It was quiet in the bus stand.  It was understandable since no one other than him was crazy enough to brave the cold wind of the fall and sit in open spaces like this.  Everyone who was not at their work place would rather sit in the warm living room of their house, munching snacks while watching the tv.

His eyes fell on the golden leaves that fell from a huge maple tree nearby.  Some of it that lay scattered on the ground gushed everytime the wind blew.

Jaejoong heaved a satisfied sigh.  Everything seemed so idyllic in this place.  The quiet and deserted roads, the golden trees, the silent winds.   It didn’t feel like Seoul to him, even though he really was still in Seoul.

There was a high school at the end of the street, a good distance away from the bus station.  It was the old high school he used to attend. 

Back in the past, everytime he came home late and his mother couldn’t fetch him, he would sit all by himself in this bus station, waiting for buses that rarely comes.  It was a good therapy for him, especially everytime the pressure of their exams got into him.  Sitting by himself in a quiet place amidst the orange glow of the sun would always do the trick.

That’s why he kept going back to this place everytime he felt as though the universe had turned against him.  It comforted him.

He had stopped frequenting this place the last few years however.  The mental stress was still there, but somehow he couldn’t find the time to go to this place.  At one point, Jaejoong noted, he had completely forgot the existence of the place, seeking solace with the company of liquor and comforts in the dense smoke of his cigars instead.  The life in the entertainment industry really….   Jaejoong had always knew he’d have a career in the entertainment field one day.  He fancied singing, and was fairly good in acting.  Though he was lacking a bit in the dancing department, that flaw of his was redeemed by the ethereal face he possessed. 

Now that he was a successful pop-star, he wondered if this was what he really wanted.  He liked singing, he still did.  But the pressure was too much.  At time like this, when he’s under the weather, Jaejoong usually would be lying on the Persian rug on his living room while sipping the most expensive wine his loft could offer.

  Today, however, was an entirely different case.  He had hopped on a random cab in his efforts to shrug off his mob of stalker fans.  Jaejoong had been in a huge controversy lately, and his stalker fans seemed to think that following him around would make him feel better, if the increase of their numbers in the recent days said anything.

So when the cab driver asked him where to, he had to think for a while before he grinned, his first genuine smile in a while concealed by the mask he was wearing.

“Chung Ang High.”

The cab driver hesitated for a while because of the distance between the school and the city center.  But the promise of cash could thaw the hardest