The sun is a little bit too bright and every sound a little too loud when Krystal trudges home after noon the next day. The dorm, it turned out, had lots of alcohol and the girls a little too eager to play a drinking game.

Krystal wants to die.

She closes the door gingerly behind her, careful not to make too much noise because the slightest one only contributes to her pounding headache.

One agonizing step then two and she collapses on the cool leather of the couch, burying her head under the throw pillows. She’s never been more glad that Jessica likes to keep the apartment just above freezing. Krystal just wants to lie there and sleep until everything hurts less.

“Jung Soojung-ah!”

Her sister has other plans for her though.

“Unnie,” she whines, holding one throw pillow against her face. Maybe if she suffocates, this headache will disappear. Maybe Jessica will disappear.

The pillow is pulled away from her face and for a moment, it looks like her sister is about to unleash a scolding on her and Krystal braces herself for it. But the moment fades and Jessica’s expression softens.

“You look like crap,” her sister says, blunt but soft.

“Hangover,” Krystal whimpers pathetically, screwing her eyes shut. If Jessica’s not going to yell at her, she might as well use this time to rack up some sympathy points. She needs it. She feels like she’s on her death bed.

“Those ,” Jessica mutters as she runs a hand through Krystal’s hair. The action is affectionate and soothing and Krystal feels her eyes start to flutter shut. She’s always liked it when her sister played with her hair.

But sooner than she would like, the action stops and her eyes snap open. Jessica is walking away and she can’t help but pout like a petulant child. Was it too much to ask for her older sister to take care of her in her time of need?

Krystal immediately backpedals on that thought when not a minute later, Jessica comes back with a glass of water and two pain reliever tablets.

“Drink up, Soojung-ah,” she says, helping the younger girl sit up so she can take her medicine properly. “Then you go rest in your bed, okay?”

Krystal nods and swallows with a slight wince. Not for the first time, she’s thankful that Jessica is her sister. The other girls from f(x) are great and she loves them dearly (though she rarely says it out loud) but no one can really beat Jessica Jung when it comes to taking care of Krystal Jung.

“Thanks, unnie,” she tells Jessica as she heaves herself off the couch. “We’ll talk later?” As much as Krystal would just like to forget about what she saw yesterday, she can’t. They’ve always talked to each other about their relationships.

Jessica nods. “I’m going out for a bit but I’ll be back before dinner. I’ll bring some food back with me.”

“Okay.” Krystal can already feel herself growing sleepy from the medicine but she lingers by the door to her room. “Love you, unnie.”

“I love you too, Soojung. Sleep well.”

------

Krystal stumbles out of her room several hours later, feeling less like she wants to die and more like she could eat an entire hippo. She supposes that’s a good sign. It’s an even better sign that when she goes into the kitchen, she sees a take out bag in front of her sister.

Jessica glances up from her phone, eyes following the younger girl as she walks towards the table. “I got you a burger from that place you like. Extra bacon.”

She almost blurts out another ‘I love you’ but manages to stop herself in time - she doesn’t like saying it too much. Instead she settles for a murmured “Daebak” but the look on Jessica’s face tells her she understands.

Silence settles over the Jung sisters as Krystal eats her burger and Jessica texts. Words had never really been too important between them.

Her gaze goes from her burger to her sister and she absently notes that Jessica is wearing a sweater a little too big on her, one she hadn’t been wearing when Krystal had gone to bed. Oversized sweaters weren’t really her sister’s thing but she had seen it on one of the other girls.

“Was it cold outside, unnie?” she asks casually before taking a big bite of her burger.

“Yeah,” Jessica answers, still busy with her texting. A beat later, she stops and looks down at her sweater and Krystal grins at the faint red forming on her sister’s cheeks. “Taengoo lent it to me.” It’s mumbled so softly that Krystal almost misses it. The older girl puts her phone down and not a second later, it lights up with a new text.

From Tiffany, Krystal notes.

“That wasn’t just a one time thing, wasn’t it?”

Jessica shakes her head.

“So the three of you…?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh.”

“Is… is it weird?”

Krystal contemplates it for a second before nodding. “A little bit.”

“Because there’s three of us?”

“No.” Krystal is pretty sure that if the other members wanted to, they could probably have a stable, working nine person relationship. Heck, they kind of already do, if you don’t count the whole physical aspect thing. “Because you’re my sister and it’s always going to be weird thinking of you in a relationship. You know I’m possessive of my unnie,” she says with a pout.

Jessica rolls her eyes affectionately. “How is it that you’re so bad at aegyo?”

“No, I’m not,” Krystal protests right before taking another big bite of her burger. “You’ve just built up a resistance.”

“Soojung-ah, don’t talk with your mouth full.” The older girl reaches for a napkin and dabs at the sauce that has made its way to Krystal’s face. “So...you’re really okay with it?” she asks softly, voice and face full of uncertainty.

It’s not often that Jessica seeks her approval. Usually, it’s the other way around. Krystal is younger, both literally and when it comes to their careers, so it’s only natural. It's weird.

“As long as you lock the door next time, unnie.”

“Yah! Maybe you should learn to knock properly next time, idiot!”

They dissolve into bickering and just like that, everything is right again.