"Krystal!!! No!!! Don't leave me!!!"

I opened up my eyes and sat up straight on my bed while trying to stabilise my breathing. A sting of pain could be felt at the right side of my temple as I placed my palm over it before my fingers started to massage my head.

Another bad dream, another sleepless night. I looked up to take a peek at the clock on the wall but had to shut my eyes as I felt another surge of pain in my head. Taking a deep breathe and after continuos massaging of my head, I could finally look at the clock as it showed that it was 7am in the morning.

Grabbing my phone at the side of my bed, I noticed that there was a few messages. It was from the group chat that Yuri created with Sunny, Taeyeon and Sooyoung in it along with me. The group name created was 'Yul's best women', a term she used as a replacement for best man for her wedding. The girls were planning to hang out this Saturday for some activities as each of them contributed an idea. It's going to be just the 5 of us as their partners would be having their own plans too.

Initially, I told them that it's not a confirmed thing for me to join as I'm not sure if I have any last minute work to do but the 4 of them started to nag at me in the groupchat to the point that Sunny suggested for them to meet at my place and prevent me from going to work. I laughed a lot last night while reading their messages and realised that I missed hanging out with them too.

I left the house around 8.30am for work, feeling lethargic and heavy-hearted. Ever since Krystal told me about how she was being rumored with another guy in campus, I kept having dreams that she was leaving me for the guy. The guy that would appear blurry in my dream as he pulled her away from me. When that happened, it was an immediate reaction from me to jolt out of sleep and that would be the end of my rest for the night as I would not be able to  continue my sleep anymore.

I had just closed my car door and was about to walk away when my phone rang. Since my hands was full with my bag and car keys, I answered the call without without looking at the phone screen.

"Han Eunjin here. Who's on the line?"

"It's your sweetheart, Stupid. Didn't you see the screen before answering?" Krystal teased me as I chuckled.

"I answered the call without looking since my hands are full. Had your dinner already?" I asked as I made my way across the building lobby. I bowed my head and smiled at my two receptionist, who had stood up and greeted me when I walked past the counter.

"Soon. How's your headache? Are you going to see the doctor today?"

I grinned with guilt when I remembered that I had messaged Krystal yesteday about having headaches for the past two days. She had called me immediately after my message and told me to see a doctor as soon as possible.

"Anni. I'm reaching my office soon. After talking to you last night, I took some panadols and went to sleep." I replied while pressing the button to my office when I entered the lift.

"Didn't I ask you to visit the doctor as soon as possible? I would have dragged you to the doctor if I was in Seoul." Krystal's tone of voice sounded a little upset as I heard her letting out a sigh. "Is it so difficult for you to leave your work aside?"

I felt a lump stuck in my throat as I couldn't answer her question. Biting my lips, both of us were suddenly in silence.

"Krystal, I..." Before I could finish my sentence, Krystal had cut me off.

"If you are apologising, don't say it. I understand there's a lot of work to be done at the office because of the current situation but work will never finish. It's something that will always be there and on-going. Sica-unnie called me last night after I ended my phone call with you. She told me that you're losing weight and looking like a zombie from what Sunny-unnie had told her."

"A zombie? I don't think I look that bad though." I walked to the long mirror the moment I entered my office to check on myself.

"I won't know because I'm not there to see how things are and it upsets me when you're sick but you refuse to see the doctor. Do you even love me at all?" Krystal suddenly asked.

"Of course I love you." I quickly replied before sitting down. "Why are you even asking me that?'

"Because if you love me, you would have taken care of the person whom I love, which is yourself."

A smile appeared on my face when I heard Krystal's explanation. Being apart from me, she had shown a very mature side of herself which I adored a lot most of the time. Except those times when she became naggy.

"Arraseo. I'll asked Ms Jeon to clear my afternoon schedule and will visit the doctor after lucnh later."

"Good girl. I love you."

Both of us chuckled at her words before she had to excuse herself to join her friends for dinner. But not before reminding me to keep her updated about my visit to the doctor later.

************************

"It's been so long since I last saw you but when I do, I have to admit that I'm a little disappointed. Seeing your health report, I could request you to be detain here in the hospital for further checks."

A frown appeared on Doctor Ahn's face as she continued to scan through my health reports in her hand. I pouted a little and started to apologise as she shook her head before a small smile appeared on her face.

"How's your Harabeoji and Halmeoni?"

I told her that they're doing fine before she asked me about work. I paused for a few seconds and was about to answer when she intercepted.

"I guess it must be stress at work." She said as I looked a little confused. "You took some time to answer so I had a feeling that you're stressed out at work. Dark circles around the eyes, looking exhausted, having headaches. All these are obvious signs of stress. By the way, are you having trouble sleeping or insomnia?"

"Honestly, I could fall asleep in a blink of an eye when I see my bed. But there's so much to do at work because of some incident, that I usually would come home late so I don't really have enough rest. Even if I manage to get some sleep, I'll wake up earlier than I was suppose to because of some bad dreams."

"Bad dreams? What bad dreams? Don't tell me you're having recurring dreams of your parent's accident?" A frown appeared on Doctor Ahn's face.

"It's not. It's just some bad dreams." I replied, a little hesitant about telling her of my dreams with regards to Krystal. "Maybe the stress at work is the cause of the bad dreams."

"I heard about it from your Halmeoni when I met her at the hair salon last month. That partnership withdrawal, right?" Doctor Ahn asked as I nodded my head. "Do you usually bring home your work stuff?"

"Anniyo. Krystal doesn't allow me to bring work stuff home. She doesn't like it because she feels that home is a place to rest and relax with your loved ones."

Doctor Ahn broke out into a laughter as I pouted and frown. She commented that Krystal was a good influence to me and asked me about how Krystal was doing in New York at the moment.

"She's doing fine too. She should be back in three weeks time for her semester break and would be attending her sister's wedding."

"Yuri and Jessica are getting married?" Doctor Ahn sounded excited as I nodded my head. "I'm so happy for them. By the way, aren't you excited to be able to see Krystal soon?"

"Of course I am. Which is why I'm here to get myself checked. Do you know how naggy she's become ever since she went there?" I pouted as if asking for Doctor Ahn's sympathy over my plight.

"She's naggy because she cares. You're lucky that you have someone who nags at you. And I believe she does that because you're not doing the right thing anyway."

I stuck my tongue out at my doctor as she laughed out loud. Once she was done laughing, she called out to her nurse and asked her to prepare an injection for me.

"I'm going to give you a garlic injection. It's good for fatigue but my advise for you is, rest more. Drink lots of water, take time away from work to relax your mind. Go out to get some fresh air whenever you can."

"Yes Madam." I gave her a salute pose as Doctor Ahn rolled her eyes at me.

I left the hospital 30 mins later with a band-aid on my right hand where the injection was done. Making my way to the car, the phone rang as I saw Ms Jeon's name on it. I answered the call immediately, worrying if any bad had happened in the office but my secretary called just to check on me.

"The doctor gave me one day sick leave but..."

"I'll reschedule all your meetings for tomorrow to another day." Ms Jeon intercepted my words as I told her that I was intending to come to work tomorrow. "Ms Han, you're given sick leave for a reason. And that reason is that you're not well enough to work, which means you are suppose to stay at home to rest."

"But it's Friday tomorrow. If I don't come to work, everything will have to be delayed to next week." I replied.

"Then so be it. Stay at home to recuperate and get well. I'm telling you this as your Unnie."

I pouted and rolled my eyes after hearing Ms Jeon's words even though I knew that she won't be able to see my reaction. She made me promise her to stay at home which I reluctantly agreed to do so but not without making sure that she was to inform me of any urgent matters at work.

When I was in the car, I remembered that Krystal had told me to inform her once I was done with my checks so I took my phone and typed a message to her. Glancing at the time on my dashboard, I was hesitant to send the message since it'll be 2am in New York but I ended up pressing the send button.

"I don't want to be nagged again for not updating her." I mumbled to myself before I let out a small chuckle. "Eunjin-ah, you're so whipped."

Krystal's POV

I was turning and tossing around on my bed, trying to force my eyes to sleep but I was having difficulties in doing so. Sitting up from my lying position, I turned to face my alarm clock and saw that it was already 2am.

Pulling my blanket away, I decided to get off the bed to get some warm milk to drink. But just when I was about to step out of my room, I heard a buzzing sound from my phone. I made my way back to the table beside my bed and noticed that it a message from Eunjin.

Soojungie.... I'm done with my check-up at the hospital. Was scolded by Doctor Ahn for my condition. :( But she gave me a garlic injection for my fatigue and also one day of sick leave. So I won't be working from tomorrow onwards until Monday. p/s: If only you are here, we can spend the next 3 days together. - Eunjin

A chuckle escaped my lips as I smiled at Eunjin's message. I could imagine her pouting while she was being scolded by Doctor Ahn but I was glad that she had decided to rest for the next 3 days.

"I wish I could spend time with you too, Stupid. 3 more weeks for us to endure." I mumbled to myself as I suddenly felt sleepy and went to bed without the need to drink that warm cup of milk.

************************

"Should we go and check with Ms Jeon?"

The 3 girls looked at each other with frowns before nodding their heads. Making their way to the lift, Sunny pressed the number to Ms Jeon's office.

"Did something happened to Eunjin? She's not been replying to the group chat since morning." Sunny asked as she turned to look at Taeyeon and Yuri. Both of them had a worried expression and seemed to be in deep thoughts.

"I think this is the first time that I came into Eunjin's office during lunch time and couldn't see her around. I don't think she will go for lunch on her own though, especially without telling any of us. It's not her style." Yuri commented as Sunny nodded her head.

"Let's just check with Ms Jeon. As her secretary, I believe she would know where Eunjin is. But what if she's out for lunch, right now?" Taeyeon's question was answered by itself when the lift door opened and they bumped into Ms Jeon.

Ms Jeon greeted them with a big smile and gave them a hug, just like how an older sister would do. The girls were all very close to her by now and would usually call her Unnie when they're not at work.

"How come the 3 of you are here? Aren't you going out for lunch?" She entered the lift to join them before pressing the button for the lobby.

"Unnie, did Eunjin went out for lunch or is she having any meetings at the moment? We went up to her office but she's not there." Taeyeon asked.

"Eunjin? You mean she didn't update the 3 of you that she's on sick leave today?" Ms Jeon had a surprised look on her face but it couldn't beat the surprised looks on Sunny's, Yuri's and Taeyeon's faces as they had their eyes and mouth wide opened.

"She's on sick leave? Wae? I mean, what sickness is she suffering from?" Yuri asked in a panicked tone. "She didn't reply to any of our messgaes in the group chat since morning so the 3 of us thought that she was busy with work."

"If she's on sick leave, does that mean she's at home right now? Alone? But she's not responding to our chats. Do you think she's okay?" Sunny suddenly voiced out her concern.

"Yah!! Stop scaring us." Yuri slapped Sunny's shoulders and gritted her teeth at her. "We should rush to her place to check on her. Unnie, thank you for telling us. Don't worry. We'll be back to work before lunch is over."

The door lift opened and the 3 of them were in a hurry to go out but Ms Jeon managed to remind them to drive safely. With Taeyeon behind the wheels, they managed to arive at Eunjin's place by 12.30pm. Making their way out, Yuri tried to give Eunjin a call but she didn't manage to get through. Once they were in front of Eunjin's apartment, Yuri tried to key in the password but it was denied.

"Damn it. She must have changed her password." Yuri banged the door loudly to release her frustration.

Eunjin's POV

"Han Eunjin!!! Open the door. YAH!!! Are you okay inside?"

I let out a sigh as my hands searched for my bolster. 'What a weird dream. And it's so noisy.'

I thought to myself as another loud bang was heard, causing me to open my eyes in shocked.

"Holy . It's not a dream. Someone is really at my door."

I sprung out from my bed and made my way to the door before opening it. In front of me, stood Sunny, Yuri and Taeyeon with a surprised look.

"Are you okay?"

"Why didn't you answer our calls?"

"Did you change your password?"

I stifled a yawn and turned my back at them before making my way back into my apartment. Naggings were heard from the 3 girls as they entered while I took a seat at the edge of my bed.

"Yah!!! Have you been sleeping all this while? When we are being worried about you?" Yuri continued her naggings.

"How come the 3 of you are here? And why are you girls being so naggy?" I said while trying to stifle another yawn.

I could see that Yuri was about to strangle me but was held back by Taeyeon. Sunny came up to me and used her knuckle to hit my head.

"Why aren't you replying to our messages?" She asked as I looked a little confused. Grabbing my phone at the side of the bed, I showed her the reason why.

"I didn't know my phone has died. After the check-up yesterday, I had dinner and took the medication. I was watching the TV when I became sleepy so I went off to sleep without charging my phone. Sorry." I said before grabbing my phone cable to charge. When I switched it on, all the messages started to come in. "109 messages from the group chat? What the hell were you all talking about?"

Sunny was about to hit me but I quickly flinched. They asked me about my check-up and I told them that Doctor Ahn had given me an injection for my fatigue, after nagging at me because of my health condition.

"You deserved to be nagged at. If Krystal was here, she would have dragged you to the hospital herself." Yuri grumbled as I chuckled.

"That's what she said too. She's the one who asked me to go for a check-up." I replied.

"Whipped." Taeyeon commented as I stuck my tongue at her. "Guess we were worried for nothing. This pabo has been sleeping peacefully while we were anxiously making our way here. Seeing that she's okay, makes me feel hungry."

"It's been awhile since I last had a peaceful night. I thought I was having another bad dream when I heard the banging on my door."

"Another bad dream? Have you been having bad dreams before this?" Sunny asked.

"Do you girls want to order some food? I just realised that it's your lunch time. I can order some delivery which can be sent over as soon as possible." I suggested as Taeyeon and Yuri nodded their heads while Sunny had a raised eyebrow, staring at me.

************************

Sunny's POV

"Okay, spill."

I stared at Eunjin, who had a blank look initially before she broke out into a sheepish grin when I continued glaring at her.

"Why is it so difficult to keep things from you? Can you stop being so observant?" Eunjin grumbled as the other girls were still looking confused. "I've been having bad dreams about Krystal leaving me."

"Mwo? Why would you have such dreams?" Sooyoung asked before nodding her head to the waitress that had came over to send our drinks.

After leaving Eunjin's apartment in the afternoon earlier, the 3 of us decided to have dinner together and we invited Sooyoung to join us too. The 5 of us were currently at a Korean BBQ restaurant when I asked her that question. Ever since she avoided answering my question this afternoon, I had been thinking about it.

"Wait? What bad dreams?" Taeyeon intercepted Eunjin, who was about to answer.

I rolled my eyes at her and started explaining about what Eunjin said earlier at her apartment. About how she was losing sleep because she had been having bad dreams.

"You were on sick leave today? Are you feeling better?" Sooyoung asked as Eunjin nodded her head. "The last time you were sick was when you fainted outside of my cafe. That was a big ruckus, you did there."

Eunjin laughed at Sooyoung's expression before explaining about why she had been having bad dreams with regards to Krystal.

"I didn't know anything about that. Sica didn't mention about it to me." Yuri said as Eunjin replied that Krystal most probably didn't tell her sister about it.

"Do you trust Krystal?" I asked as Eunjin nodded her head. "Then I don't think you should put too much thoughts in it. Even if the guy has feelings for her, I don't think Krystal will have a change of heart."

"I agree. My sister-in-law won't be so cruel as to cheat on you." Yuri added on as we about how she's calling Krystal, her sister-in-law.

"But long distance relationship is hard. If it happen to me, I don't think I can remain calm thinking about the situation. Fany is such a social butterfly and she makes friend easily. Sometimes, guys can misunderstand her friendliness." Taeyeon gave her opinion which was supported by Sooyoung.

"Yoona is the same too. Her personality makes others fall in love with her easily." Sooyoung pouted while Taeyeon nodded her head,

"But Krystal is not as friend or sociable like Tiffany or Yoona. Just like Jessica, both of them are well-known to have that cold aura." I tried to make Eunjin feel better about the situation when I saw her frowning after hearing what Sooyoung had said.

"That's true. But actually, Sica's cold aura is the one that make me attracted to her." Yuri chuckled at her own words while I rolled my eyes at her.

"I know I shouldn't overthink about the situation and since I trust Krystal, I actually didn't have any problem with it. But I don't know why I'm still having those bad dreams." Eunjin let out a sigh in despair.

"Maybe, deep down inside your heart, you are not feeling at ease about the whole situation. Furthermore, the problems at work might be ending on to your stress. My advise is, talk it out with Krystal." I suggested as the rest of the girls nodded their heads in agreement.

"By the way, how's things between you and Hyomin?"

I was taken aback with Eunjin's question as I saw her smirking. I knew she did it on purpose since I've not actually talked to any of the girls about Hyomin in depth. When the other 3 girls heard her question, their attention were diverted to me. 

"Well... everything's going great. We met up for dates, go to the movies, dinner and spend time just chatting away." I replied with a chuckle.

"How long have you known her?" Sooyoung started counting her fingers before I replied her that it was about less than 2 months. "Isn't that long enough for you to make the move?"

"I... I'm not sure yet." 

"From an outsider point of view, there's really a stark difference in your mood if we were to compare the time when you were with Chorong and the time that you are with Hyomin. You are way more livelier now compared to last time. We can see that she's a nice girl, even though we've only met her a few times. But I think we shouldn't give you any pressure about relationship." Eunjin commented as I nodded my head vigorously.

"I know she's a nice girl and we've been spending time together. But frankly speaking, I'm not sure about what she really thinks of me." I bit my lips and let out a sigh.

"Then you should ask her. Be courageous and take the leap. Just like I did." Yuri gave an arrogant pose as all of us laughed at her.

"Yah, right. Remember how someone was being so nervous and were walking around the workshop, almost tripping on the equipments at the garage." Taeyeon said as we continued laughing.

"I really miss those times when we were working at the workshop. I miss getting my hands dirty and lying down under the car." Eunjin said sincerely as Taeyeon and Yuri nodded their heads. "I miss being myself."

Even though Eunjin's last sentence was said in a mumble, I still managed to hear her words as a slight frown appeared on my face.