He was an incoming senior in high school. One week before the opening of classes, he was there in his room, staring outside his window. He stared outside as if there was no tomorrow to stare at it. Truth was, there was really no tomorrow for him to stare at the beautiful scenery that he admired so much. It was the environment that he had been so familiar with. The place where he spent the past 18 years of his life.

Well, of course there’s always tomorrow, but at that time,  he didn’t know when he would be able to see this again. And that was because their family would be moving to Seoul, the capital city of the country that he loves so much. He reallly didn’t want to leave this place but he had no choice. His father’s company decided to expand it’s business to the capital city since most of the busy life were located there. He was enjoying his last few moments in his room which became his friend now. The four corners of this room was the witness for all his happiness, sorrow, laughter and tears. Oh, how he hates to leave this. He snapped out from his thoughts when he heard his mother calling him.

“Son! Come down now! We’re leaving, your dad is waiting in the car.”

“Yes, mom. I’ll be right there.”

By then, he got his huge bag which contained all of the important belongings that he must bring with him. He looked at the room for the last time. He held tightly on the door knob as if he wasn’t going to let it go.

“Goodbye, my friend. I’ll miss you,” was all he could say before slamming the door shut behind him.

After a few minutes, they were outside the house putting their things in their car. His father was already in the driver’s seat waiting for him and his mom to hop in.

“Mom, do we really  have to go?” He asked his mom.

“Son, we don’t have much time to argue with this. It was your dad’s decision. We must do as we were told.”

“But why? Why must we always do what he tells us to do? Can’t we have our own voices? Please, even if it’s just about this matter.”

“Son, please, don’t start it. He might hear you.”

“So what if he might hear me? Isn’t that good if he will? Mom, we’re a family, we should be working together for our family’s sake. He didn’t even talk about it with us. He just ordered us to pack our things and that’s it. Why is it that every single word that comes out from his mouth should be followed? Why is it that..”

He wasn’t able to finish his sentence when his mother slapped him on his face. He was shocked. Her mother never laid a finger on him. But this time, she did.

“Kim Hyun Joong! Since when did you ever learn to talk back like that?! I am your mother. I don’t remember a time when I taught you to act like this!” his mother said angrily, controlling her temper.

He just looked at her with a shocked face.

After realizing what she just did, she felt bad for physically hurting her son like that. At a lower tone, she said, “Come on, I’ll forgive you this time. But I don’t want you to act this way again. He is your father. How could you say such things about the person who gave life to you, took care of you, gave you what you needed to survive all these years, fed you, sheltered you, did everything for you? About us leaving this place is for our own family’s sake. Your dad’s work was transferred there. You know how important his work is for us, don’t you?”

Seeing his mother close to tears and realizing how rude he was, he slowly nodded and whisphered, “I know. I’m sorry, mom.”

“It’s ok. Just don’t do it again.