February 14th 2015

Krystal was silently running around the house, looking for a lighter to lit up the birthday candles.

Her phone started ringing at that moment, signaling an incoming call. She rushed to it before it made too much noise and woke everyone up in the house.

"Oppa, eodisseo?" She whispered to the person at the other end.

"At the door. I didn't want to wake them up by ringing." Leo said.

"Ok, let me open the door for you." She said before hanging up.

She walked on the marble floor of the kitchen and towards the door, making sure not to make too much noise.

"Come in" She said, opening the door for her brother.

"Where are they?" He asked her as he followed her to the kitchen.

"Still sleeping. We'll wake them up in a minute. I just need to find the lighter. I don't know where mom puts it"

"Here" He said, taking a lighter out from a kitchen desk.

"Hyogsi. Mom's acolyte knows it all." She joked.

She lit the candles up and motioned for him to lead the way. Leo dropped his bag on the floor on their way and started walking towards Jessica's door.

"Can I just walk in like that? It's Noona's room." He hesitated.

"Jaehyun fell asleep in her room yesterday so don't worry, you can walk in." She reassured him.

He slightly pushed the door open to see how his two siblings were sleeping before completely walking in.

Leo slightly moved his sister to wake her up, and she immediately opened her eyes. She woke up a few minutes ago but was slowly starting to drift back to sleep before they came in.

"Noona, let's wake Jaehyun up." Leo told her as she tried to come to her senses.

"Eo... keurae" She said, turning to the opposite direction.

She affectionately caressed her younger brother's hair, slowly waking him up while Krystal approached the bed.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you Jae, happy birthday to you!" the all sang to a half awake and smiling Jaehyun.

He sat up on the bed and cleaned his eyes.

"Gomawo" He said after a few seconds.

"What time is it?" Jessica asked.

"8am. I just came back from recording" Leo replied.

"You must be tired. Let us clean up first and we'll meet you two in the dining room." She added.

"Ok. Hurry up, I cooked breakfast!" Krystal told them.

Jessica stood up and left for the bathroom while Jaehyun made the bed for her. She came back yesterday night from Singapore, just for Jaehyun's birthday. Their mother joined their dad on his business trip in Bali.

He wanted to have some alone time with her, away from the kids. They found that attention very cute of him, so they encouraged their mother to go. She didn't want to miss her maknae's birthday but he told her that he would be busy that day anyway, just to make her go.

He was in fact completely free but he wanted her to relax for a while. When they all finished cleaning up, they joined Leo and Krystal at the table.

"What are the plans for today?" Leo asked Krystal when everyone was gathered.

"Well, we can't do much in the day because of fans and paparazzis following us, but maybe go have dinner later tonight. I invited some of your friends over, Woojae. They'll be here later in the day to watch movies, play games and do many fun things!" She explained.

"You really like to plan people's birthdays huh?" Jessica asked, chuckling.

"Who did you invite? Not everyone knows that I'm your brother, is it OK to have them at the house?" Jaehyun asked, concerned.

"I invited the ones who know, don't worry. And plus those who don't are younger than you so they're more like your little brothers than your friends." She told him.

"Did you invite Mark at least?" He asked her.

"Yes, I did. Come on, Jae you don't trust me?" She asked him.

"I do!... sorry noona" He said.

"Let's eat what you cooked, Soojung-ah" Jessica said, changing the subject.

The four siblings enjoyed their down time together. It was nice being with their parents but Jessica's favorite childhood memories were always with her three siblings. She loved them so much that sometimes she felt she could do anything to make them smile.

The year apart that she has with Leo didn't look like a lot to some people but for her it really was. She considered all her siblings like her own children, and they were the reasons why she decided to fight for her dreams. She wanted to be able to show them a good example.

Before Jaehyun's friends got here, Leo went to take a nap because he didn't sleep during the night. Krystal had to go to the company for a quick meeting with the Etude team so Jessica was in charge of taking care of the guests. She felt nervous because she was only acquainted with two of them, and the rest saw her as a sunbaenim. Well at least they did, in the past.

"Noona! My friends are here!" Jaehyun called her from the living room.

She quickly closed her laptop and took her reading glasses off before standing up from the bed. She slowly walked to the lounge room to greet them.

"Annyeong!" She happily said when she saw the boys.

They all turned around at the same time and actively bowed to greet her. They kept repeating it until she chuckled.

"Annyeonghaseyo sunbaenim." Taeyong said, leading the others.

"Ei, you guys can call me noona. Don't be too formal, you're Woojae's friends!" She told them.

"Woojae?" Another one asked, confused.

"Uri Jae!" She explained.

The boys started teasing a blushing Jaehyun, making Jessica smile.

"Ok, I have to know your names. I only know Johnny and Mark. Taeyong a bit too." She told them.

"Ah, true! Noona, this is Taeil hyung, Doyoung hyung, Ten hyung, Yuta hyung, and Hansol hyung. There are the ones I mostly train with."

"Ah! It's nice to see that Jaehyun has so many friends. Please take care of him for me, eo?"

"Ah, of course noonim!" Taeyong replied.

"What do you guys want to eat? Tell me, I'll order it for you." She offered.

"Ah, anihaeyeo Noonim. We are going to buy it, don't worry." Taeil said.

"Ani, I'm buying. So, what do you want? Western food, Korean food, European?" She insisted.

"Hm... Let's go with western food? It's easier to eat while watching movies." Jaehyun said.

"Keurae. Keundae, are you guys really going to spend the whole day inside?" She asked them.

"It's cold outside today. We're fine here, noona. Don't worry." Jaehyun reassured her.

"Okay. Tell me when you want me to call for the food." She told him in English.

"Alright." He replied in English too.

"There are snacks and fruit juice packs in the kitchen. You can all eat that in the meantime. Mark, Johnny and Jaehyun should serve the other boys since they know their way around here. You are all their kings today" She said.

They all laughed at her joke, then she left for her room after making sure that they had all the good snacks and drinks. Without realizing it, two hours passed like that. She took her phone out to call someone.

At the same time, Krystal was making her way out of the meeting when she met Suho in the hallway. They walked together to the front desk.

"How was dinner last time?" He asked her when they stopped.

"Short. They had to leave for practice." She told him.

"Practice? We didn't practice later that night though... Ah, yes maybe with Lay." He said, trying to cover the boys.

Krystal laughed and patted his shoulders.

"Aigo, you're such a good leader, oppa. They wanted to help Wendy and Seulgi with a choreography." She told him.

"Ah! You should have told me that earlier!" He said, chuckling.

"Hyung!" Someone called from behind Krystal.

"Ah, Jongin-ah!" Suho said.

Krystal froze into place. She didn't really want to see him at the moment.

"Soojung." He awkwardly said.

She just slightly bowed to greet him back, then turned in the opposite direction. Like a sign from the sky, her phone rang at that moment.

"What's with you two?" Suho asked them before she could answer.

"Nothing. I was on my way out. I'll see you later, oppa!" She said before exiting the building while picking the call.

"Eo eonnie?" They heard her say before she was completely out.

"What happened?" Suho asked Kai when Krystal was out of sight.

"We had a little argument two days ago, that's all." Kai quickly answered.

"Two days ago? You went to dinner at her house two days ago! What happened?" Suho asked again.

"Nothing important, hyung." Kai said, trying to dismiss it.

The truth is that, that day before Jaehyun and her could leave the company, they met Sehun and Kai at the door. The boys asked her what she was still doing at the company at 1am but when they saw Jaehyun, they realized that she lied earlier.

Because they felt guilty, they got mad at her for acting like it was okay for them to go help the girls. She got upset too, asking them if she should have locked them up when they wanted to help their friends, and un-pretty and hurtful things were thrown in the conversation.

For the past two days they haven't talked at all.

"Is this why Sehun was so mad that day?" Suho asked Kai.

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