---3 years later---

21-year-old Kris walked out of his Biochemistry class at his University. He had just finished his morning class.

"Man, Professor Lee is such a hard marker!" One of his good friends, Lu Han, complained.
"I got an 82 on that lab!"

"Hey, be glad." Kris shrugged. "A lot of people failed that."

"Yeah, but an 82 will bring my mark down."

"Yeah, but an 82 will bring my mark down." Another friend, Xiumin mimicked him. "Be happy! I got 69! A 69! A freakin' 69!!! What did you get, Kris?"

"90- something." Kris shrugged.

"Of course, Lee prof. adoooores you." Xiumin rolled his eyes.

"Don't be jealous." Kris teased. In the distance, he saw Lay, Chen, and Tao walking over to them. Kris had met Lu Han and Xiumin in his first year of university when they were put into the same group for the freshmen orientation. Through them, he met Lay, Chen, and Tao. It took him some time to become close with them, but in the end they became his best friends.

Tao was in his last year of high school, and since the high school was pretty close to the older ones university, he visited them often. Kris and Lu Han shared a dormitory in the university, Lay and Chen (the ones currently in first year) shared a dorm, and Xiumin and Tao lived with their parents.

"I got an A on my biology lab." Tao grinned.

"That's good, you should pass your skills onto the bun over there." Lu Han jabbed a thumb at Xiumin.

"Excuse you, I have an 80 something in that class." Xiumin said huffily.

"Whateverrr."

"Let's go eat, I'm starvinnggg." Chen said, rubbing his stomach.

"Yeah, let's go!" Xiumin said and headed to the on-campus cafe. They all headed to the cafe. One person was lagging though. Kris looked back and saw Lay standing there with a dreamy look on his face.

"Lay? Lay?! LAY!" Kris yelled, walking back and taking Lay (the lost one) out of his trance. "We're going to eat, come before you get lost."

"Oh, okay." Lay blinked and kept up with the group.

Kris followed them and watched Chen and Xiumin race to the café.

"One month, one month till this semester ends!" Xiumin said excitedly as he sat down in his seat.

"Yeah, then exams. Better start studying." Kris reminded.

"Gee, thanks Mr. Always-on-the-bright-side."

Kris smiled, "You got it."

A waitress came over and took the orders of the hungry boys.

"Couldn't we go to a fast-food restaurant?" Xiumin mumbled. "Key word: FAST food."

"What is this, slow food?" Tao snickered.

"Yes." Xiumin nodded.

The snack wraps, bagels, and drinks they ordered arrived in a couple of minutes, and the hungry boys immediately began eating.

"I hate it when the cream cheese is flopping out of the bagel." Lay wrinkled his nose.

"You're such a picky eater. Learn to appreciate what you have." Kris said, thinking back to past memories. 

"Yeah, and it's my turn to pay so you eat every single drop of that floppy cream cheese." Lu Han said, giving him a look.

"Drop? Cream cheese isn't a liquid." Chen said matter-of-factly.

"Whatever! Eat every bite of it." Lu Han rolled his eyes.

They finished eating and just sat there, sipping their drinks.

"I have to make my exam studying schedule." Lu Han said out loud. Lu Han was very neat and very organized. He always needed a system to do things.

"Nerd." Xiumin snorted.

"A handsome nerd." Lu Han corrected.

"A pretty nerd." Kris corrected the correction.

"Do I look like a girl to y-" Lu Han began to ask and then stopped because he knew the answer.
"I do NOT look like a girl!"

"Says you." The five of them chorused.

"I have to go home, my mom wants me to help her with some bake sale. See you tomorrow." Tao said, getting up.

"Be careful!" Kris called, Tao was the little brother Kris felt an obligation to take care of. Tao nodded and waved before leaving.

"I should go too. I'm going to do this lab again and hope Lee prof. will let me re-submit it." Xiumin also stood up.

"Have fun." Lu Han sing-songed.

"Good luck." Kris waved as he walked away. Xiumin was the friend he looked for when he needed someone to make him laugh; his stupidity covered most of that.

"I have to write an essay." Lay said glumly. "If I get to work now I won't have to pull an all-nighter! Let's go ChenChen!" Lay nudged Chen.

"Oh yeah, and I have to call my mom. I haven't talked to her for a while." Chen remembered.

"Tell her I said hi." Kris said, ruffling Chen's hair. Chen pouted and fixed his hair.

"Oh, me too." Lu Han added. Chen nodded, he and Lay stood up and left.

Chen was the little kid whose hair Kris wanted to ruffle all day, and Lay was the lost, but obedient, friend Kris looked out for.

And then there was Lu Han, his closest friend.
"We might as well go back to our dorm as well." Lu Han said. Kris nodded, "I have to pick Mina up soon anyways."

Lu Han quickly paid and they left. When they got to the door of their dorm, Kris took his keychain out to slide his card onto the unlock pad.

After a beep, the door opened and Lu Han and Kris entered their spacious dorm. Lu Han sat on his bed but Kris remained standing. He didn't put his key chain away and stared at the other keychain that was on it: the star-shaped keychain, the most valuable thing he owned.

He didn't realize he was lost in his thoughts about Sara until Lu Han said, "Still miss her, huh?"
 
Kris looked up and nodded. Lu Han was the first one he had told about Sara. The others found out later.

"It's okay, she's probably happily watching you from heaven." Lu Han walked over and patted his shoulder.

Kris didn't answer and just thought about the two months he's known Sara. The best two months of his life.

"She was so positive, it was impossible to hate her." Kris said. "Why did she have to die? She should be alive, going to university, and pursuing her career." now that he had said it, he realized he’d never asked her that. Just another thing to add to the list of things he should have known about Sara. “She should be by my side.” He whispered.

"Bad things happen, Kris." Lu Han said solemnly. "And to the best of people, but we can't control that. All we can do is hope for the best and not dwell on the bad past of our lives. Look forward to the future and the good things it will bring."

Kris knew Lu Han was right, but that didn't stop him from wishing that these bad things wouldn't happen. Sometimes, he felt like Lu Han was the male version of Sara.

Kris sighed and put the key chain away.

"Now tell me, was she pretty?" Lu Han asked, grinning.

Kris smacked the back of his head, "None of your business."

Lu Han laughed and grabbed an apple from the fridge.

After a pause, Kris spoke, "Yes. Yes she was."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At 2:30, Kris left his dorm and started walking to the elementary school. Every day he would pick Mina up from school. No matter what he always had to pick her up, even if it cut into his class.

"Oppa!" A giddy voice yelled. A wide smile spread across Kris' face. 8-year-old Mina came bounding down the steps of the front doors of her school.

She ran into his arms and Kris swung her around.

"How was school?" Kris asked, putting her down. He took her backpack off of her and carried it on his back. Then he took hold of her hand.

"Good! I made a painting today!" She said cheerfully.

"Really? Of what?" Kris asked.

"Of flowers and stars. I'm going to give it to mommy.' She said.

"Ohh, that's nice. I'm sure she'll like it." Kris nodded as they started passing the stores and shops that were near her school. "Do you want some ice cream?"

"Mommy said we have to stop buying ice cream." Mina blinked. Kris would always buy Mina a treat on her way home from school, and Ms. Kim didn't want him to be spending money on her every single day.

"It's okay. Just this once." Kris winked.

Mina grinned and the two of them headed to Mina's favourite café. This was the café that sold Mina's favourite vanilla ice cream. No other café sold vanilla ice cream that tasted like this café's (according to Mina).

As they were walking in, a middle-aged lady was walking out with a stroller. Kris paused and opened the door for her so that she could easily walk out with the stroller.

"Thank you." She smiled.

"It's no problem." Kris smiled and led Mina inside.

"What do you want?" Kris bent down to her eye level.

"Oppa! You always forget what I want!" Mina crossed her arms.

"I know, Mina." Kris scratched his head and pretended not to know. "Just tell me."

"Vanilla ice cream with spinkles!" She said, pouting. Kris laughed and pinched her cheek. That was the only reason he always 'forgot' what she wanted. She mispronounced sprinkles in the cutest way.

"Okay, let's go order it." Kris picked her up and took her to the counter.

"Hi, what would you like to order?" The girl at the cashier asked.

"A vanilla cone with spinkles!" Mina answered.

"Vanilla cone with sprinkles? Okay." She smiled. "Anything else?" She looked at Kris. He shook his head and she gave him the total. He paid and she went to prepare the ice cream.

"Oppa, you don't want anything?" Mina asked him.

He shook his head, "Nope."

The lady came back and handed Mina her ice cream. Kris put her down so that she could eat it properly.

"Oppa, I can carry my bag." Mina said when we got outside. "You're carrying a girl bag. Don't you think it's weird?"

“No! I love this bag! It looks so great on me!” Kris joked showing her how ‘awesome’ the tiny little princess bag looked on the giant male.

Mina giggled, “Oppa! You’re so silly!”

Kris smiled, *She used to call me silly too…*

A couple of minutes later, they arrived in front of Mina’s house. As usual, Ms. Kim was gardening.

“Mommy!” Mina ran to her and gave her a hug. Kris smiled and put her bag on the porch.

Ms. Kim returned the hug and looked at the ice cream cone in Mina’s hand. She gave Kris a look, “I told you not to buy her stuff every single day! You’re spoiling her and wasting your money, Kris.”

“No, it’s fine. I’m not spoiling her. We just pass by some stores that look like they might go out of business, so I have to buy something to help out.” Kris innocently said, winking at Mina.

“And you really don’t have to pick her up every day. I can do it.” Ms. Kim said, fixing a strand of Mina’s hair.

“Nah, that’s fine too. I like picking her up.” Kris waved it away. “I should get going now though. See you tomorrow.” He smiled.

“Bye oppa!” Mina hugged his knees.

“Bye.” Kris patted her back and then she ran in the house.

“Thank you, Kris, really.” Ms. Kim said.

“I should be the one thanking you.” Kris said softly *For being the mother of the girl whose had the biggest impact on my life.* he smiled again and waved before walking away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Kris! Clean your half of the room!” Lu Han yelled when Kris entered the room after dinner.

“Oh, please. It’s fine.” Kris rolled his eyes and sat on the window seat near his desk.

“Fine! But when you start studying for exams and can’t find anything, don’t blame me!” Lu Han huffed.

“I won’t, don’t worry.” Kris yawned. He took his key chain out again and played with it.

“I’m going to go get hot chocolate. You want anything?” Lu Han asked, heading to the door.

Kris shook his head, looking out at the setting sun.

Lu Han shrugged and left to get his hot chocolate.

Kris ran his thumb over the star. So much had changed since 3 years ago. When Sara died, Kris hadn’t been a cold person. More like a person without any emotion (good or bad). When he graduated high school, he had had a lot of time to think. He had read Sara’s letter at least 1000 times.

Finally, slowly and without him knowing it, Kris began to change. He had different views on the world, he tried to be the one helping society rather than doing nothing about it. His internal change that he had only shown Sara, could now be seen by the rest of the world.

He had changed for the better, he knew that. But that didn’t stop him from missing Sara. He still wished she were alive, he wanted her to see that he had changed. Sometimes, he thought that if she couldn’t see that he had changed for the better, why bother? If she wasn’t there to witness the changes he had gone through for her, what was the point?

But he did. He wouldn’t have been able to live with himself if he disappointed the girl who had had such a profound impact on his life by putting her hard work to waste.

Did he regret it? No. He was living a much better life, a life with mostly light and love.

*Thank you, Sara.* Kris thought as he looked at the one shining star in the sky that seemed to be twinkling for him. It was a familiar–looking star. *Thank you for being the star in my darkness.*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hiiii (:

So that's the ending~! YAYYY

It wasn't all that sad, was it? More like happy-sad? Happy- Kris changed Sad- Sara had to die.

Anywhoooo, thanks for all the support and comments~!

Thank you BambooPillows for helping me a lot throughout the fic and who made me the pretty poster (:  

Oh and for all those of you that thought it was too good to be true for me to update after two days and thought this was some sort of thank you chapter to the readers, I CAN UPDATE FREQUENTLY TOO, YA KNOW.

Anywaysss, byebyeee~! Thanks again~!