For the whole morning, I idled about the house and walked around the neighborhood aimlessly. I had so many things in my mind, which I needed time to digest. I needed to talk to someone about this, to clear it all out. I decided to call Changmin and went over to his house at around 1pm. Changmin was at home, or rather, he was working from home. Changmin and I sat on his couch in his office and I told him that I was going to become a teacher and move to Singapore. He looked very surprised at first and then, he quickly calmed down and said, “I thought business was your family’s thing? It must be your mother’s decision, right? Because if I’m correct, she used to be a teacher and seeing you fail in business, decides to let you change profession.” My mouth was wide open, how did he understand so fast? Whereas I had to take the whole morning, he only took a few seconds to understand the whole situation and my parents’ intentions. He continued, “But I don’t get it, why Singapore? Your parents can be so weird sometimes, out of all the places in the world, they choose Singapore.” I replied, “Well, Singapore has quite a stable economy and education there is pretty good, plus, it’s pretty far away from Seoul. I’m sure my parents were having these things in mind while considering. And, it’s really safe so I probably won’t get killed or something.”

Changmin chuckled and patted my head, saying, “See Joon Myun, you can be smart! But does this mean I won’t ever see you again?” He sounded so sad and I didn’t want to leave Changmin and never see him again! He was practically the only living thing that was truly supportive of me but I had no choice. I couldn’t see him so sad, so I comforted him by saying, “Hey don’t say that! Maybe I’ll be a great teacher one day and I’ll do my parents so proud that they’ll want me back! And then, I’ll go back to Seoul. The first person I’ll visit will be you, okay? I won’t be gone forever, I’ll come back.”

Maybe I’ll come back but what the hell, I was just lying to him. At the same time, I was lying to myself too. I couldn’t help it, Changmin looked so sad that I was leaving. I'm pretty sure my parents aren't gonna want me back in Seoul anytime soon.

“Can you promise me that you’ll come back?” Changmin asked.

Sigh, how can I say no? How can I not promise him? Even though it’s an empty promise, it should comfort him and give him hope.

“Sure, I promise you.” I said. We shook hands and said our goodbyes. Changmin walked me to the door and said goodbye to me once more.

Once the door closed, I started to feel a bit guilty about lying to Changmin. We both knew that I would never come back, why was I giving him false hope? Well, I just wanted to comfort him and so that he won’t be in so much pain and he won’t miss me so much. We’ve known each other for more than 10 years, we were childhood friends, yet I ended our last conversation with a lie. But I knew it was for the best, I didn’t need him to worry about me, or miss me. I would feel burdened if I knew he wasn’t focusing on his work or something if he was missing me or worrying about me. He already had enough problems at work. I shouldn’t add on to those problems.

I went back home and had lunch, the housekeeper was busy packing my things in my room and normally, I would do it myself but I honestly didn’t care anymore. I’d probably have no mood to pack, I was so willing to move to somewhere far away and somewhere so new and strange to me. I like Seoul, it’s where I was born and brought up but who knows, it could be a new start for me.

Maybe telling me to not tell people of my true identity, was actually telling me to forget my past and live a new life. A brand new Kim Joon Myun?

But how could a new place possibly change me?

After all the brainwashing since young, could a new place really change who I am?

We’ll just have find out if it’ll change me for the better.

I decided to spend the rest of the day going to the places in Seoul that I wanted to visit again before I left Seoul. I visited my high school and the park near the school. I walked and walked, until I had reached the SM building. Then, I stopped to think, Baekhyun and Kyungsoo were probably in the SM building training. I never kept in contact with them and I never bothered to find out what they were doing but I did believe they were SM trainees. The SM audition and our friendship was a thing of past and I wasn’t very regretful or sad for myself, but I was happy for them. The brave souls that decided to pursue their dreams of being the best singers in the world. After all this time, I still never forgot them, all our memories were kept safely in my mind.

I kept on walking and I ended up taking a taxi to Myeongdong and ate some street snacks along the way. I shopped for a few clothes and bought a few button-up shirts and pants. I knew that Singapore was a fairly hot and humid tropical country, so I didn’t bother to buy any fancy winter suits or blazers. I decided to have dinner at ‘Vivapolo’, since it was getting late and I didn’t want to go back home and to trouble the housekeeper to make dinner for me. To my surprise, it was an Italian restaurant. I greeted the waiter noona and she showed to me to my table. I ordered a spaghetti, a salad and a drink. While I waited for my food to arrive, I took out a book and started to read it.

“Annyeonghaeseyo Chanyeollie, Minseokkie, Jong Dae, Jong In, Sehunnie, Baekhyunnie and Kyungsoo! Finished your training so early today?” A lady with a cheerful tone said.

I put down my book and looked at the entrance of the restaurant. There stood 7 boys, which looked around my age. There was a tall one with a huge smile on his face, talking to the lady; a shorter boy with a round face; there was another one with black hair and rectangular spectacles talking to a boy taller than him, with brown hair almost covering his eyes. Then, I saw Baekhyun and Kyungsoo, talking to a tan-skinned boy, who was taller than both of them. I haven’t seen them in so long, they both looked so handsome! Yet they were still the same, Baekhyun was still joking around and playing around with the other boys, Kyungsoo was still by his side, although the tan-skinned boy and Kyungsoo were very close too.

I didn’t know what to do, should I just act like I didn’t know them? Should I act like I know them? Or should I just ignore them? I was going to move to Singapore tomorrow, it wouldn’t really matter much if I decided to approach them right now. I was still glad I could see them for one more time, before I go to Singapore. They walked to a bigger table, very near to my table and were extremely chatty. I kept looking at Baekhyun and Kyungsoo, I wanted to go over to their table when my food came. Then, Kyungsoo turned around and saw me.

His rich white and round eyes widened and he smiled at me, waving at me. He smacked Baekhyun on the shoulder and almost screamed at him, “BAEKKIE!! It’s JOON MYUN! Over there, look! He’s over there!” He pointed at me and I was shocked, Kyungsoo was so excited to see me. I thought he would pretend like I wasn’t even there. I guess I was wrong.

Baekhyun turned around as well and our eyes met, I waved at him shyly and he smiled at me. The other boys were asking Baekhyun and Kyungsoo who I was and they called me over to their table. I quickly stood up and went over to their table, I greeted all of them and introduced myself to them. I sat next to Kyungsoo and Baekhyun started to introduce me to his friends.

“This tall giant over here is Park Chanyeol, his mother owns the place! He’s the main rapper!”

“This is our leader, Kim Minseok. He’s our hyung!”

“This clown and my partner-in-crime for pranks is called Kim Jong Dae! He’s a singer too!”

“This dark-skinned boy next to me is called Kim Jong In, he’s our dancing machine!”

“And of course, our cute maknae, Oh Sehun! He’s the visual for our group and a dancer too!”

Then, Chanyeol said, “Yah! I thought you said I was the visual?” He pouted at Baekhyun and everyone laughed. For a guy with a deep voice, he was cute. We kept talking and talking until about 10pm. I found out many things about them; they were a pre-debut group called EXO, with 7 members, they were nearing their end of their training. Some of them had stage names, like Jong In was Kai, because there was already a ‘Kim Jong Dae’, so they didn’t want them to have similar names in case of any confusion. Kyungsoo also had a stage name, ‘D.O’, it sounds cool when you say it.

D.O…

Sounds so cool, right?

I’m really proud of them, they’ve become singers in a group and they look so happy. Baekhyun said that they had already forgiven me and they were never angry at me, just disappointed, but they were glad to see me today. I told them that I was moving to Singapore and they hugged me in response. I smiled because I haven’t felt so much warmth in my heart since high school, and that was a long time ago. Kyungsoo said, “Joon Myun, you’re gonna start a new life in Singapore. Take this chance to be yourself and start anew!”

Baekhyun added, “But don’t you ever forget about us, okay?! And when we come to Singapore for a concert, please be there to support us! We can meet up too and chat if we can. We’ll miss you Joon Myun! Your next chapter is about to begin, a very new and strange experience, but you’ll learn to love it. I’m sure you will.”

And these are my best friends, the best friends I could ever have.

We exchanged phone numbers and email addresses and said goodbye to each other. I took a taxi back to my house in the Gangnam district and I looked at my phone, Baekhyun, Kyungsoo and I, along with their friends, took selcas together and I have at least 10 of them on my phone. We were all smiling so brightly with our handsome and cool poses, they were all so friendly to me and I was actually older than all of them, except their leader, Minseok. He was very quiet as we were talking and he only talked a few times to me, but Baekhyun says he’s quiet like that. I replayed the memories again before I stepped into the house. Kyungsoo and Baekhyun’s words rang through my head.

A new life, the next chapter of my life…

I entered the house and no one else was back yet and it was already almost 11pm. I looked at the living room and I looked at the painting that hid the canes. Well I guess I would never have to see those canes ever again, let alone see them being used on me. I was kinda glad that I was leaving now, I would be leaving this place with so many sadness and negativity behind. I could be happy again, maybe I could be finally free. My parents wouldn’t be with me in Singapore and I didn’t have the pressure to be so perfect in front of others. I could be … myself.

I went to my room, seeing my suitcases packed and placed in one corner. My wardrobe was empty and my suit was ready and hung on the clothes hangers. I showered, listened to some music and fell asleep.

The next day, my flight was at 8am in the morning so I had to wake up extra early in the morning to prepare for my flight. At around 6am, I left the house with my suitcases, and no one was at the door to send me off. It’s alright I suppose, Father Mother and Dae Joon have worked hard at the company, so they need their rest. I got into the taxi and went to the airport.

A.N: Hello there everyone, thanks for subscribing to my story and reading it. I know I haven't been doing a very good job and I've made many mistakes in my story, I will go back and edit them, using a fixed font. I'm very sorry if it has annoyed you or something, I'll work harder! ^^ ~Mianhae chingus~ 

(Updated author's note) : I have edited the chapters in my story and you can go back and read them if you want to. I'm so sorry that I can't possibly do a chapter per day but I'll try and post at least 5 chapters per week? Idk... I still have school and even though exams are over, I've still got stuff to do. And I'm wondering if anyone is going for EXO's 'The Lost Planet'? Cos' I should be going, anyways I'll plead my parents to go for that concert and pay some of the ticket price. I'm gonna go and type out a contract now and print it out. Haha ok, bye!! ^^