Krystal pulled out her keys from her pocket and slid the key into the keyhole. She turned the key and slid it back out once she heard the clicks of the lock unlock and gave her access to the inside. She focused her attention on the floor as she slid her sneakers off her feet. Without hearing the upcoming footsteps, Krystal, surprised from the sudden collision, stumbled backwards against the door.  Once her vision steadied, she was greeted with the face of Sulli.

“Soojung-ah!! Welcome home!!!!” Sulli held onto Krystal tightly and swayed the two back and forth.

“It’s nice to see you too Jinri. Do you mind toning down the enthusiasm a bit? I’m a little tired.”

Sulli let go of Krystal and backed up a few steps away with sympathetic eyes.

“I’m sorry Soojung. I didn’t mean any harm.” A curve downwards started for form from Sulli’s lips which caused Krystal to feel a little guilt for being too blunt. Krystal sighed and gave Sulli a slight smile.

“No harm was done so please, don’t worry about it.”

Sulli’s lips immediately moved in the opposite direction, her smile gleaming once more. The guilt Krystal previously felt washed away from the sight of her best friend’s smile.

“Oh thank goodness! I was a little worried. Anyways, come on! Stop standing in front of the door and actually walk in.” Sulli let out her hand for Krystal to grab onto which she did graciously. Once the two moved away from the doorway to the kitchen, Krystal saw Victoria with Amber playing checkers together, Luna watching from the “sidelines”. Victoria was the first to look up and gave Krystal a devilish smirk.

“Soojung-ah! So nice of you to finally join us! You took an awfully long time to leave the practice room. I was afraid you wouldn’t be back until late at night.”

Krystal, her eyes narrowing, let go of Sulli’s hand and crossed her arms. Krystal shifted her weight to her side and tapped her fingertips against her already crossed forearms.

“Unnie, that wasn’t funny what you and sunbae did. That situation could have very well turn into an awkward situation. Thank God Henry is good at holding conversations or I’d-“

“Oh? Henry-yah knows how to hold good conversations? Sounds like you enjoyed yourself then.”

Krystal huffed, flabbergasted from Victoria’s devious antics.

“Well yeah…I did but that doesn’t make it right. Unnie! You can’t just-“

“You’re welcome Soojung-ah. No need to try and defend yourself. No one’s here to attack you.”

Sulli shifted her attention between Krystal and Victoria throughout the entire conversation, confused.

“Wait, wait! What are you guys talking about?”

Victoria chuckled to herself and leaned back against her chair while waiting for Amber to make her next move.

“Don’t worry Jinri-ah. I just added some spice to Soojung’s life.”

Sulli stood in her spot, perplexed. Krystal took this chance to pull out her phone to see the time.

4:37PM

Krystal jumped in place. She couldn’t believe how late it already was.

“Oh no! I need to call before it gets too late!”

Sulli looked back towards Krystal and tilted her head.

“Who do you need to call Soojung?”

Before Krystal could speak, Amber spoke up with amusement in her voice.

“She’s going to call her boyfriend obviously. She calls him every day at four thirty.”

Sulli gasped and stomped her foot.

“Soojung! How could you have a boyfriend without telling me?!”

Krystal rolled her eyes and yelled.

“Amber!”

Amber stood up from her chair and raised her hands.

“Sorry. Let me rephrase that. Krys is calling her boyfriend that’s not her boyfriend.”

Krystal let out a low grumble and sent daggers from her eyes towards Amber. She ran to the room she shared with Amber before any more misunderstandings arose. Before she completely shut the door, she shouted out,

“Amber you’re so annoying!” Krystal shut the door and heard a muffled voice seep through the door.

“I love ya too Krys!!!”

Krystal ignored Amber’s reply and walked towards her bed.

“Tsh. Love me less.” Krystal laid her body on her bed and stretched out her back. She let out a content sigh and wrapped herself in the soft sheets that covered her bed. Once she deemed herself comfortable enough, she unlocked her phone and scrolled through her contacts.

“Let’s see, let’s see. K, k… K.” After searching through the “k’s” on her phone, she found the name she desired to call and pushed the “call” button.  The phone rang a few times before someone picked up the phone with a voice much deeper than Krystal’s speaking in English.

“You’re late label mate.”

Krystal sighed and stared onward apologetically towards the ceiling her body was facing as if the ceiling were the person she was talking to and continued on the conversation in English.

“I’m sorry Kris. Things came up. It’s a long story that I promise to get to so you should talk first. I don’t want time to run out while you’re talking about your day.”

Krystal heard a scoff from the other side of the line. She could picture Kris rolling his eyes at her if she were to be standing in front of him.

“Yeah, yeah. You better have a good reason for being late for our daily phone conversation. Anyways, I only had practice today so it wasn’t really eventful. Though, I did get to know more about some of the members that I don’t get to spend much time with.”

Krystal nodded to herself, taking all that she heard in.

“Wait but you’ve been training with them for years and you’re just now starting to get to know them?” Krystal raised her eyebrow and turned to her side so she didn’t have to continue holding onto her phone.

“Krystal, there’s eleven other members and most of the time I’m with only the five that are part of my group. It’s a little hard to build relationships with those I don’t see outside of practicing. What am I supposed to do? Start a conversation in the middle of dancing? That’s just-“

“Okay, okay. I get it. Was there anyone in particular you developed a liking to because I know you’re very choosy on who you really want to be close with.” Krystal heard some shuffling in the background noise and a door shut.

“Sorry. They were being rowdy so I went into the bathroom. But I’m not so sure. Outside of the five members in M that I look after, I never really developed much interest in having strong emotional attachments with anyone in K. Though, there was one guy that left me puzzled.”

Krystal moved from her lazy position and sprung forward, her back up straight as she was sitting on her a bed. Her thoughts from her head ran through in a frenzy that she spoke with much speed.

“A guy?! Who?! Oh my God this is so exciting. You’re always so judgmental when picking candidates for who might be worthy of your affection. What’s he like?! I might know who he is. I always thought you were more suited with a guy compared to a girl. I,-“

“Krystal! Calm down! And what are you talking about with ‘candidates’? He is just someone that entertained me and managed to capture my attention for a mere minute. I have no interest in starting anything with anyone. Lord you get too carried away. He was Chanyeol from K. I never really paid much attention to him since I’ve spent little time with K. I used to think he was some normal guy who raps but I was wrong. He’s a little… Odd. But then again, today showed me that everyone in K is a little odd but he’s the hyper type of odd.”

Krystal chuckled loudly into the receiver to ensure Kris could hear she was laughing while her lips curved up.

“I’ve heard of his name from time to time from Vic since she likes to hang around trainees or in this case, soon to be debut idols. But that’s cute. I see him around in your future. I’m calling it now. So when he does before more than the ‘hyper odd guy’ I’ll point in your face and yell, ‘I told you so!’” Krystal heard a growl come from Kris and started to laugh harder.

“It’s not that funny but enough about me. I’m tired of you teasing me. How about you tell me why exactly you were late in calling me?”

Krystal paused for a bit to recollect all that had happened throughout the day.

“Well…” Krystal took several minutes to explain her encounter with Henry, not allowing a single break in her sentences for Kris to leave any input. She made sure not to leave any detail, no matter how insignificant, out. By the time she finished, she was out of breath but had a smile back on her face from the pleasant bonding she spent with Henry.

“And that’s what happened. Cute right? I have a good feeling about him. He can be so silly but he’s such a gentleman and-“

“This is great Krystal but let me remind you that this is the first time you really got to hold a real conversation with him. It doesn’t matter if you’ve known him for months. None of that really counts when you barely say a word to each other. The reason why you and I are best friends is because we have the same values. Meaningful relationships built over time. I think it’s a little early to be praising him and making him a possible…How do I say this? Significant other?”

Krystal scrunched her nose and shrugged her shoulders.

“There’s no harm in being a little spontaneous. I always wait and normally people don’t want to wait around with me. What harm can be done with taking the fast lane for a change?” Krystal heard a sigh and knew her friend wasn’t very approving of her rash decision to show interest before getting to know the older maknae that treated her with such kindness.

“I don’t know Krystal. From my experience, this kind of decision making doesn’t really have a happy ending. I’m just saying that the right guy for you will be the one that falls for your mind first and not your looks. But eh. Who am I to dictate what you do? Just keep in mind what I said okay? I don’t want to see you getting hurt from this.”

“I appreciate your advice. I really do but I want to listen to my sheer emotions for a change. Nothing’s worked out when it came to listening to my mind and I can’t see Henry ever hurting me in the slightest way possible.”

“Alright, alright. You seem dead set on your decision so I’ll just bite my tongue and support you. But heed my words. Anyways, I have to go now. Tao is nagging me to get out of the bathroom. Talk to you tomorrow. Don’t be late.”

“I won’t. Bye Kris!” Krystal heard a click come from the other line and decided to send one last text message before taking a nap.

“Be daring Krystal. Be outgoing. You can do it.” She clicked on Henry’s name and wrote out her message. Once she was content with it she placed her phone on her nightstand.

“Today was fun! I hope we can spend much more time together in the future. After all, a prince should always look over his kingdom with his princess.”

Krystal smiled to herself as she felt her eyelids grow heavier and heavier. Little did she know that Kris’s words were right and it would take another guy to walk into her life to realize how much of a fool she was.

A/N: I know I haven't updated in what seems like years but it's because of school. The semester's about to end so that means I'll update much faster. Yay! But I'm sorry everyone. I'll try harder to be more consistant. Anyways,

I've been, surprisingly, getting a lot of messages about where Kai fits in but I can't really put him in yet. Like I said, it might be a tiny while before he plays a big role. But to calm your curiosities, I added that tiny segment at the end so I'm sure you can piece together where he'll stand. I'm sorry for this slow beginnings be character development is what makes a story right? 

I hope you all enjoyed~

-ForbiddenSimplicity