t help but to question what would have happened if I didn’t have the courage to stand on the stage on that fateful day. What would we have done? Perhaps you would stay in the USA and go to university you were accepted into; perhaps you would still find your way into the show business—we would never know. Perhaps I would never realize just how much I loved to sing; perhaps I would concentrate on my studies as well and the only way for people to hear my singing voice would be to accompany me to the karaoke on my days off.  Perhaps we would work in a completely different industry—music being nothing but the songs playing on the TV, on the radio, on the iPod in our pockets.

My mind was full of what-ifs, too busy concocting alternate scenarios—what would have become our careers? Would Shinhwa exist without its leader and main vocalist? Who would we be friends with? How would our lifestyle be?

Although actually, those were not the questions I was dying to know the answer to—but these: would fate still bring us together? Or would we simply pass each other, simply miss each other and remained as strangers? Or would we find each other, despite all the odds? Would we fall in love like we did in this lifetime? Could we even, perhaps, have a future together?

I pondered long and hard, thinking so deeply my head throbbed, but there was no answer—there would never be any answer.

Simply—just because we didn’t take the other road.

We thought that we took the road less travelled on—even though as I looked back, perhaps both were worn and beaten just the same. We took the risk and we found each other, maybe it was our reward for being brave… or maybe it was our punishment for being reckless.

Meeting you was a blessing that couldn’t be denied, for I learnt what love was—how falling in love felt like. The days when we deluded ourselves that we would work were too sweet to be forgotten, too beautiful to be thrown away and banished from our memories.

At the same time, it was a painful curse—because we both knew we would end up torn and broken.

I could always throw it all, the career and the fame, just to be with you—but at the same time, I knew I couldn’t.

There were lives depending on our successes, which could be crushed by our failures. You, as the leader, knew it better than anyone. There were our families we loved so much, our parents who were waiting for grandchildren and our siblings who were waiting for nephews and nieces. You, as the only son, were in charge to continue the family lineage, and so was I as the oldest son. There were our best friends that we knew we could trust, but their futures could also be in shambles because of us. You and I, we both wouldn’t risk our friends for our own selfishness. There were thousands, perhaps even millions pairs of eyes scrutinizing us—could we survive under their judgments?

When we chose this path, we also chose to take the responsibili