“I was curious. I always was.

After leaving me in the puddles he suddenly walks away.

Is he ever coming back? I was starting to believe that he wouldn’t.

The rain started falling hard again. He’s not coming back, I thought.

A boy, drenched under the rain, held his hand out to me.

It was him. Smiling at me.

Asking me to walk in the rain with him.”

- Kim Nana

Senior year was pretty much hectic than the year before that, that all of us where very much preoccupied with school work, preparing for the annual school festival, joining the intramurals, camping in the mountains and stargazing for two nights (surprisingly, Seoul High School still joined us this year), studying and taking the SAT, and of course applying to our university of choice. All of it were done in a year with the expected breaks on Saturdays and Sundays when all of us, friends, would hang out.

During the entire break before our last year in high school started, Sehun, Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, and Chen took the liberty of comforting me after Jongin flew to the US. They did their best to bring me out of my house even if I was acting like a brat because I was still upset with Jongin. And was very upset with Tao that I had kicked him on the shin for the three times I had first seen him and I had learned everything from him. Blame it on him for everything! Since then, I held a grudge on him for three whole months. The only time I forgave him was when he didn’t stop apologizing for what he did.

At the start of school year, luckily Luhan was well enough to get discharged from the hospital and was able to get back home, go out with us, and do soccer for a while. He was allowed to go back to school and his visits to the hospital got limited to check ups and lesser treatments he needed in order to fully recover. His hair started growing again and he was so happy that he actually took a picture of him since—until his hair grew longer and longer. Well, he wasn’t fully cured yet but we know he was getting there.

That year, I spent my summer break with friends for the first time. I went with the rest to Busan for a week and we enjoyed playing in the beach and watching the scenery of the sun setting down at the late afternoon. Suho was the one who paid for all our expenses since he was the one who lost when the boys played kai-bai-bo on the way there. Chanyeol, Chen, and Xiumin got in charge of cooking food. Kris and Tao were the ones who would always wash the dishes afterwards. Yixing and Luhan would always make the bonfire when we chose to spend the night outside exchanging stories. The girls and I, honestly, had the most comfortable life for that week.

Sehun, Baekhyun & Kyungsoo who were busy with college, since they were still freshmen and needed to adjust to a lot of things with university life, weren’t able to come with us for the most times we would be planning on going out of town during breaks. Sehun was a Dance major, while both Baekhyun & Kyungsoo chose Music as their major in the same university, Korea National University of the Arts.

When winter vacation came, I wasn’t really at home for the most part, since my family decided to spend our two weeks in Jeju Island after mom suggested for a different way to spend our Christmas Holidays that year. Dad actually got a promotion at the company he was working at so expenses wasn’t really a problem (his salary got an upgrade too). It was in my favor at that time too since I was dying to have a breath of fresh air after the events that started from June until that last month of the year.

Getting back to school, tons of homework and projects were immediately dropped to us by our merciless teachers like a bomb. Along with the pressure of knowing whether we passed in the university of our choice, there was that pressure of whether we will be in the graduating list. So, for our last days in high school it was really hell. We stayed up late at night for the most part, studied like zombies, prayed to the gods hard just so we could finally pass everything successfully.

Tao & Chanyeol were still a problematic case—that was why we took turns in tutoring them for the last semester. Chen was a faster learner than the two idiots, that’s why even during the first semester he was quickly out of the probation list for graduating students. Still, at the end of the school year all of them managed to graduate.

On the other hand, at the release of our final ranking, Suho ended up 1st in rank and so he was declared valedictorian of our batch. Luhan was still ranked 3rd despite his absences (well, blame it on his awesome brain). Yixing was placed 7th. Xiumin & Kris were placed in the 20s. Maeri was a kicking smart for landing 2nd place. Hani wasn’t really a studious case so she was satisfied she ranked in the 20s too. While I was ranked 6th in our year (I honestly, didn’t expect that coming though.)

Senior year probably was one of the most unforgettable chapters in our lives since so much things happened to all of us. There were so much change that took place, noticeable or not. We made more friends and knew more people along the way. School was probably like a stage where we evolved from a blossoming bud to a beautiful flower that was full with promises and dreams.

We may have done things that were not right along the way, but they are things we learned not to feel regret for. Because regret is only for people who chooses to live in the ‘what ifs’ and the ‘how I wish’. And I think, we all learned not to be one. Maybe, at some point we did regret. But we learned to move on from that. So, instead of drowning in regret, we lived in righting our wrongs and succumbing to happiness. True happiness.

In the end, all of us passed our entrance exams for our chosen universities. Our hard work paid off and our endless nights praying took its worth.

Suho managed to pass for Seoul National University with flying colors. Along with Xiumin who got to the same university, both of them were to major in Business Administration.

Luhan applied for many universities since most of them invited him for his outstanding academic records and good performance in playing soccer as the team captain of our old school. In the end, he chose Yonsei University over the others. He picked Performing Arts as his major, and was invited to play for the official soccer team of the university that will compete with other well-known universities nationally.

The rest of us enrolled to the same university as Baekhyun, Sehun & Kyungsoo since they actually insisted me into pursuing my passion for music for some reason. But I wasn’t really willing to attend KNUA if the others wouldn’t be attending with me—so the three idiots did their best to make them agree. I don’t really know what method those three used to convince the others, but they actually managed to make them decide attending the same university after all. In return, I had no choice but to succumb to our conditions though it was so weird for them to try so hard to make me surrender like that. Really weird.

Kris and Tao decided majoring in Acting since they wanted to try something new as they had said. Those two started getting along well since their playful nature just clicked. They were the ones who would drop playful tricks most of the time, so almost every day all of us were always on the verge of wanting to strangle them to death.

Hani and Maeri were more of a dancer, so they chose Dance as their major. Sehun was the one who convinced them into joining him, and I’m still clueless how he did it since Hani was still undecided in the beginning, while Maeri never had it in mind to take this major even before because she always tells that ‘dancing was just her hobby’.

Chen was a singer at heart, so he joined Baekhyun & Kyungsoo as a Music major. All of us are actually in the Music Department of the university, but Chanyeol, Yixing and I chose to major in Music Composition since we’re really more of the type of people behind every song. The one making the melody. The one writing the lyrics. The one who makes music in general.

Our first day in university will just start today. As a freshman, it still feels surreal how we’re now stepping inside a bigger world, how we should be more responsible, and how we’re now taking college in preparation for our future careers. Last time I checked, we’re just still kids fooling around even in high school, even though we should have matured by then. Perhaps now we’re all just still a child at heart. Maybe yes, maybe not. I don’t really know. But all I am sure is that we will all surely miss the times we were just kids because those times were the times when problems were just as simple as crying because we’re hungry, wanted to pee and poo, or because we wanted a toy we saw from a store. Those were golden times.

Advancing to a vaster world seems a little bit scary but exciting at the same time. Because it’s the time when we would meet a lot more people, it’s the time when we would have to be more independent, it’s the time when we should see who will be the people who would choose to exit or stay in our lives, it’s the time we would often find ourselves planning more for the future. And just like that I’ve actually had days thinking of the future. Not that I’m excited or anything for what’s in store for me 10 or 20 years from now. It’s just that I’m the typical curious person who would think like anybody else.

With that being said, I still choose to live in the present, cherishing the happy and sad moments with all the people who decided to stick with me.

So, I know I’ve recounted everything that had happened to us for the past year. But I also know those were not the things everyone was probably expecting from me to tell. I know. I just know.

The number one question of the century would probably still be—where was Kim Jongin all this time?

Bull’s-eye. I know most people would be probably more interested to hear about what happened to him? What happened to us? Did he really leave? For how long? Did he still come back?

Well, a week after Kim Jongin left, Sehun & Kyungsoo actually dragged Tao in front of me, and asked him to confess to me what he did. They said he was to be blamed for everything. They said he was the evil idiotic maste