This was it. The last chance he would get in order to start fresh, to bury his career for as long as needed. Kyuhyun was nervously smiling as he parked his Audi on the driveway of his new home. Turning the engine off, he sat there on the driver's seat and just enjoyed the silence. It had been so different in the city. To Kyuhyun, silence seemed exciting. It was something unfamiliar to him. Unfamiliar, he thought, unfamiliar is definitely good for me.

Truth be told, Cho Kyuhyun was a singer. He had topped every possible music chart worldwide for record-breaking two years and eight months. Known as Marcus Cho, as his agency had suggested, he had toured the world, attracting stadiums full of fans and others who enjoyed his music. He was the celebrity everybody loved. He had the power to make girls fall on their knees, the music critics praise his songs and the haters turn into admirers. To put it simply: he was a star.

The headlines of the most recent tabloids in the U.S., where he had lived, had said: 'The Star Who Lost His Sparkle'. Having been the most loved artist in the music industry, there was bound to be some setbacks. Those setbacks where the reason Kyuhyun decided to dramatically change his life.

At first, it was only a small crack in his voice. The audience was really shocked, as Marcus Cho was famous for his perfect voice – it was not supposed to crack. A few weeks later, his voice cracked again. This time, his fans had started to wonder if Marcus's voice really was as perfect as everybody had thought. Then, after it happened for the third time, and the audience started demanding their money back. They had paid for the perfect concert with the perfect voice, and Marcus Cho had turned out to be a fraud. Or, that's what they thought.

Tumor, the doctors had said. Kyuhyun's agency had sent him to see a doctor to figure out what was wrong with their number one source of income. Sure enough, in the back of his throat, there was a visible tumor which had been causing the cracking of his voice. The tumor was removed, and Kyuhyun was told that as soon as he would be recovered from the surgery he could continue with his career without any difficulties. As promised, his voice was back to the perfection it had been. His career, however, was not.

One of the mistakes Kyuhyun made, as he was recovering from the operation, was that he googled himself and found out that the journalists all wrote their articles in such a hateful way. Sure, Kyuhyun could handle all the journalists claiming him to be a fraud, a one-hit-wonder (this actually made Kyuhyun chuckle, as he knew very well that 14 of his songs had been in the top 5 on the Billboard chart before him going to hiatus) or simply being a desperate attention seeker. What he could not handle though, was that he accidentally witnessed his fans turning against him. Nobody seemed to care about him anymore, he did not receive flowers and teddy bears from his fans anymore - instead, rotten eggs, hate-letters and dead mice were sent to him.

Being an only child and having been born to parents as strict and unforgiving as Kyuhyun's parents were, he had worked his way to the top when his parents had sent him to the States - mastering English had not been an issue, since he was a genius, really. Only two weeks after his arrival he had signed up for vocal training lessons, and gotten a part-time job at a Starbucks near his residence. As he was really intelligent, he acquired perfect grades with barely sleeping during classes, deciding to use his energy in something his parents would not have approved of – his vocal training lessons.

One week before Kyuhyun was supposed to go back to South Korea, he sent demos of his singing to several entertainment companies in the States, and with a recommendation phone call from his vocal teacher he managed to get his demo through without it having to wait for months. The company loved him, and just three days before his home-bound flight he signed a contract with the company. Now that was one of the biggest mistakes he made.

Of course, he had read carefully through the contract before signing it, and the contract was modified according to his standards and wishes, so everything was good. The company treated him well from day one and he never had any difficulties he knew other artists even within the same house had faced. His big mistake was to become a singer. Back then, his only motive that drove him into becoming a singer were his parents. He wanted to rebel, he was in his teens then. So instead of going back to Korea, he stayed in the States and was allowed to finish his high school there, before officially kicking off with his career as a singer. His parents never talked to him again.

At this point, he only wanted to go back in time, and to board that plane and go back to Korea, to study and get master's degree in mathematics and to work his way to the top in his father's company and, in the end, take his place as the CEO of the company. That way, he would at least have a family to support him. Now, he felt as if he had nobody.

The only Korean relative of his he was still in touch with was his cousin, Lee Sungmin. They were not too close, but at least Sungmin still wanted to stay in touch and called him every once in a while, being the caring hyung he was. When they were younger, they used to visit each other every school holiday until Sungmin's family moved to Canada, and the teenage boy moved with them. They had been in touch every week in one way or another until Kyuhyun started his career as Marcus Cho – he became too busy to stay in touch with anyone outside of the music industry. He did feel bad for not being able to speak to his cousin that much anymore, so he made sure to thank Sungmin, or Neil as he was called in Canada, in his interviews to show he had not forgotten about him.

When Kyuhyun's career as a popstar came to an end, Sungmin asked him to move to Canada to live with him, but Kyuhyun refused. He had been way too popular in Canada, too, and people would have identified him as the Marcus Cho he had been. So, Kyuhyun chose to move back to his home country instead, and Sungmin had promised to come visit him.

Right now, Kyuhyun wished Sungmin had moved back with him. He felt so lonely, and so lost, as he climbed out of the car and fished the keys of his new house from the front pocket of his jeans. Exhaling the familiar, yet foreign air, he took his suitcase from the back of his car and made his way towards the front door of his house, specially built to match his needs. He had everything he needed in his house, from private gym and swimming pool to a high fidelity recording studio. He had even hired a housekeeper to take care of his bachelor home once a week, and a gardener to make sure his garden was flawless. He had the money, after all. Money, but nobody to take care of me.

After he had settled in and checked everything had been made as he wanted, Kyuhyun decided to go shopping for groceries. He had seen a small food-mart only 10 minutes walk away from his house, but he decided to go by car and drive around a little, just to get more familiar with his new surroundings. Since it was a small town, there wasn't that much to see, but surely it would take some time for Kyuhyun to memorize his way around the town.

Having driven through the town Kyuhyun parked his Audi in front of a local pub, hoping to find something to eat there, since he had been too busy moving to even grab a snack. He could feel how the people stared at him, as he climbed out of his car, putting his shades on – just in case somebody would recognize him. He didn't want to immediately attract people's attention. Of course his mere appearance did the job – everybody seemed to simply gape at the newcomer while trying to figure out who he was.

His Audi was the first thing that made people so curious – nobody around this area had the money to buy such expensive, imported cars. In fact, since it was a small town, most of the citizens didn't even own a car since they could easily walk anywhere they needed to go to. Of course it was different for those working outside of the town, but even then most of the people preferred buses and trains.

The second thing – nobody had expected a man so young step out of the car. Surely, he must have rich parents who had spoiled him and bought him that car. There was no way he could have possibly earned enough money to buy an Audi himself.

Thirdly, his shades. It wasn't a sunny day – in fact, the sky was covered with dark clouds, so it looked like it would start raining any minute. That's when the people watching him were assured, that Kyuhyun was only the son of a CEO of some giant corporation, driving around the area and happening to stop at the one and only pub. That was what they thought. That Kyuhyun was just someone passing by.

As Kyuhyun entered the pub, he marked how everybody swiftly turned their gazes away from him, pretending they hadn't just been staring at him. The corner of his mouth shifted slightly, as he couldn't keep his signature smirk from appearing. So far, Kyuhyun was sure nobody had recognized him as the Marcus Cho he was. Or, at least, had once been.

He made his way to the counter to place his order, and was surprised to find out that this pub was almost exactly the same kind that most of the pubs were back in the States. He was also happy to find his favourite dish on the menu – chicken bacon hamburger with french fries, Mexican style. No way on earth would he have expected such a menu in Korea, in such a small town. I'll have to find out more about the owner of this place, he thought, as he took his beer and went to sit at a table in the corner of the room. He, too, liked observing people, just like they observed him.

He could feel the tension in the pub, and he knew really well that he was the reason. Back in the States, he had only made people tense for a while, breaking the tension the moment they realized he was Marcus Cho. Tension disappearing, pure chaos would replace it. However, there were absolutely no signs of chaos in the pub, everybody just kept picking on their food and sipping their drinks as if nothing unusual happened. Slowly, the other customers continued their conversations, barely even glancing at Kyuhyun as he sat in the corner.

“Chicken bacon burger with french fries, sir”, the waiter said as he placed the plate in front of Kyuhyun. It took a while for Kyuhyun to register that the waiter was actually speaking English and that he had actually replied with a simple 'thank you very much' instead of replying in Korean. The waiter smiled, and turned away to get back to work but Kyuhyun managed to grab a hold of the said man's wrist.

"Wait!" Kyuhyun said. He was getting too curious. "How did you know I can speak English?"

"I didn't", the waiter smiled, slightly chuckling at Kyuhyun's confused expression. "But now that I do know, it's finally nice to meet someone who speaks English here."

It was Kyuhyun's turn to chuckle. "We are rare species here in Korea, aren't we?"

"We really are", the waiter smiled. "I'm Henry, by the way."

Kyuhyun smiled as he shook Henry's hand. "Kyuhyun."

"Oh, so you are Korean! Lived in the States?"

"Yeah I used to work there. I just moved here to..." Kyuhyun hesitated. Could he trust this waiter guy, Henry? He didn't have time to finish his sentence, however, since another man was calling 'Henli' from the other side of the pub.

"Sorry, Kyuhyun, I have to get back to work", Henry said. "Let's talk some other time, alright?" Kyuhyun was just about to reply, but Henry was already swiping tables on the other side of the pub while talking with the man who was calling him earlier. They were both now looking at Kyuhyun, but unlike Kyuhyun had expected, they were both smiling.

Suddenly, the man Henry was talking with approached the confused Kyuhyun, his wide smile showing his gums. “Hello Kyuhyun, Henli told me you just moved into town.” He said in Korean. “I'm Eunhyuk, one of the regulars here. Do you mind if I join you?”

Not knowing what to reply, Kyuhyun just gestured towards an empty seat on the other side of the table. “Hello Eunhyuk. I'm Kyuhyun”, he replied casually as the blonde sat down, finding his food more interesting than this funny-looking guy in front of him. He was about to take the fourth bite when he heard laughter from the other side of the table. He slowly lifted his eyes off of his food and looked at Eunhyuk with an unreadable expression.

“Why are you laughing?” He then asked. Eunhyuk just laughed more.

“Why am I laughing? It looks like you're hungry as a horse, judging by the way you're murdering the poor chicken filet.”

“Is that so?” Kyuhyun asked, amused. Eunhyuk just kept chuckling at him, showing his gums as he smiled. It was somewhat endearing – charming, some might say – the way Eunhyuk smiled. Kyuhyun could immediately tell that the other was an outgoing, positive person. Hoping they could become closer, Kyuhyun spent the whole evening at the pub chit-chatting with Eunhyuk, and occasionally Henry too.

It was such a relief to Kyuhyun that he made a few friends during his first day in town – he wouldn't have to become the loner he thought he would turn into. He had already invited both Henry and Eunhyuk, and a guy named Donghae, who was the owner of the pub, to his house for a Starcraft gaming night. He just hoped his huge house wouldn't scare his newly found friends, or make them too curious about his career in the States – he had only mentioned he had worked in the music industry, and Henry and Eunhyuk had been nice enough to not start asking more questions, and Kyuhyun hoped to keep it that way. At least for a while.

Stepping out of the pub well after it was actually closed, Kyuhyun got on his car and started the engine. The headlights lit, and Kyuhyun caught a glimpse of a black-haired, small-built man standing in the woods next to the pub – a figure, which shyly disappeared back into the shadows. Kyuhyun only shrugged, not thinking much more about the mysterious man, as he had other, higher priority worries, too. He had forgotten about grocery shopping, so he would go back to his new home, only to find his fridge empty.

Despite his growling stomach, Kyuhyun slept the first night in his new bed happily without nightmares. Here he could finally relax.