Krystal stood on the stage at Madison Square Garden and stared at all the empty seats that surrounded the stage. In less than a couple hours, each seat would be filled with a screaming fan. The idea excited her and scared her at the same time. She didn’t have any doubts in her talent or the talent of her group mates but she never imagined in her wildest dreams that she would be performing at such a world renowned stage.

“Soojung-ah! What are you doing just standing there? Hurry up and get back stage! You need to start getting ready for tonight!”

Krystal rolled her eyes as the voice of her manager rang through her ears. She sighed and turned around to walk back stage.

Once she was out of hearing distance from her manager, she mumbled to herself, “So much for calming my nerves…”

She huffed and walked to the dressing room where the rest of her group mates were and braced herself for the chaos that was probably happening behind the door. Krystal opened the door and was immediately greeted with an excited Sulli jumping up and down.

“Soojung! Where have you been?! Manager oppa was looking all over for you! He seemed pretty irritated if you ask me.”

Krystal rubbed her temples and walked to the first open seat she could find and waited patiently for a coordi unnie to come by and tell her what to do.

Krystal had gone through this routine countless times. She would sit down and a coordi unnie would give her the clothes she was supposed to wear. After she was done changing, she’d come back to her chair and an unnie would come and start styling her hair while another fixed her makeup. The process was easy yet Krystal felt something off. She couldn’t place her finger on it but something made her feel odd, anxious even. She scoffed at her pesky feelings and simply blamed her nerves for the cause of her emotions.

It was thirty minutes before f(x) would come onto stage as the opening act. Krystal tapped her fingers against the counter in f(x)’s dressing room and stared at a smudge on the mirror in an attempt to hide her nerves. A hand patted Krystal’s shoulder and caused her to flinch.

“I’ve never seen you this nervous since our debut performance. Relax, Krys. We’ve performed for a long time now.  This night won’t be any different. Lighten up, okay?”

 Krystal looked up and relaxed her shoulders when she saw the soft smile on Victoria’s face. Krystal appreciated her leader’s comfort and reciprocated her smile.

“Thanks, unnie.” Krystal got up from leaning against the counter and followed Victoria out the door.

While walking towards the stairs, Krystal bumped into someone. With her eyes still focused forward, she quickly apologized.

“I’m sorry!” Krystal kept walking towards the stage without looking back once to get a glimpse of the face of the person she bumped into. From behind, the person she bumped into continued to watch her retreating figure until she could no longer be seen.

Henry stood dumbfound. He knew that she was from f(x) but he never paid any attention to her until this very moment. He swore he never saw someone so beautiful until bumped into her. He quickly ran to a monitor back stage so he could continue stare at the mystery girl that captured his attention.

He watched f(x) from the screen and kept his eyes glued to his current fascination. He was enchanted by her voice and her dancing. Each move flowed skillfully from her body as she sang along with the four other members. She was like no one he’d ever seen before. How did he manage to just notice her now after all these years in the same company? Flabbergasted, he called out to one of his group mates.

“Zhou Mi! Who is this girl?!”

 The elder turned his head and stared at the girl Henry pointed to.

“Oh that’s Krystal.” Krystal. The name rang through Henry’s head and he made sure to permanently mark it into his memory.

“Krystal…” Henry whispered to himself. The named slipped off his tongue as if it were something sacred, a name that he already treasured deeply. He smiled sheepishly to himself from these emotions that came on so suddenly. Looking back to the monitor, he saw that f(x) had already come off stage. He darted away from the screen in hopes that he would get another chance to look at the girl that left him speechless.

“That was great! Everyone was so pumped! It was because they saw me, right? I knew the crowd would love me.” Amber stretched her arms behind her head and smirked.

“Stop acting so cocky! It’s not a good trait to have.” Victoria lightly slapped the rapper’s back which caused her to playfully rub her back in pain. The other members, Luna and Sulli laughed at the sight. Krystal quietly smiled at the scene but saw something from the left side that caught her eye. She turned her head and made eye contact with a guy staring at her.

Henry was startled when he and Krystal made eye contact which caused him to fumble around with his fingers nervously. He looked off into another direction and murmured to himself,

“Act cool Henry, act cool. Play it off as though you were looking at something else.”

Krystal softly chuckled at the guy who was just looking at her and went back to following her group mates into the dressing room. She was intrigued. Thinking about him more she decided to figure out who he is. Krystal pulled Victoria off to the side and asked,

“Unnie, who is that?” Krystal asked pointing towards Henry. Victoria blinked for a few moments before answering.

“That’s Henry. You know, from Super Junior-M.”

Krystal mouthed a silent “Oh” and nodded.

“Thank you, unnie.”

Victoria smiled in return and walked off to change into her new set of clothes.

“Henry, huh…Cute guy.” Krystal quickly dashed off to go change into her attire for the next song with the thoughts of a certain guy roaming through her mind.

Krystal waited patiently with the rest of f(x) backstage for their next turn to perform, staring off into space when Sulli’s voice caught her attention.

“Omo! Soojung look! Our sunbaes are performing!”

Krystal stopped staring at nothing and looked at the screen to watch what appeared to be Super Junior-M. She saw Henry was on performing as well and was immediately interested in what song that was going to be performed. The music started to play and Krystal tried her best to listen to the lyrics that were being sung.

“She is God’s perfect creation.
She’s the perfect subject of my only own.

Oh! Too perfect. The presence of my heart.
Oh! My Lady. You’re awakening me.
Her eyebrows and her two eyes, her side profile and her neck line
The beauty of her.
Oh! Too perfect.”

The lyrics perked up Krystal’s interest in the sub group and the dance added to the attraction of the song. Curious, she tapped Sulli’s arm.

“Sulli, what’s the name of this song?”

Sulli continued to watch the screen and replied, “It’s called Perfection. I think this is the most recent song they came out with. It’s catchy isn’t it?”

Krystal silently nodded and continued to stare at the performance in wonder. She already knew that this song would grow to be one of her new favorite songs.

The night went on with secret glances from both Henry and Krystal. Henry quickly became addicted to Krystal’s beauty. For Krystal, there was something about Henry that caused her to involuntarily stare whenever he was around. Most were oblivious to the actions of the two except for some. Victoria and Zhou Mi watched from the sidelines in amusement.

“My, my. I wonder how this will turn out.”

Victoria nodded in agreement with Zhou Mi and continued to watch the not so discrete stares Henry and Krystal gave each other.

“I just hope nothing bad comes from this.” Victoria then sighed and walked off to get ready for the ending act.

Krystal roamed the stage as the rest of the idols went on singing “Hope”. She found Jessica and did a little fanservice for the crowd and smiled at all the reactions around her. At some point, she went off on her own and continued to wave to the crowd but found herself close to a certain someone.

Henry saw Krystal slowly come closer towards his direction and thought this was the perfect chance to finally talk to her. He walked up to her and poked her shoulder. She looked up and gave him a smile.

“Oh hello sunbae.”

Henry smiled and shook his head.

“Please don’t call me that. Henry is just fine. What’s your name?”

Krystal leaned to her side and grinned.

“Well hey there Henry. My name’s Krystal. I guess it’s ummm…Nice to meet you?” Krystal mentally added “finally” to the end of that question and tried keep her air of aloofness around her.  Henry nodded and was about to say something in return but Krystal interrupted him.

“Looks like everyone is heading over to bow. Let’s hurry up before they bow without us.” Krystal grabbed Henry’s hand and Henry swore he could feel a jolt of electricity surge through his hand. Krystal continued to drag him without paying attention the fact that he was a few years her senior. Henry didn’t mind the informal action at all and prayed to himself that she’d continue to be comfortable with him after this concert.

Krystal found Jessica and grabbed her sister with her left hand while continuing to hold onto Henry’s hand with her right. Krystal didn’t think too much of the situation but Henry’s mind was going crazy. The outcome of this night made him instantly warm on the inside. While bowing, Henry slyly stared at Krystal and began silently singing to himself.

“My heart that was asleep is waking up again.
Just for you, when I open my eyes for you.
When a fire lit up even in the ice,
That’s when I jumped into this love.”

A/N: Yay for chapter one! Please don’t be weirded out with this odd pairing. It’ll make sense later. It will all make sense later. I wanted this to be longer since I love it whenever writers have long chapters but I couldn't see myself writing more without it being too much. It's an opening chapter and opening chapters are always boring and what not. Bear with me?

Oh gosh I'm so excited. I tried my hardest to not sound like some noob or idiot. I think this was prof-read like a million times. I really want this to be something people will enjoy sooooooo.... Please do leave me some sort of feedback. Anything. I'll be eternally grateful.

-ForbiddenSimplicity