#andaudition_k

Dear K,

I came across your friend's letter.

It was such a sincere and simple letter--just a friend talking about a dear friend of his.

It's a little embarrassing to say this, but a grown woman like me cried reading it. I was suddenly reminded that you were a real person. You have feelings, you are human too.

One phrase from the letter really caught my eye. He talked about how you were a fantastic marathon runner.

I remembered you saying you were offered a full scholarship to university because of your skills. Honestly, I thought you just simply threw out those words. But thinking into it deeper, thinking how proud your former team must be of you that they still keep your photo up, shows how big of a decision you must have made.

As far as I know, one has to have really outstanding skills to be offered a FULL scholarship to university. So I can understand why people around you were so opposed to your decision.

They must have thought, "You're throwing away such a promising future for something with no definite future? You're wasting your talent!"

Your friends, your team, your coach, your family... you must have been such a precious person to them. And they must have felt really devastated seeing how badly you were treated.

I was thinking, if I were one of them, I would have told you, "THIS is what you threw away your future for? To be humiliated?" Haha!

But I can feel and understand how much courage it took you to change your life course. And how proud I am of you!

You are such a strong man, K. You took it all in, and never said a word about it. And knowing you cried breaks my heart. I feel like a mother who sent her adorable baby to the stage he has always dreamed of, just to watch him be ridiculed and humiliated.

But on the other hand, I'm glad to know you cried, that you poured your heart out after all that. I know you were trying so hard to keep those tears in, to stand tall and act like everything’s okay. You might have even been blaming yourself. You probably felt all alone after that. So I'm really glad you had this friend you ran to.

In all my years, I have never seen anyone like you, K. I may not have been there during those dark times, but I'm happy I got to know you and am able to support your debut. 

The road ahead is rough and wild. But knowing you, even if it scares you, you would still run straight forward. You will pave your own way, you will build your own history, and I will be here with you, even if I have to run barefoot with you.

Love,