Something New

'Hey, Krystal? Wanna hang out at the park after school?' Key suggested at lunch. He was sitting with us for a change. I smiled inside and out.

'Yeah, definitely!' The park was around the corner from school and it was a favourite place of Key's and mine to hang out.

I could never pass up the opportunity to be around Key.

Amber, on the other side of me, elbowed me discreetly. 'What?' I stretched out the word playfully, reluctantly turning away from Key to face her.

'Walk to the bathroom with me?' This was code for, Let's get away from these people so we can talk privately.

'Sure,' I replied. Amber and I stood up and walked away from the group.

'Did I see you making eyes at Key?' Amber whispered.

'No! Why would you think that?!'

'Do you like him, Krystal?' Amber grinned as I elbowed her hard.

'No, I do not!' I exclaimed. I knew i was not doing myself any favours by being so defensive, but I couldn't help it. Amber was still grinning. 'I don't! I mean it! He's one of my best friends, Amber.'

'Sure sure.'

'I hate you!'

'No you don't.'

If Sulli was the self-centred princess whose presence felt like a privilege, then Amber was the observant mate who made you feel as if you were entitled to her friendship. I would not have traded her for anything.

Back at the table, Key turned away from his conversation with Luna to talk to me again when I sat down. When he stood up to throw out his rubbish, he took mine as well. Amber raised her eyebrows and giggled into her hand as I tried not to look at her.

Part of me wanted to act exactly like Amber; to be an schoolgirl excited about her crush doing something for her. But most of me was aching with sadness, because I knew that for Key, it was simply friendship. But for me, it was so much more.

~~~

'This way!'

'No, this way!'

'That way takes longer.'

'No, your way takes longer!'

Key and I were on our way to the park. School had gotten old, fast, because I could not stop thinking about going to the park with Key; I was glad to be away from the school. Key and I bickered playfully as we walked along, smiling and nudging each other the whole time.

Eventually I gave in to Key. How could I not? 'All right, we'll go your way.'

'Okay,' he said. 'And Krystal?'

'Yeah?'

'I have to tell you something later,' Key said quietly. Instantly, I wondered what he could be talking about.

'Something interesting?' I asked.

Key looked oddly serious. 'You might think it's interesting.'

'Ooh, who about?' I demanded.

Key rolled his eyes. 'Me, stupid.'

'Well, it could have been anyone,' I defended myself. 'What is it?'

'If I were going to tell you now, I would not have said "later", would I?' Key replied, still looking more serious than usual for this kind of conversation.

'Okay then, bossypants.' I knew better than to push for more information - I didn't want Key to get fed up with my questions and not tell me at all.

Key and I reached the park after another ten minutes of chattering. Just being around Key, and walking so close him, made my heart race. At this rate, I would not be able to keep up my friendship with Key, because I could not control my emotions around him. It almost made me wish I didn't like him as more than a friend.

Key pulled out his phone and tapped away on the screen. 'Who you texting?' I inquired as casually as I could. Key did not look up. He just smiled vaguely and replied, 'No-one.' I wanted to press him but I didn't.

We were halfway to the bench next to the playground, walking side by side. Key was still on his phone (the expensive one I was extremely jealous of) and I was still staring ahead at the green grass. Then, without warning, I felt warmth envelope my hand. Before I even looked down or had the chance to comprehend what was going on, my stomach filled with butterflies.

Key's hand was around mine.

A quick glance down confirmed this and I stopped breathing. Key was still on his phone, or at least, he was pretending to be, and he didn't acknowledge what was going on or make eye contact with me. My body went stiff, but I kept walking towards the bench, fearful that if I made a noise or changed my path, I would break the spell. When a friendship has existed for years without a hint of romance, hand holding is... different.

All the times I had envisioned this moment (and there had been many), I had imagined that my head would be filled with thoughts; bees buzzing around my skull at an incredible pace. Now that it had come, though, my mind was perfectly blank.

When we arrived at the bench, Key let my hand drop and we sat down. It was possible that the hand holding was still completely platonic, but the way Key was still not looking at me but instead at the ground indicated otherwise.

I sighed loudly, exhaling my tension, and turned towards Key. I knew that, if Sulli had known of my predicament, she would have yelled at me for passing up this opportunity, but I wasn't about to let the brief interlude of - dare I think it? - romance get in the way of our friendship.

'So,' I began ultra-casually, 'what were you talking to Luna about at lunch today? You two looked pretty engrossed.' Key glanced up at me, surprised. For a moment, his eyes were wide with confusion and I felt guilty: he had taken the first step past friendship and I was rejecting him. I had no idea why I was doing so - maybe I was panicking? But my eyes spoke back just as determinedly: We are not doing this.

'You, actually. We were talking about you,' he replied, without taking his eyes off me.

'Me? Really?'

'Do I ever talk about anything else?' The old Key returned momentarily as he joked, but it was the old Key with a new twist.

'You should, you know. I'm not that special.'

'You are, Krystal.'

'Tell that to my mother.'

Key suddenly looked sympathetic. 'She's still spending all her time with your dad, huh?' I nodded, and elaborated. 'She talks to me about once a day, which hurts, because we used to be so close. And Minho's a total ; he makes no effort to even pretend to be friendly.'

'Aww, that sounds awful.' Key rubbed my arm comfortingly, but I stiffened, thinking of our earlier encounter. 'You'll always have me,' he said, grinning cheesily. I laughed and agreed. As I did so I subtly tried to extract my arm, from his grip, but Key did not let go. I started to feel awkward.

Luckily, my watch was on my other wrist. I didn't always wear a watch but Mum had brought this one back from Japan. We had mucked around after school before heading to the park so we were running out of time - Mum had instructed me to ring her when I was ready to go home (because the park was at least a ten minute drive from my house) and to do it before five. It was already ten to.

'I'd better ring my mum. She wants me home soon.'

'Sure,' Key replied, but he sounded unsure. Key lifted his hand off my arm and I pulled my phone out of my pocket. I dialled Mum's number; the phone rang four times before she picked up.

'Hello?' Mum said, sounding distracted.

'Hi, Mum, it's me.'

'Oh, hi Krystal. What's wrong?'

I stifled a sigh. 'You said you would pick me up?'

'Oh, Krystal, not now. I'm busy.'

'Well, I can't camp out at the park. Who else will pick me up?' I asked rhetorically, hoping she wouldn't take the question literally and suggest my father.

'I'll call Minho.' This was just as bad.

'Can't you do it?' I cried in protest, trying to control my desperation.

'No.' Mum's answer was final. 'He's home right now, I think. He'll be there in ten minutes,' she stated. 'Bye now, hon.' And then she was gone.

'Minho's picking me up. I can't believe this,' I muttered to no-one in particular. It took me a moment to remember Key next to me.

Key replied to my complaint. 'It's okay. It can't be that bad. It's just a car ride, right?'

He really could be counted on to make me feel even a little better. 'Yeah, I suppose you're right.'

'I'm ready to tell you what I was going to say,' Key murmured as he looked at the grass. The butterflies returned. This was unlike every other time I had been around Key; this was something new.

'Okay.'

Key leaned across and kissed me, gently pressing his mouth on mine. My heart hammered at a thousand miles a second and my stomach fluttered uncontrollably. Against better judgement, I kissed him back.

Key's lips moved softly against my own; I automatically moved my lips in response, only less gently. Key let go of my arm and turned his body fully around to face me on the bench. I turned towards him as well, winding my arms around his neck as Key slid his around my waist.

I think we had been waiting to do this for so long that we couldn't bear to stay in safe first-kiss territory. Key's tongue pushed inside my mouth and I gripped his hair tightly. We kissed fiercely for a good five minutes without speaking. Again, neither of us wanted to shatter the spell that had been cast on us.

We must've looked so stereotypical to strangers walking by: two teenagers making out on a park bench. It was almost an out-of-body experience; it was too perfect, being so close to a guy I'd liked so long. But it couldn't last forever, no matter how much I wanted it to.

Key gently pulled away from my lips and looked right into my eyes. I almost looked away, but I stopped myself. His gaze was a little too intense.

'Weren't you going to tell me something?' I managed to stutter out. A smile tugged at the edges of Key's mouth.

'I just did.'

'Oh.'

'I really like you, Krystal,' Key said, smiling cautiously. I felt like a deer in headlights.

The sound of a car horn blasted across the park, making Key and I jump. We turned towards the source of the noise, and I was surprised to find that Minho had pulled up in his car at the edge of the park.

I stood up and turned around briefly. 'Ah, bye, Key,' I spluttered, flustered, before I walked as quickly as I could towards the car, away from Key. I hated leaving him hanging but I was so, so confused.

As I neared the car, another question occurred to me: had Minho seen Key and I kissing? Had he driven up before we had separated, or had he arrived afterwards? I had told him Key was only my friend, so him seeing that... would have been embarrassing. But there was something else behind that, some other reason I didn't want him to see. It was probably because he was my brother. Probably.

As soon as I climbed into the front seat of the car, Minho let out a long sigh. He looked over at me. Was he going to say something about Key and I? But Minho didn't - he just gazed right at me for a long moment, then turned back to the dashboard and started up the car.

'Mum's relatives are all coming over from Jeju next week,' Minho told me. He seemed uncomfortable with the word 'mum'; it rolled off his tongue uncertainly.

'Okay,' I replied. Minho barely said another word to me all the way home, but unlike during our other car rides, he kept sneaking glances at me out of his eye.

A/N I promise I'm getting to Minstal, guys, I promise. I'm building a story here ^^