Chapter 16

From then on, his mother and 'the other obnoxious lady', became great friends. Unfortunately for Kyungsoo, that meant spending a lot of time at each other's houses and a lot of creepy stares from that Krystal kid. What was even more unfortunate was the fact they went to the same school. So Kyungsoo had been pestered by his mother to follow Krystal to and from school. Every. Day. *sigh* He had tried to object but he was getting too old and too bashful to pull down his pants in protest.  And that was why he once again, begrudgingly, walked 5 steps in front of Krystal, who was trying to keep up. Kyungsoo was now 13. Still blunt with his words. Still very much in love with the piano and still disliking Krystal to his very core. It's not that she had ever done anything to offend him, well, except being close to as good at playing the  piano as him. She had long black hair, always flowing freely. Brown eyes, because you know... Asians' have brown eyes. A small nose, thin pink lips and pale skin. She was actually, kind of, almost. Pretty. Plus she was talented and smart but Kyungsoo still disliked her. Okay maybe he was a bit jealous. Not at her looks, he was plenty handsome himself and of course he was smarter and more talented than her in any which way. But. His mother had taken a great liking to her. Not that he really minded. Except he did. For a long time it had been him and his mother. Now it was him, his mother, that annoying neighbor who still talked to him like he was a baby and Krystal, Krystal, Krystal. It had never been a secret that his mother had wanted a daughter. Someone she could dress up and do 'cute' things with. Whatever the heck that was. Instead she got a son, who wore the first thing he spotted in his wardrobe, detested anything cute, not to mention, very frank and whose signature expression was a stone-cold  'what do you want now?' face.

And now she had the next best thing. Someone else's daughter.

Before, Kyungsoo's mother would pester him to spend time with her at least once a day. And no, meals wasn't included. Kyungsoo had unenthusiastically indulged her, even though there were so many other things he'd rather be doing. Now, she didn't ask him to go grocery shopping with her, to take a walk together or bake (which he secretly really enjoyed). Now it was always: 'I'm going out with Mrs. Jung and little Krystal. I'm taking Krystal to get her hair cut. I'm going to Krystal's piano recital next week. Do you want to come?' That last one had made Kyungsoo lose it. He was this close to say it all and go pee in his neighbor's garden. Instead he had mustered up a shaking 'Yes' in the hope that he'd see Krystal make a fool of herself.

The recital was tonight.

As they made their way to school Kyungsoo and Krystal had never engaged in conversation. Kyungsoo had made it very clear from the beginning that he wasn't interested in speaking to her. Besides, she never really talked a lot. At school she kept mostly to herself, not that Kyungsoo would take notice of her presence. Ever... But sometimes he caught her starring at him with those piercing eyes. Kyungsoo's friends had often made snide remarks about him having a stalker or 'Your girlfriend is starring again'. Girlfriend. Huh.

Kyungsoo had never had a girlfriend before. He doesn't count the girl he kissed when he was 12 to be considered a girlfriend. It had just been one drunken kiss, one nice summer night. Yeah, him and his friends had like thrown back 6 or 7 sodas each, in just a few hours. All practically high on the sugar rush. In his giddiness he had gotten a dare from his best friend Chanyeol, to kiss 'that girl with the pigtails'. Obviously referring to a girl with pigtails, Kyungsoo recollected having seen her at their school. Her name was. It was ... Well, Kyungsoo didn't remember. Probably because he had  never bothered learning her name.

Kyungsoo wasn't one to take risks or giving in to group-pressure, but he hadn't had his first kiss yet. At least if you disregarded the kiss he received at the age of 5. Anyhow, Kyungsoo with an overdoses of sugar running through his veins, accepted the challenge. He confidently walked up to her, flashing his best 'You are now under my spell', heart-shaped smile. "Hi. Can I kiss you?" Before the girl could reply, he had already put his hands on her shoulders and leaned down to press his lips hard against hers. Letting go with a big smack of the lips, he bowed down before running off, yelling out a loud 'Thank you.'  

Since then, his friends had all been in awe of him.

The recital was boring as hell. His mother kept asking when it finally would be Krystal's turn, much like a little kid asking 'are we there yet?' every 5 seconds during a car ride. Kyungsoo rolled his eyes at his mother. She could be such a baby.

20 minutes later and it was finally Krystal's turn.

Krystal gracefully entered the stage, wearing a knee-long silver dress with spaghetti straps. Her hair was curled, half of it collected on the back of her head with an embellished hairpin. Her eyes were somehow even bigger now and her lips more pink. Kyungsoo assumed it was make-up but she really did look... pretty.

She made a small bow before taking place in front of the piano.

And magic.

Krystal was playing a piece he had never heard before. It was beautiful. Passionate. Shy? Even at the mere age of 13, Kyungsoo had played and listened to enough piano to recognize different emotions in the way a note was played and put together.

Kyungsoo's heart did a small summersault as Krystal shot him a quick glance, the hint of a smile visible on her lips.

"You were wonderful!" Kyungsoo's mother had scooped up the girl, hugging her for dear life even before Krystal's own parents had, had the chance. 

"Thank you so much. I was so nervous." Krystal, able to breathe again, made a laugh escape from her pretty lips.

"You did very well. We are so proud of you." Krystal's mother gave her daughter a more humane hug. "Krystal here actually composed the piece herself. Her teacher has given her so much praise for her musical talent." 

Feeling a slight jab of jealousy Kyungsoo his heel, stalking towards the exit. Krystal had run after him.

"I'm sorry for making you come here." Kyungsoo stopped walking. "It was probably bori..."

"You were good."

Kyungsoo turned his head slightly towards her before stalking off again, leaving a stunned Krystal in her place.