chapter one: ten years ago

posted on; april 1st

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OH HEY TEN YEARS AGO, AND THE DAYS UNTIL I MEET YOU HEY TEN YEARS AFTER, AND THE DAYS WE GONNA WALK FROM NOW ON...

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It was February 5th and the year was 2002... no one really knew what life would actually bring to them and neither did Lee Donghae, for he was one that would not have a clue of what was bound ot happen to him when he goes to Seoul for the first time. He was already fifteen years old and going to Seoul for the first time to start his high school life there. He never meant to actually try to leave his family but ever since his hyung, Donghwa, asked him to do it for their family because he was going to try to let Donghae have a better living than he did, Donghae reluctantly agreed.

"Hyung... will everything be alright here without me? I don't want to leave umma alone," he asked the older male.

Donghwa pushed his glasses up at the bridge of his nose with his right ring finger and nodded. "I want you to have more oppurtunities to achieve your dream, Donghae-ah." He smiled at his younger brother and helped him pack up the rest of his clothes and belongings. "I already arranged for you to live with a friend of mine. He has an adoptive brother that's several months older than you..."

The young male's eyes widened as he learned of this. He didn't really know what to say.. nor did he know what to think. "So you weren't kidding about taking care of everything?"

He grinned and ruffled his brother's hair. "Come on... the bus will be here soon..." He held his younger brother's luggage and helped him bring it outside. Meanwhile, Donghae was busy hugging his mother, scared to leave her. "I'll be back soon, umma... I'll finish school and find a place for all of us to live in Seoul."

The bus rolled in and stopped in front of their home and Donghae gave Donghwa a hug. "Hyung... take care of umma..."

"I will, Donghae. She's my umma too, remember?"

As soon as the bus driver finished putting Donghae's bags into the underdoor compartment of the bus, Donghae went inside and went straight to the back so he could wave bye to the home that he has grown up in over the years.

~*~

Several hours later, Donghae arrived at the station where he was supposed to get off and the bus driver shook him to wake up. Overall, Donghae always had trouble sleeping in unfamiliar places but due to him not exactly getting enough sleep the night before, he ended up passing out on the bus itself. He stirred in his sleep before getting shook once again.

"Donghae-ssi... we're here..." the driver said to him. Because Donghae was still a minor, he actually had to be babysat by the driver on the way there. At least in the way of getting off at the right stop.

The young male rubbed his eyes slowly waking up. He looked around for a few seconds before getting out of the bus, grabbing his belongings. He looked around and his eyes widened at how big Seoul was. "Whoa..." he said as his mouth gaped open in awe. Compared to Mokpo, Seoul was huge.

"Donghae... Lee Donghae... am I right?" a guy that was a little older than Donghwa called out to him.

Donghae looked at the male and nodded, walking up to him. "Yeah... I'm Donghae. I'm guessing you're the one that my hyung spoke about?"

The guy blinked several times and nodded. "Yah... Donghae, you don't even remember me? I'm your hyung's friend... Lee Minwoo."

He couldn't believe his eyes. It's been years since Donghae had seen Minwoo. Mostly because the last time he had seen him was when he was only seven years old. Then again Minwoo was as short as ever... he's always been short. "Minwoo hyung?!" he gasped, still in complete disbelief.

Minwoo nodded. "Yeah. Let's get to my place because I want you to meet my brother."

"Brother?"

"Yeah... I adopted him as my brother a few months ago because he didn't have anywhere to go. And he didn't have family either."

The younger male had forgotten that Donghwa had told him that Minwoo had adopted a brother that was his age. "And he's a little older than me?" he asked.

"Mhm. He's your chingu..." They arrived at Minwoo's car and Minwoo packed Donghae's luggages into the trunk before getting to the driver's seat whilst Donghae sat shotgun in the passenger's seat.

"What is he like?" Donghae asked curiously. Although he was mostly curious to whether he was from Mokpo like them as well.

Minwoo had to think for a short moment before smiling at Donghae. "He's a bit of a goof ball. And his feet smell really bad that I always have to tell him to wear socks or go into the shower to wash his feet. Or even put deodorant from them."

He blinked before his eye widened ten fold. "His f-feet stink?" he asked.

The elder male nodded. "Yeah... but I'm sure the two of you will get along nicely."

They soon arrived at a tall building that was similar to a skyscraper that was in New York. Or at least that's what Donghae had compared it to due to him watching too many movies lately. They walked into the building and Minwoo set his luggages aside.

"Hyukjae!" he called, causing a male with hair that looked like a mullet (not really) looked at of one of the rooms.

"What hyung?" he asked. His eyes widened when he saw Donghae. "Ahhh!! We have a new member to our dorm?"

Minwoo nodded. "Yeah. Though you two boys are the only ones that are currently here. He's the younger brother of one of my very good friends." He ruffled Donghae's hair, only causing the young Mokpo boy to fix it.

Hyukjae ran out and grinned. "Annyeonghaseyo. Lee Hyukjae imnida." He bowed to him. "I'm born in April of 1986... how about you?"

His sudden friendliness surprised Donghae but he bowed as well. He knew from the way Hyukjae spoke, he wasn't from Mokpo but the fact that he's getting spoken to was good enough. "Lee Donghae imnida. I was born in October 1986."

"Ahh... chingu-ya!" Hyukjae exclaimed, grinning like a complete idiot.

Donghae nodded.

~*~

Two years later, a girl that was around the age of nineteen had just arrived in Seoul Station with a luggage, and fresh out of Busan. She was going to stay at her cousin's home for a year so she could work on trying to achieve her dream of becoming an actress.

"Dara unnie," a girl called to her, catching the girl's attention.

The girl that came from Busan's name was Sandara Park, Dara for short. She looked at the girl that was calling out to her and smiled softly at her. "Sunyoung-ah..." she said. "I haven't seen you for a while. You've grown a lot."

The younger girl smiled. "I'm already ten years old, unni