Luhan was always a tough one to shop for.

    The difficult thing was that he always claimed that he had everything he wanted, and there was no need to spend money on him. But, you knew very well that there had to be something that he wanted.

    And so, you spent the entire day looking for something to buy for Luhan. You searched every single store, hoping that there was something there for him.

    Eventually, you began to give up. You sat down at a table in the food court and glumly stared down at the floor. “I’m never gonna find anything for him…” you mumbled to yourself.

    You felt awful. Luhan was the one person you loved and cared about, and the only thing you wanted was to make him smile. All you wanted was for him to be happy.

    “Cristiano! Cristiano!”

    Your head snapped up as you started to hear people all around you screaming and yelling for that name. On the other side of the food court, you saw a huge crowd of people that were gathering around someone.

    You got up from your seat and followed the crowd, wondering who in the world was so important that they had to cause such chaos in the middle of the mall.

    “Hey.” You tapped a girl’s shoulder who was standing on the outside of the crowd. “Who is everybody gathering around?” you asked.

    She quealed and pointed frantically to the crowd. “Cristiano Ronaldo’s here!” she exclaimed.

    For a second, you had no idea who she was talking about. But then, the name rang a bell once you remembered that that was the name of Luhan’s favorite soccer player.

    “What’s he doing here?” you asked.

    “Autographing stuff and greeting fans!”

    Autographing stuff. You looked around the area you were standing, hoping to find some kind of sports store. If you could run to one right now, buy a soccer ball, and come back, you may be lucky enough to have Cristiano Ronaldo sign it.

    And so, you quickly ran to the nearest sports store and scanned the soccer section for a soccer ball. Indeed, you found many ordinary ones, but there was one that caught your eye.

    The Manchester United one.

    You were just about to claim it when you saw the price tag. It was way more expensive than any other item in the entire store for some reason, even though you could’ve sworn you’ve seen it somewhere else for way less.

    As you fished your money out of your pocket, you realized that the only way to pay for the soccer ball was to spend all of the money you had.

    “It’s for Luhan,” you said to yourself and took the soccer ball. If it was for him, it had to be worth it.

———————

    The next day, you took the now autographed soccer ball and went to the SM building to find Luhan. Once he saw the present you got him, he would freak out, you knew it.

    Today the two of you would be celebrating the five years you’ve been together. Five long, amazing, incredible years together.

    You walked to the practice room and peeked inside. Out of the corner of your eye, you caught Luhan standing a few feet away from the mirror in a finishing pose. He must’ve just finished going over a choreography.

    You were just about to go in there and surprise him when you saw somebody else beat you to it. Seohyun.

    She ran up to Luhan and threw her arms around him as if the two have been dating for years. Luhan didn’t even push her away, like he probably should’ve. He let her embrace him as a smile creeped up his face.

    You clutched the gift in your hold as you continued to watch them. They were both acting like lovers; something you and Luhan should’ve been doing, not him and Seohyun.

    But what killed you the most was when Luhan spun Seohyun around, pulling her close again, and kissed her.

    And this wasn’t just an innocent kiss on the cheek of any sort; it was a full on kiss on the mouth. A pretty passionate one from what you could see too, and neither of them pulled away from it.

    That was it. That was enough for your heart to break and for you to break out into a run for home.

———————-

    You wasted no time in packing all of your belongings at home and booking a flight to LA. You had a cousin who lived there, and you knew that she could let you crash in for a while as you situated yourself in the new area.

    With your eyes already watery, you placed the autographed soccer ball on top of the bed and went to the nightstand to fetch a piece of paper.

    You scrawled a quick note through your teary eyes as a few teardrops managed to fall on the paper.

    Dear Luhan,

    I’m leaving the country Luhan, and there’s no point in trying to look for me. In fact, I don’t think you’ll even try to look for me, right? You’ll probably be too busy making out with Seohyun to care, right?

    Anyway, happy anniversary. I hope you like the gift, at least. I spent the only money I had on that gift, and now it’s pretty much a waste. I’m flying to a different country with empty pockets and a broken heart, but still, I only wish you the best.

- ________________

    You wrote your name at the bottom and placed the note next to the soccer ball on the bed. Then lastly, you took off the promise ring Luhan had given you a year ago and placed it right on the note.

    A year ago, Luhan gave you that ring with the promise that one day, he’d turn it into a real engagement ring.

    But right now that promise was long gone.

——————————

    Two years later, you had somehow situated yourself in LA. Your cousin had taken care of you for the first couple of months, and then you started to get the hang of things.

    She introduced you soon to a friend of hers, Jackson. From the moment you saw him, you thought he was incredibly sweet and funny.

    You had no idea that a couple months later, he’d be your boyfriend.

    And now, here you were. You had decided to fly over to Korea just to show Jackson where you used to live before since he wouldn’t stop asking about Korea.

    “This place has amazing food,” Jackson commented as the two of you walked through the streets together in Korea. It was already night time, but you insisted on going out to take a look around town, since it was always more exciting at night.

    “I know right,” you agreed. “But the majority of it is quite expensive. Especially the good ones.”

    “Hey, but it’s worth all the money, right?”

    You nodded your head in agreement as you stepped inside a restaurant along the way. This was the same restaurant you and Luhan used to go to whenever you were in town together. It held great memories, but you pushed it all back.

    “Here. Look at the menu and order something, I’m going to go get a drink, okay?” You kissed his cheek and ran off to the counter. There was already someone standing there, waiting to take orders. “Can I get a can of Pepsi, please?” you asked.

    The person nodded and went to the fridge to go fetch your can. In the meanwhile, you leaned against the counter and waited patiently.

    “_________?”

    You looked up and were surprised to meet the eyes of someone you hoped to never see again.

    Luhan.

    “__________,” he said again, this time more excited. “_______, I can’t believe you’re here! I haven’t seen you in two years!”

    You nodded. “Yupp.”

    “H-How’ve you been?”

    “Here’s your drink.” You turned around to see the person holding out the can for you. You smiled a little at them and thanked them.

    “Umm, I have to go,” you said to Luhan awkwardly before walking past him.

    Luhan frowned and followed your steps. “Are you here with someone? Maybe we could sit down together and-”

    “Yes,” you cut him off. “Yes, I am here with someone.” You pointed to Jackson. “My boyfriend.”

    Luhan’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. “Boyfriend?” He seemed genuinely surprised.

    You laughed coldly. “Yeah, boyfriend,” you confirmed. “Something that you were two years ago before you screwed everything up. What? Did you think I wasn’t capable of moving on, Luhan?”

    “N-No, I-”

    “You know what? I’m not even going to do this right now. I really have to go. Tell Seohyun I said hi, by the way.” You took another step forward, but Luhan pulled you back. “What the heck do you want, Luhan?”

    Luhan looked at you now with pleading eyes. “I want to talk,” he said. “Look, I haven’t seen you in two years, ______, don’t you think I at least deserve a chance to talk?”

    “No, no you don’t Luhan. You lost your chance to talk to me two years ago when you started hooking up with Seohyun behind my back. I don’t even want to hear anything you have to say. Honestly, what are you going to say, huh?” You shook of his hold and stared at him with desperate eyes. “Are you going to try to make up some sort of excuse as to why you did what you did? Because guess what, Luhan? There’s no freaking excuse.”

    “__________-”

    “Leave me alone,” you cut him off again. “Leave me alone. Don’t talk to me. Don’t touch me. Don’t even freaking look at me, I don’t want to see you ever again, you jerk!”

    You stomped off to Jackson and grabbed his hand. “Can we leave, please?” you asked.

    Jackson knew something was wrong by the look in your eyes, but he didn’t question anything because he knew better. He just locked hands with you and pulled you towards the door.

    Luhan stood at the door, watching you and Jackson with sad, teary eyes. He stared down at your locked hands and remembered the way your hands fit in his perfectly.

    He really did have no excuse for what he did to you, nor did he really know why he did it. He’d live every single day of his life now regretting that mistake he made, knowing that there was no way he could ever fix the mess he caused.

    But still, every night, Luhan only wished for one single thing, ever since he saw you and Jackson together.

    Treat her right. Treat her a thousand times better than I ever did. Treat her how she deserves to be treated and love her. Love her more than I ever did…