'Mom! Dad! You made it!'

'Aigoo... How is our precious daughter doing?' said your dad as you ran to greet him, clutching your graduation certificate.

'Dahye, we're so proud of you! You've already secured a job right after graduating! Eomma couldn't be any happier than now'

It was nice to know that your parents were happy for ou. They too were suprised to learn that Yukwon had suddenly left but as you no longer lived at home, they were unare of the effects his departure had on you. All you had told them was that he had moved away. You had edited out the details regarding the break up, the bitter words he had said and the harsh slap you had given.

Some things are just better left unsaid.

Nari ran up to you with her boyfriend, Jonghyun, who you were now accustomed to. He had been with her for just over 6 years now and you were jealous of their stability. Any minute now, they could elope and get married and no one would even blink and eye or think anything else about it. It would probably be the most natural thing to do in their case. 

'Hi Mr and Mrs An!'

'Nari, dear! How are you? And Jonghyun too- I see you're still dating?'

Nari nodded. '6 years now!'

'Have you found a graduate job, Jonghyun?' you father asked

Jonghyun nodded. 'I've got an internship at the law firm, C&C?'

Your dad clapped his hands. 'My boy, that is brilliant! A friend of mine is one of the higher ranks at C&C so would you like me to drop him a message of good words about you before you start?'

'That would be so kind of you, Mr An. Thank you!'

The two men carried on talking and your mom turned to Nari. 'How about you? Found a job?'

You best friend nodded. 'I've got a paid position at Seoul Weekly. I'm going to be writing for the advice column and special features pages.'

'You'd be so good at the advice one' you said.

Nari put her arm around your shoulder and your mom began to frantically look for her digital camera to savour the moment. 

'Wait! Stay like that! Let me get a photo of the two girls, still friends after all this time'

'And friends forever' you said

'Definitely' Nari replied

Your happy mood didn't last long. As soon as your parents were back in the car to drive home, your face fell back into a frown.

'Dahye, we're all going out for a drink tonight. Want to come?' said your friend, Heeyoung

'Aren't you all going to be coupled off?' you replied bitterly

Heeyoung didn't mind this. She knew why you were the way you were and she didn't dare complain. The reasoning was fair and she respected that.

'Aniyo. It's strictly a girls only thing. The guys all want to stay in and watch the football which is mega boring. We can get a meal and drink to graduating!'

You sighed. There was no way of backing out of this one. 'Sure, Heeyoung. I'll come then.'

***

'Cheers!'

'To life!'

'To love!'

'To luck!'

You groaned as you chugged down another shot of soju. You were way past your limit but you didn't care. Love and luck? Those are things I could do with.

Heeyoung leant over to you. 'Hey Dahye, are you alright? Maybe you should slow it down...'

Over half of your friends, including Nari, were asleep at the table and you were verging collapsing from intoxication too. You head rolled forwards and backwards, threatening to hit the table in front of you and the wall behind you.

'Soojin! Watch out for Dahye's head!'

Soojin quickly made a grab for you and gently lowed your head to rest in her lap.

'Aigoo Dahye-ah... Why are you being like this?' she said

'It's not like her to drink this much. She knows her limits and besides... Doesn't she hate soju?' said Jaeyoon, another friend of yours.

'She only hates soju because it was always Yukwon's alcohol of choice. She actually really likes the taste of it, the crazy girl. Together on Dahye's 18th birthday, they drank soju like it was ordinary juice. Madness' Heeyoung said

'Ah... So it's because of Yukwon...'

Jaeyoon hadn't known you during high school as she had met you at university however she knew all about Yukwon and what he had done. Your friends had to explain everything to her during the first week as she had begun to misunderstand you and thought you were just some moody . Of course, when she hear the story, that opinion very much changed.

'But when he left, she threw away everything. Kept mumbling 'forget him, forget him, forget him' to herself. She really lost it, didn't she?'

You sighed in your sleep and Soojin gently patted your head to soothe you. 'Poor Dahye. I still remember the party.'

'So do I' said Ahreum, the non-drinker. 'We've told you about her 19th party before, haven't we Jaeyoon?'

Jaeyoon nodded. 'This Yukwon guy... You all knew him, right?'

'It was hard not to know him. He was popular and smart and goodlooking.' said Soojin

'Just like unnie?'

'Exactly. Just like Dahye.'

'That's probably why they were so damn perfect together... On top of them knowing each other quite literally since birth, of course. But then he had to go and ruin her completely, didn't he? Depression, anxiety, panic attacks-' Heeyougn started

'Eating problems too... And that's just to name a few' Ahreum finished

'So Dahye-unnie has turned out the way she is because of this Yukwon guy?'

'Cold, scared and fragile? Yeah, it was all him' said Heeyoung

'She's not the same anymore. In high school, she'd dance done the corridors with her shoes and socks off and she just didn't care what other people thought. Nowadays, she's only truly comfortable around Nari and that's probably only because Nari's been with her since nursery school.' said Ahreum

'She used to be fun-loving and sociable. Her favorite thing was to go to the karaoke bar and sing together with Yukwon. We'd all go as a group of friends but the two of them would sing these brilliant duets toegther and dance on the tables and we'd all clap and cheer. It was great fun, back then.' Soojin added, putting your hair behind your ear.

'I don't think Dahye's stepped into a karaoke bar in years'

'3 years to be precise' said a voice from the other end of the long rectangular table.

Nari had propped herself up on her elbows and she was swaying, evidently drunk. She held up 3 fingers.

'3 years ago on this very day... He left her and goodbye forever and ever and ever' she said incoherent;y

She then fell asleep again and Jaeyoon got up to check her.

'Nari? Nari-unnie?'

'Leave her, Jaeyoon-ah. As long as she doesn't pass out with her head in a bowl of water, it's fine. They're all completely conked out, silly lightweights.'

Soojin gazed at you sleeping in her lap.

No wonder you drank all that soju, Dahye. It was today. Today was the day he left you and never came back, that bastard Kim Yukwon.