TICK TOCK TICK TOCK

Krystal felt the cold wind passing through those windows; then on her fair skin; then it blowed gently the frail crystals suspended on the gold chandelier of the living room. She steped the rotten wood floor on her feet. She could feel it cracking on each pace she stepped. She looked around the empty room. Despite the broken walls, the corners full of mildew and the shattered ceiling, she only felt coldness. 

BLOWING BLOWING WHISPERING

She went outside. It was warmer than inside the house. Krystal shuddered. Maybe her memories froze her thoughts and mind. That house was part of Krystal's childhood. A very miserable childhood. She also attended to her parents death on that very place.

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Everything started with a simple and happy family trip to the amusement park. Children were running from a side to another with cotton candies and huge teddy bears. The little Krystal also wanted those things that made the kids world a paradise.

"Daddy, I want a teddy bear." little Krystal asked.

"Oh, my dear. We don't have that money." her mother answered instead.

"But daddy has, don't you?" she insisted.

"I'm sorry my Krystal." he replied disappointed.

"But I really want a teddy bear." she whimped.

"Let's try on of the recreations." her mother incentivated.

"No! I don't want to!" Krystal cried.

"It's our last chance to be together. Behave yourself!" her dad demanded.

The little 6 year-old Krystal passed a bad day. She wasn't having fun. Neither with the roller coaster, neither with the bumper cars, neither with her favourite entertainment, the carousel.

Krystal was still angry in the car.

"Did you have fun, Kryssie?" her mother smiled.

Krystal didn't want to talk to her parents. She was absolutely angry with them.

"Leave her alone. I'm pretty sure she'll remember someday how fun she had today..." her father smirked,

"You're right honey."

Krystal couldn't understand why did they take her to the amusement park that day if it wasn't to buy a giant teddy bear. She went out of the car angrily and closed the room's door abruptly.

"At least I had fun on the last trip of our family, don't you think?" 

"Honey, why are you always referring the 'last'?" mrs Jung asked. "Aren't you tripping again, right?"

"Listen, honey. I'm in a serious debt. I promised to the CIP members that I'd pay all the debt I owed them till today, but I couldn't. So, as I knew what would happen to me if I didn't do that, I took you guys to the amusement park to enjoy the last day in family. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you before." 

"What? Are you insane?!" mrs Jung yelled. "Are you going to die? Please say no!" she cried.

Suddenly, someone knocked the door bluntly.

"Is somebody home? We're the CIP. We were sent by the president Ma, please open the door, mr. Jung."

"What should we do?" mrs Jung asked in panic.

"It's time to accept it cordially." 

"Are you insane? We can pretend we're not home..."

"No. They'll end up figuring out. Please, let me do this for our family's proud."

"No. You can't. I won't let it happen."

For their surprise, the door opened abruptly and 5 men appeared with strong guns.

"We're here to slaughter mr Jung." one of the men said.

"With whom's premission?" mrs Jung interfered.

"You must be his wife. Are you the whole family?" the man asked.

They stared at each other and then nodded.

"Yes we are." mrs Jung answered.

"I'm sorry for this." the man mumbled and shot.

Both were now bleeding. The men left the house, and at that moment, Krystal went out of her corner. She heard the shoot and startled. 

"Umma? Appa?" she called with her heart pounding faster. "Umma! Appa! Are you there?"

Krystal teared when she found the corpses bleeding.

"UMMA! APPA!" she screamed. "No... no... Wake up! What are you doing down there? It doesn't matter if I didn't get the teddy bear, so I forgive you! But please LIFT UP! Do you hear me? Mom! Dad! No!"

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Krystal had a heart attack. She felt really guilty and sorry for her parents. But now, she didn't tear anymore. She didn't feel anything now. Maybe some of the guilt came up sometimes, but no sadness. It was strange. It didn't hurt anymore. 

Then, Krystal left that place, after putting some white roses near the coffin. 

She walked straight to her actual house, no looking back. She arrived and greeted her adoptive parents. The house was as miserable as her old house, her parents were some mere tobacco sellers and they didn't have any particular special relationship. That couple had adopted Krystal when she was found crying near the coffin of her parents. Since then, Krystal lived with that couple and their son.

"Did you hear any news from Sehun? Is he coming tonight?" mrs Oh asked.

"I haven't heard anything today." she answered.

"Really?" she replied disappointed.

"Don't worry. He's a strong guy. Oh, look! Here's another scratch card, honey!" mr Oh exclaimed.

"Seriously? Let me see, let me see."

Krystal sighed.

"I'll be upstairs."

"Oh-oh alright. Rest." mrs Jung replied still fixing that card.

Krystal tried to call Sehun upstairs, but she didn't have any money left on her mobile.

«What's this guy doing all day?» she mumbled.

Even if the relationship between Krystal and her adoptive parents was superficial, she had a strong connection with her fake brother, Oh Sehun.

She decided to go and look after him, otherwise, she'd be there all day hearing screams from her parents excited with the scratchs' results.

"I'l be back soon." Krystal announced.

"Why, honey? You just entered." mr Oh said.

"I have to go and find Oh Sehun. It won't take long." Krystal said. "Then..."

She went outside and ran off that poor country zone and went to the centre. She was pretty sure he'd be there finding a job or something.

"Here it is. Have a good day. Here it is. Have a good day."

Sehun was in the middle of the street selling some ads to the chicken store.

"Here it is, have a... Krys! Whata re you doing here?" he asked surprised.

"What is it this time? A chicken store?" she asked scorning at the brochure.

"I had to get a new job. The other one , you know?" he mumbled embarrassed.

"Yeah, you were late twice and they fired you."

"It wasn't that simple..." he nagged.

"Let's go home. Mom and dad are waiting us. You'll have to eat supper at least, right? C'mon-"

"No, let it go..."

"Oh Sehun." she scolded. "You'll have to face your parents someday. You can't be embarrassed of them forever. Let's talk."

:::

"Tell me. Why are you avoiding them, like 2 weeks consecutively?" she asked him.

"I'm not embarrassed of their job, or money, or social position. I'm embarrassed because they don't change. I already told 'em to find a new job, study hard, get instructed, have ambitions, live decently. But what do they do? Ignore me and wait till some pocket money could fall from the sky. Or even from those scratch books."

"Oh Sehun." she called him softly. "Look, I'm pretty sure they didn't ignore you. You're the smartest in our family and the most capable. But think about the money they have. The way they look like. I'm sure they already though about following your advice, but they just couldn't. Why? Because other people could judge them and criticize them for being some poor countryside people. Imagine if you were in their place... What would you do?"

"You're 60% right, but I still don't agree with you at all. They could make some more efforts to go out of that black hole." he mumbled.

"C'mon, let's go home. It's late." she smiled.

"Wait. Let me just watch this beach sunset. It's the first time." Sehun said.

"Right."

Both just stared at the big and gold sun going down slowly. But when they weren't expecting, surprisingly, the sun set completely. It was now dark. 

"It was scary. How can the sun do this to us?" Sehun mumbled.

"What are you talking about?" Krystal laughed.

"Well, it was first going down slowly, but it disappeared when we weren't expecting. It can be really tricky sometimes."

"Sure. Let's go home." Krystal said lifting up from the stone step.

:::

"Sehun-ah! You're here!" mrs Oh said running to him to smash him with a kiss.

"Right, mom! Dad!" he pretended to be as happy as them. Krystal stared at him fiercely and he smiled much more.

"You're fine! You're not hurt! Thank god!" mrs Oh exclaimed. "My little chick!"

"We're happy you came back home son. Well done." mr Oh smiled.

"Right. I'm happy to see you too." Sehun faked a smile.

"Where have you been, I wanna know every detail." mrs Oh smirked.

:::

"Are you sleeping Oh Sehun?" Krystal whispered.

"Sure not. I'm here next to you." 

Sehun and Krystal used to sleep together in the same room, since there were only a room in the roof and the living room, where their parents slept. Sehun and Krystal slept in the roof's small room. As they didn't have bed, they slept on the ground.

"What do you want to do with your life?" she asked him.

"Humm, don't know."

"Do you have some sort of dream?" 

"My only dream is to marry someone kind and live happily with my 6 kids." he replied.

"Six? Why 6 kids?" she asked.

"Well, I don't know... Maybe because 5 is a bit lacking?" he joked.

"Ceh... you really don't know how to joke, don't you?" she laughed.

"What's your dream, Krys?"

"Humm, to buy a pretty pink house near the beach and live there with my husband. Happy forever."

"How many kids?"

"I don't know... maybe 7?"

"Aigoo, seriously?" he laughed.

"Hey look! One of the advantages of sleeping in the roof is to see the the Cassiopea every single year." Krystal smirked.

"Yeah, it is." he smiled too. "Hey, Krys...?"

But when Sehun called her, he saw she was with her eyes closed. The moon lit her beautiful face. Her lips were red as rose and her breathing was cold was the stars outside. Sehun's heart was beating hard. They used to fall asleep at the same time, but strangely, this time fate didn't want that to happen.

"Aigoo, what am I doing? Wake up, Oh Sehun..." he mumbled to himself pinching his cheeks and doing all the kind of things to stop looking at her fake sister.

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[A/N] Hey guys! Here's the first chap of "Rose". I hope I didn't make you waiting too long and I hope you enjoyed it! In this part, I made it a little bit boring and story lacking because is only the start. I wanted to describe sadness and pain so it was a bit blander... sorry T__T. But wait till the next chapter where the other characters will make their entry. Please expect for interesting parts of the fic ;D hehehe~ Read more and subscribe! Comments also make my day^^ Thank you so much for supporting the story. If you like the poster, please click 'subscribe'! Kamsahamnida :) Cheers-