“You’re not getting them anything?” Krystal asked him as she fumbled with the ice cream bars, almost dropping one. Minho immediately reached out and took a few, so she had less to carry. He shook his head as they walked to the cash register.

         “Nah, they probably got too tired of waiting and ordered chicken,” Minho fished through his back pocket for money. “I’ll pay.”

         “It’s fine, really-“ Krystal protested, but Minho was already heading towards the door. Krystal just smiled and followed him out of the mart, welcomed by the scorching sun. “God, it’s really hot. I don’t think Vic-unni would even want to drink coffee in this weather.”

         “Good thing you thought of buying them ice cream, instead,” Minho chuckled as he swung the grocery bag on his arm, walking carefully. He had a habit of always speeding up while walking, but he wanted to continue walking next to Krystal.

         “Yeah,” Krystal looked around, before looking up at him. She bit her lip. “Will your members be mad that you didn’t come home for hours?”

         “Kibum’s probably pissed off,” Minho shrugged. Krystal looked unsure. He smiled. “But he’ll stop being such a girl after a few hours. It happens. What about you? Will your members be mad?”

         “I can say, without a doubt, that Victoria is upset. I mean, she’s so motherly. That’s why I love her. But, I’ll ask her for food and she’ll forget all about it.”

         “Oh,” Minho nodded his head slowly. For a few moments, they walked slowly, and then Minho spoke again, clearing his throat. “So, uh, are we, you know-“

         “What?” Krystal looked at him, innocently, eyebrows raised, lips slightly parted. Minho gulped. She was perfect.

         “You know, are we a…” Minho scratched his neck, awkwardly. “Are we a couple?”

         “Are we?” Krystal looked a bit nervous too, and Minho suddenly grinned. He felt a light breeze brush against their skin, ruffling her hair a bit. She still looked perfect.

         “Wait, first,” Minho nervously laughed. “I have to ask you something. Jung Soojung, will you go out with me?”

         “Yes. You kinda sound like you're proposing to me.”

         “All right, then,” Minho grinned, again. “We’re a couple.”

         Krystal burst out laughing, her eye smile making Minho grin even wider, if that was possible on his small face.

         “You are just adorable,” Krystal smiled. “Simply adorable.”

         Minho just laughed breathlessly, enjoying the feeling of the warm sun on his arms. He felt happy, super happy. He felt content.

-

         Minho wanted to throw a rock at Key.

         No, something bigger, like their living room sofa or something like Taemin’s bed. He just wanted to hurl something at the annoying, blabbering diva that was in front of him.

         He just wanted Key to shut up.

         “Where the hell have you been for the past gazillion hours? Choi Minho, look at me. Where? You had me worried, you had all of us worried!”

         “I wasn’t worried,” Taemin piped up from the dining table, where he was busy doing his school homework. He looked at Key cheerfully. Minho nodded his approval at Taemin and looked back at Key.

         “Calm down. I am looking at you. And, stop exaggerating. It was only, like, two hours.”

         “Like I care! You should’ve at least call one of us before running off to who knows where,” Key threw his hands up in the air.

         Minho rolled his eyes but didn’t respond.

         “And where’s our food?” Jonghyun whined, rolling around the floor with Roo. “I was so hungry, and I felt like I would die.”

         “I got attacked by some aliens in the streets, and they took all of the food and drinks. But, before they went back inside their spaceships, they asked for my autograph. So I did, but then they took my pen.”

         “Oh, good excuse,” Onew reached out and high-fived with Minho. “You should write that one down.”

         Key glared at Onew. “Do not side with him, baby.”

         Onew grinned before pulling Key on the wrist, letting him sit down on his lap. Key fidgeted a bit until he was comfortable. Key sighed as he rested his head on Onew’s shoulder.

         “It’s fine,” Onew looked at Minho, and pointed at the fridge. “There’s extra chicken there. Go eat, you must be hungry.”

         ‘Don’t feed him,” Key muttered, his face still burrowed against Onew’s neck, but he seemed more relaxed.

         The magic of Onew.

         Minho just stuck his tongue out at Key before going into his room to change. Sniffing his shirt as he pulled it up, he could still smell the faint scent of grass. Without knowing, he was smiling to himself, thinking only about one thing.

         Krystal.

-

         “Vic-unni, I can’t breathe,” Krystal coughed out, but she didn’t try to squirm out of Victoria’s hug. “You’re choking me, umma.”

         “You worried me sick,” Victoria said as soon as she pulled away from her. “I couldn’t get a hold of your phone and I visited the coffee shop but you weren’t there and just-“

         “I’m sorry,” Krystal was still holding onto the grocery bag. She didn’t really want to tell Victoria and the other members about Minho, but she couldn’t lie to Victoria. “I was out, and I met Minho-oppa and we just took a walk around. We both didn’t know that time went by so fast.”

         “Minho-oppa?” Sulli looked confused. “Don’t you both hate each other or something?”

         Krystal just shrugged, and picked up the plastic bag. “I bought ice cream, though. I only remembered Amber and Luna’s favorite flavors, so I just bought a lot, so we could just eat whenever the next time.”

         As soon as she mentioned ice cream, she noticed how Minho was dropped almost immediately. She opened the grocery bag so her members could choose. Luna pecked Krystal’s cheek while ripping open her ice cream. Krystal squealed and tried to rub it off.

         “Ooh, ice cream,” Amber rummaged through the grocery bag and swiped out her favorite chocolate almond ice cream. “Woohoo.”

-

         “You know Jessica told me something,” Victoria looked at Krystal, speaking quietly. “I don’t know if you know or not.”

         “What?” Krystal gnawed on the popsicle stick, something she had a habit of doing.

         The dorm was empty except for them two and Amber. Luna was practicing for her musical, and Sulli was at the gym. Amber was sleeping in her room.

         “It’s his death anniversary in a few days,” Victoria studied Krystal’s reaction carefully.

         “I know.”

         “You do?” Victoria looked surprised, but she sighed with relief.

         “Yeah,” Krystal gave a small smile. “I remembered it at the recording. It’s okay, don’t look so worried, unni. I’m fine.”

         “Do you want me to go with you? Jessica can’t go, she’ll be totally busy that whole day-“

         “I can go by myself,” Krystal squeezed Victoria’s hand lightly, reassuringly. “Like I said, it’s fine, unni.”

         Victoria sill looked unsure. “Ok-ay, but I could always drive you or something-“

         Krystal shook her head and got up. “It’s alright. I can ride the bus, there. It’s not that far away. Thanks anyways.”
-

         Minho really liked this whole ‘relationship’ thing. He liked the fact that there was someone in this world that liked him with those ‘feelings’, and he liked the fact that he liked that person back with the same. He liked how, as the boyfriend, he would have to call the girlfriend, and ask where she was, how she was doing the day, and listen to whatever the girlfriend wanted to say. It was interesting to him, and he liked it.

         He knew how lucky he was to have a girlfriend like Krystal. Only after a day and a half, he realized all the different things he liked about her. He even wrote a list after dinner, numbering each fact carefully with Taemin’s good pens.

         One thing he liked about Krystal was the fact that she was so cool. She wasn’t overly cute and flirty like some girls he knew, but at the same time she wasn’t too y and foxy and desperate. She was just right.

         Another thing he liked about her was the fact that she was a good girlfriend. She’d text every few hours, asking how his day was and would just talk to him comfortably. Minho realized how important his phone was after his first text from Krystal, so he always had it in his back pocket or his hand. He never let it out of his sight.

         For the past two days, Minho wondered many things. For instance, he tried to find a reason of why he and Krystal never really liked each other before. He could never answer that question, and would find himself racking his brain thoroughly for any possible reason. When he couldn’t think of any answer, he just moved on to the next question, and his mind worked like that all day.

         “What’s up with you?” Minho jumped, his phone dropping on the floor. Immediately, Minho picked it up and made sure it was okay. He glared at Jonghyun, who smiled back innocently.

         “God, hyung, don’t do that,” Minho frowned, stuffing his phone into his pocket.

         “Don’t do what?” Jonghyun stretched. “I was just wondering why you were on the phone the whole day.”

         “I was not,” Minho huffed.

         “Yes you were.”

         “Stalker.”

         “Thanks.” Jonghyun flashed a peace sign at him before turning serious. “Seriously, though, who were you texting. You were smiling whenever you got a new message.”

         “I was texting your mom,” Minho stuck his tongue out at Jonghyun, grinning, before shoving Jonghyun’s face away.

         “Funny, real funny,” Jonghyun frowned before scrambling to get Minho’s phone from his back pocket. Minho scooted away.

         “Don’t touch my , you molester,” Minho tried to inch away more but Jonghyun wouldn’t give up. He reached for Minho’s phone again, but it was another useless attempt. Jonghyun stopped, sagging in defeat. The older one got up and huffed.

         “Fine, I didn’t care about whom you were texting anyways,” Jonghyun scrunched his nose at him childishly. “I never cared. Ha!”

         “You’re weird,” Minho muttered loudly as Jonghyun marched into his bedroom. But he cheered up and grinned when he got another text message from Krystal.

-

         I’m sorry.

         That was all Krystal thought of while on her way to him. She ignored the fact that many people were staring at her in awe, and she also ignored the fact that the road was bumpy. She felt a bit sick from being on the bus for two hours, and felt sicker when she remembered that there was at least thirty more minutes left until she reached her hometown.

         I’m sorry.

         She could still remember his face, as if she only saw it yesterday. The thought of his once bright eyes now dull, his energetic body now limp, stiff, and cold made her shudder. For years, she always shivered at the thought of him being dead.

         I’m sorry.

        In a way, she wished that she hadn’t declined Victoria’s offer to come along with her to him. Jessica had always come with her, and she had always been the shoulder to lean on and cry. But she had wanted to seem fine in front of Victoria, so she had lied.Krystal sighed.

         I’m sorry.

         Krystal knew she could have always brought Minho. Minho would completely understand, and would have gladly let Krystal cry on him and he would comfort her, because he knew very well about Hyungsun. But, Krystal didn’t want her boyfriend to see her like that.  She bit her lip, knowing from the scenery outside, that she was near her stop. Shakily, Krystal got up, bowing and greeting her fans with a fake, over-used smile, before stepping off the bus steps. As the bus started to move again, it left a small cloud of dust around Krystal’s feet. She felt weak, and lonely, and scared. She always felt like this every year.

         I’m here. I’ll be there, soon. I’m sorry.

-

         “How have you been?” Krystal set the flowers next to his grave, fixing it so it looked perfect. She sat down on the grass and smiled. “I missed you. Did you miss me?”

         She knew that he couldn’t respond, he would never respond. She knew that very well, but when only silence answered her, she felt her heart break just a bit. Taking a deep breath, she continued to speak and smile.

         “Today’s weather is so nice,” Krystal looked up at the sky. “I don’t really like hot days, but you always enjoyed them. You’d call me up straight away and we’d go do a water gun fight-“

          Krystal’s voice faltered, and she let out an awkward laugh.

         “I have a lot to tell you,” Krystal went on, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. “A lot happened in one year. F(x) won a bunch of times with Pinocchio. I know right? Our first ever award. I thought about you when we were doing the speech, you know. You would have cheered for us, and we would have mentioned you. We got a new dog. Luna and Sulli named it Bab. Rice, isn’t that a weird name for a dog? That’s what I think, too. Oh, Hyungsun, I got a new boyfriend, too. A couple of days ago.”

         Krystal’s voice started to waver.

         “His name is Minho. He’s perfect,” Krystal’s lip trembled. “You two would have made great friends. He’s into sports, like you. He knows about you, you know. I told him. He called you handsome.”

         Silence, and Krystal touched the grass.

         “Did you hear me? I called out to you over the waters. You should have heard…I yelled really loud.”

         No response. Krystal angrily thumbed away her tears that were falling on her cheeks. Wind blew her hair around.

         “You didn’t hear? You should have. The entire population of South Korea must have heard…but why did you not hear me? It was for you.”

         Krystal wanted to cry. She felt like she would break out with sobs, but no more than a couple of tears fell from her eyes.

         “Why did you leave? Why did you leave me behind? Wake up, wake up, wake up. You’ve been asleep for too long, so just wake up. Please.”

         Krystal looked around, the wind blowing in her face.

         “Are you mad at me? Sorry, sorry, sorry, I’m so sorry,” Krystal whispered. “I’m sorry for forgetting. But, I want to move on. Won’t you just let me move on? I want to move on.”