"Krystal?"

The empty house resonated with only my voice, echoing into every room whose doors were left ajar. My careless footsteps tainted the floorings, the sound of cluttered heels immediately taking over as my legs took me to a nearby table.

Hey Tiff. Out to get milk (literally). Will be back soon. Love, Krys.

I sighed as I crumpled the note and threw it into the dustbin. Krystal has got to stop avoiding me ever since I came back from my business trip in France. Truth was, 1 week ago, I had been really busy with my work life. Could you blame a 20 something young lady for having been too busy with work that she may have neglected her only sister in the process? I mean, in my defense, I was trying to give her a good education and all the things that a parent would have done for their daughters. Well, I was trying to be like a parent figure, but I guess I was only a busy, meddlesome sister in Krystal's eyes.

We both never did knew our parents, only remembering that they died when I was seven and Krystal two. We had been placed under the care of our aunt, Francesca, who at that point of time had been the next legal guardian; her being my mother's elder sister. Apparently, it wasn’t mandatory back then to check the mental and physical status of a guardian seeing how Aunt Francesca was practically crazy. She was a very kind woman, but her belief in the devil impacted our lives as we grew up. Nobody did knew of her obsession with the dark side for she was the sweet woman that everyone seemed to know and love.

Both I and Krystal knew better of course. We would always be told to sleep earlier on Thursdays, and we complied because Francesca became our mother and we knew that we had to listen to her. And when Krystal was five, we had sneaked into her bedroom to see and understand why she was so secretive on Thursdays.

Let’s just say it wasn’t a pretty sight with the pentagram markings on the floor made from sand, probably from the sandy beaches off the coast in California. Yeah, it must have been convenient to her seeing how the beach was only an hour’s drive away from where we lived.

Needless to say, we were sent back into bed, with Francesca mumbling that we had ‘ruined her night’. For the next 10 years, we were forced to swear to secrecy that nobody will ever know of her unhealthy lifestyle and of course, we played along. After all, Francesca was really nice with us, giving us extra pocket money and allowing us to stay up later on other nights. She was the mother figure everyone wanted to have when they were younger.

Sadly enough, she died 3 years ago due to suicide. She had hanged herself right above the pentagram markings, leaving the police very much afraid. We were sent in for an interrogation and they asked if we knew whether Francesca had associated herself with an occult group or something. We denied it, of course, afraid that the dead woman would come back to life if we broke our promise.

And so, at the age of 20, I had left my dreams of entering a decent college away as I struggled to find a job to keep both me and Krystal well fed. Luckily for me, I was hired by one of Francesca’s oldest friends, Marcus; owner of the famous skincare company, Skinshine. Life had never been the same then and we moved to New York, ready to start our lives together.

In the process, I may have neglected in spending time with my precious sister seeing as when I returned from France, I saw her snuggling against the horrid chest of a stranger that I do not seem to recognised. Oh yes, her boyfriend, I recalled. Boyfriend of 2 weeks actually.

Shock may have been an underestimation at that point of time. All I remembered was sending the smirking boy away. The nerve he had.

And ever since that day, Krystal had avoided me at all costs. She totally hates me, totally.

The front door creaked open and I turned around, knowing Krystal was finally home. She was actually, but she didn’t came in as she stood behind the door reluctantly.

“What are you doing outside?” I rolled my eyes at her. “Come in.”

“Only if he’s allowed to come in as well.” She pursed her lips and my eyes widened, knowing very well who she meant.

That horrid stranger… who may have took my sister’s ity.

“No!” I cried out as I stomped to the front door and opened it widely, revealing a sheepish young man staring right at me. “You are not allowed in this house!”

“Tiff, come on!” Krystal whined. “He’s my boyfriend.”

“Uh, no. You only knew him for 2 weeks.”

“This is our 3^rd week actually.” The nerve the girl had. “Kai just wants to explain himself, that’s all.”

“Yeah.” The guy called Kai frowned. “I admit, you having to come home with the sight of us in bed is not exactly pleasing…”

“Damn right.” I huffed, wondering why I hadn’t yet grabbed Krystal and slammed the door right in his face.

“But…” He was bold enough to take a step front. “We just thought that we’re each other’s soul mates, that’s all. I’ve never met a girl like Krystal that I want to be serious about.”

This guy was definitely a douchebag, I could tell as much. I mean that’s what all douchebags say, judging from my many experience with them as my ex-boyfriends. They used to say that all the time too.

“Krystal…” I warned my sister. “I want you to come in now.”

“Not without Kai.” She retorted and I resisted the urge to shout at her.

“Krystal.” I tried again. “Last warning.”

“Come on, Tiff.” Her tone suddenly went a little serious. I could tell she was sincere. “You’ve been neglecting me, lately, don’t you agree? While you were gone, I met Kai and… and I’ve never felt happier, you know? Please tell me you understand.”

And I guess everyone knows how the story goes.

I could only roll my eyes as I watched the two lovebirds spending some quality (and I dare say healthy) time together in front of the TV. I obviously needed time to get used to having this Kai around.

“You know,” Krystal suddenly chuckled cheekily, knowing I was probably still fuming at how weak I was at my sister’s requests. “Kai has an older brother.”

“Is he anything like you?” I managed a reply but smirked as I saw his lips curving downwards.

“Worse.” Thank the heavens that the boy was at least trying to be honest. “But knowing him, you’re exactly his type.”

“Well, too bad. I’m not interested.”

“Too bad for you as well.” Kai chuckled as his eyes went glued to the TV. “He happens to be interested.”

--

It was another day at work, going through the many horrible files that my clients had sent ever so promptly when they needed something to be done. I had groaned at my workload without me realising but I heard my colleague stifle in a laughter; causing me to raise an eyebrow.

“What’s so funny, Chaerin?” I scowled, earning her loud laughter soon after.

Chaerin was the first person I ever got acquainted to when I first started working for Skinshine. Despite her cold exterior, the girl had been excited at the prospect of training a newbie like me despite being a newbie herself. We clicked off instantly due to our undying love for Chris Evans and had never been separated ever since. She was, I’d like to think, the yin to my yang.

“I still can’t believe you’re still stressed over your sister.” She grinned as she continued typing her reports. “I mean come on. How old is Krystal again? Seventeen? Eighteen? She’s old enough to have se-”

“Nah-uh.” I interrupted before she could even say that forbidden word. “I don’t need to hear that word anymore.”

“Come on, Tiff.” Chaerin gave a sympathetic smile. “I get that you’re trying to be the good older sister here, but Krystal is growing up. She can handle her own life.”

“She still feels like a baby to me, okay? You didn’t see the girl literally growing up, that’s why.”

“I didn’t.” My friend passed me yet another stack of files to be looked into. “But that doesn’t change that she’s old enough. And growing up doesn’t mean that she’s no longer your little sister. So cut some slack for both yourself and her, okay?”

I frowned upon her gesture and simply nodded my head solemnly. Why does it seem like Krystal was a step closer in getting away to do whatever she wanted?

"Besides," Chaerin added as she winked. "I think it's about time you spice up your own life."

"Like I have the time." I pouted before getting interrupted pretty quickly.

"Of course, you do." The voice resonated right in my ears. "Hey Chaerin. Hello gorgeous."

I winced as I recognised the familiarity of the voice and the words. It was just like him wasn't it to be appearing at such an untimely timing.

"Hey, Sen." He laughed as he received my dull greeting.

Sen was the nephew of the owner of Skinshine, Marcus. He was basically the one who had to handle everything in this company ever since Marcus retired and seeing how the man only had daughters who were not interested in pursuing business, he had trusted his one and only precious nephew to handle the job. And the man had done it perfectly seeing how he was now legally a boss.

It didn't help that he was drop dead gorgeous too, with most female employees hoping they'd catch a glimpse of him in this god forsaken building. I admit, I was pretty excited to be able to work under the glorious Sen Mitsuji but at last, my expectations plummeted the first minute I laid my eyes on him. As beautiful as he was, the man was nothing but a walking womanizer.

And I guess my lack of interest in him afterwards was what caught his attention as he continues to be a disturbance to my every day working life.

"Come on, gorgeous." Sen did his signature smile that had me swooning. "Loosen up a bit, will ya?"

"Oh I will." I tried to put on my sweetest smile. "After you leave, that is."

"Chaerin." He simply disregarded me. "Can you please be a sweetheart and tell your friend here to stop ignoring our very obvious chemistry?"

Before Chaerin could talk, I interrupted his speech. "And Chaerin, could you tell Mr. Mitsuji here that we are in a work environment?"

The man ran his hands through his hair, which again seemed attractive, but I would have none of it. I may have been secretly looking for someone to call my own but Sen freaking Mitsuji was definitely not an option.

Unless of course I wanted to get my heart broken.

"Tiffany." Sen pinched my cheeks before walking off. "You truly are full of mystery. I'll catch you two girls soon, okay?"

Chaerin wiggled her eyebrows but I simply shrugged it off. I had other problems to deal with. Krystal and her part time lover, my own lack of life and of course, my savings and work. There was just so much to handle.

Sen was definitely not one of them. I will never allow him to be one of my problems. In fact, I'd rather not have any problems at all.

Maybe I spoke too soon because as soon as the thought crossed my mind, I noticed a figure in the corner of the room; it's yellow eyes staring right straight into my direction. Chaerin seemed oblivious to it, but I knew better. I knew that it was watching us, he was watching us.

I averted my gaze back to the stack of files before meekly glancing towards that particular corner again.

The figure was gone, it disappeared as fast as it appeared.

Maybe I was just seeing things.

--

author's note:

a side info, Chaerin is CL from 2NE1 and of course Sen is the glorious model Sen Mitsuji. Hope you guys liked this! (: