On December 27, former EXO member TAO, his supporters, and EXO-Ls became emotional after posting on his Instagram account a photo including a message for his former co-member, commemorating their 8th debut anniversary.

In the former K-idol’s post, who is currently pursuing his solo career as an actor and singer while promoting in China, he posted a photo of the cover art of his new song, “The best of us” with the caption saying, “Happy 8th anniversary of the best of us.” He even tagged his other former co-member Luhan and Kris.

Some fans said that he might have mistakenly tagged Luhan twice as the other one is for Lay. Also, he mentioned two older brothers, which netizens pointed out to be Xiumin and Chen, the other members of EXO Sub-unit, EXO-M. In addition to this, fans and the group supporters strongly believe that TAO was trying to greet all of EXO members even the ones he hadn't mentioned through the photo. The photo coincidentally had 12 blue hearts in it, symbolizing the original twelve members of the group.

EXO-Ls even became more emotional as when Luhan and Kris shared Tao’s post in their Weibo, with the caption, “Happy 8th anniversary” and “Sharing” respectively. Furthermore, TAO also possibly dedicated his new song for EXO-L, where fans then immediately received the message from their idol, after reading the English translation of the lyrics.

Here’s the snippet of the English Translation: “Yo, L, I don’t wanna talk too much about our story. I know what you are afraid of but I still have to say thank you for being in my life, I want to get this off my chest I hope we will be happy, even if we broke up. In the future, I’ll tell the world I love you, L.”

Meanwhile, TAO edited his Instagram update caption and shared that the song was created from his memory with best friends, the memory they produced from the very beginning until the present time. Fans shared that despite some of the members leaving the group, their bonding remains, and the happy things that they created together will not be erased.

Moreover, TAO also talks about how the song was the words he wanted to say the most to EXO and EXO-Ls, and he even mentioned how it took him like a half a year to go back to their stories, trying to remember it and putting it into written words. To end his caption, he says, “I hope you like it, and hoping that a lot of people will like to hear more of my music. Thank you, and I love you.”

This interaction from the former members and the gift coming from TAO will be treasured by EXO-Ls and his supporters, as they welcome another year. Some fans said that though they the group are no longer together, their hearts will always beat for a twelve-member EXO group, just like the poster TAO posted.