Pressing on the doorbell of the apartment after I was sure that it was the right one, I took a step back and waited for someone to open the door. I checked my watch and saw that it was already 10pm at the moment. While waiting, I questioned myself if it was the right time to actually stop over at the apartment and was about to walk away when the door opened.

"Eunjin-unnie?"

I grinned nervously at Luna, who had opened the door and bowed my head to her in an apologetic manner.

"I'm sorry if I'm disturbing all of you. Is Krys....?"

I was not able to complete my sentence when I was pulled in to the house abruptly by Luna. Her actions shocked me as I remained frozen even after stepping into their living room. She gestured me to take off my shoes, which I did before putting a finger on her lips as a sign for me to keep quiet.

"Krystal had just fallen asleep. She has not been well for the past two days." Luna said in a soft tone.

"Luna... who was that at the door?" Sulli walked out from the kitchen and was about to open again when Luna quickly covered it. From Sulli's widened eyes, it was obvious that she was on the brink of shouting out my name. 

"Don't shout. Krystal had just fallen asleep." Luna whispered to her as Sulli nodded her head. "Eunjin-unnie, have you eaten? We still have some porridge left if you want to eat."

"It's okay. I've already eaten at the airport when I arrived just now." I replied with a smile while Luna and Sulli had a confused look.

"At the airport? You just arrived? We thought you were already here in New York a few days ago? Krystal told us that you came to her campus." Sulli started shooting questions at me.

"I did. But I left that night for Japan. I had some things to settle there." I explained to the two girls.

"No wonder Krystal couldn't find you at the hotel." Luna's remark surprised me since I wasn't expecting Krystal to look for me. "Of course she would look for you after what happened. It's all a misunderstanding, Eunjin-unnie. Krystal would never cheat on you."

I smiled and nodded my head. "You mentioned that she's not been well for the past two days. Can I go and take a look at her?"

Luna and Sulli nodded their heads vigorously as they led me to Krystal's room. Along the way, they explained that Krystal has been having fever and looked weak since she has not been sleeping and eating well. They also mentioned that Krystal didn't want to be brought to the doctor.

When the door was pushed slowly, I could see a figure lying on the bed with her back facing me. A dim light surrounded the room which was from the scented candle on her dressing table. Luna and Sulli gestured to me with their hands that they would be going back to the living room so I just smiled and mouthed the word 'okay' to the two girls.

Making my way into her room with slow and quiet steps, I took a seat at her dressing table which was about a meter away from her bed. I looked around her room and saw how neat and tidy it was, just like her room in Seoul. While I was looking, my eyes detected some movement from Krystal as she turned her body to lie down on her back.

By instinct, I held my breath as I was afraid that my presence would wake her up. Luckily, she seemed to be fast asleep. I stared at her face and noticed that she did look a little pale. I pulled the chair nearer and touched her forehead to check on her temperature. She fidgeted a little but her eyes remain closed. She was running a temperature at the moment and I started to be worried.

I walked out of the room and noticed that Sulli and Luna were watching a movie at the living room. I told them that I need a bowl of water and a clean towel to bring down Krystal's temperature. Both of them quickly stood up with Sulli making her way to the kitchen and Luna making her way to her room. Sulli came back with the bowl of water and clean towel while Luna passed me an infrared thermometer.

Luna followed me to Krystal's room to show me how to use the thermometer. Her temperature was about 38.8 degree at that time which was almost to a high fever. I quickly placed the clean towel into the bowl of water before twisting it hard. Luna left the room quietly as I placed the towel on Krystal's forehead slowly. She moved a little causing me to freeze in my spot again but luckily she continued her sleep.

When I felt that the towel was no longer moist enough after about 10mins, I soaked it again and repeated what I did earlier. I kept monitoring her temperature and it was close to 2am when her temperature finally fell to 38.3 degrees.

Removing the towel from her forehead and leaning in to give her a kiss on the same area, I took the bowl of water and towel before making my way out of the room. Sulli and Luna were no longer at the living room as I made my way to the kitchen. I took out my phone to call someone.

"Hi Appa Jung. Yes. I've already arrived. She's not feeling well at the moment. High fever but I managed to bring it down. I'll talk to you again once I've spoken to Krystal. Thanks, Appa. See you soon."

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

Sulli and Luna were surprised when Krystal appeared in the living room, looking around frantically as if she was searching for something important. She went to the kitchen before appearing again in front of them.

"What's wrong, Krys? Are you looking for something?" Sulli asked while frowning.

"Are you feeling better today?" It was Luna's turn to ask when there was no reply from Krystal.

Looking at her two friends who had confusion written on their expressions, Krystal let out a sigh and slumped down on the couch.

"I dreamt that Eunjin was here. In my room. It felt so real though." Krystal pouted as her eyes showed her sadness. "I miss her so much."

Krystal mumbled her last few words while staring at the floor and was not able to notice the cheeky grins on her two friends expression. The sudden sound of the bathroom door being opened and closed shocked Krystal as she looked up. 

"Who's here?" She asked as Sulli and Luna shrugged their shoulders, causing Krystal to look at them in disbelief.

"Do you girls want to order some food for lunch? My treat."

Krystal's eyes widened when she saw Eunjin walking out from the bathroom while drying her hair with a towel.

Eunjin's POV

"That's better." I grinned at my reflection in the mirror after I was done with my shower.

Feeling much fresher after I didn't get much rest last night, I grabbed the towel and started rubbing my hair with it. Pushing the bathroom door apart before closing it, I made my way out to the living room where I knew Sulli and Luna were seated. With my head down looking at the floor while drying my hair, I decided to ask the girls if they wanted to order food.

"Do you girls want to order some food? My treat."

I almost toppled backwards when a figure suddenly rushed towards me before engulfing me into a hug.

"Krystal?" Wrapping my hands around her waist, I asked and tilted my head to look at the person who had buried her face into my shoulder. She was trembling in my arms as I heard the faint sounds of crying and I understood the reason for her tears. "It's okay. I'm not angry at you and I know you must have a reason for doing what you did."

She slowly lifted up her head and I saw her teary swollen eyes. Smiling at her, I wiped the tears away before leaning in to kiss her on her forehead.

"So, food anyone?" I asked as Sulli and Luna jumped out in excitement.

I told the two girls to help with the ordering while I pulled Krystal to her room. Asking her to sit on her bed while I pulled the chair towards her, I noticed the nervousness in her as she bit her lips.

"I'm sorry."

Both of us said it at the same time as Krystal blinked her eyes rapidly at me. She questioned my reason for saying that as I smiled and took both her hands.

"I think both of us owe each other an explanation. But before that, are you feeling better?" There was concern in my voice as Krystal nodded her head. "That's good. I was worried when your temperature was quite high last night."

"So it was true." Krystal said, causing me to look at her with an arched eyebrow. "I dreamt that you were here, in my room. When you kissed my forehead in my dream, it felt so real. But when I couldn't find you after I woke up, I thought it was all a dream."

I let out a chuckle when I saw Krystal pouting as my thumbs rubbed her hands. She asked where I had went since she couldn't find me at the hotel that Ms Jeon told Yuri and once again, I was surprised.

"Yuri knew about what happened? " Krystal nodded her head. "That means your sister should know about it too. Knowing both of them, do you think they will fly in to check on you?"

Krystal gasped at the possibilities as she stood up and grabbed her phone from the dressing table. I just observed as she called her sister to inform that I was already with her at the moment and we're now sorting things out. From her expression, I could sense that she was being nagged a little before she finally put down her phone.

"I think both of them are already on their way here to 'kill' both of us." Krystal said in a sad tone as she explained that both Yuri and Jessica were now waiting to board the plane to New York.

"We'll handle them once they're here. For now, we need to settle our matter. So, do you want to start first?" I held out my hand for Krystal to hold it as she returned back to her seat. "But before you start, there's something that I need to inform you first. Just in case, you've been trying to get to me for the past few days, I had lost my phone."

"No wonder no one could reach out to you." Krystal said as I could only grin at her.

It took Krystal about 40mins to explain everything to me. Who Gong Myung was, what they were actually planning to do, how he ended up holding hands with her and what was the reason for her not telling me about it.

"Gong Myung was supposed to end his work attachment by next month. Which coincides with my group assignment finishing date. I just needed him to be around me so that Jongin would stay away from me during that period. It was suppose to be just a temporary plan which was why I didn't inform you about it. But I didn't expect you to appear in front of me like that day." Krystal tried her best to explain her actions.

"Even if it's just a temporary arrangement to get Jongin off your back, there's nothing wrong in letting me know about it, right?" I threw her a question as Krystal slowly nodded her head in agreement. "Imagine if something like this happens to you. You would have been shocked and hurt too."

"I'm sorry. I really am. I was stressed out with school work, the group assignment and the constant disturbance from Jongin. He kept bringing up the article where you and Jihyun were in." 

"Is that why you snapped at me that time?" I asked to reconfirm.

"It was the triggering factor. Him being irritating and also because I was extra sensitive due to my menses." Krystal replied as she looked me in the eye. "And that argument that we had last week, I'm sorry for bringing up Jihyun in our conversation. I've said things that I don't even mean it at all. Of course, I trust you. You've been nothing but wonderful to me and now, I feel like I don't deserve you at all."

Hearing her words, I tugged Krystal's hand which caused her to end up sitting on my lap with her back facing me. I wrapped my hands on her waist and rested my head on her back before tightening my hug on her.

"Never ever think that you don't deserve me. Nobody is perfect and to me, we deserve each other. I'm sorry if I had been insensitive with your situation in school by asking you to remove Jongin from your team assignment when I know that it's something out of your hands. There's a silver lining to that argument though." I smiled as Krystal shifted her position to be able to see my face. "When you hung up on me after that argument, I realised that I need to fly here to apologise to you, face to face. Being apart, might have made both of us frustrated since we couldn't see each other as much as we want to. Sunny told me before that long distance relationship needs a lot of effort, so I'm taking the effort to reduce the tension between us."

"But I end up screwing everything." Krystal pouted and I noticed that she was trying her best not to cry. 

I wanted to lean in to kiss her but a knock on her door stopped my intention.

"Sorry to interrupt. But the food is here. Just want to check if both of you would like to join us or should I keep it aside for later?" Luna grinned nervously at us.

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

"I'm sorry if my actions has caused worries among the three of you. Thank you for taking care of Krystal when she was stressed out with my disappearance. When I made the decision to fly in to New York, I had other plans besides visiting Krystal. So the fact that I had left New York itself was actually part of my original plan and has got nothing to do with what had happened at the campus. Come to think of it, my other plans helped my mind to straighten my thoughts out." I explained myself to Sulli, Luna and Krystal after we were done with our lunch.

"Where did you go after you left the campus? I went after you but you were gone." Krystal pouted as Sulli and Luna giggled at her reaction.

"I rented a bike to get to the campus so I guessed you didn't ran fast enough." I before putting on a serious look. "But honestly, my heart was crushed when you held hands with that guy. What was his name again?"

"Gong Myung." Sulli and Luna answered at the same time before both of them started laughing at their quick reaction while Krystal could only blinked her eyes rapidly.

"Krystal is really slow at reacting. She had just proven herself." Luna friend and gave Sulli a high-five.

"I ran off, feeling very hurt and gutted. So when I rode off towards the hotel, I kept thinking of reasons that might have caused you to have a change of heart. Did I do anything wrong? Was I being too pushy during our last argument? Did you get tired of me? Those thoughts went through my head. When I arrived at the hotel, I took my luggage and checked out even though my flight was on the next day. I rode around aimlessly until I stopped at a beach and spent some alone time there before making my way to the airport. It was there that I realised that I had lost my phone. I think it dropped off either when I was riding around or when I was at the beach. By then, my mind was already out of sorts so I decided to just take a few hours of rest at the airport lounge before taking my flight out in the morning. "

"I didn't have a change of heart and will never get tired of you." Krystal said with sincerity before letting out a sigh. "When I think back about all this, Sica-unnie was right. I should have informed you about my plans even though you are not here in New York."

"Me and Sulli are at fault too. We should have advised her to do so when we all agreed to the plan. Maybe because we were only concerned about helping Krystal to get Jongin to stay away from her at the moment so that she could concentrate on the group assignment." Luna explained their intention as I nodded my head.

"By the way, you said that you came back from Japan, right? Business trip?" Sulli asked as Krystal looked surprised since she didn't know that I had went to Japan.

"Personal and business trip." I replied causing the 3 of them to look at me with anticipation. "I went to visit my grandma's grave and also to look for Uncle Park."

"Uncle Park? He's in Japan now?" Krystal asked.

"Yes. He's there to look for some business opportunities so I went to look for him. He was already aware that I was coming to see him and was the one who fetched me from the airport. I spent my last 3 days with him at his rented place in Tokyo. It was on the second day while I was there when Uncle Park asked me about you." I looked at Krystal so that she knew I was talking about her. "I told him about what happened and he gave me some advices."

"Advices? What advices?" Krystal asked.

"Forgiveness is the final form of love. That was what he told me." I replied with a smile. "He said when you love someone truly, you will always end up forgiving that person for whatever mistake that was done, provided that it's justifiable. So the first thing he asked me was 'Do you think what Krystal did was justifiable?'. For a moment, I was stunned with his question."

(Flashback three days ago)

"Do you think what Krystal did was justifiable?"

I could feel my jaws dropping while my eyes kept blinking at Uncle Park since I was taken aback by his question.

"Honestly Uncle Park, I don't know. As in, I didn't ask her why she did that. I just left the scene on that day." 

"So you didn't give her a chance to explain herself out?" Uncle Park questioned me again as I nodded my head slowly. "Everyone deserves the chance to explain themselves. Assuming things on your own is never going to solve anything and sometimes, assumptions actually worsened it all. She might have a reason for doing what she did. Let her explain herself and then you can decide if it is something that is forgiveable."

Uncle Park gave me a warm smile before he stood up and patted my head. He told me to think it through about what he said but not to stay up too late since it was already midnight by then.

(End of flashback)

"My mind was spinning after what Uncle Park had told me. Reasons? What could be the reason for Krystal to have done what she had did? I kept talking to myself and eventually fall asleep at the living room without realising. Uncle Park was the one who woke me up the next morning and told me that he had expected to find me sleeping at the living room. When I woke up, I was feeling light-hearted and was not as depressed or sad as the past few days. I told Uncle Park that I would follow his advice by giving Krystal a chance to explain herself but somehow or rather, I was certain that Krystal would never cheat on me."

"Is that why you came here to look for Krystal? To listen to her reason for what you saw at the campus that day?" Luna asked me as I nodded in agreement. "But what makes you so certain that she was not cheating behind your back?"

"Yah!!! I would never do that." Krystal gritted her teeth at Luna and hit her on her shoulder as the girl explained that she was just curious and was not implying that Krystal was actually doing it.

"Let's just say that it was my gut feeling." I replied with a smirk. 

"I'm just glad that everything is settled between the two of you. I couldn't bear to see Krystal's solemn expression for another day. She was so whiny and kept crying like a crybaby." Sulli rolled her eyes at Krystal in a teasing manner as Luna and I ended up laughing at her comment while Krystal pouted.

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

"Yes, Tae. Krystal had informed Sica that Eunjin was at her place... I'm not sure how she ended up there but I will update all of you once I've reached their apartment... Me and Sica are currently waiting for our luggages and would drop by our hotel first before meeting them up... Hopefully, everything is settled between them but I think Eunjin and Krystal better get themselves ready because I could sense that Sica is going to skin both of them alive. Take care, Tae. Send my regards to Fany and the other girls. Tell them not to worry anymore about Eunjin." 

Yuri ended the call and kept her phone in her pocket before pushing the trolley towards her wife, who was looking out for their luggages.

"Who were you talking to?" Jessica asked the moment Yuri stood beside her.

"Taeyeon. I called her to inform about the current situation. She was surprised when I told her that Eunjin is currently with Krystal in New York. I told her that I didn't manage to inform her straight after Krystal called to tell us since we were already boarding the flight at that time. I told Taeyeon to inform the other girls about Eunjin's whereabouts so that the rest would not be worried. Seriously, that kid likes to disappear abruptly. But luckily, it's not something bad as the last time when she was kidnapped." Yuri saw the cold glare that her wife was giving her and swallowed her saliva. "But then again, she might have to face HellSica this time round."

"Yah, what did you think I was planning to do? Skin Eunjin alive?" Jessica replied as Yuri showed her a silly grin. "I'm just glad that both of them had met up and hopefully, they would resolve their problem. My sister was the one who created this problem and I'm just glad that Eunjin is still giving her a chance to explain herself by going back to look for her. Eunjin has the choice to just leave Krystal without hearing her out after what she had witnessed. I couldn't blame Eunjin in this matter since I know that Krystal was in the wrong for keeping her plans a secret from Eunjin."

Yuri had a wide smile when she heard what Sica had said as she pulled her wife into a hug. Yuri knew how protective Jessica was when it comes to her sister but she's glad that Jessica was not being bias over what had happened. 

They waited for another 10mins for their luggages before making their way out from the airport. They went to their hotel to check in and leave their luggages behind before making their way to the apartment where Krystal and the other girls were staying.