Ryeowook’s POV

“Thanks for doing this with me.”

The members nodded, all of their eyes tired. I pressed the doorbell and stepped aside. The door swung opened and there they were my warmth, my love, my one and only omma and appa. They beamed when they saw all of us together. Omma pulled me into a tight hug, kissing my temple. I bit my lips as I stayed in my omma’s arms a little bit longer than usual.

“You must have missed your omma, baby.”

I nodded because… Because what else could I say? I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, letting her go, smiling up at her. My appa was next and he held out his hands for me. I hugged him and all I wanted to do was stay in his embrace forever. Was it possible? Could I do that? Appa rubbed my back and I could feel my heart beating fast, my emotions all over the place.

“We’ve missed you, Ryeowook.”

Omma and Appa hugged the other members too and commented on how all of us looked so tired. All our parents would always say that the moment they saw us. I wished, just for once, they’d say something else. Can’t they see? No matter how tired all of us were, we were doing what we loved, what we wanted and we’d never give up anything for all of this.

“Come in, come in! I’m so glad all of you could make it!” Omma waved her hands in.

We bowed as we entered my house, making ourselves comfortable. How long had it been since I came here? A year? Six months? How long had it been since I last saw omma and appa? Now, I wished I saw them more. I wished they lived nearer to me. I wished I could see them every day. Omma and Appa spent a good amount of time chatting with the members one by one. I took the chance to sneak into my room, or rather the my room back when I was a teenager.

It was still the same. My blue and purple bed sheet, my trophies I won during those small school singing competitions, my pictures during my childhood and teenage years. I walked towards a large poster I kept when I first debuted and traced my fingers lightly on it. I didn’t realize that I was staring until a knock startled me.

“Wook,” Eunhyuk gave a soft smile walking up next to me. “Omma is calling us for dinner now.”

“Alright.” I nodded and then took one last look at the poster.

“We were all so young back then.” Eunhyuk whispered. “Look at us.”

“We had the worst hairstyle back then.”

Eunhyuk and I laughed. Eunhyuk suddenly stopped and I turned to him. He was looking at me but he had a sad look on his face. I gave him a small smile and turned my attention back to the poster. Everything was so perfect back then. It was scary and it felt like we were stepping into a whole brand new world but that was the thrill of it. The start of something new and raw, something that not everyone in the world got the chance to experience. I never considered how lucky I was. Looking back, I suddenly felt so much more appreciative of what life had offered me thus far.

“Remember when we were all rookies and all we wanted was to debut as soon as possible, wanting to go out there and shine. We didn’t care what group we’d be put in, we didn’t care who was going to be our member