Chapter 1: New Life

A teenage boy slowly walked into the vast airport of Incheon. His eyes were full of curiosity with a hint of confusion. He tilted his head upwards and read the words written on a huge banner.

"한국에 오신 것을 환영합니다"

"Welcome to Korea..." He mumbled to himself in English. After a few seconds, the corners of his lips slowly went upwards. He continued to walk, pulling his luggage by the handle. Suddenly, his eyes lightened up and he grinned, "Hyung!"

An older guy, probably in his 20s stretched out his arms, immediately receiving the younger boy's hug of relief.

"Zhoumi hyung, I missed you." The boy smiled tearfully. Zhoumi ruffled the latter's hair and chuckled, "I missed you too my dongsaeng, Lu Han."

Lu Han's smile disappeared and a look of disappointment replaced it, "Where's dad?"

"Ah, dad's sick. He couldn't come to the airport." Zhoumi replied, causing Lu Han to pout. 

"But it's okay because I'm here, right?" The older one tried to convince his younger brother, only to make Lu Han laugh in disbelief. "Hyung, you haven't changed at all." He chuckled, shaking his head. Zhoumi shrugged with a smile, "I can see you've changed a lot though." 

Lu Han blushed. He didn't expect his brother to notice so quickly. He sat down and let out a sigh.

"Why?" Zhoumi asked, taking a seat next to his younger brother. Lu Han shrugged, pretending not to know the real reason he changed himself. 

"Oh come on, I know you Lu Han."

"I just.. want to look better. I'm entering my third year in high school. Shouldn't I act more like a man now?"

Zhoumi frowned, "Did something happen in the States?"

Lu Han immediately shook his head, "N-No! Of course not.. Like I said, I just want to change.. for the better."

Zhoumi wasn't convinced. He knew his brother too well. Lu Han would never change unless something affected him so much. But he knew that Lu Han wouldn't talk no matter what so he just decided to stop trying.

"Alright."

Lu Han forced on a smile and after that, there was nothing but silence for about five minutes.

2nd Year of High School

*Red is spoken in English

Lu Han entered the classroom with anxiety filling his heart again, making him nauseous. He forced a smile to his fellow classmates who only rolled their eyes to him. His heart sank. Everyday, he was hoping that maybe they would stop. Maybe they would smile back at him. Maybe they could try to be friends with him.

But even though he gave them nothing but kindness, he was given back everything except that.

As he made his way to his desk, his foot got caught and he tripped.

A burst of laughter came from every corner of the room, causing Lu Han's eyes to water. The tears weren't caused by the pain of falling down. They were caused by the pain inside of him. Inside of his weak heart.

He immediately tried to stand up but ended up falling down again, causing a louder roar of laughter.

Please, stop laughing. Please, stop-

"Hahaha! Softie can't get up!" 

Lu Han bit his lip and stood up with all his might. He wiped the tears away. After casting one last look at the leader of the gang who tripped him, he ran out of the room.

"Hey, softie! Where are you going?! You might get lost!"

Lu Han felt his knees getting weaker and weaker from running. The voices of the people who bullied him kept echoing in his mind. His eyes slowly started to blur from all the water filling in. Finally, his legs gave up and he fell on the ground, crying.

"Why can't they just stop?" He mumbled sadly.

"Because you're letting them defeat you." 

His eyes rose from the ground and stared at a girl looking down at him. He was left speechless by the sight of the beautiful girl standing in front of him. She walked away without another word.

He immediately sprang up and turned around, "Miss! What's your name?" He exclaimed.

The girl stopped in her tracks and turned around.

"Seo Joohyun."

"Joohyun.. are you Korean, perhaps?" He asked.

She nodded, "My parents are Korean but I was born here in the States."

Lu Han slowly nodded and for once, he smiled like he had never before.

"Well, Joohyun.. I'll come back." He spoke in Korean.

Joohyun gave him a confused look but it was too late.

Lu Han had already turned around and ran to the opposite direction.

When Lu Han had escaped far enough, he leaned against the wall and sighed.

"And when I do come back, I promise that I'll be a different person than I am now."

End of Flashback

Lu Han stared outside of the window. He could still vividly remember how Joohyun was the first person to help him. He wondered how she was doing now. After the day she had helped him, Lu Han never came back to school. It was basically the last day he spent in that school.

He wondered if Joohyun ever thought about him after that first and last day of their official meeting.

She's the reason that he changed. She's the reason that he left. He couldn't bear to meet her with his old self. He had to change, and maybe after one year of his disappearance, Joohyun would forget about his old self, and give the new Lu Han a chance.

"Lu Han.." He heard a voice from behind him. A weak voice which held a lot of emotions.

"Father," Lu Han turned around and saw his old father on the wheelchair. He smiled and stood up to push his wheelchair towards the window in front of his own seat.

"You've matured a lot, my son."

"Nae, appa." Lu Han softly smiled. His father smiled proudly, "I guess it was the right decision to send you to the States." Lu Han shrugged mentally but he nodded instead. He knew it was better to agree with everything his father said. His father was always right. Although he didn't necessarily enjoy being bullied for the first two years of his high school life, he learned a lot about himself.

"Appa, which high school did you enroll me to?" Lu Han asked out of curiosity. His father grinned wider at the mention of his new high school.

"Oh, you'll love it here Lu Han.. I signed you up to the best high school in South Korea- SM High."

SM High.. SM High..

The corner of Lu Han's lips slowly escalated into a small smile. He couldn't deny that he was quite excited for his new high school.

"And it has a dorm! Isn't that nice?"

A dorm..? Lu Han's heart unknowingly started to skip a beat. He was only expecting to live with his father and brother. He didn't even know if he was going to make friends. 

"Perhaps.. did you sign me up to live in the dorm too?" Lu Han asked with hesitation, hoping his father would say no.

"Of course!" His father exclaimed. Lu Han stiffened. "W-Why?" He blurted out, for the first time, he spoke out in disagreement.

"Lu Han, do you think I don't see how you act? I want you to be more social."

"But-"

"No but's, Lu Han. Trust me, you will like it. You're not a kid anymore."

Lu Han sighed in defeat. This was going to be a long year.

Author's Note: How was the first chapter? Sorry if it's quite short. This is just the introduction of Lu Han's life, so no Yoona yet. I don't want to drag his story too much, so probably in the next chapter, Yoona will make her appearance. :) Thank you for subscribing and please comment your thoughts!