“What the hell is she doing here?” seethed Sunny, jerking her thumb towards the dining table.

 “Her office is around here, so I invited her over. I didn’t think she’d come now.” He looked at his cousin sheepishly, who was clearly still not open to the idea of Yeeun. “Come on, Sunny, it’s just lunch. She made the effort to buy food, the least we could do is eat it.”

She grunted in response, following him out the kitchen.

 “Soonkyu, it’s been a while eh? I haven’t seen you since you left for abroad,” chattered Yeeun as she simultaneously picked out various foods on to a plate. “And you’re working at SM Entertainment.” She smiled and placed the plate in front of Onew. Sunny’s tongue rolled against the inside of her cheek and shot her cousin a look, which he carefully avoided. “I always thought you’d be the one who would settle down first, mum and kids, the works. It’s so hard to imagine you being second in charge.”

 “Indeed. Life doesn’t always turn out the way you’d think it would be,” retorted Sunny sourly. Onew cleared his throat.

 “Yeeun, you were saying something about flying back to LA next week?”

Yeeun nodded. “One of my college friends is getting hitched so I’m going over the weekend. She’s marrying the same guy she dated back in high school!” She let out a chuckle. “And they’ve known each other since like, middle school. Isn’t that a story to be shared with the kids one day?”

 “I’m sure it would be,” Sunny said with much disinterest. She glanced at the other woman’s hand. “That’s a nice ring you got there. Tiffany & Co.?”

 “Oh, this? No, no, of course not. It’s just a random ring I bought at a shop.”

 “Really? It looks quite refined and beautifully cut to be ‘just a random ring’,” badgered Sunny, noticing Yeeun getting flustered. Onew’s eyes darted from one girl to the next, clueless. “I’m sure I’d seen it on a catalogue somewhere.”

 “Well, this might just be a fake remodel right? There are always fake copies out there these days, it’s hard to tell which is the original.” Sunny narrowed her eyes as she studied the ring, knowing full well Yeeun was lying.

***

 “I was thinking we should order in later.”

Krystal stopped mid-walk and figured it was now-or-never. She reached for his hand and brought him to the nearest place to sit, conveniently in front of the university field.

 “I have… something to say,” started Krystal, her eyes flickering from his chest to his gaze. “I think we need to take some time off.” The cold breeze conveniently whipped into the atmosphere, as silence overtook them.

 “Wow, OK.” Doojoon was rendered speechless, taken aback by the sudden proclamation.

 “I just think some space from each other would be good. We both have things going on and exams are around the corner.” She was waiting for him to answer, or expecting some sort of reaction.

“Sure, if that’s what you want.” Krystal bravely raised her eyes. “I suppose.”

 “I didn’t me-“

 “I promised Joon hyung and Hyosung we- I mean, I’d be over by 6pm to babysit.” He leaned forward before retracting back. He was about to kiss her as he usually did before leaving, but this time around it was different. “I guess… I’ll see you?”

Krystal felt her chest tighten, whether it was due to discomfort or something else, she wasn’t sure, what she did know was the look of sadness in Doojoon’s eyes.

***

 “She called it quits?”

Doojoon ruffled the back of his hair tiredly. It had taken him three phone calls to his sister, one of which was conveniently passed to his mother, and after a two hour long battle, Jaehoon was finally tucked into his cot, far away into dreamland. “Not in those words exactly. She said space… so space would mean… recess?”

 “Do you even know what recess is, Doojoon? Recess is a half hour break during school period, that’s recess. This is... Are you two together?” questioned Junhyung with much persistence.

 “I don’t know,” he finally muttered, because he really didn’t know. It had been so unexpected. He chose not to ask any questions at the time because he was still processing the situation. 

 “Man, that’s so not Krystal though,” Junhyung pointed out. “She’s not the type to not just say things on impulse, unless of course she’s pissed off, but for something as important as your relationship, that’s a little off.”

 “Yeah, I was thinking the same.” Doojoon paused to think back to any occurrences whereby it may have had a causative effect. “Ah…”

 “What?”

 “The other time, we were at Joon hyung’s house for dinner, and I might have… let slip and asked about kids.”

 “Oh.”

 “Unless something else happened, that’s the only thing I can think of right now.” He slumped back on the couch. “I should’ve known that kind of talk would freak her out.”

 “Yeah dude, bad choice on your side. You two are still relatively new, especially when it comes to baby talk, and she’s still a young woman.”

 “I know, I know. Damn it, why wasn’t I thinking!”

 “You saw a baby; you got excited, it happens. It just happened at the wrong time.”

Doojoon heaved a sigh. “But you know what, Junhyung, I really think she’s the One.”

 “Whoa, hold up, you’re on, wait no, in recess at the moment. Deciding she’s the One is kinda jumping the gun.” He could hear a muffle of voices over the phone until Junhyung spoke again. “Hara’s asking why you didn’t ask the reason for her wanting space.”

Doojoon didn’t reply. He knew why he didn’t ask. One reason being, Krystal would have said the reason if she had one. The other, was because he was truly afraid of the answer.

***

 “I’m telling you that is wedding ring!”

 “Sunny, stop sprouting rubbish!” Onew glared annoyingly at his cousin snatching away the plate before drying it. “Wedding rings are supposed to be on your left ring finger, which she didn’t have.”

 “I’m aware, but I know that ring. Jinki, I’m a woman, trust me on this,” Sunny argued.

 “You’re also a woman who could beat up Jonghyun and made him cry. You made a fifteen year old boy cry.” Onew smiled smugly as he reminded Sunny of her tough ways. “You’ve only lived as Sunny for the past five years, before this, you were Soonkyu.”

 “Oh my God, you are impossible!”

 “How am I being impossible?”

 “I’m telling you, that Yeeun, is not good news.” She knew she had hit a sensitive part of the conversation when she saw her cousin’s face stiffen.

 “You’re only saying that cos’ you don’t like her, Sunny.”

 “I’m saying this because I care.” Sunny softened her voice. “Look, I know you loved her, and I know you’re glad she’s back, but there’s something weird going on and I don’t want you getting hurt again.” She stopped his hands from wiping. “It took me almost two years to get this Jinki back, I don’t want to lose him again.”

 “She’s my friend, Soonkyu.”

She patted his hand gently. “And she still can be, just don’t let her take advantage of you. Please, Jinki.”

***

 “Did you hear?”

 “Yes, Krystal and Doojoon have broken up!”

 “No, I heard they were taking a break.”

 “A break is the short form of break-up. Oh my God, but why?” Meaningless gossip was being shared person to person in class and it was caught by Minho’s ear. He snatched his bag up and left the room, searching for her.

 “Hyung! Where are you going?” Taemin called out to him from across the hallway.

 “Oh, Taemin. I’m going to the toilet, had a pretty mean breakfast,” replied Minho hastily. Much to his irritation, Taemin tagged along behind him. Just as he was going to tell the younger man off, he was found standing in front of Suzy and Krystal.

 “Taemin, I thought you were going to the canteen?” said Suzy keeping her eye on Minho.

 “I am.”

 “It’s in the other direction.” Behind Minho, Taemin pointed at the older man busily, mouthing wordlessly to Suzy.

 “Krystal, I heard-“

 “I don’t feel like talking right now, Minho,” she cut in before he could finish. He noticed the pale and gauntness expressed on her face. “Taemin oppa, I forgot to ask if you could drop me home after classes.” Taemin nodded. “Excuse me.” She walked past Minho, Suzy and Taemin trailing after her.

***

Oh my! I can't believe it's been three weeks since I last updated! I wrote a Bang Yongguk & Song Jieun oneshot and I felt horrible for not updating this one. Thank you for being so patient. I've got another story lined up but I'm not sure about posting it yet. I've been seeing Krisica everywhere and I'm somehow into this pairing! (Their SMTown moments like omg, I don't even like Kris that much but Krisica is making an exception!) But I love my Onsica, they will always be my favorite Jessica couple. So yeah, my next story may be a Krisica pairing. Or Taecsica? I'm leaning more towards Krisica though.  Let me know? Okay, enough ranting. Thank you to my awesome readers! Do comment and subscribe! :)