“Oh my god, I’m so stupid,” Minho stopped at the voice of a distressed Victoria. Another voice responded to her, and Minho recognized it as Jessica’s voice.

         “Are you sure you can’t contact her?” She sounded worried and Minho became more curious.

         What was going on?

         “I’ve called her for the past couple of hours,” Victoria wailed, her voice shrill. “I shouldn’t have let her go by herself. She told me that she could go by herself, but I should’ve insisted. I’m so stupid. What if something happened to her?”

          “Soojung’s probably just taking her time,” Jessica tried to reassure her friend, but she couldn’t hide her obvious concern in her voice.

          What?

         “What if something happened to her?” Victoria repeated, pacing back and forth. At that moment, Minho spoke up,

         “What happened to Soojung?” Minho widened his eyes. “What happened?”

         “Nothing,” Jessica spoke quickly, looking away. She motioned Victoria to keep hushed. “Nothing happened.”

         “I heard you, you know,” Minho urged the older girls. “Where is she?”

         “I don’t know either, you know,” Jessica snapped back, but immediately blinked apologetically and sighed. “I’m sorry, Minho, its just…Soojung left yesterday afternoon somewhere but isn’t back. She was supposed to come back yesterday night.”

         Victoria just nodded furiously, and continued to pace back and forth, dialing Krystal over and over again on her phone.

         “Where did she go?”

         “We can’t tell you,” Jessica grabbed Victoria’s hand. “She told us not to tell anyone.”

         “How am I supposed to find her if you won’t tell me where she is?” Minho clenched his jaw. He was worried sick, now. “Where is she?”

         “I told you, I don’t know!” Jessica spun around, taking Victoria with her. Minho called out to them but it was no use.

         Jessica and Victoria were already hurrying away, trying to find one of their managers. They both continued to dial numbers in their phones and anxiously murmured to each other. Minho was left alone in the hallway. His feet were restless, and his mind was full of so many thoughts that he couldn’t think straight.

-

         Krystal shivered as she felt wind ruffle her clothes. Then she winced, blinking her eyes several times. Once she opened her eyes, she shielded them with her hands, the sun close to blinding her. She rolled around, not noticing the grass yet, and hit her head on something cool and hard. Widening her eyes, Krystal found herself looking at a tombstone.

         She yelped and fell back. Blinking, she looked around, and she groaned when she found out where she was.

         “Oh god, oh god, I fell asleep here?” Krystal muttered, hitting her head with her hand. “Jung Soojung, you must be out of your mind. You must be crazy.”

         Krystal got up quickly, smoothing her clothes. Grabbing her bag, she started to turn and walk away, but she stopped. Turning around, she slowly walked back to Hyungsun’s tombstone, sighing with relief when she saw that her flowers weren’t badly damaged from the wind. She crouched on her knees, bending down and fixed some of the petals before straightening her back. Looking directly at the tombstone, she reached out and touched the smooth, cold surface, tracing her fingers on where his name was engraved.

         “I’ll see you next year, Hyungsun,” Krystal smiled. “I’ll miss you.”

         She tried to get herself up, but she couldn’t get herself to. She didn’t want to leave him. It was hard.

         “Oh, this isn’t good,” Krystal thumbed away a tear. “I shouldn’t cry in the morning. I’ll see you next year, I promise. I won’t go anywhere, so neither should…you.”

         This time, Krystal did get up. She backed away slowly before turning around and walking to the nearest bus stop.

         Just as she arrived at the bus stop, she rummaged through her bag for her phone, to check what time it was. But she couldn’t find it.

         “Oh god, no,” Krystal ran her fingers through her hair and looked more closely. To her dismay, her phone was nowhere in her bag. “Did I leave it there? Did I drop it? I swear, Jung Soojung. You’re a wreck today.”

         As Krystal got up and started running around, looking for her phone, her bus showed up. Its opened doors were welcoming to Krystal, but she couldn’t leave without her phone. So she just nodded politely at the driver, who shrugged and closed the door, driving away. Krystal sighed, watching it before snapping out of it.

        “Phone…phone,” Krystal mumbled as she got on her knees to find it. “Phone!”

         Krystal found the similar bedazzled case burrowed in one of the grass patches. Picking it up, she blew on it and wiped off some dirt, beaming at her phone, but then she frowned. She had so many missed calls from Jessica, Victoria, her other members, her manager, and Minho. Krystal bit her lip. She would call Victoria and Jessica first; they must have been worried sick.

         “Jung Soojung, are you out of your mind?” Jessica’s shriek made Krystal wince, pulling her ear away from the phone. Krystal sighed. “Where the hell are you?”

         “I accidentally, kind of, uh,” Krystal fidgeted. “I accidentally fell asleep. There.”

         Jessica was silent. Krystal heard little noises and she could tell that the phone was passed on to someone else.

         “Are you okay? Did anything happen? You’re fine, right? Are you on your way home? Are you cold? Do you have all of your belongings?” Victoria didn’t give a chance for Krystal to answer, or speak. “You better come home right now, I swear, Soojung. Come home, right now. “

         “Ah, unni,” Krystal looked around. “I was kind of hoping if I could come home later. I…I want to visit somewhere.”

         Victoria was quiet for a few seconds. Krystal heard shuffling and muffled noises and it was back to Jessica's voice.

         “Where are you going to go?” Jessica’s voice was sharp. “If you’re even thinking about-“

         “I just want to visit the playground, unni,” Krystal was already beginning to walk down the sidewalk, still remembering exactly where to go. “The playground, and his house. That’s all.”

         “I really wish you wouldn’t,” Jessica sounded worried. “What if-“

         “-Unni, it’s okay,” Krystal tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “Just the playground and his house. I promise. And then, I’ll get on the bus and come home. Okay?”

         She heard Jessica whisper with Victoria, and Krystal sighed. Then, Victoria spoke.

         “Alright. But, come home straight after. Promise?”

         “Promise. Bye.”

         Krystal hung up before they could respond, because they would probably force her to promise all other kind of things that Krystal didn’t want to go over. Once, she stuffed her phone back into her bag, everything was quiet. The morning was kind of chilly, but the sun warmed her up.

          After a few minutes of walking, she spotted the playground in front of her. Picking up her pace, she walked faster until she reached the first thing she saw, the sand box.

         It reminded her when Hyungsun had confessed to her, months later. Krystal bit her lip and tapped her sides with her fingers, rocking on her heels.

         She ran her fingers up the dusty slide, childhood memories flourishing in her mind. It made her think about the many times she and Hyungsun went up the ladder, racing each other, and sliding down the slide at the same time. Krystal had tripped one time on the slide, and had fallen on her face. Hyungsun had immediately picked her up and made her laugh. Krystal missed those days.

         Then, she saw the grassy field, only a few steps away from the playground. That was where they always had their water fights. They would constantly slip on the wet grass, causing them to get dirty every day much to their mothers’ disgust.

         “Those were the days,” Krystal bent down and patted the grass thoughtfully, before getting up and walking away.

          I’ll see you next year, don’t you worry.

-

         “This is the second time already this week, Krystal,” her manager sounded stern, and his glare was icy. Krystal mumbled something under her breath, looking down at her lap. She smelt like grass, and she wanted to go shower and wash the smell off. Her manager raised an eyebrow. “What was that?”

         “Nothing, nothing,” Krystal muttered, looking back at her manager, mirroring his glare. Unlike her other members who never wanted to be near the manager when he was angry, Krystal wasn’t afraid to stare right back and bite back.

         “You should stop disappearing out of nowhere,” her manager snapped, and Krystal rolled her eyes. “Or at least, tell Victoria or someone where you’re going.”

         “Sure.”

         “I’m serious, Krystal. The first time, I let it go because it was only for a few hours. But, going somewhere one day, and coming back the next? That’s unacceptable.”

         “Oh, I’m sorry that I wanted to go visit someone who passed away,” Krystal stared at him, not blinking. “I’m sorry that it was his death anniversary and I wanted to visit him after one year. Oh, I’m so sorry. Will you ever forgive me?”

         Her manager didn’t know how to respond. He cleared his throat. Krystal twirled her ring around her finger.  When he still didn’t talk, she spoke with a bitter voice.

         “You shouldn’t talk when you don’t even know anything,” Krystal eyed him. “You don’t even know how to respond to me when I told you that. Maybe you should experience having your friend getting killed, and see how important a death anniversary is. Then, you wouldn’t be here, yelling your head off at me.”

         “Soojung, shush,” Victoria nudged her slightly, whispering at her to not make him madder. Krystal ignored her, and continued to stare evenly back at him. Her manager finally spoke back, straightening his back.

         “Just…just don’t do it again. Or you’ll have to talk with the chairman. You wouldn’t want that to happen, right?”

         Krystal tilted her head, her long hair spilling down past her shoulders. Krystal pursed her lips and thought for a second, tapping the leathery material of the chair she was sitting on.

         “But the only outcome of that would be you getting in trouble, oppa,” Krystal stretched her legs. “The chairman knew about my yearly visit to my hometown ever since I was a trainee. Yet, as a manager, you failed to take care of me. I mean, honestly, you didn’t know I was gone until Victoria or Jessica-unni told you, right?”

         “Don’t talk back at me,” her manager raised his voice. He raised his hand as well, but Krystal didn’t flinch. Instead, Krystal got up, smoothing her shirt.

         “Alright, now don’t embarrass yourself. There are people watching.”

          She half-smiled, half-frowned at him and walked away, a worried and nervous Victoria following her, leaving her manager muttering to himself.

         “Are you crazy? You shouldn’t make manager-oppa mad like that,” Victoria grabbed Krystal’s hand as soon as they walked around the corner, telling her to stop. “He could’ve hurt you, didn’t you see?”

         “I don’t care,” Krystal looked around, trying to find Minho. “I hate him anyways. He being a manager. I like our other one more.”

         “Soojung,” Victoria fixed Krystal’s hair, worriedly. Krystal just waved her hands away, so Victoria got out her phone to text Jessica that Krystal was back. “Is there something you want to tell me? You seem different.”

         “I’m fine,” Krystal smiled, but her eyes continued to scan the area for Minho. She sighed when she couldn’t see his tall figure at all. “I just want to go home.”

-

         Minho wanted to hit himself for falling asleep.

         His phone was next to his face when he had woken up, and there were missed calls from Krystal. Minho sighed with relief as he jumped out of his bed, tripping a bit.

         That must mean she’s back home.

         “Where are you going?” Key yelled as Minho opened the front door, sliding on his sneakers hastily. He was holding a greasy spatula and the smell of fried eggs from the kitchen made Minho sniff. “I said, where the hell are you going?”

         “Out,” Minho replied before shutting the door behind him, ignoring Key’s shouts and calls. Luckily, the SHINee dorm wasn’t that far away from the f(x) dorm. After a few minutes of running, he found himself in front of the dorm. He was about to ring the doorbell, when he heard someone else coming up to the door as well. Nimbly, Minho hid next to the elevator, crouching behind the potted plants. He crinkled his nose at the smell of soil.

         In the dark, he couldn’t see who it was clearly. But, once he rang the doorbell, the lights , and Minho recognized the man as one of f(x)’s managers. Minho just watched, as Sulli opened the door, surprised. She was wearing simple clothes, and no make up on.

         “Oppa, hi,” Sulli opened the door a bit more, and Minho could hear bits of noise from the TV and the distant clatters of pots in the kitchen. “What are you doing here?”

         “I need to talk to Soojung.”

         Minho didn’t like the tone of his voice. Anxiously, he continued to watch and wait as Sulli nodded her head, calling Krystal’s name.

         “Who is it-” Krystal’s voice faltered once she stepped out of the dorm. Sulli just shrugged and walked back inside the dorm. Krystal shut the door behind her. Everything was eerily quiet.

         He felt his blood turn to ice. Minho widened his eyes and gaped as he saw the manager raise his hand and bring it down across Krystal’s face, right on the cheek. The sound was sickening, and Minho felt frozen. Krystal let out a gasp, a gasp so audible and loud it made Minho cringe. He found his hands starting to shake and Minho slowly got up. But in the darkness and shadows, the two didn’t realize he was there yet.

         “You shouldn’t be such a brat to me,” the manager simply said, his voice icy cold. “I would’ve hit you then, but you were right, there were people watching.”

         Krystal didn’t respond, her face still bent in an awkward angle, her hand lingering on her red cheek.

         When the older man reached out his hand to slap her again, Minho lost it. He knocked over the plants, and grabbed the raised hand, bringing it down behind the surprised man’s back. He tugged the man’s arm down more until he keeled over and fell on the floor on his knees, wincing.

         “Oppa? Oppa,” Minho heard Krystal whisper. “What are you doing here? Let him go.”

         “He shouldn’t touch you, and he especially shouldn’t hit you,” Minho easily put his foot on the groaning man’s back, pressing it firmly. “Go get Victoria.”

         Krystal just stared at him, and back at her struggling manager, and, inaudibly, nodded her head. Fumbling and clumsily, she dialed the numbers, opening the door. After calling out Victoria’s voice once weakly, she was already there, at the doorstep, gaping in awe at what she saw.

         “Oh god, wait, you’re hurting him,” Victoria shook her hands in the air. “What happened?”

         "Look at Soojung’s face,” Minho grimly replied. “That’s what happened.”

         “Soojung?” Victoria turned to Krystal and let out a shriek when she saw her swollen side in the dim light. “Oh my god, oh my god. Soojung, your poor face. Did he hit you? He did hit you! I knew this would happen, oh my god, okay. Wait. I need to call oppa.”

         “Whoever this is, get off me,” the man underneath Minho’s feet hissed, continuing to struggle. “I swear, I’ll kill you.”

         “Shut up, oppa,” Victoria coldly snapped at him, obvious disgust towards the older man in her voice. Her cheeks were red in the dim lights, and her eyes were blazing. She started to mutter Chinese words under her breath, and Minho could tell that they weren't very pleasant words. “Shut up, or I’ll kick you in the face. You’re horrid.”

         Krystal just stayed silent. Inching her way to Minho, staying a clear distance from her manager. Once she reached him, she clung to his loose jacket, pressing her burning cheek on the cool material, hugging him around his waist. She didn’t know what to say.

-

         “Ow, that hurts,” Krystal crinkled her nose. “And, it kinda smells. Yuck.”

         Luna looked pissed off as she pressed the frozen bag of peas against Krystal’s bright red cheek. But, she wasn’t angry at Krystal, she was angry with their manager. Their former manager, actually.

         “How dare he hit you,” Krystal could hear Luna mutter. “He has no right. I swear, if I ever see him again, I’ll slap him back for hitting you like that. I swear.”

         “Unni,” Krystal whined. “Unni, you’re freezing my face off. It’s starting to hurt.”

         “Oh, sorry,” Luna peeled the bag of peas away from her face and inspected the hit. “It swelled down, that’s good. But you can still see it.” She bit her lip. “We’ll have to cover it up with make up. I don’t think people will notice.”

          “Hmm,” Krystal just mumbled, patting her cheek. “Unni, my cheek’s numb. I can’t feel a thing.”

         “That’s good, Soojung,” Luna hugged Krystal’s arm. “What was his problem, anyways? Was he drunk? I bet he was high.”

         “He wasn’t anything,” Krystal muttered. “Just crazy.” Krystal looked around. “Where are Sulli and Amber?”

         “Schedules. They’ll be back home, soon. Do you want me to call one of them and tell them to bring back ice cream?”

         “Yes,” Krystal grinned, then frowned. “Wait, i bought ice cream only a few days ago. What happened to that? I actually bought a lot, so it could last a few weeks, at least."

         “Uh,” Luna looked around. “Vic-unni ate most of it.”

         “Don’t lie,” Victoria’s voice could be heard from outside the apartment, where she was with the policemen. “You’re the one that ate all of it, before all of us had a chance. And just because we're on this topic, Luna, stop biting on the ice cream sticks untiil they break. It's disgusting.”

         “Unni!” Krystal looked at Luna, who sheepishly nodded.

         “Sorry.”

         “Oh well,” Krystal pressed her hand against her cheek. It was burning, again. “Can you still call Amber and tell her to bring back some food?”

         “Got it,” Luna got up, snatching up her phone on the table, and went to go call her. Krystal was left on the sofa alone, watching the bag of peas thaw on the table.

         “Thank you,” Krystal heard Victoria speak politely at the leaving policemen. “Ahujusshi, fighting! You guys are so cool!”

         “Have a good night,” Krystal heard Minho speak after, bowing at the older men.

         Looking away, she pretended to be interested in something else. She heard the door shut, and heard Victoria's heavy sigh. Krystal looked back and saw that Victoria had a hand on her forehead, as if she had a splitting headache.

         “Unni, what’s going to happen to him?”

         “Well, he’s going to the police station, that’s one thing. And, he’s definitely going to get fired. We don’t need a crappy manager like that.”

         “I don’t want people to know about what happened,” Krystal looked worriedly at Victoria. “It’ll be such a bad thing to the group-“

         “Taken care of,” Victoria smiled. “The chairman has everything taken care of. You don’t have to worry, and instead, you should rest. Your cheek looks like it really hurts.”

         “Luna-unni froze it with a bag of peas.”

         “I see. We do have ice, you know. I’ll put this back in the fridge. And Krystal?”

         “Hmm?”

         “You should thank Minho. He really helped today. IF it wasn’t for him, oppa could have hit you again.”

         Krystal beamed at Minho, who was standing awkwardly near the door, unsure to start walking around the house. Krystal beckoned him to come closer, and he did. Once he was seated on the sofa next to her, Krystal hugged him. Looking up at him, she gave him her famous eye-smile.

         “Thanks, oppa.”

         “You know, you should have told me where you left to yesterday. I could’ve gone with you. But, you went by yourself and all this happened. You had me so worried, and I couldn’t contact you. And now, some man slapped you. He slapped you. Does he want me to kill him? So my girlfriend got hit by her manager. What kind of boyfriend does that make me?”

         ‘Sorry, oppa,” Krystal bit her lip. Minho smiled and hugged her closer.

         “It’s okay. I missed you.”

         “I missed you, too.”

         “Wait, what? What?” Victoria’s voice burst out from the kitchen. She came running in the living room, eyes wide with disbelief, and an accussing finger pointing at the two of them. “What is this? Boyfriend? Girlfriend? Missing each other? Am I thinking what I should be thinking?”

          “Unni, calm down,” Krystal burrowed her face against Minho’s chest, peeping at Victoria. “You’re embarrassing.”

          “No, wait, are you guys dating? Sunyoung-ah, come here!” Victoria called for Luna. She popped her head out of her bedroom, curious.

          “Unni, what?”

         “Hear this, Krystal and Minho are dating!” Victoria jumped up and down.

         Luna’s scream made Krystal wince. She even felt Minho jump a bit. Rubbing her ears, she stuck her tongue out at them. She didn’t really care about her face at this moment. She was just glad that Minho was here.

-

         “What are these?”

         “Taemin, I told you, they’re beans.”

         “Are they-“

         “Yes, Taemin, they’re edible.”

         “But-“

         “Oh god, are you trying to make me get pissed off at you? Do you want me to stuff them in your mouth? Just eat the stupid beans, already.”

         "Jinki-hyung, Kibum-umma’s being mean.”

         Onew, who was flipping through the newspaper slowly, looked up. His auburn hair was half-covering his eyes. He looked at Key, who gave him a exasperated look, and looked at Taemin, who looked pitiful and whiny, poking at the beans and rolling them around his plate.

         "Kibum, don't force him to eat what he doesn't want to eat. Look, at least he's eating every other thing in his plate. Be thankful," Onew continued speaking as soon as Kibum glared at him. Taemin brightened up. "But, Taemin, Kibum's older than you. Be a bit more respectful. And don't play with your food."

         Luckily for Onew, Taemin always did what he said. So, Taemin just nodded, happy that Key got told off as well.

         “I heard you’re dating Krystal,” Key commented suddenly, his and Taemin's fight suddenly dropped, twirling his spoon around with his fingers. Jonghyun let out a weird noise, and started coughing violently, almost choking while chewing his rice. Taemin looked interested, and Onew continued to flip through the newspaper.

         “Yeah,” Minho shrugged. “It’s no big deal.”

         “Is that who you were talking to the whole time on the phone-“ Jonghyun, recovered from his coughing, spoke. Key glared at his best friend.

         “Shut up, Jonghyun. That’s not important right now.”

         Minho just rolled his eyes.

         “How long have you two been a couple?” Key narrowed his eyes, mouth pursed. He looked suspicious. “Is this like a fake publicity stunt or-“

         “We’ve only been dating for less than a week, Kibum. We haven’t even told the public yet, and we don’t plan to.”

         “But you two hated each other for so long, and to suddenly…” Key’s voice trailed off, and he slammed down his spoon, making the dining table shake slightly. “Did you two do it?”

         “What the hell,” Minho saw Jonghyun choke again on his rice, and Taemin patted him hard on the back, making him cough. “Of course not. Why would you think that?”

         “I think that because-“

         “Shush, Kibum,” Onew interrupted him, putting his and on Key’s arm. “I don’t see any problem with having Minho date Krystal. It seems like he likes her, so just leave it at that.”

         “But-“

         “-Just let Minho do what he wants to do,” Onew rubbed Key’s sleeved arms, his voice calm and leader-like. Minho was impressed. “Okay?”

         Key sighed dramatically and picked up his spoon again. “Fine, whatever. You may be one of my band mates, Minho, but I still care about Krystal. Make her cry, or I swear, I’ll smack you.”

         “I think Sulli’s pretty. And nice. I want to date her,” Taemin piped up, cheerfully grinning at the bewildered Key. Minho grinned at Key’s reaction and was glad that the attention got swerved to Taemin.

         “Of course not, both of you are too young! Don’t you even dare think about dating any girls yet, Lee Taemin,” Key stabbed his chopsticks in the air. “Or, I’ll smack you too, don’t you worry.”

         "Jinki-hyung, Kibum-umma's being mean again," Taemin whined, suddenly dropping his chopsticks, using his fingers as he moved the little food objects on his plate around. Jinki sighed.

         "Kibum-"

         Minho saw Kibum crane his head so he could see what Taemin was doing. He spluttered in suprise at what he saw. His face wasn't happy at all.

         "What are you doing?"

         "I'm making a person's face. I'll name her BeanRiceAndOtherThings. Isn't she pretty?"

         "What the hell? That's not a face," Jonghyun scoffed, dropping his utensils as well, sticking out his tongue and he concentrated on moving his dinner around his plate as well. "I have supreme artistic talent, so I, the master, will show you, little one. This is how you make a face. See, the peas are used for the eyes and the noses. The rice is the hair."

         Minho watched as Taemin looked at it, scrunching his nose.

         "Mine is better," Taemin pouted. "Your face doesn't even have a nose. Loser."

         "I wasn't there yet," Jonghyun shielded his plate from Taemin's view. "I was perfecting her beautiful rice hair. It's like a perm-bob. Wow, I made her pretty y."

         "Gross," Taemin turned back to his plate. "Mine is a cute face."

         Kibum let out a mixture of a gasp, sigh, and a choke. He shook his head and closed his eyes, looking away from the disgusting things Taemin and Jonghyun were doing with the food he had made. Jinki just chuckled and Minho laughed as well.

         "I swear, I live with animals. Stupid, annoying, disturbing animals. Am I the only one that's normal here?"

         "We're mammals."

         "Minho, i'll slap you. And don't you start re-arranging your food, too." Key groaned as Minho looked longingly at his almost empty plate. Minho just smiled cheekily, tapping his chopsticks against the table.

         "I'll use my chopsticks, don't worry."

A/N : omg, i did another chapter. /sobs, i feel happy now. i actually added the last part when taemin started playing with his food and stuff last minute. wanted some sort of a little ot5 moment. now, i really have to work on my lunew fanfic. sorrysorryyysooorrryy