Chapter XX – The Past Protector

“Sooyoung…” That one word slipped off Jessica’s tongue while they were still looking at each other. Up till now, Sooyoung would only stares at her and not even say a word.

What is wrong with her? Jessica thought in her mind.

“Do you think I’ll stop that easily? Don’t you even think about such thing will happen to them.” All of a sudden, that sentence rings through Jessica’s mind.

It was true that this won’t stop that easily, especially when everyone has already involved in it. The chance of wanting to quit herself would also almost reaches the tip of impossibility. Moreover, this new feeling she discovered will not make things much easier.

Sigh… Jessica looks down to the ground and leaves.

On the other hand, Sooyoung just looks at what Jessica was doing. It was fascinated how she can just stand there without answering to any Jessica’s calls ahead of her but she was equally terrified on this new feeling in her heart which caused her to be stoned.

At the moment she saw Jessica left, she has a strong urge to chase her but something in her mind stops her. Even so, she ignores that feeling and chases Jessica.

Jessica who felt Sooyoung is chasing up quickens her paces. Now, she just wants to run away from Sooyoung. She doesn’t know what Sooyoung’s intention of chasing her so she has to be gone right now.

Jessica’s speed isn’t a match of Sooyoung’s so she easily catches up. Sooyoung holds onto her wrist to stop her from running again. Instead of turning back, she just struggles from Sooyoung’s hold. And for Sooyoung, she didn’t bother to let go.

“Sica…” Sooyoung softly says. She thought her soothing voice would calms Jessica down and stop running away from her.

Jessica was shocked on how Sooyoung called her, she then stopped struggling. Sooyoung was thankful that she stops moving.

“Sica, why did you run away?” Even Jessica heard Sooyoung’s question, she chose to be silent and looks down. She doesn’t want to bring up that topic.

Hearing no answer from Jessica, Sooyoung steps forward and turns Jessica around. Sooyoung’s strength is strong enough to move someone so turning her around isn’t much a problem.

Due to the sudden movement by Sooyoung, Jessica gets shocked and her eyes widen which also causes her to be imbalance. Sooyoung quickly grab a hold on her arms so she won’t fall. She won’t only feel guilty but also pain if Jessica fell.

Jessica looks up and meets Sooyoung’s eyes. Her heart skipped a beat when their eyes met. She starts to feel that her inner self is melting slowly.

She holds onto Sooyoung’s hands to rebalance herself and coughs to make the atmosphere better. “Thanks, Soo. Sorry for running-”

“It’s okay, Sica.” Sooyoung cuts her sentence off; she doesn’t want Jessica to explain anything. Truthfully, she’s happy enough with Jessica in front of her and is holding her hand without the latter even realizes it. 

Suddenly, a person almost Sooyoung’s height came between them. Instead of showing Sooyoung her face, she was looking at Jessica with a really bad expression as if she was telling her to get away from Sooyoung.

Since she was almost as tall as Sooyoung, she totally blocks Sooyoung’s view of Jessica. Jessica shows a terrified expression upon seeing that girl which was oblivious to Sooyoung. Wherever Sooyoung’s head goes, she will block their eyes from interacting.

“Unnie.” The girl called out with a smile. Jessica was stunned seeing this girl again in her life. She thought she could get away from her and never see her again so their past won’t rings in her mind, but she was wrong.

“H-how?” Jessica stuttered. She was trying to ask how did she find her but the only thing comes out is the first word.

“We’ll talk about this later, Sica unnie. For now, I need to bring this girl away from you.” She points at the girl behind her and Jessica just nods to it. Although there were some inflicts between them in the past, but now they’re fine. Or maybe, even more.

When the girl turns to Sooyoung’s side and lifts her head, shocked was also seen on Sooyoung’s face. Just like how she heard Jessica felt, she too never thought she’ll be able to see this young girl again.

“…Sulli?” Sooyoung asked after looking at the younger girl for a while as memories start to flow into her mind.

“Unnie, you remember me?” Sulli asks a little enthusiastically to reconfirm if she really remembers her.

Not giving any verbal answer, Sooyoung quickly grabs on her and hugs her, “I thought I will never get to see you again, sis.”

Sis…? Jessica thought to herself. Sooyoung and Sulli are siblings? Well, that explains why Sulli said she wants to bring Sooyoung away from her.

Flashback -5 years ago-

Sulli was taking a stroll in a nearby park after her class in her third year of middle school. Unlike her sister, Sooyoung, she wouldn’t seek for food during her strolling time. She prefers to just simply walk around without anything bothering her.

When the sky is getting darker, she came to a wide open place and sat on the grassy floor. She wrapped her arms around her knees and stared up to the dark sky.

Unnie, where are you? Ever since that incident happened in our world, I never get to see you anymore. It’s as if you were gone from my life. Some days after the incident was gone, a guy named Eron came to find me. He told me it was you that saved our world. When I told him you were my sister, he said he’ll bring me to earth. And so, I never see you anymore.

With that thought in her mind, she sighed and placed her forehead on her knees to calm down.

Minutes passed, she heard some footsteps coming close to her. Her awareness rose although her head was still on her knees. Slowly, that footstep came to a stop. She was about to rise her head and see her surrounding but she felt someone sat next to her.

“Sigh.” She heard that person sighed. By listening to the voice, she knew it was a girl. She still didn’t plan to lift her head and just tries to ignore the other’s presence.

"Unnie, I'm so sorry for putting you through everything alone. It's like I'm not even useful to help you." Sulli can sensed the other girl was having tons of stress inside her heart and her voice was quivering. She knows some time soon, she'll be crying.

*slap* *slap* *slap* Instead of crying sound, all she heard was only the sound of skin being hit. She couldn’t just sit there and ignores everything. And so, she lifted the head and look to her left side.

All she saw was only a girl staring straight across the wide field and zoned out. Who could’ve hit here and ran away so quickly? Unless… She was hitting herself.

“Hey, are you alright?” Sulli goes closer to the person next to her. A trace of tear drop can be seen sliding down her cheek and that’s when she became panic. Seeing a person sat next to you and she’s crying, how can you not be panic?

Suddenly, Sulli felt a pull on her shirt which made her leaned closer to the latter and the cries got louder. She couldn’t do anything anymore so she just let the girl used her shirt as her napkin of tears. Sulli just sits there while waiting for the younger girl to calm herself down.

She didn’t know how long did the time passed because when she knew it, the girl was already quiet. Soft snores can be heard from the latter when she looked down.

After minutes passed and knew that girl is already in a deep slumber, Sulli lifted her to her back. Since she walked by feet all this while, there wasn’t any transportation for her to use. And if by asking taxi driver to send that girl home, it wouldn’t be favorable.

Sulli was a little regret on how she didn’t ask her address before letting her go into her deep slumber. She gently put the girl down and tried to search her pockets if there were any identification cards or anything that tells her address. Thankfully, she found it.

Krystal Jung Soo Jung, 15.

Sulli turned her head to look at Krystal to study her facial features. Although they were the same age, Sulli couldn’t help but felt protective to the girl.

“I better send her home faster.” Sulli mumbled to herself before getting Krystal on her back again and continue her walk to her home.

While Sulli was on the way sending Krystal back to her home, she felt some sort of weird cringe around that area. It felt as if someone told her she doesn’t belong there and wanted her to leave. But, wanting Krystal back home safely is one of her duty, so she has to send her to the front door no matter what.

As Sulli reached that place, she gently put Krystal down on the pavement and rang the door bell, hoping someone would open the door for the helpless girl out here. When she was waiting for the door to open, she heard some ruffles not so far away from her.

Upon hearing the voices coming closer, she quickly hid somewhere and tried to hear what they were talking about. Knowing what they were saying, Sulli gasped. She looked at Krystal and felt like maybe her sister was part of it because of the earlier incident.

Not so long after, the door opened and an older girl came out from the house, shocked by seeing there’s a body outside the gate. When the girl got closer to the gate, Sulli quietly hid back in her spot until both of them were completely in the house and so she left.

…

Days, weeks and even months later, Sulli never heard anything about the two of them anymore. But the conversations between the guys are still in her mind.

It was told that they found out the secret behind the gemstones and whoever that found it, will be given a huge reward. What they didn’t know was that it wasn’t somewhere the gemstones were hidden, it was some people that were holding it.

…

One day, Sulli decided to find out who was behind all of these without telling Eron. She went back to where that Krystal girl was living every day to learn about their movements in there. She discovered that one day, they’ll be not around and that’s when Sulli decided to break in.

When she succeeded in breaking in, she started to search all over the places. Pictures, newspaper and all sort of weird stuffs were scattered on the floors, tables and chairs. She knew this place wasn’t as easy as it was seen from the outside.

She picked up the photos and looked through it. Somehow, she knew who they were searching for. Just like the guys were talking about, this Krystal and her sister were also searching for the gems. No matter what, she needed to find things out.

“Who are you?” A voice shrieked through the room.

Darn! Sulli was too focus on her surrounding that she didn’t realized the owners of the house were back. She slowly turned back and saw two eyes looking at her with a frighten expression. And again, with Krystal sleeping.

Sulli cursed within her mind for her careless actions here. It might make things go bad.

With one last look to the older girl, she ran towards her and closed . Of course, she would struggle because she thought Sulli was one of the bad guys that control over them. After looking closely at Sulli, Jessica knew the younger girl wasn’t harmful.

“Shh… Don’t yell. They might hear you.” Sulli whispered to Jessica. That time, Jessica calmed down and tried to listen to what she’s going to say. Maybe, she’s nice.

When the coast is clear, Sulli gently pulled Jessica to a sitting position while she sat next to her. Still, holding her finger on to tell the older girl to keep quiet and be careful.

“I’m Choi Jin Ri, but you can call me Sulli. I was the one that sent Krystal back the other day but hearing what the guys were talking about, I had to hide.”

“Why?” Jessica asked.

“Because things might go worse if they found me.” Sulli said. Although Jessica still has a lot of questions in her mind, she decided to not ask about it because she’ll figure it out someday.

“You’ve been used to work under those bastards, aren’t you?”

“How did you know?”

“And Krystal had been sleepy all this while, isn’t she?” Jessica only nodded to Sulli’s consecutive questions.

“I met her the other day on the field. She was sad about how her sister was forced to do everything alone and she didn’t even get a chance to be useful. She’s afraid that she might lose you and that night, she too cried until she slept.”

Hearing what Sulli just said, Jessica turned to look at her sister and caressed her hair. She felt guilty for putting her sister in all of this. If only she didn’t choose to run away from home…

“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you two.” Jessica turned her head to Sulli when she clearly heard what she said. Someone protecting them? It’s almost as if it was impossible. Every day they only meet people who want their lives, not helping them.

Jessica couldn’t hold her tears anymore and let it leaves her eyes, “Thank you.” She pulls the younger girl into a hug. From that day onwards, Sulli had been protecting them which made the bastards difficult to get them.

Until one day…

They found out Sulli was behind their savings all these while for around 3 years so they wanted to exterminate her. They plan to take on her life if that was possible so no one would even dare to protect them anymore.

And that one day, Sulli was shot.

That day onwards, they never met Sulli anymore and was back to be in the business with Kane.

Flashback ends.

After getting Sooyoung back to her work in the EC, Sulli goes to meet up with Jessica. They had a lot to talk about after these years.

“How are you feeling, unnie? Still fine?” They both reached a restaurant for their dinner. It never once occurred something like this as Jessica would always stay at home to protect herself and Krystal.

“Not that fine. Kane got us back and wants us to find that gemstones again.” Jessica answers, “And I know, they’re Taeyeon, Yuri and your sister, Sooyoung.”

Sulli keeps quiet when she heard what Jessica said while continuing in munching her food.

“That’s why you stopped me from getting closer to her just now.” Jessica mumbles sadly.

Hearing how Jessica sounded, Sulli couldn’t help but to feel guilty by separating them away. She knows that one day if her unnie and Jessica met, they’ll for sure have sparks within them. But, she needs to make sure about Jessica first before letting them together.

“Sorry, unnie…” Sulli says in guilt.

“It’s okay, Sul. You were just protecting her anyway.”Jessica pats the younger girls hand to cheer her up, “So, how are you feeling? Is your body okay now? Or are you feeling any after effects from the wound?”

“Nah, I’m fine, unnie. Thanks to the nurse unnie back in the company. She’s younger than you but she really cures people really well.” Sulli says, forgetting to think about how the older one felt.

“Yah, you little. Are you trying to call me an idiot indirectly?” Jessica uses a clean spoon to hit Sulli’s arm.

When Sulli realized what she just said, she quickly grabs on the spoon and puts it away, “Sorry about that too, unnie.” She scratches the back of her neck.

That action made Jessica thinks about the shikshin choding and her heart fell.

“I’m starting to see her in you, baby Sul.” After saying that, Jessica only sighs because she knows, she couldn’t do anything to this.

Finally, Sulli and Krystal enters the story. I really don't know how to put them into the story and this is the only way. Hope it's okay :X

Actually, the 'stopping-Sooyoung-and-Jessica-from-meeting' part was supposed to be given to Taeyeon and Yuri. But I thought about it, if I put them there, then when is Sulli going to appear? And finally, this chapter was written :)

Do enjoy and if you like it, subscribe and comment ^^