The final stage has come. It has been exactly ten years since they’ve first stepped under the limelight. Although incomplete, they’re still standing strong with us. Some had left. Some bid farewell, but didn’t come back. But nonetheless, all our support goes to them.

They stand in front of us as nine, not as EXO, but as real, matured boys. In front of us are Minseok, Junmyeon, Yixing, Baekhyun, Jongdae, Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, Jongin and Sehun. Despite the old age, they’ve managed to keep their charm and the screams grew even louder; the fans grew even wider as the years pass.

Today is the last day for their concert tour back here in Seoul. Everyone thinks that it means one thing; the group’s disbanding. Well, I am first to know that this is true, after the boys. Jongin told me. He cried that night and I played with his hair, saying that he can’t keep on having waist injuries anymore; he’s not as young as he was.

“You can make a dance studio. That has been your dream after performing in Tokyo Dome, right?” Was what I told him that night. I, myself, am not that great in dancing, but I don’t at it. He told me he would think about it and I prayed that night, hoping for the best for all of them. Leaving was always a touchy subject.

This evening, as the concert comes to an end, everyone has been screaming their lungs out. I can feel the heavy atmosphere surrounding us, but I ignore it, drowning myself in the thought of hearing them sing together for the last time.

My eyes are stuck on a certain man, who’s rather skinny. But at the age of twenty-eight, his hips can still awe the crowd. Jongin holds on to his microphone as the music starts, the bass echoes around and everyone is whispering: some begins to cry, others are holding back, and the others readied their phones. This will be the last.  

Promise.

            You who has always been waiting for me 

            You who embrace me with your arms

What’s taking him so long? Is he doing well? Are his hips okay? I heard that his back is in pain again. Ugh, Kim Jongin, you’re dead when you come home. I mean, he can practice some other day. Look at the time, it’s almost one in the morning. What happened to the “Angel, I’ll be home before midnight, I promise! Yes? You’ll let me dance? Yes! I love you. You’re the best!”?

If you don’t come home in ten minutes, you’re sleeping outs—

The lock clicks and I run out of my bedroom and to the living room to welcome him home. All my worries are gone when I saw him dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a shirt, his toes comfortably slipped in his slippers. I bet he hasn’t noticed me yet, so I stifle a giggle when I thought of something evil.

Once he drops his bags, I throw myself to him, hugging him tight until he looks like he can’t breathe anymore. “Welcome home!” I kiss him on the cheek and Jongin securely wraps his arms around my waist. His eyes are drowsy and I give them a peck. “You danced your off again.” I frown.

“It’s because I’m gaining weight. I don’t want to go to the gym, so I just, according to my angel’s words, danced my off. Again.” He copies me as he walks us to the bedroom. I can hear the tiredness from his voice so I didn’t put up a fight.

            ‘I’m sorry’ ‘I love you’

            Asking you to believe in me like this time

            I will hug you and hold your hands

“But it’s our anniversary that day. Jongin, you promised.” I know I’m being unreasonable and selfish and persistent all at the same time, but it will be our third year together. Any girlfriend would want to spend that day together with her boyfriend. Besides, if he wouldn’t leave, this would be the first time we’re going to celebrate our anniversary together. I’m tired of being home alone on that day.

Jongin sighs and cups my cheeks, “I know, baby. The company scheduled a very important press conference that day and after that will be the grand ball.”

I’m not looking at him. I don’t want to show him how upset I am. It’s not his fault, yes I am perfectly aware of that. I just miss being with him.

“I’m sorry.” He leans forward and kisses my forehead. I don’t really have much of a choice. “I love you.” He adds before he takes me in his embrace, while I fight back the tears.

            I want to protect you

            Whenever

“Where are you?” He says through my phone. My mind isn’t functioning properly. There are people following me from behind. They’re girls but I can’t easily assume that they’re harmless. I couldn’t think of anyone to tell except for Jongin. I’m in a dark alley and I’m walking rapidly, my heart pounding uncontrollably.

“I’m under an alley. Jongin, hurr—” I mutter under my breath but they step in front of me, grabbing my phone. One of them throws my phone on the ground and steps on it, crushing my phone to pieces.

“No more phone calls with Jongin oppa. Aw.” She claims and I bite my lip, saying Jongin’s name like a mantra. Please hurry. Jongin, they have a bat, please oh please.

The girl who’s holding a bat raises it and aims for me. I step backwards and I curse when I feel the cold concrete hitting my back. I raise my arms to protect my head. The girl swings and all I could do is wait for the impact to hit me.

An arm pulls me away before the bat hits me. Jongin stands in front of me, “Ladies, we already talked about this.” Judging from his voice, I know he’s holding back. He’s preventing to turn into something bigger. This isn’t the first time I got trapped by his fans, and I bet this wouldn’t be the last. He made it clear to everyone to stop following me around after the first time, but I guess I’m not yet accepted.

            Don’t go. I want to hold you back.

“You’ll be back, right?”Jongin stares at my luggage and I try my best to beam at him brightly. Two years won’t fly just as fast as a month.

I punch him lightly, “Of course, I will. Don’t you want me back?” I feign a hurt expression and pout at him. He smiles sadly so I hug him tight, telling him how much I’ll be missing him. My new apartment will feel very empty without him walking around with his dogs.

He relaxes, “Can’t I ask you to stay?”

“Of course not. My dream school is there waiting for me in the States.” It may sound offending, but I can’t ignore my studies. They’re offering a scholarship and they’ll be asking me to do reports in the nine o’clock news. This will be a great experience for me and I can’t miss this for the world.

It’s time for me to go after my dreams too.

“Then promise me you’ll return in two years.” Jongin holds out his pinky and I chuckle, wrapping my pinky around his. “I promise.”

            However, I want to stay with you forever,

            Living and sharing breath.

“I don’t want to go.”

“Jongin, you don’t have a choice.”

“It’s winter and you know I get desperate for you hugs.” Jongin buries his face on my neck while I play with his brown locks.

Tomorrow, they’ll be flying to Canada to do overseas promotions. They’ll be there for more than two weeks as they will be performing in various shows, which is a great opportunity for them. Jongin, however, doesn’t want to come and he said that he wants to spend more time with me, especially since I’m here in Korean temporarily. After a few days, I’ll be back in America to finish my studies.

Even though I miss him too, I can’t let him stay here without the boys. I can visit him, though; Canada is a bus away from my place, but I doubt that he has time to spare. Besides, we made one whole year without physical contact. Just a few more months and I’ll be back.

“Yes, it is winter and the boys are there for you to hug.” I can feel his lips on my neck so I push him away playfully.

“I’m going to miss you so much.”

            My birthday’s stage, I spent with you.

“Oppa, don’t be noisy! If he wakes up and ruins the surprise, you guys are all dead!” I hush the eight men behind me who are busy trying not to ravish the chocolate cake I made especially for my birthday boy. Really, these guys are seriously too old to gawk at a chocolate cake with dogs on it.

“Psh, Jongin will never wake up even if there’s a war is happening.” Baekhyun snorts as he pokes his finger on the side of the cake, giggling when the chocolate icing wraps his fingertip.

“You know that one time—“

“Chanyeol hyung, you’re too nois—“

“Shut up, Sehun.”

“Kyungsoo hyung, you’re no fun.”

“Junmyeon-ah, did you wrap my unicorn plushie—“

Jongin shifts on the couch and he blindly throws a pillow, probably now awake because of these men who wouldn’t shut their mouths. “I’m trying to sleep!” He groggily whines and I chuckle, ignoring how tired he is due to the continuous concert they had attending to for the past weeks. I run to his half-asleep form and removes the arm that is folded to cover his eyes.

“Happy birthday, Jongin!”

Cue the confetti! The boys howl and Baekhyun brings the cake over for him to blow out the candles. Opposite to the usual, he sits up rather happily and looks at everyone around him.

“Hey, blow out the candles so we can eat this hot chick.” Baekhyun nudges Jongin and the latter complies, closing his eyes to make a wish first. Once the fire is gone, the boys grab their own fork and start to attack my precious cake that is supposed to Jongin’s.

            When your heart feels terribly hurt, I will definitely embrace you.

“Do well.”

“I will, angel.” Jongin pulls me closer. He knows I’m still mad at him because of the fact that he’s not telling me about his back and waist pains. We fought about this every time he has an injury. His habit of keeping his injuries from me needs to go.

There’s a special stage today in one of the music programs they attend to as today is their eighth anniversary as a group. They’ll be celebrating it with a special performance and I get help but get a little worried about Jongin’s condition. The dance steps are quite challenging even for him, let alone to an injured Jongin.

I scowl when he steals a peck from my cheek. Him and his ways of making my anger disappear.

“No more injuries.” I rest my hand on his waist and I saw him flinch, hiding the pain from me again. His face contorts when I massage him and I let out a sigh. I hate seeing him like this.

“Don’t twist too much.”

“I’ll try.”

“Don’t forget to keep smiling up there.” I point to the stage.

“I won’t.” He smiles.

“Promise?”

“I’ll never stop smiling.”

“Make sure of that.” And then, he removes his arms from me, walking to where the other members are in order to begin the performance. Before he climbs up the stage, he mouths me an I love you and I say the same.
 

If we can stay together endlessly,

I will devote myself to you.

Fans are crying. All of them. But I stay still, blinking the tears away. I look at the young girl beside me, her hands are clutching on her Jongin banner and I smile, remembering how I used to bring catchy banners such as hers. She’s crying too.

“Everyone, we’ll miss you.” Junmyeon says and I hold back. I don’t want to cry.

Some of the members are crying: Jongin, Chanyeol, Baekhyun and Yixing. Kyungsoo and Jongdae keeps on bowing to the audience. Sehun is seated on a chair, his foot wrapped in a white cloth, waving his hands to the crowd. Junmyeon, he’s being strong. He has always been strong.

“Don’t cry anymore, you guys! We will always be in your hearts!” Minseok’s shaky voice fills the area.

“You won’t forget us, right?” Baekhyun says despite the tears.

“Remember my big ears!” Chanyeol jokes.

“Come visit me in China!”

“Let’s grab some coffee in Kamong!”

“I’ll be in a drama again and you guys, I’m not acting as a student anymore!”

“I hope you’ll delete all photos of me and my noodle hair. That was the worst hairstyle after Kai’s braids!”

“I’ll miss doing aegyo to you guys.”

With that, everyone is back to tears. Their messages might be bright and funny, but we can’t ignore the pain behind those words. We’ll miss them.

“And for the last time, let’s say our fighting together.” Junmyeon says as the boys gather in the middle, their hands piled up.

“EXO, EXO-L,” He yells. “Saranghaja!”

tadaaaaaaa~ seeeee? it's not sad at all~ ^v^ i just really wanted to point out here that even after years, we will still support our boys :"> we become united for them, and let's show them that we really are one by supporting them! 

Thanks for reading this! I hope you liked it :>