Chanyeol opens the diary to a random page towards the front of the book.    There was a picture of them smiling at each other. They were probably about 10 years old in the photograph, and someone had captured the moment while they were playing with the sand in the playground.    Chanyeol cannot seem to remember when the picture had been taken, but he smiles fondly as he is taken down memory lane.             It was the last week of the summer holiday.    Chanyeol’s family had just moved into the town, and being the adventurous ten-year-old that he was, he asked his parents for permission to go to the nearby park. Agreeing to let him go, Chanyeol walked to the playground by the corner of his new house. As he got closer, he saw two boys hovering over a smaller girl, both pushing her around between them and pulling on her hair. Chanyeol stomped over and shoved them away from the girl, standing between them.    “Stop bullying her!”   The two boys, who were a few inches shorter than him, sniggered. “We weren’t bullying her! We just wanted to play with her, right Minhyuk?” The taller of the two who was the leader, turned back to Chanyeol, glaring as he asked. “Do you want to join us?”   Without waiting for a response, the boy threw out a fist.   Chanyeol could feel pain in his left cheek before he could process what had happened. Enraged at the sudden escalation, Chanyeol nudged the girl away from him and retaliated. Being the kid with a black belt in taekwondo, it was easy for Chanyeol to quickly recover from the previous hit and threw a punch of his own. It only took a couple of throws back and forth before the two boys finally gave up and ran away as Chanyeol scowled at their retreating backs.   “Thank you.” A quiet voice spoke from behind him.   Chanyeol pivoted around, remembering the reason he got into the fist fight in the first place.   “Are you okay?” He asked.   The little girl smiled shyly as she replied, “I should ask you that. Jaeyong punched you in the face.”   Chanyeol grinned, “But I got them after.” He dusted off the sweat on his forehead. “What’s your name?”   “Hyemi.”   A week later, Chanyeol was happy to find out that he would be in the same class as Hyemi.             They were at Chanyeol’s house, both lying on his bed with their laptops open.    They had earlier received an email from Yonsei University, and Chanyeol had called her to come over so that they could check on their application together.   “What if we’re rejected? We’re already rejected by Seoul and Korea University.” She questioned. “Or worse. What if one of us is accepted and the other got rejected? It’ll be the first time since middle school that we’re not in the same school.”   Chanyeol nudges her shoulder with his, chuckling. “You always think of the worst-case scenario before anything even happens. Stop worrying.”   “Fine,” she said, “but you need to help me read the email because I don’t think I can do it myself.”   Their fingers pressed enter at the same time, and she quickly closed her eyes, ducking her head between her arms while she waited for him to read aloud.   However, Chanyeol remained silent.   “Chan?” She murmured in her position.   Feeling a hand squeeze her arm, she lifted her head and looked directly at his face, still not wanting to view the screen in front of her. “Tell me.”   Chanyeol slowly shifted his gaze to her, beaming as he cheered.   “We’re going to Yonsei!”             She loitered outside Baekhyun’s house, waiting for her best friend to arrive.    Baekhyun, one of Chanyeol’s other close friends, had invited a handful of people to his Halloween party. Chanyeol had asked what she would be wearing earlier that day, but she wanted to keep the surprise, so they both agreed to meet directly in front of Baekhyun’s house.   She kept fiddling with the fairy wings on her back, making sure they were straight and proper as she waited.   “Hyemi?”   Turning around, she was startled at his choice of costume, at the same time amazed at their coordination.   She had gone for Tinker Bell while he was Peter Pan. Their brains must have been so in tune with each other that they could match outfits without any discussion.   “Wow,” he breathed, coming closer to her as he appreciated her choice. “You look beautiful.”   “You’re handsome yourself, Peter Pan.” She hooked her arm around his as she dragged him towards the door. “Maybe even better than the original Peter Pan.”   Chanyeol slowed his pace as they reached the door.   “I think you’re even prettier than Wendy or Cinderella,” he mumbled softly, but she managed to catch his words. Just as she was about to thank him, the front door opened and a Vampire Baekhyun with bloodstained lips greeted them, pulling them in quickly.   “And the last two have arrived!” He announced to the room.   Within the next few minutes, they were both surrounded by mutual friends, all enjoying a cup of punch as they caught up with each other’s lives.   “I know everyone has been saying this, but seriously, you guys make such a cute couple!” Baekhyun’s girlfriend squealed.   Hyemi grinned, wanting to agree with Seoyul when Chanyeol spoke up.   “We’re not a couple though!” He denied. “Also, Peter Pan and Tinker Bell were more like best friends, just like we are.”   “But in terms of coupling, I’m still waiting to find my Wendy.”   Upon hearing his words, Hyemi hid her shock behind a saddened smile. She averted her eyes from Chanyeol, only to catch Seoyul staring at her, the latter’s eyes slowly widening in realization.   When she noticed that Seoyul was about to open , she silently shook her head, hoping her friend would let it go.   The topic instantly changed, and Hyemi was dragged into the kitchen by Seoyul with the excuse of getting more drinks.   “Please tell me I’m wrong,” her friend begged. “Tell me you’re not hopelessly in love with your best friend who either obviously doesn’t know or is pretending not to.”   She bit her lips, not knowing how to respond.   “Hyemi,” the girl frowned.   “Please don’t tell anyone.” She sighed, “My friendship with Chanyeol is the most precious thing to me. I don’t want to ruin that.”             They were seated in a local café near their alumni university.   It had been just a month after graduation and with newly certified degrees, they had both been looking for jobs in their specialties.   “I’ve been offered a job in Japan,” he announced.   She paused her actions, hand slowly replacing the mug on the table.   “I figured since my songs mainly fall in the Rock genre, it’ll be hard for me to get a job as a composer here. But since Japan has a higher consumer volume for Rock music and I happened to study Japanese as my minor, I decided to try my luck applying for a spot at Japan’s local records companies.” He explained. “They sent me an email this morning, they want to sign me on for a one-year contract.”   She smiled sadly, “I’m happy for you, Chan.”   “You don’t look happy,” he scoffed.   “I’m truly happy, honestly.” She shook her head, “But I wish you would stay by my side in Korea. I don’t want to be a thousand kilometers away from my best friend.”   Chanyeol sighed, dejected. “You know how tough the music industry is here. They’ll probably force me to compose a pop song instead when my interest lies somewhere else.”   “Maybe you just haven’t found the right company yet?”   “Mi-yah, there’s no reason for me to stay if I can follow my passion in Japan. This offer isn’t going to last forever.”   Not having any other excuse to convince him to stay, she decided to pull out the one card she had promised herself not to use.   “What about me?” She teared up as she spoke. “I’m in love with you, Chanyeol. But I can’t possibly give up my teaching career here just to go to Japan with you. Please don’t leave me.”   Chanyeol was shocked at the unexpected confession. He could only open his lips and close them back again, not knowing what to say.   She reached out, grasping his hand. It pulled him out of the state he had been in, his mouth forming words before his brain could process them.    “I’m sorry, Hyemi,” he replied, “You’re my best friend. You’re like my sister.”   “I’m sorry but I don’t feel the same as you do.”             Chanyeol breathed in the crisp winter air.   He was finally back in Korea after starting his new job. He had been working every day for the past eight months just to get a week's vacation in his homeland. He had planned the timing right so that he could celebrate his birthday and an early Christmas with family and friends, before going back to the grind.   He wasted no time, getting a cab straight to his parent’s house. He had asked Baekhyun to call everyone in his group of friends to come over for the celebration. He was excited to be able to catch up with his friends again, especially his best friend.   Since the conversation in the café, they had both agreed to forget about the confession, wanting to maintain the friendship as it had been. Everything had gone well, and in the first few months of living in Japan, they texted each other almost every minute of every day. He would send her samples of his compositions while she updates him about her life as a middle school Korean-language teacher. Recently, however, Chanyeol noticed that she would only reply to him every oth