She didnt stay behind any longer to hear the rest. She felt betrayed and stupid for not realizing it in the first place. It was right in front of her face! Krystal's heart trekked up and thrashed uncontrollably. She was having trouble swallowing the words she heard.

“ No this cant be true! If they were out to get me, they wouldve done it ages ago! I go to school with Taemin and was exposed to Minho more than once!,” she reasoned. They wouldnt have taken so long!

But a voice inside her head knew it was the truth. Everything just didn’t make sense. They were good actors. All this time they knew, but confused Krystal to the extent that she didn't even know anything logical.

She began backtracking the day she met Taemin. She was climbing a tree overhead to get over the school's fence when a voice down below calmly spoke.

“ If you shake that branch any harder, you're going to fall right on top of me,” he said, leaving his eyes from his manga to the body above.

Krystal froze in place and looked down. He was right. The tree was rickety and the branch she was clinging for life on was threatening to break. But she was so close to the top of the fence. “ I can help you down,” he offered standing up raising and clapping his hands, the way you would try to impress a baby into your arms.

Was she really going to trust a boy she never met before? “ No thanks. I have to go,” she said declining his open arms and inched forward a little more. That was the breaking point of the branch and she felt a scream escape . But she tasted no grass or dirt when she fell. Only the sound of escaped air and the smell of detergent.

“ Im so sorry! It thought you were going to catch me!,” she cried brushing off his tie and uniform.

He introduced himself as if he got slammed merely by a pillow.

“ Its okay. Im accident prone myself haha. Im Lee Taemin, your classmate. Today's my first day. You are..?”

“ Jung Krystal, ” she introduced, not catching the signficance of his eyebrows rising. They shook hands and she apologized again.

That was the last time he talked to her in school.

^______________________________^

When she approached the same spot at the playground, Krystal sat inside the tunnel trying to holding back the feeling of betrayal. For the first time in years, she felt like she has somebody to depend on. But Taemin let her down. He pretended all this time that he didn't know Minho when they were from the same gang. For the first time in years, she had time to crush on a boy, despite him being four years older. But her impression of Minho crashed and burned.She thought he was joking when he threatened her in the alley. But he was telling the truth. " I'd be careful if I were you. You shouldn't follow strangers. I can be somebody thats threatening for all you know." Krystal was confused about what was true and false.

She decided to test out her feelings and theirs once and for all.

^____________________________________^

Meanwhile, Taemin and Minho were still at the school chatting. “ We know why he wants to kill her,” Hyoyeon said. “ Money.” 

Both Minho and Taemin thought what she said was absurd. “ Money? He has tons of it!,” scoffed Taemin. “ Why does he want money?”

“ One of his transactions gone wrong while he was in school. Onew nearly lost his all his savings. To bounce back, he came up with a plan to take over his parent's assets. He couldnt go bankrupt, it was too shameful! Eunhyuk tried to hold him back, and his fate was death. So his plan was to murder his parents cleanly and do the same to Krystal before her 18th birthday. He's in America right now waiting for the few of you to accomplish the second part. All he has to do is sign a few papers over there if she dies,” Yonghwa claimed.

“ Why 18th birthday?,” Minho panicked. They all knew it was coming up very, very soon.

“ The day she turns 18, the frozen assets goes into her hands. Onew would want her gone before then because he'll be the only person left in the family to claim the inheritance and will.”

They didnt know when money was so important to Onew that he had to kill the important people around him. Strangers were nothing. These were his best friends and his parents. Now his target was his only remaining family member.

Feeling a migraine coming, Minho clutched his head and shook it hard. This was not the Onew they knew before. This couldnt be happening.

Shinee was the most precious thing on Earth to him and he swore his own life to protect it. Taemin was beginning to doubt whether their present intentions were still the same from their first day together.

Killing Krystal before her 18th birthday meant preserving Shinee. Not killing Krystal meant turning their back on Onew. Taemin didnt want to bring it up, however as before, the original Shinee died along with Se Kyung. 

Jonghyun closed up and no longer looked at anything the same again. His change reflected on the rest of their feelings as well. Taemin didnt want to relive another period of it.

The meaning of Shinee was gone if the bond between the brothers were broken. Greed, self pride and wishes drilled them down.

“ If we kill Krystal....history would repeat once more..and Shinee would be in more danger. In order to save whats left of Shinee, we must save Krystal. Whatever happens afterwards wont matter. Because if another girl I love ends up dead, I will kill myself,” Taemin swore, bringing his finger up to cross his heart.

Their steps were heavy as they left the school. Minho suddenly grabbed Taemin's hand and made his decision. He never looked so passionate about anything in his life as he did now.

“ We procrastinated all this time. We can do it some more until after her birthday. Onew is not getting his money. Krystal must not know a thing. Or else none of us will be forgiven. This has gone far enough.”

" What makes you think that Krystal will ever forgive us if she finds out about any of this? We played her long enough. All the lies. The both of us," Taemin asked uneasily. Minho only stared ahead.

" Thats the thing. She may not forgive us either of us," he answered sadly.

It was official. Shinee was on a plan to overthrow their leader.

All because of “her”.