She can recognize him in a glance. It has been three years since he decided to leave the company but the memory of him still fresh on her mind like yesterday.

“Amber unnie, why do you stop suddenly?” Krystal complains after their body are collided because Amber suddenly stop walking.

They have just landed from their privately booked jet for the SM Town Concert in Singapore. She always loves Singapore, especially Changi airport since they cannot go anywhere other than airports, hotels, and concert venues.

He is queuing in the immigration, busy playing his handphone. As always, even from behind, she has already knew what he’s doing.

Someone grips her shoulder from behind, grabbing her attention.

“Is it him?” Henry asks her in low voice, afraid that the managers might hear. She nods slowly at his question.

Even after three years, Wu Yifan still becomes a sore subject for everyone in the company. The traitor, the ungrateful one, the one that causes all the mess, etc. People avoid talking about him at any cost due to the unspoken law that the CEO has implemented. And why after all these time we meet again?

---

I have arrived safely in Singapore, mom.

He sends the text message to his mom, knowing that she is waiting for it. It doesn’t take a long time until his phone vibrates, she replies.

Good to hear. Goodluck and come back soon.

I will, take care of yourself.

“Open the new lanes, they are coming.” Some of the airport officers rush past him to their assigned stations.

“Who is coming for goodness’ sake causing the entire ruckus?” His manager scowls, jet lag clearly apparents on his face.

“Eat some sweet, Junjie-ge. You need it.” Yifan turns facing the manager, knowing his mood swing habit if his blood sugar drops low. Then, he sees who are coming.

A group of people, all stylish and dolled up, are walking briskly towards the immigration, grabbing people attention, making them turn their heads to the group. SM Entertainment.

The first batch is the Girls’ Generation members with their assigned managers walking before them. They don’t even spare him any glance, not that he hopes to, he has never been close to any of them anyway. Without Jessica, Girls’ Generation certainly lose some sparks, he thinks to himself.

He recalls how shocked he was when he first received the news. Jessica Jung wrote in her weibo, stating that she had been kicked out from the group due to unknown reasons, and all hell broke lose. It was chaotic really, and being the bystander, he could see how Jessica’s departure affected SM and its artists. But then, knowing how big SM is, they bounced back quickly.

Sometimes the one who left suffers the most than the ones who are left behind.

Hell, he knows it himself really well. Anyway, it’s all good now. He receives the invitation from Jessica Jung and Tyler Kwon’s engagement party next week in New York. She is achieving what she wants to do. Hopefully, everything is going to be better not worse.

---

Behind Girls’ Generation, he sees some unknown faces, maybe they are part of the Red Velvet and SM rookies that have recently debuted. They are certainly pretty and handsome, typical SM’s style and certainly young and fresh in the market, the sparkle and amazement in their eyes give away. Try working 2 years and let’s see whether you still have the same sparkle in your eyes, he chuckles bitterly at the thought. Regardless, he hopes the best for these young bloods.

Debuting in SM certainly have some perks. They have a good market exposure and great fan base but poor working condition and poor management drove him to end his contract with SM. Ah, his young days in SM, he recalls the hardship he endured just for the sake of debut, finally debuted, and two years along the road, he knew exactly what he wants to do, and he didn’t see the way of being an idol could help him achieving what he wants, so he left.

Don’t worries, no one in their early twenties knows what they are doing. That’s why life is called a journey.

---

Behind them, are the legends of SM. The one that he had dreamed of when he first entered SM. Kangta, BoA, and two members of TVXQ. They have always been the poster children of every SM audition, highly respected among the hoobaes. But the chances are one in a million to be like them. He respects them of course, being able to endure all the things happens in SM and he certainly understands that they are entitled to have what they have right now.

Changmin steals a glance at him, and his big eyes widen in realization but then he masks his expression and adds his pace of walking to fit his manager’s pace.

---

The next one is Shinee, whom he is not particularly close to. He might have seen Taemin or Jonghyun hung around in their waiting room since Taemin is Jongin’s best friend and Jonghyun is close to Jongdae and Joonmyeon, but other than that, he never really talk to them. Key is probably one of the closest member to him since they had stage together for one of SM Town concert with Amber.

His heart clenches at the thought of her. Speaking of her, where is she? He mindlessly looks around to find her. And he finds her there, walking with her group members, looking directly at him.

---

Life has been so good to him, she thought to herself. He is standing tall, always so on point with his fashion style, looking even better than the last time she saw him. He is doing great as an actor now. The last project that he did with the Hongkong superstar, Jackie Chan became a sensation throughout the world, claiming Wu Yifan as the new promising Asian actor in Hollywood. And the rumour of him joining the new movie adapted from the world wide bestselling novel, Dandelion is also helping his popularity.

He seems happier; the pain is still raw in her flesh the night Tao called her, informing that Wu Yifan was seeking to nullify his contract with SM Entertainment. It’s a lie if she says she didn’t know that he was unhappy in SM but she still feels betrayed since he never consulted to the other members first regarding his plan. But she could understand him, she knew exactly what would the members did if he revealed the plan. The members would be trying to hold Yifan back, to stay in EXO as a group. As soft hearted as Yifan is, he would probably stay in EXO. And everything won’t go this way.

But Yifan that she knows other than he is kind hearted inside the intimidating outer shell, he is a self respectful man, the one that knows what the best for himself and won’t hesitate to do what he thinks best for him. Probably that’s the reason why he made the decision.

She wouldn’t say it was a bad decision. It was probably the best decision he made for his career. Always be yourself, she recalls that she had given the advice to him when both of them were still a trainee in SM Town. And here he is, gaining acknowledgement as one of China’s talented young actor. Truly, maybe after he left, he helped other members to advance their careers.

As one of the foreigners working as an idol in Korea, she is not exempted from the harsh environment and the slight racism from the Koreans itself, and she understands it. From the Koreans perspectives’, they would probably support other Koreans rather than foreigners and since SM Entertainment is still a business, no matter how hard they instill the family environment, seeing this as a market to promote the Koreans more than the foreign idols. She understands it really, but she also has to admit that it is kind of unfair.

After Yifan left, the other foreign idols started to gain more individuals projects. Lay with MC-ing, Tao appeared in various MVs, Zhang Liyin started to release albums, and even Victoria and Zhou Mi got to MC in variety shows. He opened the management’s eyes that they need to take care of these foreign idols as well. SM Entertainment is not a perfect company, but there is no perfect company. It’s only getting better after all these times.

She has the urge to look away from his piercing eyes but unable to. All those years that they spent together as  trainees, friends in foreign country, colleagues, and maybe some slight budding romance that never get any chance to grow. What are we, really?

---

She looks the same, the same Amber that he knows. The one that cheerfully introduced herself to him when everyone was too afraid to talk to him.

“Hi! I am a new trainee here. I heard that you are also from US? Let’s be friends.”

He might be close with Yixing and Luhan since they are also from China, but the one that he could really talk to is Amber. Raised up in the Western country, shared the same mother tongue language and were trained to be a rapper are the reason that drive them closer to each other. She helped him a lot during his days as trainee even after debuted.

“Jiaheng, I will be debuted next month with Song Qian-jie!” she hugged him tightly. At first he was worried when she was called by the staff when they were practicing rapping. But it was a good news apparently, that she received.

“Good! I will be cheering for you.” He was so happy for her. One step closer to her dreams. She cupped his face in her hands and looked at him deeply.

“It will be your turn soon. You and I, we will be standing in the same stage as a performer, someday.”

That was the words that kept him going even though things were hard.

---

“I will be debuted.”

“Seriously?” she smacked him in the hand, “I told you! Shine bright, Wu Yifan!” she smiled widely.

“But, I will be debuted in China. I will join EXO-M.” and we probably would never shared the same stage.

“Really? I thought they will put you in Korea.” She frowned.

“SM has targeted the China market for this time round. So, they think I will be more suitable there.”

“Who else will be joining the EXO-M?”

“Luhan, Yixing, Minseok, Zitao and the new guy, Jongdae.”

“Cool guys! It’s good opportunity though.” She grabbed his hands and gave them a squeeze. “EXO-M’s duizhang, fighting!”

---

“You are still practicing?” her tone was so surprised seeing the EXO members practiced hard until 6 am in the morning.

“The next album will be up next month, so...” he trailed, too exhausted to explain.

“It’s better than nothing to do.” Her broken tone wasn’t go unnoticed by Yifan.

“You will be having comeback soon! Enjoy your day off when you can.” He ruffled her hair, messed it a little bit but she didn’t seem to mind it at all.

“You are right. Eh, I have helped to promote you through my instagram. Next time for f(x)’s comeback, you have to repay the favour. Upload your video dancing to our dance!”

He didn’t have the heart to say no, not when he had already prepared to fill in the lawsuit.

---

The first day since the news broke up was the hardest. He wanted to leave quietly, but somehow the reporters managed to find out about his lawsuit. He locked himself in his room for days, questioning whether this was something right to do. Dealing with all kinds of vicious rumours was not something that he’s most afraid of. Heck, he didn’t give a about that. People could say anything they want and he didn’t care. What hurt him the most was betraying the fans’ trust and his friends, s, and Amber. The pain was too hard to handle, he suffered the post withdrawal depression. He spent his days sleeping, wishing this was only a nightmare, and all these things would be over soon.

He checked his phone, 631 missed calls from s and SM staffs, 1238 text messages, and the very big number of comments in instagrams, weibo, etc. making his phone wouldn’t stop vibrating. He scrolled down the notifications.

Traitor, betrayer, Chinese bastard, his head hurt reading the comments but he had anticipated it, so he quickly scrolled down. There he found she sent him a text message.

Whatever you decided to do, go for it and don’t look back. Be so successful so you won’t regret the decision.

That was the last time he received the news from her.

---

“Is it Wu Yifan that I see?” Victoria whispers beside her, stealing a glance at Wu Yifan.

“Yes unnie. It’s him.”

Victoria sighs wistfully, clearly afraid that the managers will notice something, and quickly whispers back to Amber.

“Don’t look at him, Amber. It’s for your and his own good.” And for this time, Amber looks away from Yifan’s eyes.

, I still can’t forget him.

---

Amber finally breaks the eye contact, making Yifan stuns, realizes that he is staring at her all the times while getting lost in nostalgia. The other f(x) members apparently realize his presence since they are also staring at his direction, but they quickly divert their eyes and hurriedly walk to the immigration lanes open especially for them. Ah another SM power, he chuckles to himself.

Following behind f(x), Super Junior appear with their playful personalities. Eunhyuk and Donghae are walking in front of the group seemingly in their own worlds, followed by Siwon. Siwon’s alert eyes capture him and without hesitation he raises his hand to greet him. Yifan is slightly taken aback by his friendly behaviour; he doesn’t expect anything from SM right now. Probably cold shoulders, glares or even harsh words, but truly Choi Siwon has proven himself to have great qualities from inside. But then, he is best friends with Hangeng, Yifan recalls the time Si