PROLOGUE

JBS Entertainment

Seoul, South Korea.

2 years ago.

PROLOGUE

It was a bright morning, the sun was pleasant, the breeze was cool and cherry blossoms were in full bloom. Traffic whizzed past without pausing to take in the beauty and so did the busy pedestrians.

At the corner of the street, a lone figure stood in front of a huge cherry blossom tree, eyes blind to everything around him. Shoulders drooping and head sunk so low that it could touch the floor, dejection was written over his head in bold, ugly red letters.

Liu Xuejun was heartbroken.

A pathetic excuse of a piece of paper was crumbled in his fist and Liu Xuejun bit his lower lip out of habit. Who even writes paper notes anymore? So old fashioned, he thought bitterly.

His thin hands trembled as he unfolded the paper, glancing at the four words he had looked at for about hundred times in the last two hours.

Thanks for till now.

Four words. Just four freaking words.

Yesterday was a blurry mess. Liu Xuejun was dragged by his supposed manager for sudden, mindless meetings at the agency he trained under. No explanations whatsoever. Everyone there was so professional that his teeth itched and it wasn't until late at night that he was allowed to go back to his dorm. But since it was late and well past the last bus, he had stayed up in a fellow trainee's room for the night.

And the next morning, Liu Xuejun went home to discover that his best friend had ran away.

It was barely six in the morning when he had rushed home, catching the earliest bus. Truth be told, he was scared of confronting his best friend but he imagined that the worst case scenario would be his friend slamming the door on his face and asking him to go die. But no matter the consequence or the decisions, Xuejun wanted to announce the news face-to-face.

What he didn't expect was to walk into an empty room. Literally.

The room that he shared with Winter Chu was half empty and from the looks of it, it was evident that the other had vacated in a hurry. The floor was an absolute mess of misplaced things but his roommate's futon was rolled in a corner, looking artificially neat and unslept.

"Ugh, so crowdy," Liu Xuejun had jokingly complaint just a few days back. And then, he had laughed. "Let's bet. Whoever scores more in the weekly evaluation gets to have the room for themselves. Ready to camp on the couch, Winter?"

But right now, he just wanted Winter to come back. More than anything.

His hands shook as he unlocked his smartphone, punching in the number he knew by heart. A shiver ran down his spine though the spring wind was non-existent. It went straight to voice message.

Liu Xuejun was heartbroken and angry.

He ran through his contacts and dialled in a number that he rarely called. The other side picked at the third ring.

"Where is he?"

Liu Xuejun had never sounded as rude as he did right now. In fact, he had never been this rude in his entire life. The person on the other side was silent for a second before they cautiously replied, voice impassive. "Xuejun, you know him."

Hot wetness threatened to explode from Liu Xuejun's eyes and though he wasn't a stereotypical macho guy who obsessed over machoism, he felt embarrassed to be crying over a guy. A midget at that. "I know him," he admitted and Liu Xuejun loathed how weak he sounded. How unlike him. Yet he continued, voice breaking. "That's why I'm scared. Say, Teacher Park Tae Joo, did he really leave?"

Park Tae Joo did not know what to reply. How does he break this to him? A moment passed, two, three and Park Tae Joo finally replied. "He did. So did I."

Liu Xuejun felt something inside him snap into a million unfixable shards and suddenly, he did not want yesterday's opportunity anymore. Not that he wanted it in the first place. Not like this anyway. So what if everyone was forcing him to speed up? Did any of this matter?

The words were out before he could compose himself but there wasn't an ounce of hesitation in them. "Take me with you."

Deafening silence filled the empty space between them and Liu Xuejun could not even hear the static of the phone. Finally, Park Tae Joo sighed softly. His voice was apologetic and gentle for once.

"I'm sorry, Xuejun. You don't fit my vision."

Everything that happened afterwards was a fuzzy mayhem for Liu Xuejun. One of the trainees came down to check up on him. Did he eat dinner? He did not know. Did he cry? Probably. Did he curse Winter Chu and Park Tae Joo, the two bastards who abandoned him? Definitely yes.

Liu Xuejun was heartbroken, angry and tired.

The same shiny corridors — stuck with ridiculously large posters of popular idol groups that belonged to the same agency— a look he had seen so many times in the last three years he spent in this place, felt alien as he trudged his sorry self along them. Not just alien. It was suffocating.

Manager Ma, one of the managers assigned for the trainees that were about to debut and who held him up yesterday, met him on his way back from the dorm. He either noticed the red rimmed eyes or simply brushed it off as lack of sleep but not a word came out of his mouth about Liu Xuejun's shabby appearance.

"There'll be a meeting this evening," the manager said, voice as business-like as it could get. "Try to look presentable," he added as an after-thought. So he did notice.

"For what?" Screw respectable speech. Xuejun was annoyed.

"How many times do I have to tell you?" the manager barked. Xuejun never really liked him and right now, his patience was thin. "This is why I ask you to keep an eye on the chatroom. It's to discuss the details of the new group."

Liu Xuejun clenched his fists. If he could, he would punch everyone who was giving him this insufferable headache. First he'd start with the mind behind this company, the CEO. Then he'd go with the team responsible for the new group, next would be Park Tae Joo and then, maybe, his parents. And lastly, it'll be Winter Chu.

Winter Chu who broke their promise. Winter Chu who should be right here congratulating him. Then crying, seething over him for breaking their promise first. Winter Chu, for whom he would do everything but did not know how to.

Winter Chu.

And finally the water works started. Right outside the agency, like a big baby, Liu Xuejun cried. It took him an hour to calm down. And another to make up his mind. His eyes skimmed over the thirty six unattended call logs and finally, he decided that he would never call this brat. Not until the debut day.

Well, if he doesn't miss him too much before that.