Henry wasted no time in getting to know Krystal. Over the span of two weeks, both were in constant contact with each other. And within those two weeks, both managed to slip in a few times where they would “practice” dance moves with one another in the very same practice room from the first time they encountered each other there. The glow on Krystal’s face could blind a person from a mile away. This left many moments for Victoria to tease.

“Soojung-ah! The sun is bright enough as it is in the morning. I don’t need your cheesy smiles to add onto my already burning eyes.”

Krystal huffed and playful pushed Victoria’s arm.

“Unnie! Stop it! You should be happy for me!”

“Oh but I am. My little Soojung is finally growing up.” Victoria mockingly pinched Krystal’s cheek and laughed from the obvious annoyance on Krystal’s face.

“Yah! It’s not like I’m a little girl.”

“Really now? This is the first time since I’ve known you that you actually went after a guy. I call this you finally going through puberty.”

Krystal grumbled and rolled her eyes.

“I’ll have you know that I went through puberty a long time ago. Don’t be jealous that I found someone while you’re still alone.” Krystal’s face immediately turned serious as she let her hand gently rest on Victoria’s shoulder.

“Unnie, I’m worried that you’ll hit menopause before you find yourself a man.” Krystal quickly ducked her head from the oncoming first that was coming her way. Krystal ran up from her spot in an attempt to run away from the mad woman that was her leader. Fits of Krystal’s laughter and Victoria’s sounds of anger orchestrated the moment.

“Yah Soojung! Learn to respect your elders!”

Krystal ducked another swing of Victoria’s arm with her laughter becoming harder.

“You’re my best friend. I stopped ‘respecting’ you years ago.” Krystal head a scowl come from Victoria and laughed at the elder’s facial expression.

“Please unnie, you’ll never get a man with that expression on your face.”

Victoria rolled her eyes and started to walk towards the door. Krystal stood in her spot, confused.

“Wait unnie. I was just kidding. Where are you going?” For a brief second, Krystal was afraid that she somehow offended her older friend until Victoria turned her head with a smirk on her face.

“I know. And to see Zhou Mi of course.” Without letting Krystal a chance to question any further, Victoria slipped on her shoes and shut the door. Krystal stayed in her spot with even more confusion shrouding her mind.

“Just how close are her and Zhou Mi?” Krystal shrugged the thought and when back to her phone which she knew would have text messages from her prince.

While her group mates were happy for her one stood adamantly against the idea of Krystal plunging herself with Henry. That one person was Kris. Over time, his gut feeling of the arrangement grew stronger with each passing day. He knew Krystal would not be happy with her rash decisions in the future. The fact that she didn’t really listen to him left him vexed. During their daily afternoon phone call, he snapped all together.

“Don’t you see that this isn’t a good idea? I don’t have a problem with Henry sunbae. I’m sure he’s a great guy like you say but this… This is all too fast. Sure you may text every day but what do you talk about? Probably nothing with any meaning. Let’s be honest. Have you even had one real deep and meaningful conversation with the guy?” Kris leaned his body against the bathroom wall and heard silence come from the other end.

“Exactly. You probably had those incredibly ‘cute’ conversations where all you do is flirt. Look Krystal, I’m really happy that you finally found someone that has sparked your interest but take it slow. You always take things slow. Why change it now?” Kris heard a rough sigh from the other side of the line and a frustrated Krystal raised her voice through the phone.

“Because he’ll leave! No one ever waits anymore. Either you’re in or you’re out. It’s terrible but that’s life.”

“Since when were you one to follow the crowd and do what others do?! Why are you changing yourself because of some guy? You should never have to do that.”

“I’m not going to change! I’m just cutting the time frame a little short. I’m still going to be the same me.”

Kris rubbed his temples and saw no point in arguing with the girl any long. If there was any one trait he and her shared the strongest, it was being stubborn.

“I better not see you turn into those mindless idiots that make their boyfriend their life. I have to go now.” Kris didn’t bother to give Krystal the chance to say bye and walked back out the bathroom. As soon as Kris exited the bathroom, he crashed into the frame of someone not much shorter than him. Said person turned around and left Kris surprised.

“Hi hyung!”

Kris forced himself to let out an awkward smile and tried to be normal with the person he least expected to see.

“Chanyeol-ah…What are you doing standing right in front of the bathroom?”

Chanyeol blinked a few times before realizing it was his turn to speak in the conversation.

“Well everyone already went to go eat dinner so I was waiting here for you to come out so you don’t get left behind.”

Kris stared at Chanyeol with a blank expression when his mind was off like a motor.

‘Of all people to wait for me, why him?’ The thought left Kris a little confused. Without letting any more time go by Kris started to walk away from the bathroom and towards the company building’s exit. Chanyeol quickly followed on by and the two walked side by side in silence. Chanyeol lifted his head towards Kris and tried to break the silence.

“So hyung,-“

“Why did you wait for me?”

Chanyeol tilted his head in confusion.

“I told you why. Because,-“

“No, not that. Why did you choose to wait for me?” Kris left his head to continue to face straight while he looked at the corner of his eye to read Chanyeol’s reaction. A giant grin was washed over Chanyeol’s face as he was beaming at Kris.

“Because I just wanted to. I saw this as a chance to get to know a member I never really see that often.”

Kris furrowed his eyebrows and pursed his lips.

"I see…” Kris scratched his head and hoped the rest of the walk would be left in silence but instead, the opposite happened.

“So hyung! What’s your favorite color? Food? Hobby? Do you use glasses? I’m sure you’d look good in them.”

Kris sighed in frustration and knew this walk was going to be a long one. He didn’t want to create a bad reputation within the group so he tried his best to answer every question Chanyeol threw at him in hopes that the stream of questions would stop but they never did. Chanyeol’s mouth continued to run and run until they were reunited with their group mates. Kris figured that after his odd encounter with Chanyeol, he’d finally be free of the strange situation by sitting with his group mates that he considered real friends but was mistaken. Chanyeol took it upon himself to sit next to Kris and for the rest of the night, Chanyeol asked questions while Kris bit his tongue from preventing himself from saying something rude.

While Kris was off having a change of pace in his life, Krystal was having yet another “dance meeting” with Henry. Their “dancing” for this night included laughs over absolutely nothing and a game of thumb war. Krystal was currently struggling against a thumb much bigger than hers. Hating the idea of losing anything, Krystal figured using a few “tricks” wouldn’t hurt anyone.

“Henry! You’d really have the heart to make a young pretty girl such as myself lose?” Krystal looked up to Henry with innocence in her widened eyes.

“Princess, you play dirty. Most would continue on just fine but I can’t ignore a damsel in distress.”

Krystal saw Henry’s thumb back away from hers and pressed on his thumb with a smirk on her face.

“HAH! And now I’m the victor of today.” Krystal stood up from the wooden floor her and Henry were sitting on and stretched her back. Henry stared at her with the same awe he did the day he first saw her. Whenever he would see her, his eyes would soften and a sheepish smile always found its way to his face.

“But my lady, you’re always the victor in my eyes.”

Krystal, smiling to herself with a flush in her cheeks, turned her back from Henry and faced the door.

“My good sir you are too kind.” Krystal started to walk towards the door and slightly turned her head back to Henry.

“It’s late so I’ll be the first one to leave. Remember to wait five minutes before getting up to leave.”

Henry nodded his head in understanding and watched Krystal’s retreating figure leave through the door. He whispered to himself,

“Goodbye my princess.”

Krystal walked down the hallway towards the main entrance when she heard footsteps running from far away.  With each footstep she heard, it would grow louder. She stopped walking altogether and squinted her eyes off into the distance. She saw the figure of a man running towards her and heard audible curses come from his mouth.

“, , ! I’m going to be late again! I hope I’m going the right way.”

Krystal analyzed the person coming her way and recognized that his face was indeed familiar. She assumed he was probably someone from EXO that she has yet to learn of. She didn’t bother herself in trying to place a name to all twelve members and only knew of those that were introduced to her via Victoria or Kris. This only meant that Krystal was only affiliated with those from M. She assumed this one was from K and deemed the situation okay for her to continue walking again. The unknown man noticed Krystal’s presence and called out to her.

“Oh! Sunbae! Please wait!”

Krystal stopped walking yet again and waited for the unknown man to run up to her. She crossed her arms and tapped her foot.

“Ummmm… Yes?”

Once the man was close enough to her, Krystal started to critique his outer appearance. She was surprised to find this guy more tan than the average Korean but what surprised her more was his lips. They were full instead of thin like every other Korean in South Korea. She shifted her eyes up and down his body frame and was impressed. Through the tight shirt he was wearing she could tell he kept himself toned. Krystal wasn’t one to ogle over any guy but for the first time, she found a complete stranger attractive in her eyes. Before she could analyze anymore, his voice snapped her out of her reverie.

“I’m terrible with finding my way around these hallways that never seem to have an ending. Could you tell me how to get to the practice rooms?”

Krystal blinked her eyes a few times before opening .

“You just keep going down straight and then you turn on the second right, not the first.” Krystal immediately saw the guy’s frantic expression turn into a bright smile. Krystal wondered just how someone can go from a y look to an adorable one in a matter of seconds.

“Thank you so much sunbae! I promise once EXO officially debuts, I’ll give you a proper thank you. Until then, goodbye!” He bowed to Krystal and went back to his sprint down the hallway. Krystal watched him continue to run down the hallway and cursed herself for not asking what his name was. Once he was out of sight, she went back to walking to the main entrance with a new task for her to do once she went back to her dorm.

She was going to find out the name of the abnormally tan man that she ran into on her way home. 

A/N: I'm sure we all know who that was at the end. Haha. There you guys. I finally gave Kai a tiny appearance so you all don't start thinking I was lying about the Kaistal in this story. But WOW! 22 subscribers?! I'm so honored!!! It warms my heart to see people like what I write though it really helps if you give me input as well. So there's no need to be a silent reader. I encourage you all to say something ^^

Woobabylove0904: Welcome, welcome!!!! And I know right? She's too... Independent for someone so soft but we'll see what happens in the future. Oh but thank you so much! This is the first time I've written a full blown story so I'm a bit scared of what others would think. I hope I hear from you again~

Soorijeny: Haha. I suppose that can be a little confusing but I'm glad it got cleared up. And we'll see how he does or if he does. Thank you for your comment ^^

And thank you to all my new subscribers!!! I'm proud of myself for updating in a reasonable time frame. Haha. Happy reading everyone!

-ForbiddenSimplicity