US.

2. JIN

I haven't planned on going to New York and attending the three-month music class. But when I read the post about it, I vividly remembered being under the bed sheets with my best friend Hobi and talking about being popular idols. It was mostly a joke but I guess the idea grew on me.

So I signed up. I asked Hobi to sign up as well but he was already bent on finishing the dance class that he started that year.

I flew to the US in March, not thinking I'd make any friends. Hobi pretty much was the only friend I had my whole life. I get along easily with people. So does Hobi, that little sunshine. But we've been tied to the hip since he was 5 and I, 7 and so other people had a hard time penetrating our bond.

When there was another Korean guy in the same class I was, I didn't think of gravitating towards him because I just really wanted to get the class over and done with then get back to my best friend and tell him all about the experience. But Namjoon had this personality that was so hard to resist.

He was the only guy I was ever able to admit looked almost as good as me. (Hobi was easy on the eyes, too; but I'd say he was more cute than handsome like me.) It must be the height and that way he confidently carried himself.

But it wasn't his looks that made me want to get to know him better. It was that thing between his ears. The moment he spoke in class, I knew he was a genius. He spoke fluent English, too.

And man, when he read the words to the first original song he wrote? I was in awe. And so I approached him and chatted him up about his creative process. We ended up talking for hours. That's how we became "Namjin," the inseparable Korean duo as our classmates teased us.

As much as I enjoyed Joonie's company, though, he had one major flaw: he is so careless! He almost always ends up hurting himself by tripping on random stuff or bumping into noticeably glass doors. Or he'd drop glasses and phones and wreck stuff unknowingly. It drove me nuts at first.

I used to tease him and scold him the way a mom scolds a kid when they break something. Then I started finding his destroyer tendencies charming. It became kind of...cute? I didn't even want to use that term because what guy uses that word to describe another guy, right? But that was the only word I found appropriate in describing Joonie's "flaw."

Slowly, every time he destroys something, he'd sheepishly look at me, hold my hand even before I tirade him for his latest mishap then we'd start laughing uncontrollably. I started living for those mishaps because I realised I liked it when we were holding hands and laughing like it was going to be the last laugh we will ever laugh.

But more than the laughters, I guess what really solidified my relationship with Joonie was the way he looked at me.

I befriended him because I thought I was going to learn a lot from him. And I did (he helped me write my very first song). But Namjoon always made me feel like he was also learning from me.

Every time I shared something -- whether it be my thoughts on this new song I was trying to pen or just some mundane funny story I remember -- he'd look at me intently (dare I say, sometimes lovingly?), as if what I have to say is the most important thing in the world.

It made me feel special.

Even before that day he told me that I was.

But we'll get to that later.

When I started hanging out with Namjoon, I remember wanting to tell Hobi about him. But a part of me felt like I was "cheating" on my best friend, which was weird because I deserved to have other friends, right? And I was pretty sure Hobi was making friends at the dance academy, too.

Even so, I held off telling my best friend -- the same friend who had been almost my world the past 14 years -- that I met someone and that someone was making me happy.

But when I returned to Korea that summer and I saw Hobi's familiar back waiting for me, I was so happy! And I knew it was time to tell him just how happy I was; how happy I still am.

I tried to communicate that happiness by giving him my "traditional" warm hug.

"Jin?" he asked, not looking back.

"HOBI! I missed you so much!" I answered.

I looked back at Joonie, smiling at my reunion with my best friend. Then I tightened my arms around Hobi, mustered enough courage, and finally told him, "I can't wait for you to finally meet the love of my life."