And Krystal watched Victoria sweep the bits and pieces of half-finished sweets into the dustbin.

It was time for her flight to Thailand. She re-read the text message that Victoria had sent to her earlier, and felt the corners of lift up.

“The weather is hot there. Drink lots of water ok? And don’t forget to call me every night.” The message was simple, but it certainly warmed her insides.

She had been filming the opening for two hours under the sweltering heat, and her body was already sticky with sweat. When the producer signaled a time-out, Krystal heaved a sigh of relief and hastily looked for water. Before she could take a step, she felt something cool against her skin. “Here, I brought a water bottle for you,” Minho handed her a water bottle, his smile radiant. Was it the sun that made his smile even brighter? Krystal quietly mused. She flushed and muttered a soft but audible “thanks”, and assured herself that it was the heat that’s making her flush. Not Minho’s smile.

She surveyed her surroundings. Everyone was busy chatting with each other, and out of the corner of her eyes, she spotted dear Nichkhun standing at one side, who was ever so chivalrously handing out water bottles, and she noted that each time a female celebrity took the water bottle, her hands brushed across Nichkhun’s hands 1.5 seconds longer than the male celebrities.

Didn’t he know that chivalry in the entertainment industry only gives off the wrong signals? Whatever happened to “Chivalry is dead”? You’re supposed to follow this saying, and not besot every female celebrity!

Krystal silently fumed while watching, and fumed even more when Nichkhun taught Hyomin the “I’ll be Back” dance later on as part of the program. Well, at least Victoria learnt the entire choreography in a record one hour and Nichkhun has been teaching Hyomin the chorus choreography for the past 53.5 minutes. And she wasn’t even sure if Hyomin has got the shuffling part pat down.

Just then, Nichkhun caught Krystal’s stare and smiled gently, the ends of his eyes creasing upwards. He mouthed a “hello” but Krystal chose not to respond, turning her head sideways to look for Minho.

That night, Krystal sent a text message to Victoria.

“Hi Vic-omma, everything’s fine here. Suju and Shinee oppas are taking care of me so you don’t have to worry. Don’t overwork yourself during practice ok? I know our comeback is in a few weeks’ time but take care of your health too.

And, Nichkhun is fine too…if you’re wondering. Everyone takes care of him so you don’t have to worry about him too.”

Though I personally think the attention is excessive, Krystal silently added.

They were to play water games the next day, and Krystal loved water games. A skilled swimmer, she takes to water like a fish takes to…um..the water.

Minho chose Krystal to be his partner, and she beamed, knowing that with the competitive Minho who absolutely abhors losing, they make a formidable team.

It was warm-ups first so there was a bit of spare time. She couldn’t stand the frequent stares that female celebrities threw at Nichkhun’s back so when Nichkhun suddenly appeared by Krystal’s side and asked how her day was, she couldn’t help but gave the female celebrities one cold stare before giving Nichkhun her reply.

And when Nichkhun soft asked, “How’s Victoria doing? Is she…is she overworking herself again?” Krystal raised an eyebrow suspiciously at his concern.

“Yeah well, she does practice a lot recently you know. She has a performance withtwo male magicians for a program. She’s been practicing with them for almost, let’s see, two whole days already. She says lots of nice things about the magicians; even I couldn’t stand her gushing.” Krystal casually remarked.

She detected Nichkhun’s quick frown etched on his face, and taking delight in it, she further commented, “And do you know what her favorite dance song is? It’s Love, , Magic. Is it just a mere coincidence…or fate?”

She emphasized the last word slowly, and saw how Nichkhun’s eyes flared up in jealousy.

“Well, nice talking to you, I gotta head back to warm-up. You’d better do some stretching first or you’ll get a cramp when you get in the water. Bye!” Krystal exclaimed and rushed back to Minho’s side.

Krystal didn’t bother hiding her glee when Nichkhun’s legs gave way and caused UEE, who was sitting on his shoulders and struggling to reach the seaweed dangling from a string, to fall rather ungracefully into the waters. And it merely added to her delight when UEE fell again for the second time.

Krystal watched NIchkhun apologise to UEE before silently massaging his legs.

Well, someone obviously forgot to do his warm-ups.

But her biggest delight was when Minho and she won the water games, and Krystal flushed with happiness when Minho hugged her and said a soft “thanks, you were awesome Krystal”. She couldn’t breathe, much less form a sentence so she merely nodded and quietly reveled in the embrace.

Filming ended a few hours later and it was time to go back to Korea.

As Krystal packed her bags, she remembered the hug from Minho and the sulking Nichkhun, who didn’t bother saying bye to everyone (except his Suju brothers) when filming wrapped up until Krystal sighed and requested Minho to tell Nichkhun that Victoria had made a new batch of pad thai and sent it over to his dorm so he better return to Korea quickly less it gets eaten by s, before Nichkhun cheered up immensely and gave Minho a hug that appeared to be too tight.

A light smile graced Krystal’s lips.

Oh well, it’s all in two day’s work for Krystal.