AMBER’S pov

“Yep, I’ll see you when you get home.” I hung up after we bid our farewell.

I glanced outside the window to see Jessica standing in the middle of the driveway. She stood as still as a statue, but it looked as if her mind was elsewhere. I looked back into the lounge to see that everyone was enjoying the company of my dogs, I saw Minho and Sulli take turns in holding Jackjack. I glanced, then did a double take when I saw Krystal Gongju gently. I shook my head to get myself out of the daze I was in when I heard a loud sneeze come from the driveway. I looked out of the window again to see Jessica hugging herself due to the cold night’s breeze. I ruffled my hair out of annoyance and went out to her to see why she was standing outside. I closed the door quietly and she didn’t notice my presence. I got an idea to bring her back to reality. I crept up behind her and leaned closely to her ear and did the noise that the Grudge does to those that enter her territory. And sure enough I got a reaction, a high pitch scream that could be heard from the park across the road. I held my stomach and laughed hard because of her. Jessica held her heart that I could imagine was beating rapidly, the next thing I heard was:

“What happened?” Minho and Sulli asked at the same time.

I laughed even harder when Jessica glared at me, but she then ignored everyone and continued standing there in the middle of the driveway. My laughter died down and I leaned near the siblings and asked:

“Can you give us a moment?”

Minho and Sulli looked at one another before before giving a nod and returning to the house. I stood beside her and she shifted away like I was some kind of disease, but I shook off the thought. I saw the distant look in her eyes as I stole a glance, she was perfectly normal until…

My eyes slightly widened when I came to the realisation of who this might be about.

“Who are you waiting for?” I asked even though I already have a clue of who it might be.

“It’s none of your business.” she snapped as she stared into the distance.

I then scoffed at how defensive she is.

“If it has anything to do with my guardian - then it’s my business.” I spoke with a strong voice.

Jessica froze when she realised that she had been caught.

“How did you two meet?” I began asking a long list of questions. “What made you two friends? You two were friends right? You weren’t mean to her were you? Oh God….you hit her didn’t you?!” Jessica elbowed me in the ribs to shut me up, she mumbled some rude remark about me being annoying compared to Yuri.

I became impatient as well as serious.

“I won’t allow you to go near my guardian if you don’t answer those questions.”

I saw the seriousness in Jessica’s cold eyes as well.

“Why do you even care?” she retorted.

“Because Yuri has made many sacrifices for me and my twin. I won’t gamble losing anyone else in this family.” I turned my gaze to the direction of the ground.

Jessica processed what I had said and she asked:

“Twin?”

I furrowed my brow and nodded my head while avoiding her gaze.

“Where are they?” she asked another question.

I bit my tongue to prevent me from answering, seeing the curiosity in her eyes made me feel slightly annoyed.

“Hospital.” I spoke in a bitter voice.

Jessica’s questions ceased to exist. I then grabbed her by her cold hand and pulled her inside the warmth of the house despite her protests. Before she could ask why I pulled her inside I answered:

“Yuri would be disappointed if I let a guest freeze outside.”

She rolled her eyes, but later nodded her head in understanding.

“You can ask your questions since it’s only fair.” she was mentally preparing herself for me to ask more questions.

“Forget about answering the questions that I had for you.” I walked ahead of her “It’s none of my business.”

I entered the lounge to see that the pups were still getting all the attention that they could ever want.

“Okay, everyone!” I spoke loudly to retrieve their attention, they all turned their heads ready to listen “Yuri is coming home with Beef Stew, she will be here in 10 minutes.”

“I’ll help you set the table.” Minho offered.

Minho and I were setting the table together while the rest were just relaxing in the lounge. I placed the spoons on the table as Minho handed them to me.

“So Minho….” I caught his attention.

“Yes?”

“I remember you saying that you wanted to help others and to be in the same workplace as me.” we moved onto placing the placemats down on to the table.

Minho chuckled quietly as he handed me a placemat.

“I really only want to save one person….” He scratched the back of his head as he admitted that to me. I was about to ask who he wanted to save, but we both heard a loud thud come from the lounge. Minho and I both looked at one another before rushing to the scene. We saw Sulli clutching the back of her head that was under the table.

‘She must have hit her head accidently.’

Jessica and Krystal were reassuring Sulli that everything will be alright, they were careful not to touch her. Minho rushed to her after he saw her tears flowing, he lightly touched her head and Sulli winced. Minho’s eyes widened when he saw the blood.

“What happened?!” Minho snapped at both Jessica and Krystal.

“S-she was trying to chase Jackjack, but she lifted her head and accidently hit her head.” Jessica’s voice wavered.

I had already left and retrieved an ice pack, I gave it to Minho to carefully place it on to his sister’s head. Sulli’s breathing was all over the place, Minho surprised me when he placed his hands over his sister’s ears. After a while, her sobs quietened down and calmness swept over her face. Minho then gently pecked Sulli’s forehead and removed his hands from her ears.

“You scared me there Ssul, please be more careful.” he said those words quietly.

Minho and I walked back to the dining room and finished setting the table.

“How did you calm Sulli down?” I asked because I never seen someone look so at peace. Minho looked at me and smiled sadly.

“Sulli has never been to the ocean because she is afraid of water, but she is still fond of it. When I cover her ears it sounds like the ocean and it’s Sulli’s happy place.” Minho looked like he just remembered something. “Oh, the person that I want to save is -” I cut him off.

“Don’t worry,” I said with a gentle smile “I know who it is.” I then looked out of the window and the night’s sky, I returned my gaze to Minho. “Once I fix the problem with Krystal, I will make sure that we can be on the same medical team.”

‘I see so much potential in his eyes, it’s the least I can do to help him.’

Minho looked shocked for a second, he slowly walked towards me and asked:

“Really?” he was looking into my eyes for the truth.

“Ye-” I didn’t get to finish what I wanted to say because he trapped me in his embrace.

“Thank you….”

My eyes widened slightly when he said that, but I merely smiled.

The sound of the front door opening made Minho and I stop hugging and we childishly raced each other to the front door. Everyone’s attention turned towards the front door, Yuri enters the house with a plastic bag containing Beef Stew. Yuri bowed silently to everyone, she avoided eye contact as per usual.

‘Still shy, huh?’

I chuckled at that thought.

“I’m Sulli!” she introduced herself with a sweet smile.

Yuri smiled and nodded as everyone introduced themselves, when it was Jessica’s turn she just stared at a clueless Yuri.

“That is Jessica.” I introduced her to Yuri myself since Jessica seemed to be in her own world.

Yuri surprised both Jessica and I when she said:

“Nice to meet you.”

“O-Okay,” I felt that I should lighten up the mood or change the topic since Jessica looked disappointed that Yuri didn’t recognize her “Let’s eat!”

The dinner is loud because of the Choi’s that are leading the conversation in getting Yuri to talk more.

“Tell us about yourself, Yuri!” Minho says loudly with food still in his mouth.

Sulli light shut Minho’s mouth by lifting up his chin.

Yuri swallowed her food before responding.

“There isn’t much to tell.” she said modestly.

I scoffed after swallowing my water.

“She was the second fastest swimmer in her school!” I took pride in bragging about her achievements. Yuri gave a stern look and I laughed it off, but scratched the back of my neck. I just remembered that she thinks of it as a failure instead of an achievement. “B-But that was in the past, she still manages to take care of herself and exercise a lot.” I was annoyed at myself of reminding her of her past.

‘Stupid Amber!!’ I mentally scolded myself.

Yuri finished eating before all of us because she only ate a small portion of food, Jessica must have noticed because she asked:

“Why aren’t you eating much?” Jessica seemed concerned, I have only seen Jessica annoyed, so this was new.

“I already ate at the store.” Yuri reassured Jessica with a smile.

It is already late and I saw that everyone was getting ready to leave. Minho and Sulli bid their farewell to Yuri, Krystal and I. With each goodbye that gave a hug, when it was my turn Sulli whispered a thanks for agreeing to take care of Krystal. I heard Jessica tell Yuri to keep an eye on me and I snapped:

“I heard that!”

Yuri laughed at Jessica’s words which made Jessica stare for longer than usual.

“You’re funny.” Yuri said in between her laughter.

For the first time I saw Jessica smile - a genuine smile. Everyone was gone except for Yuri, me and Krystal. I looked at Krystal that is lying down on the couch.

“What are you doing?” I tilted my head in confusion.

“Sleeping.” she answered shortly as she made herself comfortable.

I groaned and ruffled my hair once more.

“I’ve already changed the sheets and pillowcases so it should be safe.” I folded my arms across my chest “Also you are sleeping on my bed.” I pointed out.

“But it’s a couch,” she pointed out the obvious “Isn’t that room over there your’s?” she asked as she pointed towards the room.

“The bedroom that I had been staying in is the one that I had been sharing with my twin. I stopped sleeping in there after my twin left.” I tried to persuade her to sleep in a more comfortable place rather than sleeping on the couch.

“Where is your twin?” she asked casually.

“You have already seen him.” I answered in a flat tone.

Krystal sighed and got off the couch.

“Fine.” she gave up and moved to the room.

“Goodnight!” I shouted to her, she ignored me - I should have seen that coming.

KRYSTAL’S pov

I saw children’s drawings in her room and the photos of her and a guy together. I looked closely and saw the guy from the hospital standing next to Amber smiling brightly. I shook off the sympathy that I had for Amber and just went straight to bed.

‘It’s none of my business…’ I kept reminding myself that to help me sleep better.