It's been about 2 and a half years since I've written this story. 

It feels insane typing that out. Because I can remember the state I was in when I started this story. It was the fall semester of my junior year, and I was 15 years old and miserable. This guy who had been one of my oldest, closest friends had rejected me over the summer with a simple "lol ok". I'm the kind of person who gets attached to people very quickly and very deeply, and this- this crushed me in unspeakable ways. I lost all my self-confidence and truly saw no future for myself. I literally could not IMAGINE a future without him. Every single one of my thoughts was occupied him. I never used to cry, but I cried SO hard and SO much over him. I was in love. 

And now? 

The first time I thought about him in months was today, when I saw that this story had been featured. 

Baekhyun and Seri were supposed to get together in the end. That was how I had it all planned out. 

Yet at 1 in the morning, the night before my physics tests, after months of crying and pining for him, it hit me: 

I didn't need him. 

I'm writing this to tell all of you suffering from heartbreak and unrequited love that you will move on. There will come a day when you are able to look at the person you loved and realize that you do not miss them anymore. You are able to look back on the good memories you made with them and not feel utterly miserable. You will look at them and realize that you are okay. 

It took me a year to do it. I was lucky because he moved to another school, so I didn't have to see him anymore. The phrase "Out of sight, out of mind" is the key to working through a situation like this. You need to cut yourself off from them, because you need some time to find yourself and truly learn that you do not need them to be happy. 

My junior year turned out to be the best year of my life. I learned to cherish the people around me, the incredible friends I had, the boys who made me smile, my beautiful city I lived in. 

And through my joy, I ended up getting revenge on him. There is a particular incident I still remember- a birthday party of one of my close friends- where I was laughing and giggling and everyone was joking around with me and he was just off to the side, looking at me. 

But the thing about that kind of revenge is that... I didn't care. Yes, I felt a momentary feeling of triumph, but if I had been put in that situation a few months ago, I would've obsessed over the fact that he would be there. But by that point... I didn't care anymore. 

A few months after that (fall of 2015), the two of us saw each other at a family potluck. We ended up talking alone for two hours. It wasn't about his rejection, or my crush on him. We talked about school, and college, and funny things, and just life. I felt like I had my old friend back. Everything was okay. 

Right now, I'm going through the same kind of situation, except instead of getting over a boy, I am getting over a group of the best friends I had in high school. These were the people who were always there for me, who picked me up after that boy broke me down, who made me feel happy and realize that there was hope. It's been 1 and a half years since we all stopped being friends, and although I am in college now and rarely see them, it feels like a knife to the chest every time I even think about them. I have always been someone who has been surrounded by friends. Going through senior year without them was like hell. I reached a low point that I never thought was even possible to get to. I would literally do risky things in the hopes that I would die. 

But you know what? At the end of the day, you just have to pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and keep going. 

It hasn't gotten much better for me, but I am living for the hope- no, belief- that things will get better.

I just need to give it some time. Everything will work out. 

Everything always works out.