Shadow’s POV 

           I found Krystal again.

           Or she found me. I really don’t know how all this happened, all I know is that I’m Krystal’s shadow again. 

           She isn’t the exact same little girl I used to follow around, but I have no doubt that it’s her. It is only Krystal who makes it so easy for me to mirror her movements, only Krystal who makes it so easy for me to figure out what she’s thinking. Everything seems to be telling me that this is where I’m meant to be, that this is what I’m meant to do.

            Everything except for my heart.

            It keeps pulling me back to him. He’s like the missing puzzle piece I need to complete my picture with. Without him, I can’t even be happy that I’ve found the girl that I’ve been missing for so long. I can’t be happy that I’m her shadow again. I can’t be happy that things have gone back to normal.

            How I wish life didn’t have to be a constant tug-of-war between loss and gain. I wish I didn’t have to feel like I’ve missed her too much to leave now, but I love him too much to stay.

Narrator’s POV 

            Kyungsoo’s shadow looks around at his new surroundings. He’s outside, under the dark shadow of leaves and right under the watchful wake of the stars twinkling right above him.

            He’s finally fulfilled the promise of coming back to be Kyungsoo’s shadow, and he should be happy.

            But he can’t shake the sharp pain of missing someone too much when the thought of Krystal enters his head.

Kyungsoo’s POV 

            I wake up and she’s gone. Nowhere to be found. I pace all around the house, looking for her, but the only thing I stumble across is her silver bracelet, just lying on the grass.

            The next thing I do is to check under the light, to see if I’m missing my shadow, but to my surprise, my shadow is right there. Maybe today was an unusual case. Maybe she just returned to being my shadow a little earlier than usual. However, after a few days of waiting, I know this is not the case because she doesn’t return back to Krystal form. My shadow stays as my shadow, without unusual movement, without sound, without her voice.

            Did she leave? It makes no sense to me. Why would she? She had no reason to. Did someone make her leave? Who would? I have no answers to my own questions and that frustrates me even more.

            As the days drag on, my denial that she’s gone starts to wear off and I instantly wish it didn’t, because all of the sudden, all the emotions come rushing at me. Worry, anxiety, loneliness, heartbreak, the pain of missing someone, it all hits me at once.

            As much as I wish sleep would come to take away my pain just for a while, it doesn’t, because all I can think about is her. Wondering where she is, what she’s doing, where she could have gone. It feels far too similar to when I lost Krystal as a young boy.

            The next few days at school, I arrive with crumpled clothes and dark eye circles under my eyes. I carry a cloud everywhere I walk, and nothing can chase it away. Trust me, my friends tried. Tao took me to the movies, but nothing happening on the screen registered in my head. Lay cooked my favourite food for me, but I had no appetite because the only thing I felt like eating was the spaghetti only she could make. Chen told me cheesy jokes, but I couldn’t find it in myself to laugh. Sehun and Luna questioned me for hours, asking me what was wrong, but I wouldn’t tell them, because saying it out loud would only make matters worse.

            I zone out every time I walk to and from school, but for some weird reason, today I actually stop to look at the announcement board right outside the school. One poster stands out from the rest and I find myself reading the words, soundlessly forming the words with my mouth.

            SM Entertainment Auditions.

             The first part of the audition process was a blur for me. Walking into rooms, signing this and that, answering a few questions. I only come to my senses as a group of us stand in front of the judges. I look around and notice we all have the blue coloured tags that label us as singers.

            One of the judges, an extremely skinny woman with kind brown eyes reads off a card in a slightly high voice, “We’ll be starting with those singing Goodbye Summer.” She nods to signal that the music should start playing.

As the instrumental music for Goodbye Summer starts, I begin to sing, but to my utter surprise, another voice joins me. I almost stop singing all together as the familiarity of the voice hits me, but I brush it off.

            You just miss her too much, Kyungsoo. That’s all.

            Whoever it is who’s singing, I can’t deny the fact that we harmonize well together. It seems like we practiced this all along, when it is all just a coincidence that we chose the same song.

            I should’ve known that coincidence doesn’t exist.

            When we finish the song, we both peer around curiously to the other side of the room to see whom we had each sung the duet with. My eyes grow wide and hers do the same.

            It’s her. She has grown taller, her hair is longer now, her face has lost its baby fat, but I recognize her all the same.

            There is nowhere I wouldn’t recognize her.

            Krystal. 

I'M SO SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED FOR OVER A MONTH! FORGIVE ME T.T I had a very annoying case of writer's block but since it was Christmas today, I decided to finally overcome it and give you guys a chapter. So here it is! I hope you guys like it and thank you so much for sticking with me ! LOVE YOU ALL AND A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE! :D God Bless You.