Fly high.

Fly far.

but never forget, baby

We are always here to welcome you home.

 

 

A series of knock on the door made Seohyun to look up from the book on her lap. Minho was leaning on the door and watching her with a smile on his face that she did not understand. 

"Come in, what are you doing there?" She chuckled, wondering since when he was that polite, knocking on an open door.

"Watching you." He walked in and sat down next to her. 

"Huh? Is there something on my face?" She touched her face incredulously. "Or are you falling in love with me now?" 

They broke out to laugh, but Minho stopped it so soon that Seohyun knew something was not normal.

"We have come along way."

She nodded and smiled sadly. She knew why he was looking for her. He continued without looking at her, because he knew that he couldn't contain his emotion well if he looked into those beautiful and familiar orbs.

"When I first met you, I never imagined that one day we could joke about your love life like this."

"How long have we been friends? Around 10 years right? Of course we will be different." She slapped his arm jokingly, trying to avoid talking about the inevitable things he obviously would talk about.

"No, you are still that same girl whom I had to step up to protect when that stupid boy made you cry." He turned to look at her. His eyes were full of emotions that she couldn't tell them apart. "I still feel like I need to protect you, Seororo. I'm sorry that I have not been able to do it better." 

She felt like the tears were welling up in her eyes, so she looked up to stop them from falling down. Her voice came out like a whisper, even though she wanted to sound strong, so that he would not be worried about her even more.

"No one can do anything, we know that. I'm so grateful that you are my best friend and for everything you have done for me."

Minho smiled sadly, reaching out to pat her head and tried to change the subject, because the sadness in the room made it so hard to breathe.

"See, I made you cry. I am not good of a protector, I guess." 

"No you are not, Minho." A voice suddenly appeared next to them. Seohyun and Minho looked up and found Key was next to them, his arms crossed and his brows knitted together. "You suppose to cheer her up, not to make her cry. Bad kid."

"My bad." Minho sighed. Seohyun chuckled and reached out to pull Key down. 

"Hey, don't be harsh on him. It was me being stupid."

"Everything is his fault, Seohyunie." Key simply shrugged, which in turn got him a punch from Minho. "Don't make me feel like an outlier just because you are closer to him."

"Hey!" Seohyun protested his remark. "You know you are my good friend too!"

"See? Good is not the same as best." Key sighed exaggratedly, which made Seohyun blush and Minho chuckled. "However, I am still a nice person so I care about you as much as Minho does." 

There was something wrong with her that day, because she felt the urge to cry one more time.

"Oh no, don't cry." Key looked like he was going to have a panic attack. "I only want to say goodbye properly, not to be a bad kid like Minho."

And that finally made the tear stream down her cheeks. Everytime they saw her cry, the boys felt as if someone punched them square in their chests, but it was them who made her cry today. They had no one to blame but themselves.

"It supposes to make you laugh, Seohyun-ah." Key sighed. Minho sighed. And she sighed.

"We will still be friends, right?" Seohyun mumbled. "Even when we are no longer together?"

Key rolled his eyes and Minho chuckled, and it made Seohyun gigled too. What she said sounded so much like what her thirteen year old self said when her friends and she got sorted into different classess.

"I never know you are such a drama queen. Of course we are, not like we stick with each other 24/7 even when we all stay here."

Seohyun blushed. She knew it was silly but the thought of not being able to stay friends made her restless, so she needed to be assured. "Then why are you two acting like we will never see each other again? Why are you saying goodbye?"

Key shrugged and kicked Minho lightly

"Ask him. He was the one who came up with the idea of saying goodbye. We are seeing each other this weekend with Nicole so I honestly don't know what is going on inside his mind."

"It is not gonna be the same." Minho blurted out, ignoring the death glare Key gave him.

That made all of them quiet. They knew that they were friends regardless where they would be, but somehow it felt so strange. They had been together for more or less 10 years, so separation seemed so surreal to them all.

"I'm sorry." That was all she could mutter. She felt guilty for putting them in this situation, even when she knew that what she did was not wrong.

"No, don't be." Key reached out and squeezed her hand. Being sorry for leaving SM was the last thing that Key wanted Seohyun to feel. "You have made the right decision and we are happy for you. And you did not leave us, you leave the company, Seohyun-ah"

"Really we are." Minho agreed. "Ignore what I said. I was being silly."

"It's just...hard letting another go." Key did not look at anyone as he suddenly murmured the words.

Seohyun could see both his eyes and Minho's eyes redden, and she knew that hers were probably the same. She knew well what it meant and it broke her heart even more seeing the people she loved being sad. Despite how mentally and emotionally they thought that they were prepared for separation after so many times, it was just as difficult as the first time it happened. And so, they sat together silently, leaning in to give each other the support. 

"We did not mean for it to be this difficult." Minho was the first one to speak up again. "Sorry, Seohyunie."

Key tried to smile as he pulled out a gift box from his bag. 

"Here. The rest of Shinee can't come because of their schedule so they ask us to give you this. They'll probably kill us if they know we make you cry, so don't tell them, araso?" 

Seohyun gigled and carefully took the gift box from Key. "What's inside?"

"That's for you to find out. Don't do it here though." Minho mumbled as his cheeks turned red. 

"Right, because he wrote some embarassing things inside." Key broke out to laugh, but he soon got shut down by his teammate.

"And you did not youself?" 

Key decided to ignore the insult from Minho, instead focusing on Seohyun, because it was a fact that they all embrassed themselves with what they wrote.

"It's a bunch of things that will remind you of us, Seohyunie. We don't want you to forget us when you meet new guys." 

"I won't." Seohyun exclaimed and elbowed both of them. "You know that won't happen."

"We know, but just in case." They chuckled at her extreme reaction. "Although we doubt so, because we are the best friends that you could ever find, right?"

She nodded solemnly. She knew that they were only joking, but she would like them to know how grateful she felt for having them in her life.

"Yes, you both are. And tell Onew oppa, Jonghyun oppa and Taemin that I say thanks, for everything after all these year." 

Minho shooked his head. "Well, you could say that to them yourself. They already regret that they could not be here today and say goodbye to you."

Key rolled his eyes at his friends. Sometimes he cursed himself for being friends with such delicate and emotional people. It truly made his life harder.

"Now you sound like we will never see each other again."

"Well, see you at the party this weekend." Seohyun looked at her friends and felt her heart lifted up with their jokes. They always knew how to make her smile, even when she felt down. 

"Too bad." Minho added with an exaggerated sigh.

They chuckled at the same time, knowing that whatever happened, they would always stay the way they had been all this time.

 

Seohyun thought that after Minho and Key left to catch their schedule, she would have some free time to finish what she was doing before they come in. However, she did not have time as different SM staffs stopped by the rooms: stylists, directors, managers whom she had worked with came in to say goodbye. They all told her that it was a pleasure to work with her and they would wait for other chances to work with her in the future. Seohyun had to use all her effort not to cry everytime someone looked at her in the eyes and sincerely wished her success with her chosen path, because she understood well what left unsaid. 

It would be for sure different. She might see many of them often, but she might as well not see some of them ever again. And it was not because they had anything against each other. It was simply how life always was, things changed, people moved on and fate no longer let their paths cross. 

 

And so, with each time a person saying goodbye, her heart became a little heavier. When Amber came in and hugged her quietly for what seemed like forever, when she told her that she might be leaving soon, she was lifted up a bit. Seohyun thought that meant she did not leave Amber behind, even though it made her even more worried how they would keep in contact with each other.

However, when BoA stood in front of her with her usual composure that many may mistake with cold, and patted her head like the first time they met when she was still a trainee, Seohyun wanted to cry badly.

"Everything will turn out fine in the end, baby." 

She nodded quietly. She let herself trust that because BoA had said it, and the last time BoA said that to her after the devastating event of 2014, it was becoming true. It had not been easy, but they were all trying to make it turn out fine.

"Come in, kids." She heard BoA called out, and looked up to find Red Velvet members standing outside, hesitant whether to come in.

Irene, as the leader of the youngest girl group, was the first one to walk in. The rest trailed after her. They stood in front Seohyun, sticking close together and it reminded her so much of those old days, when SNSD was the one of the youngest groups and always sticking close to each other whenever they had to face their sunbae. 

"We put together some pictures of us." Seulgi and Wendy handed her a box and smiled shyly.

They were not exactly close, but she knew that their sorrow was sincere. She knew that because she was there, witnessing with her own eyes how SM groups were divided time to time, and each time, she was sad, fearing for her own future as she asked herself if that day would eventually come with SNSD. And here she was, finally having the answer after all these years.

"Thank you." She looked at their eyes to let them know how truly grateful she was toward their action. They would not understand at this point, and she hoped that they would not have to understand it anytime soon. She was thankful that they cared about her even when soon, they would have little to do each other. 

Things like this was the reason for her staying all these years, and made her hesitant for the longest before making her final decision. It always made her feel warm and safe, to care and be cared for. 

"I think it's time we let other have their moment with you." BoA spoke up after quietly watching their interaction, gesturing to the door. Trax duo were standing outside and smiling gently as Seohyun looked at them. 

"I am waiting to see Red Velvet shine on the stage. Best of luck to you all." Seohyun looked at the five girls and smiled sincerely.

She knew that they would be big stars soon. However, when she turned to BoA, she knew that BoA would not need any luck. She bowed her head slightly, not knowing what to say, but BoA already cut her off.

"I will be fine, maybe I could stay in SNSD's waiting room now because it won't be too crowded." 

"We will be back, unnie." Seohyun mumbled, and slightly pouted, which made BoA broke out to laugh.

"And I will wait to see that, baby." 

Seohyun smiled and let herself trust BoA's words one more time.

 

"Let's walk you to the meeting?" Jungmo looked at her tenderly. She nodded without question, because it was an open secret that everything was finalized and there was only some paperwork left to be done before officially announcing their decisions.

Seohyun picked up her book on the floor, while the two men were almost ripping her bag into two because none of them wanted to step down in the fight. She sighed loudly, pretending to be upset, which in turn made the duo to look guilty and dropped her bag at the same time. Seohyun frowned so slightly and the two grown up men jumped in, almost bumped into each other. 

"Uhm, I still have one box over there if you would not mind helping me to carry it." Seohyun pointed to the corner of the room, making her oppa immediately happier. 

Seohyun gigled at their behaviors, though it did not last long. She never imagined that one day, she would miss this kind of overprotection, but at that moment, she knew for sure that she would miss it dearly. The thought of no longer being their precious maknae crossed her mind and made her heart sunk. Even when she knew that it was foolish of her to think that way, she still found it hard to get it off her mind.

"Don't worry, Joohyunie." Jay spoke without looking at her, as if he could read her mind just by judging the silence. "You are always our maknae."

Jungmo said nothing, but he patted her head lightly as they walked pass her toward the door as how he always did whenever he sensed her uneasiness. Seohyun trembled. To say that she was touched was understated. She did not know how they could always read her like an open book. How much did they have to care to know her so well? 

When they realized that she was standing still, Jay turned back to look at her and casually spoke:

"Although we could wait for you for as long as you want, we thought that you would want to end this as soon as possible." 

She knew that he wanted to lighten the mood, but somehow his words made it even harder to take even just one step. Jungmo glared at his bandmate accusingly before going to her. He squeezed her shoulders lightly, making her looking up at him

"Hey maknae"

She forced a smile. It did not matter how many new groups had debutted after SNSD, in their eyes, she was always the youngest.  

"Remember what I told you when you cried when we were done filming the MV?"

"Always the cry baby right, Hyunie?" Jay

"Don't cry because it's over." 

Seohyun murmured. Right. Jungmo oppa had told her that when she was tearing up on the final day of the filming process.

"Yes, you forget the other half. Smile because it happened." 

She looked at her oppa and found them smile indulgingly at her. It reminded her of the time when they filmed the MV together, she refused to kiss Jay and they also smiled at her the same way. They had always doted her, showered her with affection and she just knew that she was being an idiot for doubting that their love would suddenly stop the minute she left the door.  

"Yes, yes, oppa. You are the best." 

She finally smiled brightly as they chuckled and rubbed her hair, like the first time they showed her a dance move when they were all trainees. 

 

When they got to the meeting room, Kangta was standing in front of the door. Trax duo turned to look at her, silently asking if she knew why he was there. Kangta was not particularly close to any of them due to the gap between their debut time, and he was not directly involved in this kind of stuff, so it was strange for them to find him there.

"Just want to say proper goodbye before you go." 

Kangta spoke first, answering their question without them asking. Seohyun did not know why everyone had to do this to her, because it made her want to cancel her plan and keep everything the same way as how it had always been for more than half of her life. 

"Because you know, we don't always have a chance to say goodbye properly."

He added and smiled sadly. They all sighed at the same time. In their memories, they had lost count of how many times a person they treasured so dearly had walked out of their lives so unexpectedly that years after that, it was still hurt because they never had the chance to bid goodbye.  

"Oppa."

She felt bad. Truly bad. They were not close, but he still cared about her, more than she imagined. He smiled indulgingly and opened the door the door for her like a true gentleman he was.

"There is only one thing that I think you need to hear: You are always our pride, Seohyunnie."

"Thank you for doing this." She did not know what else to say, but Kangta nodded and gently pushed her to the room.

She turned around to look at her oppa one more time, and as they all smiled warmly at her, she took a deep breath and shut the door behind her.

 

"Seonsangnim."

Seohyun whispered inaudibly as she saw the man who was supposed to take some days off as the announcement stated. 

"Seohyun-ah. Earliest out of the three. Why am I no surprised?" Lee Soo Man looked at her and smiled. 

She stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do. Honestly, he was the last one she expected to see before she left the company, even though she felt like she would forever regret it if she did not speak to him one last time.

"I'm not here to put any pressure on you, little girl. Sit down."

She did not do what was told, instead looked at him curiously and in turn, the old man chuckled.

"You are still as stubborn as your teachers complained to me." 

"Seonsangnim." 

Seohyun felt her face burning, and was glad that he had turned to look out at the window, no longer facing her. 

"Every bird will have to leave its nest once, even just to come back later. So don't be so surprised that I don't try to convince you to stay. It is the time for you to go out there and explore, Seohyun-ah."

"There are people who never leave." Seohyun spoke up before she realized what she said.

"Ah-ha." Lee Soo Man turned back to look at her, his eyes were twinkling. "Always pay attention to everything. Always so curious. You haven't changed a bit, have you?"

He didn't give her a chance to argue back and added

"But I like that you never change the better part of you. Don't worry if people complain about that, because that was one of the reasons why we knew that you were the right person for SNSD, Seohyun-ah."

She wanted to cry so badly that it hurt to keep the tears in. People wondered why SM idols stayed even when they complained about the company, when there were better options out there, but those people were never them to tell them to leave the company as if it was the easiest thing in the world. SM was their childhood and adolescence.

How could one day they wake up and just decide to leave that behind? It took her countless sleepless nights, endless tear stream and enormous courage before she could speak her mind. It was the furthest thing from easy. 

Lee So Man push the paper toward her and smiled

"They wanted to convince you one last time, but I think we could use this time better than that. So sign this, and fly out there, Seohyunie."

She looked at the contract in front of her and couldn't believe that she did not have to sit through a long meeting, fighting again for a chance to be more than SNSD Seohyun.

Yes, leaving the company not only meant tear, but also meant blood. Months of negotiating back and forth, hours of meetings, and worst, she had to stay strong every second of that because one weak moment, and all the effort would be wasted.

"Thank you, seonsangnim."

Seohyun bowed her body 90 degree to show him all her gratefulness and respect. Without him, there would be no SNSD Seohyun. Without him, she might have too wait longer to find the true Seo Joohyun. And so, she was eternally thankful that he had given her all that opportunity.

He stood up and walked to her, before rubbing her head like she was still the little girl who looked at him in the eyes with determination that one day her voice would be heard all over the world.

 

 

"This is it. Then."

She looked around and whispered to herself. This would be the end of her fourteen years with SMtown. Taking that one step out of the building and all that left would be memories that she would treasured until her very last day. 

Seohyun had been dreaming about this moment. To be completely free. To find out who she could become. But when the moment came, it didn't excite her as much as she thought it would. As the sadness of leaving the bigger part of her life washed over her, she hesitated once again, like she had always been since the first day she decided that she would no longer re-sign the contract. She had always forced herself to look at bright side, to focus on things that she could do when no one gave her command. 

However, as the clock was ticking, she could also imagine all the things that she would not been able to do once she was no longer a part of SMtown and all the struggles when she would be on here own. No more concert together, no more brief catching up in the building between schedules, no more walking here and feeling safe because it was sure a place she called home, and no more all the habits that had helped to form her characters for the last fourteen years. 

It was terrifying and heartbreaking at the same time. 

But she had passed the point of no return. And despite her warm heart bursting with all the love for the past, Seohyun had a cold head. She knew what she needed to do and she would do it, regardless. 

So she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, because when she opened her eyes again, it would truly be the end.

 

"Hey, are you really leaving without saying anything to us, Hyunnie?"

"You are heartless, aren't you?"

The familliar voices pulled her out of her thoughts and she stuttered as she opened her eyes and recognized who they were. The men were breathless as if they just run a marathon, but they didn't take a moment to rest, rather they launched an attack at her.

"We have always thought of you as our little sister, but this is how we treat us?"

"You met everyone except us. Tell me, Joohyunnie, what do you think about us, huh?" 

"Oppa" was the only thing she could say before she was buried again in their complaints. There were so many voices that she couldn't tell who said what.

"And now don't even bother to say our names. Did you forget them all?"

"My heart is broken. How dare you?"

She couldn't help but laugh at how dramatic they were, even though given how long they had been together, she was not a bit surprised. Honestly, she preferred it this way than being sentimental because she was not sure if she still had any tear left. She felt like she had never cried as much as she had been doing today.

"Super Junior oppa, please." 

"Should we be thankful that you still remeber our group name?" Heechul asked her mockingly. "And don't copy Tiffany and roll your eyes."

Seohyun rolled her eyes. They were really too much. 

"Your unnie really have bad influnence on you, don't they?" Eunhyuk shook his head. "No wonder why you decided to leave."

The whole place suddenly became quiet as Eunhyuk realized that he had said the wrong thing.

"No need to say sorry, oppa." Seohyun had stopped him before he had the chance to apologize. "I am so grateful that you all come here today for me."

"Oh don't flatter yourself, we just happen to pass by." Heechul smirked, but the rest of them didn't agree with him and gave her their gentle smile.

"Oppa, I know you need to leave soon, so thank you for taking care of me all these years." Seohyun ignored the snide remark, but directly spoke to Heechul. He looked a little embarassed, but then took a step forward, patted her shoulders amd mumbled. "We will miss you, kid." 

"I will miss you too, Leeteuk oppa, Heechul oppa, Eunhyuk oppa, Donghae oppa, Yesung oppa"

"We will met again, angel princess maknae." Leeteuk looked at her and winked, knowing well that she hated that nick name, which he had not said in a very long time. However, to his surprise, she laughed a little

"I will miss that nick name too, oppa." 

"Don't miss that stupid nickname." Yesung rubbed her head. "Miss oppa the most, araso?"

"Hey, don't listen to that old man." Donghae suddenly spoke, which earned him a light punch on the shoulders from Yesung. "It wasn't my words. It was Kyuhyun!"

"Oh yeah. He could foresee that I would say that." Yesung rolled his eyes unbelievingly.

"He did" And to show proof for his words, Donghae showed them a message from Kyuhyun that said. "See you again soon, Hyunnie. And don't listen to any of the old man. Miss oppa more than them!"

"By the way, Ryeowook sent me the exact same thing, Seohyun-ah." Leeteuk sighed at how childish s were. "Here you go"

Ryeowook said "Don't worry Seohyun-ah, oppa will still love you. So miss oppa the most, won't you?"

Seohyun couldn't help but chuckled. They might not be the most gentle or sensitive men she knew, but if there was one thing that they could do best, it would definitely be cheering her up. They never failed to lighten even her gloomiest day. 

"I guess we are not late, Seohyunnie"

A group of EXO men suddenly showed up with Suho being the first one to speak up. They also seemed as if they had run directly from a schedule as they were wearing performing clothes.

"Almost, boys" Leeteuk glared at them. He was clearly unhappy when their time with precious Seo Joohyun had to be shared with another group of boyss, but he knew that they wanted to see her as much as he did.

"Sorry, Seohyun noona, we got caught up in our schedule." Chanyeol scratched his head and smiled apologetically.

"I am just happy that you are here." Seohyun looked at him and smiled sincerely. EXO was beyond busy and they still took time for her. What else could she ask for? She event felt like they were doing it on purpose to stop her from leaving, because the longer she stayed, the less willing she was to take the last step. 

"It is something we have to do, Seohyunnie." Suho, being the ever polite one, spoke again and gave her a small smile. He did not want her to feel that it was too much to ask, when it was the least thing that they could do for her. 

"Please come visit us, noona." Sehun looked at her with his puppy eyes and she couldn't help but tip-toe to rub his head. He bended his head so she could reach it easier and she gigled at his cute action.

"Of course, maknae-ah. It's not like I am disappearing."

"No you won't." Kai added and looked at her solemnly, stressing each word. "But we just want to make sure, Seohyun-ah." 

EXO nodded in agreement and all looked at her. Seohyun sighed quietly and wondered if they were feeling the same way she felt when she had to watch her senior groups splitted up. However, EXO had to watch their own members walk away first, and she suddenly felt sorry that they had to watch their friends leave again. 

"Yes, I will always cheer for you." She looked into each person's eyes so they knew how serious she was with her words. She meant every single word of it, because that was the least thing that she could do for them after so much love she received. 

"So do we, maknae."

"You are always our angel princess maknae."

"We are always proud of you, Seohyunie."

"Thank you for always taking care of us."

"Go out there and kick some , kid."

Once again, Seohyun was buried under all the well wishes by her oppa and dongsaeng that she couldn't tell them apart. But it didn't matter. It didn't matter to the men because what everyone else was saying was the things they wanted to say but they might not have chance to. It didn't matter to her because she knew they all loved her and wished her nothing but the best.

Leeteuk cleared his throat to gain everyone's attention. As people was quiet down, he turned to looked at Seohyun. 

"I think we have take up enough of your time. Will you give me the honor of walking you out?"

The sadness of saying goodbye hung in the air again, but they all knew that she would leave, eventually. No matter how unwillingly she was, or they were, in the end, time was up. And separation was inevitable regardless of how long they tried to keep her stay. 

Seohyun did not want to say yes at first. She was exhausted with bidding goodbye to so many people and the more people came to see her, the harder reality hit that it would definitely not be the same once she left, no matter how hard everyone, and she herself tried to pretend that nothing would change. But Leeteuk had asked and she couldn't deny his request, so she nodded without saying a word.

The group remained silent as they watched Leeteuk and Seohyun walk to the door. And before she took the last step, Donghae shouted toward her

"Seohyunnie"

Seohyun turned back and Donghae, despite the tears streaming down, gave her a big smile

"You are always welcome here, Seohyun-ah."

And even when she thought that we wouldn't have any tear left, she realized that tears were rolling down her cheeks. 

 

Just when she got out of the parking lot, she had to stop because there was a car blocked the way. She was wondering if she should walk over and ask the owner to move their car, when she saw the figure stepping out and knew that she had not been done with saying goodbye yet. 

"Yunho oppa."

She walked toward him, smiling brightly. It would be lying if she said that she was not disappointed when they did not show up in the building this morning, especially after she had met almost all of her friends. Even when she knew that they were super busy as both of them got discharged from the military recently, it still hurt a bit because all her close people made time to see her, and she always thought that DBSK oppa were few of those who cared the most about her in SM.

"Planning to leave without saying anything to us, huh?"

Yunho flicked her head playfully. 

"It was you who planned not to say anything to me" 

Seohyun pouted unconsciously, but when she realized that she sounded so spoiled, she hastily corrected herself.

"I did not think that you could make it and I needed to..."

Yunho broke to laugh and shook his head amusingly. However, before he had the chance to explain himself, another voice cut him off

"It was true, we almost couldn't make it."

And there he was, Shim Changmin, stepping out from the car, looking like he just woke up from a nap. Seohyun looked at him questioningly, while Yunho couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"Keep lying, maknae."

And now Seohyun was sure that something was up. She shouldn't be surprised after so many years of enduring his teasing and pranks, but Seohyun still did not know what to expect, especially on the day when everyone was supposed to be emotional and not in the mood for jokes.

"You can shut up, hyung."

Changmin glared at his hyung, but it did not stop Yunho from continuing

"He forced me to wait outside because it would be too crowded inside to have some moments alone with you."

Changmin nodded approvingly and threateningly, at the same time. Yunho ignored him

"I had to stay awake all this time to make sure that we will have a few words with you before you leave completely, while he was sleeping, so let me tell you all his thoughts. He wanted you to know that..."

"I can explain myself, hyung." Changmin cut him off again, but this time, Yunho didn't roll his eyes, instead he was smiling."Joohyunie, I want you to know that even when you leave this building, or this company, it doesn't mean that it is the end."

She trembled at how solemnly he sounded, because she knew what came next might be really what she needed to hear, as Changmin never failed to guide her in all of their years together.

"See this, even when you are no longer in the building, you can still meet us. We can still make time for you, if that is what we really want. And Joohyun-ah, we always want to be there for you...

He was cut off because she had launched herself at him. Changmin sighed and hugged her back, while Yunho patted her head and continued what Changmin had not finished

"Maknae, you know me. You know us. It is just the matter of wanting to do it or not. We will make excuses if we don't want to, but you know we will make effort to stay close with you even when things change."

Seohyun tore herself from Changmin, and turned to hug Yunho. The men smiled indulgingly as Yunho hugged her back, while Changmin rubbed her head and spoke again

"We can't promise that we will still be as close as how we are now, but we can promise you that we will try our best to keep what we have, araso?"

Seohyun nodded. Just like Super Junior made her to open her eyes when she thought opening her eyes meant leaving, DBSK made her stop in her way when she was already out of the door. Both of the events sent her a strong message that leaving was never the same as cutting ties with her friends. Walking different paths was never the same as denying what they had.

And changes... never meant stop loving. 

"Seohyunie." Yunho made her look up at him, because he needed her to hear him loud and clear.

"Yes, oppa?"

Changmin squeezed her shoulders lightly to tell her that what Yunho was about to say was also what he wanted to say.

"Never forget this: we are always here...to welcome you home."

And that was all Seohyun ever needed to finally take the last step to the world out there, knowing that she would always have a place to come back to.

 

 

 

A/N: Hello everyone, long time no see again! 

I had started writing this oneshot since Jun and intended to complete it around SNSD 11th anniversary, which also marked a year since the day Seohyun left SM. However, as you can see, I couldn't complete it on time.

Hope you enjoy this even when Seohyun is not in a relationship with anyone! She is basically in love with everyone and vice versa, haha.