"124.. 125... 126..."

Through boredom, Sulli had spent her time counting the seconds till New Years. Sulli released the air from her puffed cheeks while her back curved as she leaned forward to admire the beautiful and seemingly boundless city of South Korea thatundoubtfully shows itself off best at night where the lights that gave off its brilliant, luminous glows became prominent. Her hand that wasn't holding her beverage reached out as if to touch it, but her arm immediately dropped as it was weighed down with fatigue. She groaned, sipped her drink, and sighed.There was approximately one hour left till the start of the New Year and she was aleady worn off due to the previous restless night since her father's somewhat unwelcome phone call. She was suddenly filled with remorse for denying Krystal's company as she really desired comfort from someone anyone, but she didn't want to look selfish since this was supposed to be a joyful night for everyone anyways. With that, the appearance of Taemin found itself drifting in between Sulli's thoughts as she thought of his irratitating remarks yet soothing warmth she had felt when he stood by her and unknowingly grinned.

Taemin burst into the door and almost collapsed once he finally stepped into a quiet and calm atmosphere. Taemin lifted his head only to find a girl had already taken over the balcony. Taemin groaned as he wished to have a rest without any disturbance. Ugh. Really? Before he could demand the girl to move somewhere, his lips only parted halfway once he was able to catch a small glimpse of her face.

Upon the unexpected presence of Sulli, who was still unaware of his own at the moment, Taemin's heart throbbed against his chest from nervosity and excitement, the nervosity coming from her pleasant appearance while the thrilling excitement came from the sight of the dress she was wearing. His eyes had unintentionally fixed onto it the second he saw her and he couldn't help the corners of his lips that urged itself to lift up into a delightful smile for she was not wearing Baekhyun's gift, but his. But most importantly, he was just simply and absolutely stunned by her. The thudding of his heart beat grew louder than usual and a bright shade of pink blended into the light flesh on his cheeks as he was completely frozen by Sulli's admirable beauty before proceeding to quietly take small and careful steps towards her.

"... Sulli?"

Minho's eyes bulged as it look up at her, then he grasped Krystal's wrist and pulled her down to sit beside him again. They both stared into each other's eyes and upon recognization of his hand that had been holding her wrist for quite a while, Minho timorously cleared his throat as he quickly let go of it and looked away from her.

"Sorry." He apologized as he coyly rubbed the side of his shoulder. They both laughed nervously as they distanced themselves from each other by positioning their bodies slightly towards the opposite sides.

After that peculiar moment, the two sat there silently fixing their attentions on the cement in front of them as each would give the other secret glances from time to time. Minho fidgeted the edge of his coat as his mind drifted off to his thoughts, then turned to confidently face Krystal for the first time since their summer together.

"I've been thinking about it." Krystal lifted her eyebrow without looking at him as she focused on flicking the pebbles from the ground next to her. Minho rested his hands on his kneecaps and warmly smiled at her as he spoke.

"What has been pulling us apart since high school. Why do we keep running away from each other. Why aren't we the same around each other as we used to be." Minho stopped to stifle a laugh and shook his head. ".. But, honestly, I can't find any real acceptable reasons to any of them... Now that I think about it, the majority of what I thought were reasons were foolish." Minho seemed to have caught Krystal's interest as she slowly turned her head to face him. Minho gave her a half smile.

"Because if you really like someone, why should you try to distant yourself further from them? " 

Krystal's eyes widened and her jaw slightly dropped as she tried to comprehend on what he had just said. "Wh-what did you just say?" She stammered, lips almost quivering from excitement as her eyes pleaded for him to answer.

Minho chuckled as he positioned his body so that it was completely facing her.

"Krystal-ssi, what I'm trying to tell you is this." He leaned his head closer to her as he gently cupped her cheeks with his large hands, his face evidently showing sincerity to his words.

"I.. really.. like.. you."

"Sulli." Taemin called for Sulli again, who still seemed busy being lost in her own world. Taemin furrowed his eyebrows as he repeated her name again.

"SULLI." He said in a louder and deeper tone to which she still didn't respond to. Taemin sighed as he stepped closer to observe Sulli to find her with a stupid smile on her face in a daze. Had she been drinking? He frowned as he squinted his eyes at the beverage she was holding and stopped halfway as he was about to grab it. But isn't that root beer? Taemin observed her face again and scoffed before leaning his head closer to hers so that his lips were right in front of her ear.

"PIGGY-YAH." Taemin shouted at the top of his lungs, causing her to jump as she was completely roused by the sudden sound of the voice right beside her. As soon as she saw Taemin smugly smiling back at her, she was at ease and in content, but bit her lip to resist the urge to smile back and retorted at him instead.

"What the heck?!" Sulli scowled at him as she rubbed her ear. Taemin smirked and leaned his back on the railing of the balcony.

"You don't respond to your own name but instead you respond to that. Isn't that saying something?" 

"I'm not in the mood." Sulli said bluntly as she folded her arms on the edge of the railing and rested her chin on it. Taemin straightened up and lifted his eyebrows.

"I was just kidding.." He muttered and scratched his head in embarassment. Taemin spun his head around searching for Krystal.

"But.. where's Krystal?" Sulli covered with her hand, yawned, and shrugged.

"I don't know." Sulli replied lazily as she she smacked her lips. Taemin chuckled.

"Knowing that New Years is coming, shouldn't you rest and take care of yourself more beforehand?"

"I couldn't sleep, so I stayed up studying." Taemin's eyes lit up in shock.

"Really? That's so weird.." Taemin laughed in amusement, but his smile faded away as he noticed her emotionlessly staring straight ahead. "Why?"

"My father called me and told me that the date for his business trip was extended to a couple more months.. At the end of March." Sulli smiled sarcastically as she spoke. Taemin frowned as he tilted his head.

"But you can wait that long, right?"

"He's coming back on March 31st.. Two days after March 29th." Before Taemin could open his mouth to speak, Sulli interrupted him.

"Two days after my birthday and an addition of one more year that he has missed it."

Taemin froze at his spot and his expression softened as he noticed her gloomy eyes begin to water.

"I know that I should be fortunate to still have my father on this world, alive, but how can I tell when he almost seems invisible?"

Taemin looked at her solemnly for a moment, then tried to smile.

"How can you know for sure? He might say that, but he may come sooner. I-if not, we can be two lonely people alone together." Taemin stuttered as he tried to find words to cheer her up. Sulli looked at him weirdly in confusion making Taemin ridiculously blush bright red at what he just said.

"Be right back." Then left the room, leaving Sulli frowning, full of curiosity and bewilderment.

Taemin, angry at himself, violently ruffled his hair and growled.

"Aiish what am I supposed to say?" He pouted as he stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jackets. His eyes suddenly widened as he felt a couple of thick pieces of paper in one pocket that had slid in between his fingers. He hesitantly pulled that object out to find two Super Junior concert tickets in his hand, the ones that Luna had deliberately given to him. Taemin bit his lips and cheerfully smiled at them.

"Of course!" He snapped his fingers and grinned.

Krystal sat there utterly surprised at Minho's sudden words as her stomach began to flutter. Minho seemed to have been astonished at his own words as well as he gradually slipped his hands off of her cheeks and looked at her.

"But.. how about you?" Krystal nervously pursued her lips together.

"Are you so upset that you're in shock?" Minho cocked his head to the side as he grinned, trying to warm up the awkward atmosphere. He furrowed his eyebrows as he stared at a pale white Krystal whose face seems to indicate that she has gone completely blank.

"Krystal?" Minho creased his forehead as he leaned his head closer to hers. He waved his hand in front of her. 

"Krystal-ssi." He softly chuckled as he moved his head a couple of more inches towards her. Krystal swallowed hard as she eyed Minho's lips that appeared right in front of her eyes.

"Kryst-" Minho's words were cut short. Krystal broke the distance between them as she lowered her eyelids, her soft and tender lips pecking gently against his. Stunned, Minho could only blink, ears burning, as she slowly moved her lips away.

"Yah.. what took you so long?" Krystal . Minho blinked a couple of more times as he stared at her lips in a daze, then warmly grinned at her.

"Finally, the Jung Soojung I know is back." He smirked.

Taemin twisted the doorknob and stormed in the room with the happiest smile on his face. 

"Sulli-ah, I-" As he stepped closer towards her, Taemin slumped his shoulders down and slowly raised the hand holding the ticket down as he was quickly greeted with a quiet snore. 

"Sulli?.." Taemin muttered quietly and worried as he leaned his head in front of her, only to find a peacefully sleeping Sulli snoring soundly in her sleep. Taemin sadly puffed his cheeks as he stuffed the tickets back in his pockets. He checked his watch to find that there was only a minute life until New Years. 

His eyes drooped as it glanced at her as he knew he couldn't wake her up now. Taemin folded his arms on the railing beside her as he stared at her asleep and scoffed.

"Is it a habit for you now to fall asleep to me?" Taemin murmured dolefully and chortled. Taemin had long aspired to spend the night before New Years with Sulli. Although he was distinctly disappointed that he wasn't able to have her there, actually awake with him, he smiled as he thought it was better than not being beside her at all.

"10!.. 9!...8!..." The shouts of the crowd counting down the leftover seconds until New Years could be heard outside the door. Taemin looked at Sulli and smiled as he grabbed her by the wrist with his hand as the crowd's cheers grew louder once the mark of the five second point was reached.

"4..

3..

2..

1.." 

Fireworks began to roar right in front of them as Taemin leaned his head and gently brushed the tips of his smooth lips against Sulli's soft, pale cheeks, then carefully moved them away.

"Happy New Years, Sulli." Taemin sweetly grinned at the sleeping Sulli in front of him and prudently brushed a strand of her on her forehead behind her ear with his fingers.

Minhee gasped in shock and anger as she witnessed the two behind the crack of the door and furiously crushed the plastic cup in between her hand. As she was about to step inside, she felt a small hand tightly grabbing onto her wrist that pulled her back. The pull was strong enough to spin her around, only to find a wild-looking Luna, staring coldly back at her.

"You'd be more stupid and psycho than you are now to try to do anything else to them. So, it is preferred that you just simply leave them alone." Luna calmly informed Minhee as she tightened her grip on her. Minhee looked at her bewildered, but that was only followed with an equally cold smirk as her eyes threateningly stared back at Luna's.

Minhee was not only sure that she wasn't going to let Taemin go, but she was also now determined to go completely psycho as possible in order to crumble the irritating stone that was clearly blocking her way that was Choi Sulli.

I hope this chapter can make up for my short hiatus~  My schedule has been really hectic lately. ;A; I've noticed that a lot of you prefer Jongna over Lunew lol. I'm not completely sure on which couple will end up with each other by the last chapter, but there will be plenty of moments for both. I literally just spent the whole week trying to finish this up, so in the meantime, pleasus comment below...just... please? ;-; 

Thank you in advance!