Chapter 37

"Goodbye"

"And now, the last thing I want to say as the principal, is to wish you young people good luck in the future lying right ahead of you. Thank you." The gym room filled with applause while the principal walked down from the stage and slowly, people started moving around, talking to their classmates, hugging each other goodbye and going out to celebrate.

"We did it, guys," said Soobin after finding his way to the rest of gang.

"We sure did," said Yeonjun and put his arm around Soobin and Taehyun who was standing next to him, "I can't believe we all just graduated High School."

"It's a wonder none of us failed," said Kai and laughed.

"I just can't believe how you maintained your grades this last half a year, Yeonjun," said Beomgyu, "have you even been able to sleep?"

"Not really, so I am so happy it is finally over," said Yeonjun, looking relieved.

"We should celebrate," said Kai and clapped his hands together, "this is a big day for us."

"Yeah, maybe-" Taehyun was interrupted when he felt a hand on his shoulder and when he turned around Yoo Jin was standing behind him.

"Noona," said Taehyun surprised.

"I am sorry to disturb you," said Yoo Jin with a smile while all the boys stared at her, "I just wanted to talk to Taehyun."

"No!" said Yeonjun firmly, "no, not today!"

"W… what?" said Yoo Jin confused.

"Yeonjun is right," said Kai and swung his arm around Taehyun, "this boy is ours today. You can have him another day."

"But I just wanted-"

"That will have to wait," said Yeonjun, "come on Taehyun, let's go." While the boys started walking away, dragging Taehyun with them, he managed to turn his face and mouth an "I will find you later," before Yoo Jin was completely out of sight.

After leaving the school grounds, the five boys continued their journey, walking through the streets, until they finally reached the one and only restaurant in town. The owner was Soobin's father's cousin, one whose family had lived in the town for generations. This was probably also the only reason, the restaurant had been able to survive the mass murder of every other restaurant and bar in the town. Even Taehyun, with his only 18 years of life, could remember a few other restaurant he went to with his parents when he was younger. He never understood as a child, why those restaurants had to close, but after growing up and seeing more and more people leave, going to the bigger cities to pursue their dreams, he understood the cause of the problem.

He wasn't much better himself. After seeing the other young people leaving behind a perfectly good town, he would now follow those footsteps as well. He wondered if he would come back in a few years and find this restaurant to be closed as well. If he did, would he be the one to blame?

A sigh left Taehyun's mouth while the endless stream of negative thoughts went through his mind, and Yeonjun looked up, whereafter he swallowed his food.

"Don't look so depressed," said Yeonjun and went for another piece of meat from the shared barbecue. "You can see Noona later, can't you just enjoy our last night out together as High School students?" Taehyun looked at Yeonjun in confusion, until he realized the misunderstanding between the two.

"Did I look that gloomy?" asked Taehyun and looked around the table where the rest of the boys nodded their heads in union. "I am sorry, I was just thinking… NOT about Noona, though!" Yeonjun raised his hands in defeat, looking like he didn't really believe it.

"What were you thinking about?" asked Kai, trying to change the subject from Yoo Jin.

"Just… how much everything will change now," said Taehyun and poked to the piece of meat on his table, "who knows where we will end up after this. And who knows what will happen to this town after we leave? Maybe even this restaurant will close at some point, I mean, people keep leaving small towns like this one."

"Speak for yourself, I am not going anywhere," said Soobin while he was happily stuffing his face, "and neither is this restaurant. I don't think Lee Mi Gyeong has any intention of letting this restaurant die down."

"I know Mrs. Lee works really hard to keep this restaurant going, but what good will it do if there are no costumers?" Taehyun spread his arms, gesturing for the boys to look around and see the many empty tables around them.

"You see?" asked Taehyun when the boys turned their eyes back to him, "even though you are staying here, Soobin, that doesn't mean most people will do so. Living in a small port town like this one, isn't attractive to young people."

"And?" interrupted Yeonjun, "we have no responsibility to keep this town growing and moving? I have dreams of my own, and I think that counts for most people. Should we give all that up to stay here?"

"No, that is not what I am saying!" said Taehyun firmly.

"Then what are you saying?" asked Yeonjun, getting more and more annoyed.

"It is just… sad…" said Taehyun, "everytime I thought about moving to Seoul to go to University, I imagined myself coming back here on vacation and I always thought the town would be exactly as I left it. But it suddenly occurred to me, that things will change here too." 

It turned quiet at the table and the boys all stared at their empty plates while the sound of meat frying on the barbecue was the only thing audible.

"What is going here? Why is the atmosphere so dark?" The boys looked up and saw Mi Gyeong standing in front of their table, holding another plate of raw meat in her hand.

"I thought you guys just graduated, why aren't you celebrating?" asked Mi Gyeong.

"Taehyun made us all depressed, saying everything will change now," said Yeonjun, making Taehyun feel bad about his statements before.

"What are young boys like you doing thinking about depressing stuff like that?" said Mi Gyeong with a sigh, "of course things will change, that is the circle of life. But you shouldn't be focusing on the things that will be left behind in the past, you should think about the things waiting for you in the future."

"But what if the things in the past were things that meant a lot to you?" asked Taehyun, looking at the lady in front of him.

"Then you can be happy, knowing those things will always be with you as a good memory," said Mi Gyeong, "of course only until you turn old and senile." Mi Gyeong suddenly burst out laughing from her own joke, and her loud, heartfelt laughter, brought out the same heartfelt laughter from each other the boys around the table.

"See, you should be having fun on a day like this," said Mi Gyeong after the laughter died down a little, "now, the next time I pass by your table, I only want to see smiles and hear laughter."

"Yes ma'am," said Taehyun and put on his best smile.

"She is right, really," said Beomgyu when Mi Gyeong had left the table again, "if we should talk about something, it should be about all the things we are excited for in the future, not all the things we leave behind."

"Yeah, I am sorry for being so negative," said Taehyun, "but now it is out of my system, so I am ready to have fun!"

All the boys let out a cheer of happiness, whereafter they started cooking the raw meet Mi Gyeong had left behind, while eating the meat that was already cooked.

Looking around the table where 4 happy faces were gathered, Taehyun also found a smile appearing on his own face. He suddenly felt silly for worrying about the things he would leave behind, because the things that really mattered were all sitting next to him right now and for some reason, he knew that no matter where he went in this world, these 4 people would always be there for him if he needed it.

"Hey guys," said Taehyun, "thank you for being my friends all this time."

"Wow, you really are sentimental today," said Yeonjun, trying to ignore the awkward comment from Taehyun.

"But I mean it," said Taehyun, not allowing Yeonjun to brush this off, "all those years, all the way from Primary school to Middle school, all the way to our graduation from High School. Those years wouldn't have been half as fun without you guys by my side."

"It is the same for us," said Kai with a smile, "thank you for being our friend."

"Let us not forget each other, just because we go our separate ways," said Soobin.

"We could always have a yearly meet-up, back here in the port town where we grew up," said Beomgyu and everyone nodded eagerly to his idea. 

"That makes it easy for me," said Soobin, making everyone laughed.

"It is just nice to come back here," said Beomgyu, "like Taehyun said, I will also miss this town where I grew up."

"Me too," said Kai.

"I guess I will too, even if I try to deny it," said Yeonjun.

"Then it is settled," said Taehyun, "we will meet up here again in a year from now. Soobin, make sure this restaurant doesn't close down!"

"Will do," said Soobin and put his hand on his heart.

***

"You didn't have to follow me home," said Yeonjun when they reached his house and Taehyun was still following behind him.

"Actually, I just wanted to talk to Noona before I go home," said Taehyun and watched as Yeonjun rolled his eyes.

"I will call her out for you," said Yeonjun and disappeared inside. 

While waiting outside, Taehyun looked up at the sky where the sun was slowly starting to set, painting the sky like a canvas, filled with red and yellow colors. It felt surreal that the last day of his High School life was coming to an end. Was he even ready for the future? For the adult life? In some sense, it didn't really matter if he was ready or not. Time would move by anyway and all he could do was move along with it.

"Taehyun," said Yoo Jin after walking up to the young boy standing outside their house, "why are you standing out here, you could come inside?"

"No, it is getting late, I don't want to intrude," said Taehyun, "besides, I should go home to my parents. I think they want to celebrate my graduation too."

"I understand," said Yoo Jin, "you didn't have to come all the way here, all I wanted earlier at the school, was to congratulate you, but Yeonjun dragged you away before I could finish my sentence."

"Ah, was that it?" said Taehyun and rubbed his neck nervously.

"That, and to tell you to make sure you don't get swooned by all the cute girls you will meet when you start University," said Yoo Jin with a chuckle. "No seriously, I will kill both you and the girl if anything happens."

"You don't have to worry about me," said Taehyun, "in fact, I should be the one to worry. You are still a substitute teacher at my school and next year, I won't be there to shield you from all the boys."

"I can take care of myself, besides, nobody could be as cute as you!" said Yoo Jin and watched Taehyun's cheeks get red.

"I am not cute," argued Taehyun. 

"I disagree," said Yoo Jin, "but we can discuss that later, you should get home to your parents, they are probably waiting."

"You are right, let us make some plans during the summer holidays," said Taehyun.

"Deal," said Yoo Jin while waving goodbye to Taehyun.

Everyone is growing up so fast, thought Yoo Jin while walking inside the house again, I need to pull myself together if I don't want to be left behind.

Hello everyone!

Taehyun finally graduated High School and is taking the first step towards his future goals. Change can be scary, but the good thing is, we can always look back at the old days with a warm feeling in our stomach.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please consider leaving a comment before you move on. Take care and stay safe.

Love, Annalise~