Chapter 1: Oceans Apart
"Some people leave with a goodbye. Others leave with silence.But the loudest departure is the one you never saw coming."
I always thought growing up next door to your soulmate was something out of a drama.Turns out, sometimes it is a drama. The kind with a really cruel plot twist.
My name's Kang Hae-won, and I grew up in Busan, South Korea, on a quiet street lined with cherry blossom trees and nosy ajummas. Our house was the third one on the left, and right next to it—separated only by a low wooden fence and our shared laundry line—lived the Jeons.
That house held more memories than my own diary.And that house had him—Jeon Jungkook.
We were inseparable.From the moment we both learned to walk (and run away from bath time), we were each other's shadows. Kindergarten? Together. Elementary school? Partners in every three-legged race. Middle school? Co-owners of the "Snack Heist Club" during lunch breaks.
Our families thought it was cute."You two should just get married already," the moms would say while gossiping over kimchi making.Back then, I'd blush and hide behind my pigtails.Now? I'd probably just laugh... or cry. Depends on the day.
Jungkook was two years older, but he never acted like I was younger.We grew up like twin stars orbiting the same sky—always spinning in the same direction.
Until we weren't.
It happened slowly. The little changes.He stopped sharing songs with me.Stopped calling me "Wonie" like he used to.Stopped looking at me with those mischievous eyes that once said, "Let's get into trouble together."
I noticed the shift during our last year of high school.I had fallen for him quietly—like snow that piles up overnight.But he... he had already started melting away.
And then he was gone.No goodbye.No text.No nothing.
Just... gone.
He left for the US for college.Min-jae oppa said he had decided last minute, but I knew that was a lie. You don't fly across the world on impulse.
It hurt more than I admitted to anyone, even myself.That summer, I stopped going out much. I buried myself in prep books and practice tests. Seo-jin unnie noticed but never pushed. She knew heartbreak when she saw one.
What Jungkook didn't know... is that his silence turned into my resolve.If he could disappear across oceans, so could I.
Enter: Liam Carter.A sarcastic Reddit thread. A debate about pineapple on pizza.And somehow, a friendship was born.
We texted.We called.We became each other's digital lifeline.
He never tried to flirt. He never tried to fix me.He just listened. And made me laugh when I needed it most.
So when I got my acceptance letter to Columbia University, my parents were shocked.But Liam? He simply said:
"Told you you'd make it. I'm saving you a seat at the café that serves the worst coffee but the best cookies."
Now, here I am—on the flight.Wearing my most comfortable jeans, clutching my passport like it's a life vest, and wondering why my heart is racing.I wasn't nervous about the language, the food, or even the big city.No, I was scared because this was it. A new start.
And maybe, just maybe, the end of the chapter called "Jungkook."
"Miss Kang?"The customs officer barely glances at me before stamping my papers.
Outside, New York greets me like a slap of wind and a million honking cars.But there, by the exit, holding a sign that says "Welcome Hae-won, Queen of K-dramas"...
Is Liam.
Wearing mismatched socks.Grinning like a goofball.And holding out a warm drink.
"Hey, Wonie," he says casually."I figured you'd need hot chocolate more than coffee."
And just like that, for the first time in a long time,my heart feels safe.