Author's note:

Finally, an update! I apologize for the super long wait. I momentarily lost my momentum after I found out that my favourite couple broke up, but truthfully, I was kept away from updating due to my intense schedule. I was only able to write whenever I was free, and it took a while before I completed the second part of this story. Do forgive me, and enjoy~!

poster by lonergirl

Part 2

The semester ended in a blur, and I was grateful that I could still maintain my three pointers for my CGPA. My parents were proud of me, and my sister couldn’t help but to brag about me to her boyfriend; she’s such an idiot but I love her. I was no longer working at the café where I first met Taemin because my dad deemed it unnecessary and promised to give me monthly allowances for me to spend. I didn’t want it because I wanted to work and earn my own money, but my dad left me no room to argue and I just refused to start an argument with my old man. Taemin had been upset when I had to quit my job, but that didn’t stop us from meeting up from time to time. Every Friday night would be movie nights with him, and I spent my semester break staying at home doing house chores, occasionally getting pulled out for shopping sprees with Jae-in and Jinkyung, and escaped to Jeju Island for two weeks with my family before my sister had to fly back to New York for her internship.

As for the matter with Kai, we grew distant. Not only us, but the whole group in fact. The guys were enraged when they found out that he was back with Suzy and showed how much they were against their relationship one night, angering Kai who had wanted his best friends’ support. We were celebrating Tao’s birthday when the fight suddenly happened between Kai and Sehun; the latter had disagreed when Kai wanted to bring Suzy over to his house where we were having the party, and an offended Kai had demanded to know what Sehun’s problem was which resulted into his closest friend expressing his strong hate and disagreement to the two’s relationship. Kai left the party fuming and I almost screamed at Luhan for stopping me when I tried to run after him.

“It’s no use,” Luhan had told me as we watched Kai drive away. “He’s going to Suzy, and I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be there.” From the look he was giving me, I suddenly knew that he was very much aware of my feelings for his friend. “How long have you known?” I asked quietly.

“From the first time since I met you, maybe. And I wasn’t the only one who noticed – in fact, I think all the guys know about it. Except Kai, of course.” I frowned at that. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Everyone is entitled to their own feelings, Krystal,” Luhan sighed. “Which is also why I refuse to say anything about Kai and Suzy. Although I don’t agree to what he’s doing, I know that he loves Suzy and there’s nothing we can do to stop him from feeling that way.”

“That is also why you’re hurting, isn’t it?” he suddenly asked. “Because you know that you can’t do anything to stop him from feeling so.”

I didn’t say anything to that. When we went back inside, the boys looked miserable and upset, but they knew they did the right thing. Sort of. Encouraging Kai’s relationship was like watching him get hurt from the side lines and not doing anything to fix him, but showing their distaste about it only made Kai walk away and break their solid friendship.

“I hate this,” Tao sniffled as he pulled off the silly party hat the boys had made him wear, and all I could do was wrap my arms around him and quietly shed a tear against his shoulder.

I hate it too, and I didn’t have to voice it out to know that he knew.

*

On the last Friday before a new semester was to start, Taemin called me out and asked me to watch a recently released Marvel movie with him. To be honest I didn’t feel like going out but I could never say no to Taemin, and his company was exactly what I needed to make myself feel better. Plus, it was our customary movie night and I could never say no to Marvel movies. I told him everything that had transpired at Tao’s party on our way to the cinema which made him sigh and shake his head, and when I was done, he blasted some English songs on the radio and urged me to sing along with him. I laughed at the way Taemin was screaming his notes and banging his head to the song, and seeing the way he laughed cheerfully made me realize that this man had once fallen in love with me, and was now my best friend.

Having him around was a blessing, and I was a little sad when Taemin finally met another girl to love, but I gained an amazing friend from then on. I was used to having him around me even though he had begun dating Naeun, and with his upcoming transfer to study in the US approaching, I felt a thick wave of sadness wash through me. Don’t get me wrong; I was super proud of him for being able to transfer into an Ivy League college, but at the same time, I was sad because I wouldn’t be seeing my best for a long time.

Taemin was singing along to one of John Legend’s song (his English sounded better when he’s singing than when he’s conversing) when he finally noticed my expression, and the moment the concern showed on his face, the first drop of tear escaped me but I quickly wiped it away. Taemin saw this of course, and began to look alarmed.

“Why are you crying?” he asked, looking like he was about to stop the car at the side of the road as he kept glancing at me and the road. I placed a hand on his which was on the steering wheel and shook my head. “Don’t stop the car,” I giggled, suddenly finding the situation funny in between tears. “Just drive or we’ll be late for the movie.”

“Do you think I care about that right now?” he asked, rolling his eyes but did as he was told. “Tell me why you’re crying or I’m going to stop this car in the middle of the road and kiss you.”

I laughed. Taemin would always threaten to kiss me whenever he wanted me to listen to him, knowing how stubborn I could be unless he did something that I’d hate for him to do. I wiped my tears away and sniffed. “I just thought about you leaving for Penn and started feeling emotional,” I revealed, laughing stupidly to myself, partly due to embarrassment. “Soon, I won’t have anyone to watch movies with again. I won’t be seeing you for like two years!”

Tears started forming again and I didn’t bother to wipe them away, suddenly feeling too upset to even care about how I look (it had got to be every girl’s best friend's warning of an up-coming visit that turned me into this crybaby). When the car stopped at the traffic light, Taemin reached out for me and pulled me to his side, giving me a one-sided hug. I rested my head on his shoulder and sniffled, and Taemin responded by gently rubbing my arm. “Don’t cry,” he whispered and planted a kiss on the crown of my head. “I’m going to miss you so much more, sugar cake.”

I groaned and hit his thigh lightly, making him laugh. Ever since we grew closer, Taemin had this habit of calling me with weird nicknames, most of it referring to food or desserts. He would just blurt them out without as much of a thought, and it was very endearing in a way. It was annoying at first; I mean, who’d like to be called ‘red velvet ice-cream cake’ when they’re pissed at their best friend who forgot to pick out a cake for another friend’s birthday? Or ‘pineapple pie’ in the middle of a crowded mall? That was the start of the series of weird, cheesy and sugar-y nicknames from Taemin which I’ve grown so used to, and I’d find it really weird once he starts calling me by name.

(Now he only calls me Soojung when he’s unhappy with me.)

Taemin continued to drive us to the cinema with my head on his shoulder although he had moved his arm and instead held my hand on my lap. Anyone who’d see us would think that we were a couple, but anyone who knew us would know that we were far from that. When we finally reached the cinema, Taemin turned to me and helped clean my face from the remaining tears. “Let’s not think about that now, apple pie. There’s still a month before I have to leave, and I don’t want to think about parting from you or anyone else just yet.”

I sniffed and nodded my head in agreement, earning a smile from him before we got out of the car and headed straight to the elevator. All the crying and the thought of him leaving made me clingy, and I shamelessly plastered myself to him with our arms linked as he led us to the cinema. There were a few people loitering around with popcorns and drinks in their hands, waiting to catch the midnight movies like us, and we immediately head towards the ticketing booth to get the tickets Taemin bought online.

He wordlessly passed the tickets to me for me to hold on to once he’s gotten them before dragging me to the snack counter. “Shall we go with the usual?” he asked and I nodded. Our usual consisted of one big bucket of popcorn, two medium sized Pepsi (for me) and Coke (for him), and a packet of M&Ms, which is my favourite. As we queued up and waited for our turns, Taemin took out his phone and began taking selfies.

“But I look hideous,” I protested, trying to hide my face which was slightly puffy due to the crying I did. Taemin tsk-ed at me before prying my hands away from my face, and after rolling my eyes, I began to pose for the camera. We laughed at the silly faces we made, and when he slightly lifted his phone higher to get a better angle, my blood ran cold at the sight of the guy on the screen.

Taemin’s immediate reaction was to turn upon recognizing the face and yelling, “Kai!” very loudly, clearly out of surprise. His cousin made a face at that and hit the back of his head, making him hiss from the pain. “Shut it, stupid.” Kai warned him before turning to me awkwardly. “Uh, hey Krystal.”

I returned his greeting with an equally awkward and stiff smile. It’s been a while since we last spoke so the air was thick around us. Taemin noticed of course but pretended not to. “Are you alone?” he asked his cousin after giving me a brief glance, making sure that I was okay. Kai shook his head and tilted his chin to a direction down the hall. “I came with Suzy. She’s in the restroom.”

I froze at the mention of Suzy. My reaction didn’t escape Taemin and he spared me a glance before turning back to his cousin. He asked the other about a family gathering that I didn’t bother to pay attention to and pretended to be interested with my new shoes. I loved wearing shoes, and occasionally heels or sandals, unlike my sister who hated having her toes encased in something. Oddly, I was more comfortable wearing shoes than anything else, even flip flops. Suzy shared the same sentiment, if I recall correctly, because she mostly wore shoes in her photos unless she was dressed glamorously for an occasion. The similarity we share peeved me, though I couldn’t dwell on the thought too much when I heard a sweet voice calling out to Taemin.

I looked up to see Suzy giving Taemin a brief hug, brightly greeting her boyfriend’s cousin. I took her obliviousness to my situation to eye her up and down, noting with a heavy hard how good she looked despite only dressed in skinny jeans, a dark blue hoodie sweatshirt, a pair of Nike shoes and a black cap over the top of her bronze hair. Scratch that, she looked gorgeous! It was no wonder Kai loved her; she was a beauty and she was also smart, funny and witty as well. I glanced at Kai to find a soft look in his eyes as he watched Suzy, and I quickly tore my gaze away when he turned to me at the same time as when Suzy shrieked my name in delight.

Delight, huh?

“Oh, my gosh, it’s been ages!” Suzy exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around me. I noticed that she was at least two inches taller than me. I scrunched my face against her shoulder, careful not to let Kai see me but again, nothing escaped Taemin’s eyes as he rolled them at my reaction. “Yeah, it’s been a while.” I said when we pulled away. “How have you been?”

“I’m good,” she replied, smiling prettily at me. Oh, another reason why Kai was smitten. “Hey, I didn’t know that you know Taemin. Anything I should know about?” she asked, giving me a teasing look while giggling. I flushed red as she kept prodding me, but I was really used to people misunderstanding our relationship. “We’re not dating, Suzy.” Taemin supplied as he came to stand beside me. “She rejected me.”

Suzy and Kai looked taken aback by that while I merely rolled my eyes at him. Taemin chuckled, amused at our reactions before swinging an arm around my shoulders and pulling me close to his side. I caught Kai narrowing his eyes at his cousin’s action. “But don’t worry; she loves me enough to let me be her sugar daddy. Right, cupcake?” Taemin asked as he turned to me, eyes glinting playfully with a wide smile on his face. I snorted and pushed his face away when he puckered his lips and hovered them close to my face.

“Get off me, loser!” I shrieked before I caught sight of the customers before us leaving after making their payment, making it our turn. “Come on, Tae. It’s our turn,” I pointed out to him as I gently moved his arm away from me. Taemin made an ‘oh!’ sound and quickly stepped up to the counter with me by his side. I could feel the couple standing close behind us as well, and was super aware of the heat of Kai’s glare at the back of my head.

Taemin gave the attendant our orders without bothering to check with me anymore. We’ve done this a thousand times and he knew what I liked and disliked. “So, you and Taemin are just friends, huh?” Suzy suddenly asked as she leaned closer, almost propping her chin on my shoulder. I turned and gave a jerky nod, surprised to see her so close. “Really?” she asked, sounding sceptical. “I mean, what kind of friends go out to watch movies in the middle of the night alone?”

“The best friends kind?” Taemin pointed out with a roll of his eyes, having overheard our conversation before turning to me. “Sweetheart, it’s your turn to pay.” I blinked and quickly turned around to pay for our snacks, not realizing the fact that Kai’s and Suzy’s eyes had widened at Taemin’s nickname for me. Once I’ve paid, we moved aside to allow the couple to order next but Suzy gently grabbed me by the elbows before I could walk off.

“I’m so not done talking to you,” she whispered with an excited glint in her eyes, making me sigh before walking away.

Great.

*

“Are you okay?”

I turned my head to my left to meet Taemin’s eyes, giving him a brief nod which made him sigh. He turned back to the screen that was just playing the commercials before the movie, face contorted with a displeased frown. “What?” I asked, slightly moving closer to him so he could hear me whisper. “You don’t look okay,” he whispered back, giving me another brief glance before his eyes averted to something over my shoulder. “Although I can’t really blame you.”

I sighed. Taemin was referring to the couple occupying the other seats beside me, one that I had tried to ignore ever since we sat down five minutes ago. It turned out that Kai and Suzy had come to watch the same Marvel movie, and fate had placed their seats right next to ours, much to my dismay. So far they’ve yet to do anything that would make me feel super uncomfortable, but the sight of them leaning close to whisper to each other was enough to make me feel crappy. The guys took the seats at the end which placed me right in between Suzy and Taemin. The lights dimmed a little as a commercial ended, only to pop up another one, and I sighed while leaning back against my seat.

Taemin scooted closer to me and we barely had any space between us when he leaned his head to whisper to me again. “I thought you got over him,” he whispered very lowly in my ears so I was the only one that could hear him. It was quite a ridiculous thing to do considering that the audio in the cinema was deafening and absolutely no one could have heard us unless we were yelling over the sound. I chewed on my bottom lip and shook my head. “I thought so too. It’s just been so long since I was in contact with him, and tonight–” I sighed again and thoughtlessly laid my head on his shoulder. “Seriously, of all nights, why must it be tonight when I wanted to spend my time clinging to you?”

Taemin rested his head against mine and whispered, “They’re watching us.” For a moment, I stiffened but relaxed again as Taemin grabbed my hand and gently drew circles with his thumb. “And for the record, you can be as clingy as you want to be, regardless of their presence. Whatever it is, it’s just you and me, baby cakes. It’s our night.”

I nodded against his shoulder and felt him move to throw one arm around my shoulders, effectively pulling me closer to his side in a one-sided hug. I was cuddling him now, my face hidden at the crook of his neck, and suddenly I was hyper aware of the curious eyes watching us. Taemin gently rubbed my back when he felt how tensed I was and I contemplated on pulling away, but it would only give Suzy a chance to jump at me and berate me with questions I didn’t want to answer and hurt Taemin’s feelings at the same time. I didn’t want to risk either so I nestled deeper in his hold, making him chuckle as my hair tickled his chin, and sighed in content. I’ve always liked snuggling close to Taemin and with how cold the cinema was, I was more than glad to borrow his body heat to keep myself warm.

As the movie began, I forgot about the two pairs of eyes watching our every move and simply enjoyed the movie with my best friend.

An hour after the movie started, I escaped to the restroom to relieve myself. On my way out, I froze at the sight of Kai leaning against the wall of the hallway. He looked up when he noticed my presence and I tensed as he pushed away from the wall to approach me.

I swallowed. “Um, hey. Were you waiting for me?” I asked, feeling uncomfortable at the short distance between us. “Can we talk?” he asked, making me frown at the hardness in his tone. “Sure, what’s on your mind?”

“I thought you didn’t have feelings for Tae?” he asked, surprising me with his straightforwardness. But then again, when had Kai ever the type to beat around the bush? It’s been a while since I hung around him and it seemed like I forgot about this one unique trait of his. I didn’t appreciate the accusation in his tone though and took a deep breath before nodding. “That’s right,” I said. “I don’t, and we’re not dating.”

“Then what are you doing?”

I tensed at his hard tone before frowning deeper. “Kai, whatever we’re doing is clearly none of your business,” I told him which only seemed to make him angrier. “Yes, it is. Taemin is my cousin, my brother. I don’t want to see him get hurt.”

“Do you think that lowly of me?” I asked, feeling myself get filled with rage as well. “I would never hurt Taemin.”

“Then why–”

“Oh my god, can’t a girl hang out with her male best friend without anyone thinking that we’re together?!” I groaned and pinned him with a glare. Kai looked surprised at my outburst. “Here, let me give you a very short insight of our friendship. Friday nights are our nights where we’d escape at any given time in the evening to have dinner, watch movies and hang out. Seriously, I don’t even know why I have to tell you all this.”

“But Taemin–”

“And when’s the last time you spoke to the guy?” I said with a scoff, effectively cutting him off. “He’s moved on, okay? He has a girlfriend, which I’m surprised you didn’t know about, and she also happens to be my friend. She’s absolutely chill about me hanging out with her boyfriend because, and I quote, ‘Taemin needs a breather from time to time, and so do I. I’d rather he spend his time away from me by going out with you than him loitering around with his friends at bars and potentially making a big mistake when he’s drunk’. And no, he’s not cheating on her with me either. There’s nothing but a platonic relationship between us and we’re all happy with what we have. So stop accusing me of trying to hurt him when I’m not!”

I panted once I was done explaining myself at him. My throat suddenly felt dry and it hurts as I tried to calm myself down. Kai was staring blankly at me, various emotions swimming in his eyes, and I belatedly realized that I had been yelling at him and that we had spectators watching our little show. I glanced hotly at the few workers who had gathered at the end of the hallway and they scrambled away once they realized I was glaring at them, and I huffed loudly as I turned to back to Kai. This time, he had a very guilty look on his face.

“Look, Krystal. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to–”

“Save it, Kai.” I sighed, cutting him off for the umpteenth time. “You clearly don’t know what’s going on and you should just… shut up. I mean, I get that you’re trying to protect your cousin,” I quickly added when he tried to open his mouth. “But there’s nothing to worry about. I won’t hurt him, and I believe he would do the same to me too.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry. I guess I was just worried that Taemin was going to make a stupid mistake which would hurt himself, you know.”

“You mean like you did? Or should I just be straightforward and ask, ‘like what you’re currently doing’?”

I couldn’t help it. It felt weirdly ironic for him to be protective of Taemin and not wanting him to make a stupid mistake involving me when he had just forgiven his cheating girlfriend and had gotten back with her despite everything.

“What do you mean?” he asked, frowning. “You know what I mean, Kai. And stop saying things like not wanting Taemin to make stupid mistakes with me because one, for all you know, I might just be one of the best things that has happened to him, and two, you’re not one to talk.”

My heart clenched at the hurt and pain I saw in his eyes but I wasn’t going to stand there to comfort him. Suzy may be my friend, but I knew that she was not a match for him. After years of knowing her, I knew for a fact that she will not be changing anytime soon, and I hoped he would realize it too before he could get hurt again. Kai deserved better after all. So I left and found comfort in Taemin’s arms, silently shedding my tears in the dark cinema and my occasional sob drowned by the blaring noises from the screen, as he rubbed my back soothingly and whispered comforting words into my ears.

*

The next week was a dread to me since I knew I was going to be seeing Kai around again. I couldn’t get our conversation out of my head; the look of hurt and pain I saw in his eyes haunted me and made me restless throughout the weekend. Luckily, I was able to distract myself thanks to the guys, including Jae-in and Jinkyung, who had been spamming our Kakao group chat which pictures from their holidays and promises of meeting up before our classes on Monday. The want to see them again after two months helped to clear my head and when my parents dropped me off to campus, I quickly rushed to the cafeteria where the others were already waiting. On my way there, I bumped into Yixing and Sehun who wrapped me into a bone crushing hug and excitedly pulled me to our destination, going on and on about how much they missed me and the others.

“Krystal!” Jae-in and Jinkyung yelled and quickly came forward to hug me the moment I arrived at the table. Tao, Sehun and Yixing joined in as well, making me laugh as they crushed me in their holds before I moved to hug the other guys. It felt really good to be with them again. I hugged Kyungsoo last before taking a seat beside him. “Wow, it feels like we haven’t seen each other for ages!” Kris exclaimed from the end of the table and I laughed, quickly agreeing with him.

“You say that like as if you boys didn’t meet up during the break,” Jinkyung snorted with a roll of her eyes. “You guys posted so many pictures on Instagram, especially you, Kris.”

“And our group chat,” Jae-in added. “I swear my phone was about to burst due to the numerous pictures you guys sent to us.”

“You guys are just jealous,” Jongdae replied childishly, poking his tongue out to the closest sister who happened to be Jinkyung. “No, we’re not. In fact, I’m glad we refused to go out with any of you – well, aside from Tao’s birthday party of course, because I don’t think I’d appreciate watching you guys huddle in front of the TV playing stupid video games.”

“Jae-in was fine with it though,” Sehun pointed out. “That’s because she’d do anything to spend time with Minseok.” I countered quickly, making the boys smirk at the blushing couple. “But seriously though, we should hang out even when we’re on break.” Tao said with a wistful sigh. “Two months of not seeing you girls .”

I cooed at the boy who immediately blushed before everyone began sharing their own stories of how