_alurien_
Prologue
Kim Yeonseo had never truly called Korea her home. Though it was the country of her birth, she had spent most of her life abroad - in a place where her accent blended in, where her habits made sense, and where her identity was never questioned.
But now, at seventeen, she was back in Seoul - alone, unsure, and drowning in unfamiliarity.
The language felt too fast, the classrooms too silent, and the people too distant. Her grades slipped. Her voice grew quieter. And the girl who once smiled easily found herself shrinking in the back row of a school that didn't feel like hers.
Until him.
Lee Kyungmin was the boy who never spoke unless necessary. Always sitting by the window, always a little apart from the rest - not because he was cold, but because he saw the world differently. And somehow, he saw her.
When everyone else overlooked her struggles, he offered help. When she was too embarrassed to ask questions, he quietly answered them. Slowly, without either of them realizing it, their friendship began to take root - soft and uncertain, like sunlight reaching through fog.
But time was never kind to people like them.
Because Yeonseo had always known she couldn't stay.
And Kyungmin had never imagined that one goodbye would be forever.