WITH GRACE.

EPILOGUE

───────────────────three years later

"noona! congratulations!"

"congratulations, eunhye-ah!"

"wow wow wow!"

a chorus of congratulatory messages greeted me the moment i entered our apartment.

right, i forgot to say ㅡ i finally graduated!

the past three years of college have become significantly bearable with my friends (the crew, of course), my brother, my cousin, and sunghoon. i had people who i could rely on and who were there to cheer me up in stressful times. heeseung oppa graduated a year ago and is now working and earning stably. jay, jake and sunghoon still have one more year in college being under a five-year program, except jake who halted for a year in order to graduate together with the other two. indeed, their friendship was as thick as blood. the younger ones, on the other hand, are now in college. jungwon is a second year chemical engineering student, dongkyu pursued applied physics, while ni-ki and taki both studied electrical engineering.

the orphanage had also earned a stable financial assistance. the kids who we were able to carry easily had now became adorable grade-schoolers, except liho who was still in pre-school. over the years, the orphanage earned extra helping hands through the other crew members.

i had left my part-time job at i&credible when i got into my third year. i wanted to prioritize my studies because the curricula had become tougher in that year. my coworkers felt sad seeing me go, but they cheered me on and told me to come visit the shop anytime.

dongkyu and jungwon each held a chocolate cake in their hands. behind them stood the other crew members i grew close with ㅡ jake, jay, heeseung oppa, k oppa, taki and ni-ki.  some held balloons while the others held the now empty party poopers.

"so that's why you weren't there when i expected you to come at the ceremony," i pouted at them.

"the important thing is that we were able to surprise you," k oppa responded.

"honestly, i wasn't really that surprised. i could clearly hear jake from outside," i chuckled.

all of them turned to shot jake a gaze.

"uh... sorry?"

"jake, you really suck at these things,"

"right. he gets too hyped,"

"too hyped to not keep a secret for long,"

"we can't trust jake with these things anymore,"

"hey! the slanderㅡ"

"you kind of deserve it, hyung,"

"are you forgetting the fact that i am the great mind behind all the surprises? ungrateful humans,"

"we appreciate that great mind of yours, jake. it's just that, you either spill the plan or you make us wear or do embarassing things,"

"iㅡ"

i chuckled.

"oh. has anyone seen pororo? he was literally just with me a moment ago,"