Everyone always told him things would get better the more he grew, his problems would come around eventually and would be solved themselves. However, that wasn't the case. He still had his unsolved family issues, people depending on him for his grades, and the same loneliness that clinged onto him from the start of his teenage years.

Every birthday felt more exhausting to him, knowing he's growing up and had to depend on himself more. His mom constantly nagging him with what he wants to do in the future. Sieun doesn't even know the answer to that.

Sure, he's incredibly smart. The top of his class for goodness sake, but what does he want to accomplish in the future? The question exhausts him, drains him, thinking he's stupid for having the anxiety of growing up.

He just wants to wake up from the never ending bad dream he's been experiencing.

He doesn't want to be a senior in high school anymore.

He wants to be a kid again, his mom being there, his dad being there, together to support him. He misses the smiles that appeared on his face frequently and the laughs that escaped him. He really misses being a kid.

But, no. Things are still the same, he's still approaching the end of his teenage years and dealing with the things that came with that, he even had a relationship now.

When dating Sieun, he was mostly quiet, especially when you two hung out, he mostly sat at his desk and studied, approving his mom's expectations, even though he didn't want to. He didn't understand how you still stuck around him.

One day in particular, you came over to the same routine. However, something in him changed and he suddenly stopped studying, lifting his head from his textbook to look at you.

"Do things really get better the more you grow?"