Daniel stands before the familiar old church. It looks exactly the same as he remembers it thirty years ago.  He smiles as he hears a nostalgic melody coming from the inside. The church choir’s voices sound almost like angels’, high notes soaring over the clouds. Daniel feels his heart ache as they remind him the innocence of his youth. It stirs up sweet memories of a soothing voice he hasn’t heard for a long time.

Today is good day.

It’s almost the start of summer, the season Daniel loves the most. He smiles as he looks up to candy-floss clouds moving lazily across the sky. The sun gleams bright, though not too bright, not enough to make Daniel dehydrated or parched. Daniel loves summer. He loves the smell of the fresh air around him, the green trees standing proudly, free, and healthy.He loves the flowers, radiant and beautiful, swaying in the wind. He loves the not too quiet but melancholic chirping of the birds. He loves the gentle warmth of the sun's rays, letting his body feel the warmth that he had missed over the year.

He loves summer so much because it reminds him of the first summer. The one that changed his life forever.

“It’s the twenty-ninth summer.”

With a deep sigh, Daniel feels everything coming back.

As if he’s seeing through someone else’s eyes, he watches himself grow younger.  The years begin to move in reverse as the clock starts ticking backwards. His almost white hair starts to change back to dirty blonde again, the shade he sported when he was eighteen, young, and free. The age when everyone thought they could be anything— the age when youths like him dreamed of something. He closes his eyes as his memories brings him back to that eventful year.

The name is Kang Daniel and this is the story of his youth, his dreams, and his greatest love.  First, you will smile and then you will—cry. Don’t say that you haven’t been warned.