You stared at the picture. It had been so long since you had last seen him and yet there was still guilt building inside of you. It wasn’t that you weren’t able to contact him; it was that your mother wouldn’t let you have any “distractions” around you at the time and the time zones made it difficult as well.

You looked carefully at the first picture. It was the first time you had meet Chanyeol.

 

 

 

“Hi!” a voice chirped next to you as you chewed on your school food. You turned to find a boy with black hair sitting next to you. You finished swallowing before you could reply. “Hi!” you smiled at him. “Are you new?” you asked as you straightened up in your chair.

“Mmm,” he nodded as he tugged on the color of his uniform. “I’m Park Chanyeol.” He replied as he bowed to you.

“You’re the boy mommy was talking about!” you blurted out.

Chanyeol looked at you puzzled. “What?” he had no idea what you were talking about.

“My mommy said she let the school was giving a scholarship to a boy from a poor school.” You replied obliviously.

“She did?” he asked as he took a bite of his rice.

“Mmmhmm. My parents own this school.” You replied while smiling in pride. He stared at you in astonishment. “I’m Kim Somin.”

You smiled at him and waited for a response. “Want to be my friend?” you asked kindly. You didn’t have many friends at the school because of your mother. She was known to kick people of the school that upset her or messed with the education of her kids. “I don’t have many and you seem like fun.” You said hopefully.

Chanyeol smiled at you. “I would like that. I don’t have friends here yet.” He said as he readjusted his small tie.

You happily laughed with him and ate some more food. “Oh! Wait here!” you said as you jumped off of the chair and headed to your locker.

“I almost forgot.” You stated while you showed him what you went back for. It was a Polaroid camera that your dad had gotten you for your birthday a month ago. “I want to take a picture with my new friend.”

You sat down next to Chanyeol and held the camera in front of the both of you. You made a V-sign and Chanyeol did an aegyo.

 

 

 

 

You flipped through a couple of more pictures in the album. Most of the ones at the beginning of the album were taken with a Polaroid by you. Some were silly moments between you and your classmates. Others were of school events. All of which included a selca of both Chanyeol and yourself. As you continued farther into the album, you noticed that they were now towards fifth and sixth grade. Most of them were taken by Sohee whom often went to see the both of you at the school.

The school bell had rung and both you and Chanyeol were heading out the doors to go to your family’s limo. By now Chanyeol had started getting a little taller than you. So there was no more looking across from each other to talk; it was now either looking up or looking down.

 

 

Sohee watched as the both of you slowly made your way towards the limo. “There’s one left!” Chanyeol teased as he held a choco pie away from your reach.

“Don’t be a jerk! Just because you’re turning into a skyscraper doesn’t mean you can bully me!” you frowned. Sohee laughed as she watched the both of you argue over the choco pie.

“Fine!” Chanyeol gave in as he handed you the choco pie. Sohee watched as Chanyeol wrapped his arm around your shoulder and smiled down at you as you opened the package. Only Sohee knew that you were blushing at the moment. She took the opportunity to snap a picture of the moment.

Chanyeol carefully watched as you bit into the choco pie. Sohee noticed his gaze as he watched from the limo window and took another picture.

“Mom!” you chirped as you got into the limo with Chanyeol. Chanyeol closed the door and the driver started the engine. Sohee smiled and handed you a box of pepero sticks. “Be nice and share.”

You attempted to open the box, but failed and gained a chuckle from Chanyeol. He reached over with his outer arm and helped you open it. You both blushed without knowing the reason why. Once again Sohee sneakily snapped another picture of the both of you as the car drove off.

 

 

 

You continued to stare at the set of pictures Sohee had taken. It was your first time seeing them.

“I took them and decided to print them out to put into a photo album for you.” She smiled as she watched you look admiringly at the photos. “I also put in the ones you took.”

You looked up at her. “Thank you mom.”

“I also took these.” She flipped a couple of pages towards the end. These were also pictures she you hadn’t seen before. They were the day your mother had told you about moving to the United States. This was a day before leaving. Some of the pictures were of the day you were leaving at the airport.

 

 

 

“Channie.” You said softly as you swung in the swing with him. About half an hour ago you had called him and asked him to meet you at the park. Sohee had kindly driven you to the park. She was waiting a couple of feet away.

“What’s up?” he casually asked as he sat down on the other swing. His legs were too long to swing so he lightly pushed his feet away from him so that he could sway a little bit.

You sighed and looked over at your best friend. “I’m moving.” You frowned.

His expression fell and so did his gaze. “I’m sure it won’t be far?” He tried to convince himself with hope.

Your vision started to get blurry. “We’re going to America.” You replied softly as tears silently traced your face.

Chanyeol swallowed as if it would help control his emotions. It was at this point that you couldn’t take it anymore. You got up from swing and Chanyeol stood up as well. He didn’t want to miss the left over time you two had left.

“When are you leaving?” he asked softly. He didn’t want to hear a reply, but at the same time he needed to prepare himself. You felt your nose starting to run as it does when you cry. It was at this point that you couldn’t hold your emotions in and hugged Chanyeol’s chest. He was average height, but you were short. So thankfully you didn’t hit him in the head by the sudden action.

Chanyeol’s eyes softened and he hugged you back tightly. He wanted to tell you something, but now it wouldn’t have helped.

“I’m leaving tomorrow.” You cried into his chest. Chanyeol closed his eyes and rubbed the back of your head as tears silently ran down his cheeks.

 

 

That was the scene Sohee had token. You felt mixed emotions are you looked at the picture. You were partially sad that you had to leave him, but now you were somewhat excited to meet an old friend again.