That morning Krystal woke up feeling rather strange. Her head felt strangely full, as if she had just been fed an unusually large amount of information without being given any time to digest them. As Krystal sat up, she found herself nursing a blinding headache and held her head in her hands for a moment.

Krystal couldn’t seem to remember where she was or what day it was or what she did the day before. But as she sat for a moment longer, overwhelming memories began to flood on her parade and Krystal shook her head upon digesting the whole reality. No, he couldn’t have!

But he has!

Just then, there were sounds of movements outside her bedroom. As she went to open the door, she saw Lee Hyori, the housemaid was bustling around, tidying the house. Seeing Krystal’s pale face, the older woman was worried.

“Miss Krystal? Are you feeling alright? Should I call Doctor Zhang?” Hyori asked.

“No, I’m fine.” Krystal said hesitantly. “Just a bit dizzy.”

“Are you sure, Miss Krystal?” Again Hyori asked for confirmation. “You wouldn’t want to be unwell for your wedding.”

After Krystal reassured Hyori that she was really fine, she rushed through her morning routines and dressed up. The fact that Taeyeon was nowhere to be found in the house convinced her that everything she thought went on that morning was not a dream.

It was a reality, a painful one to be exact.

*

A couple of agitated hours later, Krystal burst, unannounced, into Kai’s office. She found him, Sulli, Taeyeon and Seohyun there, who all seemed to be in an intense argument. They immediately stopped as they saw her but Krystal could guess what they were arguing about. Totally ignoring the girls, Krystal grabbed Kai’s collar and shouted, “How could you?!”

Kai had never seen Krystal so angry. She stormed into the office, her eyes blazing in intense anger. Before any of them had realized or understood what was going on, Krystal went on.

“How could you?! If I hadn’t woken up this morning and remembered everything about my life, would you still carry on with this crazy set up? Would you have just kept me totally in the dark and let me marry your brother? How could you do that, Kim Jongin?! What if after ten years down that road, married to Sehun, I regain back my memory anyway? Then what? How is that fair, Kai? How could you do this to me, to Sehun, to yourself?!” Krystal was shouting her anger in Kai’s face, her eyes welling up with liquid all the time. Then suddenly, her temper tuned down, her tone softened and she whispered with great distress in her voice. “To us?”

It took Kai seconds perhaps even minutes to realize what Krystal was implying. He shut his eyes and for a moment he felt like he couldn’t look her straight in the eyes.

“Your memories… They came back.” He whispered. It was a statement, not a question.

Krystal let go of him and swallowed with great difficulty. She didn’t bother to brush away the tears that were running down her face.

Kai glanced at the stunned faces of Taeyeon, Sulli and Seohyun. They were all staring at Krystal and it hit him that he should be the one to unwrap this mess. Diverting his attention away from them, he said quietly, “Ladies, can you excuse us?”

Still in daze, the girls obediently exited the room and closed the door behind them. After some astonished looks at each other, they made their way to the 21^st floor to tell Kim Jongkook about the recent development that would surely have an effect on the wedding being planned out and how they might break the news to Sehun about this.

Back in the office, Kai took a deep breath and looked at Krystal. She was leaning against his desk now, her hands gripping the side of the desk so hard that her knuckles were white. Her head was bowed but Kai could tell by the shaking of her shoulders that she was crying. Seeing Krystal in pain like this ached Kai’s heart but he knew the fault was entirely his. He was the fool, the absolute fool who caused the love of his life to suffer like this. There was apart of him that did realize he would never be able to just sit back and let her become his sister-in-law. But there was still apart of him that wished she hadn’t remembered, that she could have found happiness with his step-brother, Sehun. Kai didn’t know why he still held on to that thought but seeing her heartbroken like this; it reminded him exactly the sole purpose why he never told her in the first place.

“How could you hide this from me?” Krystal whispered again, lifting her face to lock her eyes with him. “How could you let me go just like that? How could you give us your blessing?”

“I….” There was a painful lump in his throat that Kai felt he could not swallow. “I did what I thought was best.”

“The best?!” Krystal demanded, straightening up, looking at him fiercely. “This is what you called the best? Hurting me like this is the best? Did you never think for a sec that I would one day find out even if I didn’t remember? How could you possibly think that you would be able to keep this away from me forever? And the rest of them! Jonghyun oppa, Taeyeon unnie, Seohyun unnie and heck even Yonghwa oppa! They agreed with you on this! I can’t believe you all! You lied! All of you!”

“It was not their fault, Krystal. Lay the blame on me for they only respect my decision to not telling you the truth. They did persuade me from doing this… But we didn’t lie to you, Krystal …”

“You just didn’t tell me the whole truth...” Krystal laughed sarcastically.

“Krystal … all I ever did to you was hurt you. Sehun loves you; I can see that, crystal clear. I would never have given my blessing if I didn’t know he would make a good husband for you, that he’d make you the happiest woman alive, he’d protect you come hell or high water, like I never could. All the time you had with me, all I did was hurt you, I couldn’t protect you from all the hurt and pain from Grandma. You deserve so much better than me!” Kai felt his voice crack but he looked steadily at Krystal’s hurt and tearful eyes.

“Why didn’t you tell me the truth? Has it ever occurred to you that perhaps I deserve a chance to choose? That I deserve to know what the hell goes on in my life?”

“Yes but Krystal, things happened for a reason. You lost your memories… And I think you were better off without remembering me and… all those painful memories…”

“Those years were painful, yes, but I wouldn’t have thought you could ignore the fact that I was happier with you that I’ve ever been in my life! I’m not as weak as you think I am, Kai. And Grandma can’t stop us anymore. Why didn’t you tell me before Sehun got his hopes up? You could have told me everything from the very beginning!” Krystal asked desperately, trying to comprehend why he ever did what he did.

“I could tell that Sehun thinks of you more than just a friend, Krystal, from very early on.” Kai whispered.

Krystal turned away from him and paced the room, banging her fist as she passed it. Neither of them noticed the door was slightly opened or a person standing just outside, hearing every word of their conversation.

Sehun wouldn’t have eavesdropped. He had heard from the receptionist that Krystal went to see Kai in his office and had gone there to greet them both. But there was tension pulsing in the room and Sehun could feel by instinct even from outside the door. Something told him not to go in but continue to listen.

Finally Krystal turned back to Kai, her eyes were reddened. “So, in an attempt to not break your brother’s heart, you broke your own!” Krystal said, choking. “You know Kai, for someone so intelligent, how could you have made such a stupid decision?”

“It wasn’t as stupid as you think, Krystal. I did what was best for all of us. Sehun could make you happy, truly happy, without the troubles you faced with me.” Kai said, looking at her passionately.

Krystal bit back a sob. “And who are you to decide what was best for all of us?!” Krystal demanded. “This was my life, Kai! My life! Why couldn’t you let me choose by myself? Why shouldn’t I know the truth? Why should you think that you have the power to decide for my future? Earth to Kim Jongin, the world doesn’t revolve around you, you know!”

“I know it doesn’t.” Kai cried with some frustration. “But the difficulties we faced did! It was not so much as Grandma’s disapproval of you but who I am, Krystal. You know that! Sehun is my brother and I wouldn’t do anything to hurt him.”

“Oh, so you decided to take charge of my future because of Sehun?! Kai, that doesn’t justify why you didn’t tell me from the beginning. Sehun would never fall for me if he knows the truth! He would never go against us. Only Grandma was and she isn’t here anymore. So why did you hide the truth from me?!”

“Because…” Kai breathed out harshly. “I couldn’t hurt you; hurt Sehun, Sulli and myself like that. I’ve hurt you enough! I know that I might never feel free enough, even now, when we probably have nothing against us anymore, to marry you. I will not parade my happiness to Sulli, not when she could never have a chance at her own happiness. Minho died and I couldn’t do a thing to stop that from happening. I let a friend down and I wasn’t going to do the same towards my brother.”

“Why should you be the one you be the one to decide what’s best for me, Kai? Why? Don’t you think I’m capable enough to do that for myself?”

“Krystal …”Kai said in frustration. “Haven’t you been listening to a single word that I’ve said? You deserve so much better that what I could have offer. I could never be completely free to marry you. I have to think about Sulli. Unlike me, Sehun is. He loves you. And I love him too much to deprive him of the best woman I know...” Kai paused; nearly choking on the emotions building up inside him that was threatening to spill over.

“…Even if it means hurting yourself like this?” Krystal finished in a whisper.

“Yes… I would do it even if I'm the one who’s getting hurt.”

First chapter is up.

What's your take on the chapter?

Hopefully it's not that bad... :)

Comments are highly appreciated ^^