In Another Summer || Mark Lee/NCT DREAM

Chapter 1. The Boy I Met Eleven Years Ago

- November 12, 2017 -

Sunday

Two days.

It's been two days since we flew from Vancouver. It's been two days since I left my gloomy and dark but otherwise comfortable room. It's been two days since we moved into this big house that my parents call home.

But for me, it was a foreign and unfamiliar space.

My parents said that this was the first house I lived in. But of course, I don't remember that because I was only two years old when we left this place to live in Mom's hometown in Canada.

"You'll be fine, kid. You're gonna like it here."

Dad had said.

"Go out and make friends. It's a fresh start for you."

Mom followed.

"Yeah... sure."

I just sighed.

They know full well that I'm not good with friends. I'm the worst at keeping a friend, let alone making one. And it's not like I'm going to stay here for long. They also know that.

I stared into the empty walls of my new room. It looked so boring with its regular white paint.

Dad said I could do anything to my room. I could decorate it to my liking, and that's what I plan to do, if I ever get used to this new place.

I just couldn't shake the thought of missing my dark blue wallpaper in my old room though, and my star-covered floor carpet that I had to leave there because it was three years old.

I haven't checked the whole place out despite officially living here for two days, so I couldn't decide yet if I like it here or not. But I couldn't deny the fact that I was getting homesick.

Might as well check out the neighborhood, I shrugged at my own thought.

I put on my dark blue parka and went downstairs.

Dad mentioned that the snow doesn't fall until December but it was already very cold outside. Not that I wasn't used to it, but I wasn't used to the fact that I'm in a different country as of the moment.

I was a whole ocean away from the place I've known as my home. I was practically on the other side of the world.

Still, I continued to give this place a chance. Maybe I'll meet some new people. I mean, of course, that's given. I'll be going to a new school and I'll meet a lot of new people.

And even though I said I'm the worst at keeping friends, I was slightly hoping that maybe, just maybe, I'll have at least one.

Yeah... sure.

I shook my head as I reached the end of the stairs, ignoring the voice in my head.

"I'm going outside for a while. I... need some air." I told my parents as I passed by them in the kitchen.

"Okay, sweetie. Be careful. Do you need money? There's a convenience store just outside the neighborhood. You might wanna buy something."