Sooyeon had been born to a couple smitten with each other, with nothing but a bright future ahead of them. Soojung had also been born, five years later, in the same period.

The two girls had been bright, energetic girls, known for their never-ending cheerfulness and frank honesty. They spoke what was on their minds, and they stood at what they saw was right. With their charming smiles and kind hearts, many people loved them. Not only that, but they both loved the stage, the attention.

The whole family was carefree and loving. A look at a snapshot of that time of their lives would clearly show smiles and family affection. The father took time off on a weekend every other week just to spend time with his family. They went everywhere, and was the envy of their friends. Nobody could match up to the obvious love in the family for each other.

All good things, however, comes to an end, they say. And it did, too, for the Jungs.

When Soojung was 6 and Sooyeon 10, the happy-go-lucky world crashed and burned to never rise up again. Their father was accused of a crime that he never did, and was stripped of his title as lawyer. They lost a lot of money for the unfair blame, and when the whole thing ended, the once invincible family was left to pieces.

They moved out of the cottage they had lived in. The family's parents started working odd jobs just to pay the bills for the small apartment. Their father started to become depressed, and went out for long periods of time. The mother was diligently working her jobs and taking care of the children. She still held the hope of returning to the family they had been.

That dream, that small dream of hers was disentegrated, however, when their father moved away.

All that time, the father had had a mistress. To overcome his depression, he had quit all his jobs without the family knowing to visit that rich woman. Comparing the home of the lady to his own home, he made a decision to entirely forget the past and make himself a dazzling life, not including the family he had lived with. He left at the dead of night, leaving no trace of himself.

The only reason Sooyeon knew of this was because several days later, her father's face came out on the newspaper with a headline annoucning the marriage of a rich, young woman. Hurt and confused, she went by herself to the address she found online. When her father saw her, he coldly turned her away, saying that he had never seen such a girl before.

Sooyeon understood, at the age of 11. She went home but said nothing to her mother, who had already seen the news and probably pieced together the whole thing. The mother kept working quietly, often coming home late from the multiple jobs she worked. They barely got by. Then they learned, belatedly, that their mother was pregnant, and had been for the past three months.

All three of them agreed not to have an abortion, feeling bad for the little baby inside the stomach. It felt like they were killing a life, not giving it a chance to even live. And so, the baby was born with the help of the med school student next door. They named the baby SooBin. A neighbor took care of Soobin while the mother was out.

Then the landlady told them to leave. Apparently, a family that was willing to pay more had come to search for a room, and so they were being chased out. They were told to pack their bags and go in a week. An expressionless face saw them out.

The three females found their way to a downtrodden apartment, full of drug users and drunkards. As time went on, her mother started drinking as well. She became an alcoholic in only a few months. All the while, Soojung found escape in the PC rooms. Her visits to there became more frequent, matching the pace of her mother's alcoholic addiction. Also, Soojung kept becoming quieter and quieter, hating to be noticed. She became 180 degrees different from her personality a few years ago.

The family lived on like this: Soojung on the verge of game addiction, mother already an alcholic, and Sooyeon just enduring it all, doing her best in high school and looking over Soobin with her other sister.

Then came college. Sooyeon didn't want to go; she'd rather help her failing family. Her mother lost all her jobs but one due to her alcoholic condition, and they were worse than poor-- they were now one with poverty.

But Soojung disagreed. She pushed Sooyeon to accept the scholarship offered by a certain college, calling it the only chance of survival. Her stubborn side came out as Sooyeon argued, but Soojung told her that going to college meant getting a better paying job, and that would be preferred over having a dozen jobs like their mother from before.

Finally, after long and fierce arguments, she went to college. Not only that, Soojung contacted all of Sooyeon's friends and offered them a simple solution to their housing problems-- live with each other in a small apartment, paying the bill altogether. It worked like magic. They all said yes, and Soojung forced her big sister to go along with it.

She didn't stop there. Soojung told her to never look back, never return, and to never pay attention to her or what she does. Sooyeon said no, but Soojung once again pressured her until she did.

So from then on to now, she payed as little attention as possible to Soojung, and did not visit her old home again. She doesn't know what was happening with Soojung as well.

•    •    •    •

When Sooyeon finishes her long story, the room falls quiet. The four girls and five boys had known there had been a sad past in Soojung's life before, but none had guessed it was that bad.

"So you don't know what made Soojungie run away?" Sulli finally asks.

"Yes," comes the reply from the other side of the phone. Through it's speakerphone, the second family of Krystal had learnedabout her past.

Another heavy silence fills the room. Minho says, "Well, thank you, Ms. Sooyeon. We very much appreciate your information."

"It better be helpful," the college freshman warns. "I've broken my promise with Soojungie through this. So you better make use of this." It is obvious to the whole audience that this person is Krystal's sister. The same quiet but charismatic tone runs through the family, after all.

"It will be. Thank you once again." With that they hang up on both sides.

"So what should we do?" Amber asks. "Confront Soo-- I mean, Krystal?"

Victoria is the first to speak up at the question. "I feel kind of bad that we learned about her past in a sort of backhand way. It feels wrong."

"But we wanted to help Sooju-- Krystal, right?" Sulli defends.

Taemin nods. "Should we confess all to Krys? I mean," he continues, "though we've learned a lot about Krystal, we haven't learned anything about the problem she's dealing with right now."

'True. I think that we should just let it rest for a moment," Onew pipes up. "I want to be able to help when Krystal wants us to help. This background information can help us, but I personally want to wait until Krystal asks for help herself.

Minho cuts in with a frown. "But Krystal is so independant. I'm worried that if we wait for her to present the problem to us, it's going to be too late in some way."

The female leader puts a hand on his shoulder gently. "It's a risk I want to take, too."

Nodding, Jonghyun says, "It's been quite informational, this small meeting, and I think we don't have to go further than this."

"I agree," says Luna. Her face is uncharacteristically serious. "If you guys decide to, I'm not going to do it with you all."

"So we're not going to confront Krystal, right?" Key asks.

With a firm nod, Victoria clarifies, "I think it will be the best if we don't mention any of this to Krystal. We can show signs of concern over her mysterious problem, whatever that is, but we shouldn't force her to tell us." Though some are hesitant, all the persons in the room nods.

"Meeting adjourned." Onew stands up. "Now let's go wake Krystal up."

"Wait!" Sulli stops everyone from going out. "Just to tell you guys, I told everyone we went hiking. So act like it, okay?"

"Okay," the room choruses back at her.

Hi, everyone! Heh. Sorry for the huge delay. I'm awful, I know, but at least i'm here? I don't know. I've been so busy, the only times I could even long on AFF was on mobile, and it is horrible writing on mobile. So I had to wait until I had at last an hour of writing time, which was pretty much never until now. Sorry, madams and sirs! Also as a side note, I know Krystal and Jessica are five years apart. I just made them four years here because it seemed easier that way. Just like how I kind of meddled with the s of some of the group members, I kind of meddled with Jessica's age, lowering it to four years. Okay? Okay. The usual line now: thanks to all my loyal subscribers (or lazy AFF users, I don't know which) and my my awesome commenters (who are probably cursing me or rejoicing with the new chapter, probably the formal). Now see you next time (which is hopefully sooner)! Oh, and sorry for such a short chapter.