PROLOGUE

     You have one choice. You can pick one place, one time. Every choice is yours. Time, place, position, circumstances, ect. Choose carefully. Choose wisely. You only have one choice….

     What would you do if you could pick any place in time to go back to? I’m not talking about your past. I’m talking about what you wish your past was. You could go anywhere and be with anyone, and you choose. It’s all your choice. Sure, you only get one chance, but imagine what that one chance could do to change your whole life forever! You could make any dream come true. I know what I would choose. I know when it would be. I know who I would be with. This is the story of how I become his girlfriend. How I chose to become his girlfriend. Who is “he”? You’ll see…

     <>> So tempting… I looked down. So tempting… My heart longed to sit by the golden banks. Be a good girl and go to class like you’re supposed to. I groaned and turned away from the edge of the bridge, but the image of sun-dazzled water flowing through bright banks of fallen golden leaves never left my mind. It was such a perfect image… And if I didn’t have a stupid class to go to, I could’ve been sitting right in the middle of it, on a rock, writing or drawing or listening to music or just enjoying the warm sunlight on a cold fall day. Just go to class like you’re supposed to… So I left the bridge and walked to the art building where my next class took place, kicking up tufts of dead, colorful leaves as I went.

“Why do you never use the sidewalk?”

I looked over at the guy who had just come up behind me.

I shrugged. “I like walking through the leaves. Besides, everyone uses the sidewalk. It’s too crowded.”

He shook his head at me.

“Why do you always follow me?” I asked him.

“Because you always have something interesting to say. So what’ll it be today? Hit me with it.”

I grinned and swung my backpack around to hit him in the stomach. I didn’t hit him hard, but he stopped and grabbed his stomach, coughing like he couldn’t breathe.

“You big baby.” I rolled my eyes, but couldn’t help smiling. He always made me smile. “Today…” I looked up at the sky in thought. “Today I was thinking… You know all these leaves we admire so much?”

He nodded. “Mhmm.”

“Everyone says they’re so beautiful… And I agree, but… When you think about it, really, these leaves are only beautiful because they’re dying. There are suffocating! The loss of oxygen is the reason for their change in color. But every year, we look up and admire them. We admire they’re death.”

He stared at me. “That’s an awfully morbid way to look at it.”

I looked back down. “I know. How would you look at it?”

“The circle of life. It’s not like we can stop them from dying. It happens, and it’s going to happen. At least they’re dying beautifully instead of in ugly sadness. They aren’t just dying, they’re dying with honor.”

I laughed. “Ha! And you think I say interesting things…”

He just smiled and shoved me lightly. “Enjoy life while it happens instead of morning the past.”

The beauty and comfort of the sun on that day felt like something I could touch. Finally something I can feel for real. The dead leaves didn’t really bother me that much, but he was just the kind guy I could speak my thoughts to—even unimportant ones. Even though I didn’t feel like going to class today, there was nothing I would like more than walking there with this friend. How did I get to this contented place?  That is a very interesting story.

     I didn’t have much of a life before this. Graduated from high school, no plans for college, not many friends, still living with my parents, 21 years old, and still staring at my favorite posters of TVXQ on my walls when I was bored—which happened to be most of the time. That was in 3 years, and also a month ago. Confused yet? Hahaha, good. I was too at first. First, you should know how much I admire the Korean boy band, TVXQ. Their songs were the inspiration for many of my drawings. You should also know which of the five extremely talented, good-look guys I like the most. Xiah Junsu. Here’s what happened: