The next weeks are spent worrying over how you are going to tell the boys you accepted the offer. There is no easy way of breaking the news that you will be moving to the other side of the globe for four years, with little to no return trips. Your stomach ties itself in knots every time you have to talk to one of them, causing you to double over when you are finally alone. You can’t continue like this for much longer, you have to tell them soon. What you didn’t realize was that you would spill the truth while riding shotgun in a cramped car five hours away from home.

Summer was fast approaching so you and the boys decided to take a long weekend trip to the beach for one last hurrah before you, Daehyun, and Youngjae parted ways. In order to not spoil the fun, you swore to yourself that you would tell everyone your plans upon returning to Seoul. However, after three hours of pestering, talk about the future, and the not-so-subtle clue from Himchan that Yongguk had met a girl last week, your emotions took control and the words came tumbling from your lips.

“I’m leaving.”

“Huh? Leaving? We’re in the middle of the highway, you can’t exactly go anywhere,” Himchan says with a laugh. You ignore him.

“I’m leaving Seoul. Actually, I’m leaving Korea entirely,” you whisper. The car is silent for the first time in hours as your statement slowly sinks in. Then all hell breaks loose.

“WHAT?! What do you mean you’re leaving Korea?”

“Where are you going?”

“Did you accept an offer?”

“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” They are all shouting over one another, save for the man sitting silently next to you in the drivers’ seat. You want him to shout and protest too, but Yongguk keeps his eyes fixed on the road ahead, his face expressionless. An invisible hand constricts around your heart and you fight back the emotions roiling inside your chest. You carefully begin to explain your decision, citin