30^th May, 2019

Well, I don’t know where to start, I hardly recovered from the shock myself you see. This morning I was greeted with the news that Kyungsoo will be enlisting, active service as you are, on 1^st of July this year. It came after thorough discussion between EXO and SM, we’re told, and that Kyungsoo had applied for it, resulting in the final announcement today. He would’ve told us first if the media hadn’t exposed him first, which I’ve found quite uncivil. Nonetheless, we got a short hand-written note from him, wishing us good health as he promises he’ll make a safe return before long. 

The news came out in the morning and SM had decided to release the news of EXO PLANET #5 before noon! It’s like we barely had time to recover from the earthquake then SM suddenly dropped the bomb on us. I know they may not have intended it but I found it rather discomforting. It’s as if they paid no attention to our feelings at all. Sure they might want to cheer us up with some good news, but I doubt that’s hardly the right time, they could’ve at least released the news at around 5pm or so! But I shouldn’t upset you with more saddening news, I suppose. 

Concert will begin mid-July, with the absence of you, Kyungsoo and Yixing, the concert definitely won’t be as grand as the ones before, nevertheless, we’ll give our all in supporting the remaining boys, don’t you worry. We are one after all – thought that phrase has proved again and again more difficult to live up to than chanted out loud. Jongin returned safely from Rome today, I suppose he’s learnt of the news only after he’d got off the plane given that he’s spent most of the night on it. I cannot fathom the fact that you’ve only been away twenty odd days, the time really does seem to have stopped once your loved one is in the barrack. 

This month has been a rough one for all of us, no doubt, but we’ve seen the worse of things and I believe EXOLs will grow to be even stronger than we are now once it’s over. The only concern of mine is that how will the boys survive now that both you and Kyungsoo, the very sane ones in the group, will be off living far away from them. I should expect some nice episodes shared during ment time in the concert that’s soon to come, I hope. 

556 days till you’re out, I’ll wait for you. Many days more till EXO can be back together in full, and here I’ll remain patiently waiting.