Coming Home

ten.

[21st JULY. 2019]

Your graduation day is finally here.

You made it to the end, just like you wanted to. It was tough, but all that hard work has finally paid off, with a tremendous amount of support from the people around you.

You're happy that you're graduating with a degree that you love. But you missed your parents so much, especially on this occasion. You wished that your parents were still here to witness one of your most significant achievements in life, but you knew that your parents would be so proud of you.

For your graduation, you wore a dress that your parents loved when you tried it on in a store one day, pairing it with a set of gold earrings that your mum used to wear and a ring your dad used to wear.

You remember saying that this was the dress you would wear at graduation, even though it was around a year away. At that time, you didn't even know whether you'd be able to pass your exams or not. But, you made a promise that you would try as hard as you could.

Now that university is finally over, you have a few things to look forward to soon.

You were going to take some time off and travel around Japan, which is where you've always wanted to go. Find a job in the career that you've always wanted to work in.

And the most exciting thing of all, Jaehyun is moving back to Seoul sometime next month.

He told you on the phone 2 months ago that he was looking forward to moving back in August. It was something you always looked forward to, and it was a little something that helped you keep going through the hard times. You were looking forward to having your best friend back in the flesh.

You were glad that Jaehyun's parents and your friends were here. Though Jaehyun graduated a few weeks earlier, unfortunately, he couldn't make it to yours even though he promised he would because of some important issues he had to deal with, which meant he couldn't leave the country even if he wanted to. He never told you what it was, but it seemed urgent, so you didn't question him further. He did say he would tell you another day.

You were disappointed of course, because it was one of the biggest days of your life, but you knew that Jaehyun would never have missed it. You promised to send him pictures and videos of the event later on.

—

After the ceremony, your friends and Jaehyun's parents took many pictures with you. You even managed to get some professional photos taken before your friends had to leave. Jaehyun's parents stuck around with you until you were ready to head home, as they didn't have any plans for the rest of the day.

"I can't wait to see Jaehyun. He's coming back soon, right?" asked his parents as you were sending him pictures and videos from earlier. You look up from your phone and at his parents as they didn't respond to you. You noticed they had slight somber expressions.

You laugh nervously. "What? Did something happen?"

Jaehyun's parents looked at each other, wondering if they should tell you now, but they didn't want to lie to you.

"Sweetie, did he not tell you?" his mum said.

"Tell me what?"

You found out that Jaehyun may not be coming back.