Jung Hyejin - or more known as Mrs. Park, was casually flipping through the daily newspaper at eight in the morning; just like every other day after her two children, Park Chaemi and Park Minwoo left the Park house for school.

All of a sudden, her instincts decided to warn her repeatedly, sending countless mental warnings to her brain.

Do not open the next page, Jung Hyejin. You will regret it. It's the entertainment section next. Close the newspaper now, and do some housework.

She was never the type to go against her instincts, especially after they were of great help to her when she was younger and had problems making her decisions. Her instincts never failed her, and she knew they never will.

But this time, it was a different case.

It's just opening the entertainment section of the daily newspaper. What's the big deal? 

And she opened the next page, to see a size 48 sentence on the newspaper welcoming her, with the picture of a man who seemed to be very sickly and could die anytime.

"SM Entertainment's most glorified soloist, Byun Baekhyun passed away due to a sudden attack of epiglottitis."

Shock.

Broken.

Horror.

Disbelief.

Those were some of the explainable feelings that overwhelmed her as her stomach tightened into countless knots.

Hyejin walked slowly to her room, taking out a big box which was kept under her cupboard for over a decade and opened it slowly.

It contained all the merchandise that she kept since her teenage years.

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With the box in her hands, her memories of thirteen years ago flowed back, back to the time when she had lived the life of a fangirl. She is a fangirl.

No.

She was a fangirl.

There’s a difference. She was a fangirl for a certain 12-member boy group under the label SM Entertainment who debuted on the 8th of April 2012. They were known then as EXO.

A sudden wave of wonderment washed over her as she stared at the almost fading photographs in her hands. With the group’s huge number of members, why did she set her eyes solely on a certain member? Why did she fangirl over the guy who used to use the most eyeliner in the group?

Why were her eyes set on Byun Baekhyun?

She remembered how she supported them from the moment they debuted. How she used to run a blog just for her love for Baekhyun. Those days back then when she defended herself because she was hated and boycotted for her love for EXO. She lost many of her closest friends because they were ashamed to be friends with someone who loves a certain 12-member boy group too much. All those posters she collected. All the merchandises she spent her money on. All those memories when she was a fan. Fangirling because of him. Writing stories with him as the main character. Shipping him with the other members of EXO endlessly. All the albums she saved so hard just to purchase. All the virtual friends that she made all around the world because of their mutual love for a certain Byun Baekhyun.

Nevertheless, she kept a promise to herself, to support EXO until the end, no matter what happened.

It was half a decade later when EXO disbanded. All the members went their own way, or maybe not all. Chen, D.O and Baekhyun became a trio under the name MSKU.

It wasn't very long later when they changed their trio's name again as it reminded them of all the memories they had with Xiumin and Kris. Therefore, they officially changed their name to ByonEX, wanting to be beyond expectation.

And then the haters came.

They were bashed for their desire to be beyond expectation. They were bashed for apparently thinking that they were beyond expectation, and when the trio clarified it themselves that they were not beyond expectation and that they were not even close to it but they will try their very best to be. However, that clarification created even more haters for them, for no apparent reason.

Nevertheless, Hyejin still supported them. She loved them with all her heart, proclaiming herself as a Pearl, a part of their fanclub as they themselves said that their fans were invaluable. She was a fan. She was invaluable. Because she believed them, she bought every single one of their albums and all their merchandises that she could find, every single one available. She was broke then, but it didn’t matter. What mattered the most is that she was invaluable to Baekhyun.

A year later, ByonEX was left with Chen and D.O when Baekhyun decided to become a soloist. She still supported him being one. Even after he released 2 albums and she had financial problems, she bought his merchandise and albums, not caring how the purchase made her financial status worsen.

You need to move on, they said.

You need to grow up, they said.

That Baekhyun guy is ruining your life, they said.

Eventually, everyone had to grow up. And Hyejin wasn't an exception.

Hyejin got into a relationship. She built a family and had three children.

And she left the life of a fangirl and began the life of a wife and mother.

She looked through all the merchandises and albums that she kept, remembering when she arranged those merchandises, albums and posters into the box as she cried her eyes out, unwilling to move on from her fangirl life.

Thanks for giving me so much memories, but I have to grow up. I have to move on.

And she did, eventually. It was hard for her, deleting all those pictures of Baekhyun and EXO, changing her lock and home screen to a simpler one instead of Baekhyun's picture, leaving her fangirl life, and leaving Baekhyun.

However, it seemed like time pitied her and eased the pain.

Now, the pain began getting into her as she flipped the next page of the newspaper.

"SM Entertainment's most glorified soloist, Byun Baekhyun passed away due to a sudden attack of epiglottitis."

SEOUL: The 35-year-old soloist has been diagnosed with epiglottitis several years back, but it was nothing serious until the 4th of June, the 2nd day of his 'Eternity' concert, when his voice suddenly became extremely hoarse when he sang his one-month-old song, Inner State of Mind. He had to be admitted into the hospital due to his very frequent abnormal breathing sounds and difficulty breathing. His fans were extremely disappointed as the concert had to be cancelled, but all they could do is to pray for Baekhyun's safety and health. He passed away on the 14th of March, 2026, when he was having his dinner when he had difficulty swallowing all of a sudden, causing him to have very severe breathing difficulty and he soon passed. The trend #GoodbyeBaekkie and #StayStrongDiamonds were trending 1# on Twitter worldwide for over a day already. His family was too sad to say anything. "We pray for his peace up there. Earth lost an amazing person, but heaven gained an angel." -Park Chanyeol, ex-member of EXO and Baekhyun's best friend."

-----

"Umma! Umma, why are you crying?"

Hyejin's youngest daughter, Eunbyul's question and her arm pulling brought Hyejin back to reality. She realized that she had been sitting down in front of her big box for over 4 hours, crying unstoppably and reading the news over and over again to the point that she could memorize what was been written.

"N-nothing, Byul. I'll wash up for a minute, then we'll go to the kitchen and we'll prepare our lunch together, alright?"

"Alright, umma! I'll wait for you at the kitchen!"

Hyejin smiled as she watched her 6-year-old daughter skipped happily to the kitchen.

Mianhae, Baekhyun. Although I know I mean nothing but a fan to you, and you don't know I exist, I'm sorry for not being there for you when you suffered from epiglottis. I was there for you, I used to be, but I'm sorry I wasn't when you needed it. You were a big part of my memories, and you always will be. But sadly, you were some of the memories that I had to forget in order to start a new life and live on.

Although Earth lost an amazing soul who was known by the name Byun Baekhyun, the memories of him will be engraved in my heart eternally.

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We never forget. We never really forget.

Certain things ; they just stopped being our priority in life.

But they will always be in our hearts.

Forever And Always.

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A/N : Sorry for taking so long to finish this! OTL. I hope it wasn't too short. / \