3 Years Later...

* I'm late!* 

You hugged your books closer to your chest as you ran towards the University's entrance. You pushed past students, muttering apologies and them shooting curses at you. You didn't mind of course, since you were late for your very first dance lesson in the University. You were majoring in Contemporary Dance and who would have thought you'd be late on your first day. You kept looking at the timetable and the numbers on the door, hoping to find your class soon before the bell rings. 

01....02....03! 

*Found it!* 

You smiled and quickly dashed inside right before the bell rang. You closed your eyes and sighed in relief. *I made it. Thank God.* The rest of the students in the class didn't even notice you entering the class, since they were busy talking among themselves. *It's nice to actually have a friend to talk to on your first day.* You pouted and took your seat in front of the teacher's table, the only seat that was empty. You slouched and rested your head on the table. You suddenly remembered your first day in Korea. You sat next to Kai most of the time. Even though no one in class seemed to want to be friends with you at that time, you were glad Kai was there. Even though he could be such a pain sometimes. 

You smiled at the memory but frowned again when you realized how much you missed them. You did write letters and they do reply, but it's not the same as seeing them face to face. You wondered how they were doing. Especially him. *Is he doing well? Did he ask about me after I left?* Those thoughts ran occupied your mind that you failed to notice a figure standing in front of you. The person cleared his throat, gaining your attention. You looked up, wanting to apologize for not noticing him but your mouth just went slack. The familiar figure just gave you a smirk  and turned to face the class. You raised your eyebrows. *It...it can't be.*

"I'll be your lecturer and instructor for this semester. Please take care of me and I'll take care of you." The familiar person greeted the whole class before taking the marker and wrote his name on the whiteboard in front of the class. "My name is...." He paused as he wrote his name on the board. 

Kim. Min. Seok.

He placed the cap on the marker and turned around, smiling to the whole class. "I'm not from here as you can see from my name. I'm from Korea. But I don't want you to call me MinSeok. You can just call me XiuMin." He turned and looked at you, smiling. You couldn't believe your eyes. Is your mind playing tricks with you? *What is he doing here? A teacher? And...he speaks Japanese?!* XiuMin saw your expression and chuckled, shaking his head. "Okay everyone, let's have a little icebreaker to know each other." He said and you leaned back in your seat, speechless.

"Oppa! What are you doing here?" You said. He smiled and looked up from his lunch. "Surprised to see me?" He laughed. The both of you were seated together during lunch. You smiled and nodded. "Yah, I didn't know Japanese was so hard to learn! All those Katakana, Hiragana and...and..." he stopped, trying to remember. You sighed and smiled. "Kanji." You told him and he smiled. "Yeah yeah, Kanji! Man it's hard. Now I know how you felt while studying in Korea." Your heart skipped a little when he said that and he seemed to noticed. He took his fries and waved it in front of your face. "Yah, yah, what's with the long face? And are you going to eat your lunch? It's gonna get cold." You blinked and nodded before taking a bite from your lunch.

"Oppa, how did you come to Japan?" You asked. XiuMin chewed on his food while thinking of a reply. "Well, after I graduated from Korea, I tried to apply at some dance schools there but there were no vacancies so I gave up and came to Japan instead. Besides, the ballet teacher in this school, my God is she pretty!" You pouted and threw your fries at him before the both of you broke into fits of laughter. "You're still the same old XiuMin oppa I see." "And you seemed to have changed Ryoko ah. What happened to sweet Ryoko back in Korea?" He smiled. You sighed and smiled back. "It hasn't been the same ever since I got back oppa. Without you guys here, life's just too boring." You said as you took another bite from your lunch.

"Can't blame you. Everywhere is boring without MinSeok." He joked and your threw another fry at him but he managed to catch it with his mouth. You chuckled. After a few seconds of silence...you decided to ask him. "How's...how is he?" You didn't look at him in the eye and instead focused on the plate of cold lunch in front of you. You weren't hungry anymore. XiuMin took a while to come up with a reply to your question. "He's doing okay. He's in his final year at the University right now. Majoring in music." You nodded, poking your fork at your food. 

XiuMin raised his eyebrows. "You still miss him don't you?" You nodded again. *So, so much.* The two of you sat in silence again. "Yah, how about you show me around Tokyo today after school? I've only been here for a week and I'm still eating instant ramyun in the teacher's dormitory." He said, trying to change the topic and also, trying to lift up the atmosphere. You smiled and nodded at him. *Well, at least XiuMin oppa is here.*

"Yah, can we find a place to sit already? My legs are killing me! How can you Japanese people walk so much?" He shouted through the busy traffic of Tokyo. You laughed and nodded, feeling tired yourself and the both of you entered the nearest cafe you could find. "

"Finally. How am I supposed to teach the dance class tomorrow? My feet are already sore from all the walking." He closed his eyes and you brought two iced coffee to your table. "Oppa, man up will you? How are you supposed to get the ballet instructor's attention when you complain every five minutes when we started walking around town? Besides, I heard she likes to go shopping so if you plan on dating her, you might need to rethink." You joked and took a sip of your coffee. XiuMin shot you a look and drank too. "I'd do anything for ladies." He said with a smirk. You glared at him. "Then what am I? I'm a lady too you know." He smiled and ruffled your hair. "Ani, you're my cute little Japanese dongsaeng." He smiled, making you roll your eyes and smile too. 

"Oppa, I really miss Korea. How are the others? Everyone's doing well aren't they?" XiuMin nodded and played with the straw of his drink. "Well, Lay and Kai both got into an entertainment company." You almost choked. "They what?! Are you kidding me? That's great!" You clapped your hands in excitement. *Lay oppa and Kai oppa have always been great at performing.* XiuMin nodded and smiled at your cuteness. "Kris and Tao are trying to audition too but it might take them awhile, since they still have trouble rapping in Korean. Chanyeol has gone to living back with his mother, at the same time helping out with her business. She just opened a shop near our old school you know?" You nodded, excited and happy to know what have been going on with your friends back in Korea. 

XiuMin squinted his eyes, trying to remember the other. "D.O and Hae Ra apparently rented an apartment to stay together. But don't worry, they're not doing anything funny and Hae Ra's parents like him very much. I heard they're even considering him as a son-in-law can you believe that?" You smiled. *I'm happy they're still together. Although, a little bit jealous.* You shook the thought out of your mind. "What about the others?" XiuMin tapped his chin. "Suho got a permanent job at the daycare center he worked part-time when he graduated. Oh and he's dating one of the teachers there too. She's beautiful. Luhan and Chen are singing instructors in one of the Universities there, and Sehun...right! You cannot believe what happened to Sehun!" XiuMin suddenly got excited and started jumping in his seat. You laughed at the sight. "Why? What happened to Sehunnie?" 

XiuMin smirked. "Well, Sehunnie is a big boy now. He's dating Ma Ri. Remember her?" You furrowed your eyebrows and after a few minutes of thinking, your eyes widened like saucers and you covered your mouth from the sudden realization. "Oh my god are you serious? What-Who-How-" XiuMin laughed at your reaction and nodded. "Yeap, we've all had the same reaction as you when we found out. And to think they've been going out for a year." XiuMin nodded his head, feeling impressed by Sehun. "What?! How come he didn't mention anything in the letters he sent me?! That boy is gonna get it from me if I ever go back to Korea." You made a fist with your hand. XiuMin laughed. "Yah, you better be careful. Apparently Ma ri is a blackbelt. Remember what she did to your shoulder a few years ago? Because of Mi-" He stopped halfway as he saw your expression fell. "I-I'm sorry." He mumbled.

You shook your head and tried your best to smile. "How is she oppa? Are they happy together?" You didn't want to know the answer. But you couldn't help yourself but to ask. Of course you were curious. Of course deep down, you wanted to know. It's the question you kept asking yourself everyday when you think about him. XiuMin sighed. "They didn't even see each other after the night he ran away from Suho's house. When we asked him what happened, he didn't reply us but all he said was that it was over between him and Mi Young." You nodded and just kept drinking.

XiuMin looked at you, examining your facial expression. The atmosphere was getting a little awkward for him and he was about to change the subject but you suddenly stood up. "Let's get going oppa. It's getting kind of late and my parents would be worried. Besides, it's not good if the other students catch the both of us together at this time of the day." You smiled a weak smile and XiuMin just nodded silently. "I guess I'll see you in class tomorrow?" He asked and you nodded before the both of you walked your separate ways. 

The street in your neighbourhood was quiet, lights only came from the houses that were aligned with each other. You could hear dogs barking and families laughing in the distance. The night was cold and you wrapped your arms around yourself to keep you warm. You were starting to get a little creeped out since you were the only one on the streets. Just last week there was a rumour going around the neighbourhood saying that there was a suspicious man wondering around the area, looking for something. None of you neighbours knew who he was either. *Why must our house be right at the end of the street?* You thought to yourself and started to walk a little bit faster. If your phone had not died, you would've called XiuMin and just talked to him on the phone so that you wouldn't be so scared. 

Just then you heard footsteps behind you. Well, that's what you think you heard. You didn't want to look back and instead started to pick up your pace. You could almost see your house at the end of the street. *That's it, just a few steps more.* "Meow~" "Aaaaargh! Oh my God you scared me!" A cat suddenly appear from behind you and you clutched your chest since you felt like your heart was about to burst out from your chest. "Meow~" It was a small grey kitten and it was purring while brushing itself against your leg. "Awww you cute little thing. Hmm, what's that on your neck?" A small read thread was tied around its neck and you noticed the end of the thread flows all the way towards the alley between two of the houses next to you. "Aka ito?" 

You tried untying the knot on it's neck but to no avail, it was a dead knot. The kitten must have scratched against the thread, making the knot tighter. You sighed and carried the kitten in your arms. Suddenly a thought crossed your mind. *It couldn't be...* You looked at the kitten who was innocently staring back at you. *Is it really him?* The kitten just purred in your arms and you took a deep breath before deciding to follow the trail of red thread into the alley. 

You kept on walking. After a few minutes, the kitten suddenly jumped off from your arms and started running in front of you. "H-Hey where are you going? Come back!" You tried to follow it but stopped in your tracks when you noticed the kitten was now being carried by a man standing in front of you in the shadows. You felt your heart race upon seeing the figure in front of you. *Could it really be?* The man then took a step forward into the light to reveal himself. You felt yourself being paralyzed. 

He was the fur of the kitten and it purred in his touch. He looked at you. With those eyes, those eyes you see every time you close yours. There was a cool breeze and you could smell his scent. That familiar vanilla scent from his hair that you always loved but never really told him. He untied the red thread from the kitten and released it. His hands, those delicate fingers you always wished you could hold. You could feel yourself tearing up and there was a huge lump at the back of your throat, threatening to come out. 

[A/N] Hey guys! Do check out my new story Like Water here! Please subscribe to it and give it lots of love thanks ^^