Distance || ‎鹿晗

.one.

.one. 

Yena invited Lu Han into her dorm after looking both ways down the hall and making sure that no one would see them. The school she had chosen for her study abroad program was very strict and did not allow boys in the girls' dorms. They were strict to the point where security guards went around the dorms after curfew, to make sure that there were no stowaway guests spending the night. Still, Yena wouldn't have thought to let Lu Han sleep in her dorm. For one it was small and barely enough space for two people. Then there was the fact that she had a room mate, and she didn't want to have Julia feel uncomfortable with someone else sleeping in their dorm.

He walked inside and she closed the door behind him. The dorms of the university were very much similar to the SM Dorms back in Korea, only the dorms for the idols were a bit bigger than the ones at the university. They had two beds--one for Yena and one for Julia--two dressers, and two desks to do their homework at. 

The layout of the rooms was even very similar and at times when Yena woke up in the mornings, she'd walk out into the hallway and expect to see the EXO boys strutting down the hallway sleepily in their boxers or pajamas towards the lounge where breakfast was always served warm for them. She's momentarily think that it was Lu Han in the other bed, and not Julia.

Lu Han took a look around her room and commented the very same thing, letting her know that she wasn't the only one who noticed the similarities. "This place brings back old memories." He told her with a sigh in Mandarin, shoulders hunched slightly as he tried to shield himself from the memories. Since they were both no longer in Korea--and bother no longer part of SM Entertainment--they had no use for the foreign language anymore. "Everything about this room is eerily similar to the SM dorms. There's even a bulletin board by your door and a lounge room down the hall."

When he was looking for Yena, he had wandered around the building for a good hour before he saw the room with the name Yena tacked to the bulletin board. People stared at him as they passed him, but most just thought he was just another one of the exchange students trying to find his way back to his dorm. A few people stopped to try to help him, but he said he could manage on his own. He didn't want people knowing that he was looking for Yena because they might know her and they might tell her, and he was trying to surprise her.

Yena nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah. These dorms are so similar that sometimes--for a brief instant--I feel like I'm back in Korea. Like I'll see Baek oppa yelling at the television while playing video games in the lounge, or hear Chanyeol oppa practicing the piano in his room, Jongdae-ssi yelling at the top of his lungs for no reason, or Kyungsoo cooking a meal for everyone. I miss them."

Lu Han heaved a sad sigh, letting the memories flood into his mind. "I miss them too. I almost decided not to leave SM for them. I remembered that they forced us all to cut ties with Yifan after he departed, and I knew they would do the same to me. I didn't want to lose contact with my brothers because I promised them. I promised I'd always be there for them, and I ended up failing them." And they did cut ties with him publicly. Soon after Lu Han left the group, there had been articles posted in kpop gossip websites that the other EXO members had unfollowed Lu Han on social media. There were rumors of bad blood between Lu Han and the remaining members. But only they knew the truth.

They still kept in contact secretly. They all understood his reasons for leaving and they supported him. And he understood their reasons for cutting ties with him publicly. It hadn't been their doing, but they had been forced by their company.

"You made the choice that was best for you, Hannie." She told him with a smile, trying to encourage him.

Lu Han cracked a smile of his own and thanked her with a nod of his head. As he drank in her appearance--he hadn't seen her in almost two months, but those two months felt like ages to him--he spotted the necklace he gave her, hanging from her neck. He reached out to grab the pendant in his hand. Gesturing to it, he smiled a bigger smile now. "You actually wear this. I wasn't sure if you would like it or not. Your brother Tao helped me pick it out."