Author POV

You were 16 and dating one of the best looking guys in school. You were like the perfect couple in everyone’s eyes. You guys were the sweetest and cutest couple in school! However, despite all of that, the both of you have troubles that you were trying to go through. Kai’s parents, to be exact. They didn’t approve of your relationship. Their reason? Your different social classes. Kai was the heir to SM Global Industries, one of the biggest companies in Korea while you were from a middle class family.

“Ji Hyun, will you go to prom with me?” Kai asked.

“Yes, of course! There’s no one I’d rather go with,” you smiled at him.

“Okay! So tell me the colour of your dress so that I can buy a corsage for you,” he replied.

I can't wait to go prom with Kai. It’s the one thing that I've been looking forward to all year.

Me: Hey, let’s go prom dress shopping tmr. ^^ Kai asked me to be his date for prom.

       -Sent to Ailee and Nana

Ailee and Nana are your two best buddies in the whole world. You’ve been friends since middle school. They know everything about you and they’ve been with you through ups and downs. They’re also in relationships with Kai’s friends; Kris and Luhan. You couldn’t stop thinking about your prom dress all day long.

“Will it be strapless? Will it be long and flowy or cute and short? Most importantly, will Kai like it?” you thought all day.

The next day, as planned, the three of you went to go dress shopping. You went into this store that had a variety of dresses and is not too expensive. The three of you tried different dresses: flowy dresses, short dresses, strapless, sleeveless and so many more!! You thought you were going to be there all day, trying to find a dress that caught your attention when you finally saw it. There it was, a light pink long dress and it was a strapless dress. It was beautiful. You immediately reached for it and tried it on.

“Ji Hyun, you look beautiful! That’s definitely the dress!” Nana said as soon as she saw me in the dress.

“Yea, I totally agree. Buy it! No need to think twice bout this one!” Ailee agreed.

Happy that both your best friends share the same view as you did on the dress, you decided that it would be your prom dress.

“Kai’s going to love it!” you thought to yourself. 

The day finally came and you were all ready to go to prom. There you were, in front of your dressing mirror, waiting for a call from Kai. You looked at yourself in the mirror once more to make sure that you looked fine. Then the phone rang. Without looking at the caller id, you picked up the phone and said, “Kai, you’re here already?”

“Ji Hyun, Kai’s leaving Korea and I don’t think he's coming back,” Nana said.

You wondered why Nana was calling you when what she said suddenly dawned on you. Kai’s leaving Korea.

“What? It can't be. He promised to go to prom with me. Yah, stop fooling around, its not funny. I'm hanging up in case Kai’s here and he can't get through to me because of you. See you later.”

You were just about to hang up when Nana said, “I'm not joking. Luhan and Kris are on their way to the airport to send Kai off.”

“What? Are you sure they’re not just playing around? You know they always do this sort of thing.”

“They wouldn’t joke about something so serious. Didn’t you wonder why Kai’s parents didn’t disturb you this week? Didn’t you think it was too peaceful?”

“No, it can't be. If his parents had planned something like this, Kai would’ve told me.”

“I think Kai just found out about leaving Korea today. If he knew that he was leaving, he wouldn’t have bought a tux together with Luhan and Kris.”

You started sobbing. You couldn’t believe what you were hearing. You’ve always known that his parents hated your relationship but you didn’t think that they would do something so drastic!

“Ji Hyun, are you there? Hello? Ji Hyun ah,” Nana’s voice rang on the other side of the phone.

“Yes, I'm here.”

“Then hurry and go to the airport! I don’t know what time his flight is but you better go now since the boys are already off to the airport! He's heading towards terminal 2. I’ll call you again to let you know which belt.”

Your POV

Without a word, I hung up the phone and grabbed my bag/purse and left the house. My parents saw me rushing out of the house and they asked me where was Kai but I didn’t answer them. All I could think of was getting to the airport on time. I ignited the car engine and drove to the airport. Fortunately, the airport wasn’t very far from my house and within 20 minutes, I was there, partly because I was speeding. God knows how many speeding ticket I'm going to get.

I scanned the airport, looking for any sign that Kai was here but I couldn’t find it. I have to see him.  This could be the last time that I see him. I ran around but I still couldn’t find him. Just as I was about to give up, Nana called me.

“Belt 14. He’s entering the gate soon,” Nana said.

Belt 14. Where’s belt 14?! I saw belt 14 and I dashed towards it, not minding the eyes that were watching me. As soon as I saw Kai, I stopped running and stood on my spot, trying to catch my breath. He was wearing the tux that I presumed was supposed to be his prom outfit. He looked stunning. Despite that, I could see sadness in his eyes. In that moment, I wanted to just run up to him and tell him not to go but I knew I couldn’t do that as his parents were watching him closely and even looking around the surroundings. I think they were looking out for me, making sure that I couldn’t stop Kai from leaving. He waved Kris and Luhan goodbye and turned and proceeded to enter the gate. Tears were streaming down my cheeks as I watched him slowly putting one foot in front of the other. My heart seemed as though it was clutching in pain and I held my chest and covered my mouth as I didn’t want my cry to be heard.

"Turn around Kai, please, I'm right here. Don’t leave without saying goodbye. Turn around Kai." I muttered softly to myself.

It was as if he heard me and he turned around and his eyes locked on mine. He was looking directly at me. I could see that he wanted to run to me and say that he's not leaving but he couldn’t. His parents must have really threatened him to make them do as they say. I could see his eyes swelling and he slowly raised his right arm and slowly, and painfully, waved me goodbye. I knew how bad he was hurting. I could see it in him. Since this is probably the last time that I’ll ever see him, I wiped away my tears and forced a smile onto my face and slowly waved him goodbye.

As soon as Kai was no longer in sight, I dropped to my knees and cried my heart out. I pressed my hands onto my mouth as hard as I can as I didn’t want any passer-by to hear me. I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up and saw that it was Kris. I immediately buried my face in his chest and wrapped my arms as tightly as I can around him, pouring my heart out. Neither Kris nor Luhan said a word. They just stood there and let me cry.

“Come on Ji Hyun, let’s go,” Kris said after 20 minutes.

He wiped my tears away and gently held my hand and walked me out of the airport. He offered to send me home but I declined, saying that I'm fine now and that I’ll be careful when driving. Both of them sent me to my car. Before leaving, Kris handed me a box and told me to open it when I was home. The drive home was excruciatingly painful. I was crying the entire drive home and when I finally reached home, I ran to my room without saying a word and threw myself on the bed, hugging my pillow tight for comfort. Knocks were soon heard on my door and I knew that my parents were concerned but I couldn’t tell them now. After a while, the knocking stopped and my phone rang. I hoped it was Kai but my heart sank when I saw Kris’s name.

“Yes?” I asked Kris.

“I just wanted to check if you’re home safe,” he said.

“Yeah, I'm home. Thanks for checking,”

“Wait, I need to tell you something. Before Kai left, he texted me and he told me to say this to you for him. He said, ‘You look beautiful’ “

Just when I thought I could handle this, I couldn’t. Not with what Kris just told me. I hung up the phone and cried myself to sleep.

The next morning, I woke up and my eyes felt swollen. It was already 10 in the morning when I woke up. I looked at my phone and realised that Nana and Ailee had called me so many times. They must be worried sick. I'm sure Kris and Luhan told them what happened. Not in the mood to talk, I texted them saying:

Me: I just woke up. Don’t worry, I'm doing fine. I just need some time alone.

     ­-Sent to Ailee and Nana.

Almost immediately, my phone rang. It was Ailee. I picked out the phone and she immediately asked how I was and many more questions but I just told her that I'm not in the mood for talking and that I needed some time alone. She agreed and told me that she and Nana are always there for me.

After showering, I saw a box on my bed. I had forgotten about the box that Kris handed me yesterday. There were a few things inside the box: a flower corsage, a letter and a ring. I started crying again. The flower corsage was beautiful and it matched my gown perfectly. Next, I opened the letter.

To Ji Hyun

If you’re reading this letter, I would’ve been on a plane by now. I'm sorry that I couldn’t tell you that I was leaving. I'm sorry that I left you alone during prom. And I'm sorry that I didn’t say goodbye personally. This letter’s going to say most of what I want to say to you. To start off, I'm sure you look beautiful for prom and I hope that you like corsage. I really wanted to see you wearing a prom dress and I really wanted to go to prom with you just like we had planned.

It happened so fast. I was ready to go and fetch you when my parents told me that I was leaving Korea. I’m not going to go into the details but they took away my phone and that it why I couldn’t call you. I'm supposed to be packing my things but here I am, writing this letter to you, which I will give Kris to pass it to you as I have convinced her to let Kris and Luhan come to send me off.

I want you to know this that I have always loved you from the moment you became mine and it grew even stronger as time passed. Whenever I see you smile, it made me smile too, knowing that you’re happy being with me despite all the challenges that we faced. Whenever you held my hand, I felt as though I'm the luckiest man alive as I had the most wonderful girlfriend that anyone could ever ask for. Whenever I see you cry, I want to wipe those tears off your face and protect you from anything that would make you sad but little did I know that I was going to make you cry. And for that, I'm really sorry Ji Hyun, I didn’t mean to make you cry, ever. I hope you forgive me for what I've done to you. There are so many more things that I wish to say to you but time is running out so I’ll keep them in hopes that we’ll meet again one day and I’ll tell you everything.

There’s also a ring in the box. You’ve never told me but I know that you’ve always wanted couple rings and I was going to give it to you as a surprise during prom but this is the best that I can do right now. The other pair is with me and I'm wearing it as I'm writing this letter. I want you to wear this ring not to show that you are mine but to show that I still have a place in your heart. I don’t know if I’ll ever return and I don’t know what will happen to either of us when we’re separated so I don’t want to keep you waiting for something that I'm uncertain of. Wear the ring so that if we ever meet again, and I hope that we do, it shows that I still have a place in your heart. But if while we are separated and you meet someone, I don’t want you to stop yourself from falling in love with him. Yes, I said it. As much as I hate to say it, I have to entertain that possibility. So all I'm saying is, don’t ruin your future because of me. If its fated, we will be together but if it isn’t, I pray that he will better than I was and most importantly, he wouldn’t hurt you like I did.

So before I end off, I want to say that I love you very very much and I'm going to miss you very very much.

Love,

Kai

PS. I LOVE YOU.

Author POV

You fell to your knees and cried like you’ve never cried before. You couldn’t believe what Kai just wrote. Your whole world just felt like it crashed on you and there was no one to save you.

~10 years later~

You are currently working in a huge company and doing well on your own. You’re still single while Nana and Ailee, your 2 best friends, were already engaged. The three of you always joked that you were going to get married earlier before them but reality proves them wrong. You don’t even know if you’ll get married. When Kai left 10 years ago, he left you heartbroken and alone and 10 years later, you’re still the same. Although it has been 10 years, you still can't get over Kai. Every time you try, you’ll just end up hurting yourself even more and so you stopped trying. Nana and Ailee have tried to set you up on so many dates but none of them worked and eventually you told them to stop as you could see that all their efforts were in vain.

None of you have heard from Kai ever since he left. No calls, texts, email, letters, nothing. It seemed as though he had forgotten about all of you but you knew that isn’t the case. You knew that Kai is being controlled by his parents and there was nothing that he could do. You’ve never stopped hoping that one day, Kai would return and everything would be back to the way it was.