Hello, parents, teachers and fellow classmates…

 

“No. That sounds too formal.”

 

Hey everyone!

 

“No that’s not formal enough!”

 

Kyungsoo sighed and ran his hand through his hair. Writing his valedictorian speech was harder than he anticipated and he wished he had chosen to start his speech a little earlier than the day before Graduation.

Kyungsoo sat back in his chair and scanned his room. His eyes landed on a large white envelope sitting under a pile of books on the ground. Kyungsoo got up, picked up the envelope and opened it.

 

    Dear Mr. Do,

After reviewing your application we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Harvard University.

 

Kyungsoo had read the first line of this letter thousands of times, and quite frankly the lines had been haunting him ever since he got the letter. Kyungsoo had applied to Harvard because his parents and teachers wanted him to do so. He didn’t think he would get in. In fact he had already made plans to go to a local college with Tai. So when Kyungsoo got his Harvard acceptance letter, one only could imagine how shocked and confused he was.

 

Kyungsoo was thrilled he got into Harvard, but he didn’t want to go. Going to Harvard meant that he would be away from Tai, which was the last thing Kyungsoo wanted. The two friends had always planned to go off to college together, and Tai was on track for going to Harvard too, until she started missing school and her grades slipped. Kyungsoo felt that being with his friend and keeping his word was more important than going to any Ivy-League school and because of this, Kyungsoo chose to keep his Harvard acceptance to himself. Kyungsoo knew that if he told his parents or Tai that they would all try convince him to go and Kyungsoo didn’t want anyone trying to change his mind. He had made his decision and  that was that.

 

Kyungsoo sighed and put the letter back in the envelope, he took the envelope and shoved it in a box in the back of his closet. He sat back down at his desk and turned his attention back to his speech. He was just about to start writing again when he heard a soft knock at the door.

“Come in!” Kyungsoo called over his shoulder.

“How’s the speech going?” Kyungsoo heard Tai ask.

“Terrible…” he answered.

Tai laughed and walked over to Kyungsoo’s desk. “It can’t be that bad.” Tai replied.

“Tai I haven’t even written the first sentence.” Kyungsoo responded. Tai put her hand on Kyungsoo’s shoulder, “Don’t worry Soo, it’s gonna be great.” she said reassuringly.

Kyungsoo smiled and looked at Tai, “Thanks Tai, I needed that.” Tai smiled “No problem, I’m always here to help.” she replied as she sat down on Kyungsoo’s bed.

Kyungsoo went back to writing his speech and Tai sat on the bed flipping through a magazine.

Kyungsoo was halfway through his speech when he remembered something he had been meaning to ask Tai all day.

 

“Hey are you sure you’ll be okay tomorrow?”

 

Tai looked up from the magazine,

 

“What do you mean?” she asked.

 

“Well, you haven’t been back to school since… you know and....” Kyungsoo’s voice trailed off.

 

Tai sighed and closed the magazine, “Yeah I’ll be okay. I can’t keep hiding forever.” she answered. “Are you sure? It’s okay if don’t want to. I can just go and make my speech and  leave then we can hang here or-”

 

“Kyungsoo…”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Stop worrying okay? I’m not a little kid anymore, I can handle 90 minutes in a high school.” Tai responded.

Kyungsoo sighed and muttered an okay before going back to work. A few hours later Kyungsoo finished the last sentence to his speech.

 

“Finished!” Kyungsoo let out a sigh of relief, “Hey Tai you want to hea-” Kyungsoo stopped talking when he turned around to see Tai sleeping peacefully on his bed. Kyungsoo glanced at his clock, it was almost 1am.

 

“Guess I took longer than expected.” Kyungsoo said to himself.

 

He walked over to his bed and looked at Tai, she was still, and the only sign that she was even alive was the motion of her shoulder moving up and down indicating that she was breathing. Her hair was covering part of her face, Kyungsoo smiled and carefully moved the curls away from her face. Kyungsoo stared at Tai for a while, she was beautiful in his eyes. The prettiest girl he had ever seen, and there wasn’t day he wasn’t captivated by her beauty. Tai would often catch Kyungsoo staring at her for long periods of time.

“What is it?” she would ask

Kyungsoo would jump and make up some excuse about why he was staring and then he would try his best not to stare again.

 

Kyungsoo pulled the blanket from the end of his bed and covered Tai. Kyungsoo then climbed into bed next her. Tai stirred but was soon peaceful again. Kyungsoo kissed her forehead and whispered “goodnight” before turning over and falling asleep.

 

                                                              ☆☆☆

“Kyungsoo Do.” The principal called Kyungsoo’s name. Kyungsoo made his way onto to the stage and shook hands with his principal and took his diploma. He smiled and scanned the applauding crowd. His eyes landed and his family and Tai. They were all cheering and clapping. Kyungsoo smiled and waved them before taking his seat.

 

After the ceremony was over, Kyungsoo met his family outside. They took pictures and Kyungsoo’s peers congratulated him. Kyungsoo turned his attention Tai, she was smiling and looked happy, but Kyungsoo could tell she wasn’t 100% comfortable being there. Kyungsoo politely and quickly bid his peers farewell and left with his parents and Tai.

 

The summer before heading off to college was hands down the best summer the two friends had ever had. They spent all their time together doing all the crazy things they had always wanted to do, and when Fall rolled around they had no regrets.

 

Tai and Kyungsoo both enrolled in a local university and planned to stay on campus. This is where they ran into a small problem. Girls and boys were not allowed to room together in the dormitories so Tai and Kyungsoo were assigned roommates. Kyungsoo ended rooming with a football player and Tai was paired with a Design Major.

 

Despite Kyungsoo’s worries Tai and her roommate hit it off and they became good friends. They even ended up living together for the rest of college.

College years were fun for the friends, they partied hard and studied harder and both of them ended up graduating with honors. Kyungsoo applied to Harvard’s Business School and was accepted. Tai decided she wasn’t ready graduate school and got a job teaching at an Elementary school near Harvard.

 

After graduation, Tai and Kyungsoo moved to Boston together, and they shared a small apartment near the Campus. Things were going great. Tai loved teaching and Kyungsoo had even landed himself a job at a respected company in town.

 

Kyungsoo started at the bottom and worked tirelessly to get a promotion. When he wasn't at school, he was at work slaving away over mound of financial reports and contracts.

 

One day, Kyungsoo was behind on his paperwork, and he was late for his  2:00 class.  Kyungsoo finished the last bit a paper work and made a dash for his bosses office to turn in the papers. Kyungsoo wasn’t looking where he was going and this caused him to bump into a stranger and hit the ground, papers flying everywhere. Kyungsoo quickly jumped forward and started gathering up his papers while muttering apologies to the stranger. The stranger bent down and helped Kyungsoo.

 

“What’s the rush?” the stranger asked.

“I’m running behind and I have a class to get to.” Kyungsoo answered.

“Harvard student?” the stranger asked, Kyungsoo nodded.

 

The stranger picked up the last paper and handed it to Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo stood up and said thank you to the man. The man stood up and Kyungsoo got a good look at him.

He was tall and lean with tan skin and and dark brown hair. He was extremely handsome. Kyungsoo was positive he was a model or something.

 

The man smiled a perfect smile at Kyungsoo and stretched out his hand. Kyungsoo took the man’s hand firmly shook it.

 

Kyungsoo thought he was just being friendly and showing gratitude to a man who had helped him, little did he know that this man would be the cause of his and Tai’s peaceful life becoming a living hell.