My Imaginary Friend (WowkwanFF/Eng)

Chapter 10

Jason stepped outside of the airport and on Korean ground for the first time in nearly 17 years, Chan and Seungjun in tow. When he had first told them, he wanted to study in Seoul (and also search for his missing imaginary friend) they obviously had not wanted to let him go. At least not until he had allowed them to accompany him. His two friends thought he had gone insane and he couldn't blame them. They probably also thought, he would soon go back to America, when he realized that his search was fruitless, but he wouldn't. Not until he had found Sehyoon and made sure that he was safe.

Even though he had lived most of his live in America, speaking Korean wasn't a problem. In his first years he had only spoken Korean with his parents and also Sehyoon, till he started to teach the older to speak better English. After that they started to randomly switch between the two languages. But now he was gone, for nearly a year already. At the beginning Jason had still thought the other would suddenly burst through the door at any moment but with time he had realized that Sehyoon would indeed not come back. He didn't know why or what had happened, but in one moment he had kissed Sehyoon and felt like he couldn't be happier and in the next, he had sat alone on his bed. The love of his life had simply disappeared like smoke in a storm, without leaving any trace behind which could confirm, he had existed in the first place.

Like the first time, when he had disappeared, Jason had still hoped he would show up again, until he started to question his own sanity. But then, one day, he had sat in front of the TV, randomly watching anything that was on to distract himself from the empty and too silent house and was about to switch channels, because a really boring report about a company in Seoul came on, when he spotted the familiar face. He could see him for only a few seconds, but in that time, he was sure that it was indeed Sehyoon who stood behind the man on the screen. He had looked exactly like when he had last seen him and for the first time in an eternity Jason had felt like he was truly alive again. If the other really had been a ghost, the accident maybe hadn't happened yet and Jason could warn him or his soul had just gone back into his body.

He had wanted nothing more than to just pack his bags and immediately fly to Korea to search for him and find out about what had happened, but a conversation with Chan had quickly brought him back to reality.

"You know, I'll always trust and support you, but as your best friend it's also my duty to protect you from destroying your own life and it maybe seems as the best idea to you to just travel there and search for...Sehyoon...but you can't be 100 percent sure if it really was him. I know, you don't want to hear it but don't forget that he perhaps was only an imagination after all or a dead ghost..."

Chan had been right that time, with everything he had said. Jason didn't want to hear that there was a possibility of Sehyoon not being real and that it also wasn't a good idea to just fly to Seoul head over heels, but it was still the truth. So, after he had calmed down again, he somehow obtained a promise from Chan to help him create a good plan for finding the older.

And now they were here...stepping into a new part of their lives and it seemed to be the first time, Jason was without Sehyoon's support.

The three of them climbed into a waiting Taxi.

"Where do you want to go?" The driver asked.

"The Korean University Business School, please." Jason answered and they already were on the way.

"New life, here I come," he thought.

--------

University was different.

Jason didn't really know what he had expected but adjusting to live so far away from home and having to care for himself now, was way harder than he had always thought. He was extremely thankful and happy; his friends had been so stubborn to accompany him here, because without them everything would have been much worse.