Too Perfect - Krystal Jung, a junior in high school, had never had a boyfriend. In fact, she's sure she had never had fallen in love before. Crushes maybe (which never lasted more than a day or two), but love? No. This all changed though when a new transfer student joined her class during the middle of the school year. She finds him intriguing and he brought out feelings she had never felt ever before. She was falling for him and she has no way of stopping herself. He was perfect...too perfect. But what she doesn't know is that he carries a secret. A secret so deep, so dark that Krystal questions herself and her feelings. 

Present

The group of friends was walking down the dimly lit street, conversing and horsing around. They had played basketball long into the night in hopes of distracting their friend, AJ, from his problems.

AJ pat himself down, feeling that he had forgotten something. Finding that he was missing his necklace, the one that Krystal had given him, stopped and told the guys, “Hey, my necklace is missing. I’ll be right back.” He spun on his heels and sprinted towards the basketball court a block and half away, thinking that it must have fallen off there.

“Tell me why those two broke up again?” Henry asked curiously when the group stopped to wait for AJ.

AJ and Krystal had been the sweetest, cutest, most perfect and envied couple amongst their group of friends and yet for some reason Krystal had called it off. No one knows (with the exception of Key) the reason for the breakup since the two never spoke about it and every time they tried to ask AJ, he would only say that it was for the best.

AJ beamed a smile when he had found his necklace near the bench they had taken up during their little game. No wonder it had fallen off. The clamp holding the two ends together had been damaged. Whatever the case, he will fix it and make sure this time he won’t lose it. It was too precious for him to lose.

He stared at the necklace that he was holding in his palm with a small, sad smile recalling the memory of when Krystal had given it to him, completely neglecting his surroundings. As he crossed the streets, heading back to the group, he snapped his head to the side. 

Minho, Key, Henry, and Taemin stopped their chatter when they heard a screech of car tires in the distance. Whirling their heads around to behind them, they panicked as they saw a pick-up truck speeding at AJ who barely dodges it. Instinctively, they pushed off the wall they were leaning against and sprinted towards the down AJ.

The group had only taken a few steps when they saw three men in black ski masks climb out of the back of the pick-up truck with bats and metal pipes.

“AJ!” They screamed as they pushed with every fiber they had when they saw blood flying as AJ was struck repeatedly in the head and chest.

~~~~

“Aren’t you going to pick that up?” Sulli looked at Krystal with a raised brow, feeling slightly frustrated now. The younger girl’s phone has been ringing nonstop and it was beginning to irk her.

“No,” Krystal leaned back on the couch and crossed her legs before raising her glass to her lips. She did not need to look at her phone to know that it was only AJ. And right now, she could care less if he jumped off a cliff and died. Just thinking about him makes her blood boil and very much disgusted.

“Just pick it up, Krystal. Otherwise it’ll just keep ringing all night long,” Luna advised. They were supposed to be having a great time at Victoria’s on their girls’ night but so far with AJ’s constant phone calls and Krystal’s attitude their night was slowly turning into a disaster.

“If you’re not going to pick up his calls, at least put it on silent,” Sulli rolled her eyes. She’s had enough. She can’t take it anymore.

Krystal did as Sulli suggested, even going over and beyond, by turning her phone off completely. Now that that’s settled, the girls resumed their girls talk. Well, they tried to at least. They were once again interrupted when Sulli’s phone rang.

“Now what?!?” Luna threw her hands in the air, ready to throw in the towel.

“Now, now,” Victoria, being the oldest there, tried to the calm the girl down as coolly as possible. Even she was beginning to feel frustrated with all these interruptions. She had wanted to share with the girls about Nichkhun’s proposal.

“WHAAATT?!!?”

The three snapped their heads towards a pale and teary-eyes Sulli. It didn’t take long for the tears to spill and for her to begin to convulse violently, making her phone slip from her grasp and crash onto the wooden floor.

“Ssul, are you okay? Who called?”

“What happened?”

Krystal pulled her best friend into a hug while Luna and Victoria patted the girl’s back, hoping to sooth and comfort the sobbing girl, if even just a bit.

“A…AJ’s…” Sulli couldn’t spit out the words. Her voice was being choked out by her heavy crying.

“W-what ha-happened to AJ?” Krystal craned her neck to face Sulli. Her heart began pounding against her chest. She didn’t want to find out. She didn’t want to hear it. 

“…hospital…he might…not make it…”

Krystal felt the ground gave way and swallowed her whole and her heart stopped beating. Everything slowed around her and her vision begins to blur. Her friends’ voices were drowned out and she couldn’t hear anymore. She sees the girls’ mouth moving but nothing was heard... nothing at all…only the sound of her shattering heart.

“Krystal!!” Luna hurriedly caught the younger girl in her arms as Krystal’s knees gave way.

Krystal clutched onto the hem of Luna’s wool sweater with an iron grip while crying out in anguish as she curled herself on Luna’s lap. “AJ…AJ…” she kept muttering in between her crying. She had never prayed before, but now she was praying, praying with her very being for this to be a joke, a poor, sick joke to get her to get back with AJ again.

“Hurry, we’ve got to go to the hospital now!” Victoria led Sulli, who had clung onto her side, to the front door while Luna mustered all her strength to pick up and support the crying mess that was Krystal Jung.

~~~~

“Please…please be okay,” Key repeated over and over again until it was akin to a mantra. He was hunched over, bobbing back and forth in his seat that was just situated in the hall outside of the operating room while tears streamed down his face. His clothes and hand were stained with AJ’s blood, but he could care less at this point in time. He just wants his best friend to be okay, to walk out of the operating room with his usual dorky smile and say that it was nothing but a prank. But he knew…he knew.

Beside Key were the rest of their friends, Minho, Henry, and Taemin. They too were covered in AJ’s blood, but not as much as Key. Henry and Minho had opted to stand, leaning their backs on the wall with their heads lowered, trying to hide the tears that were rolling down their faces unsuccessfully. Taemin had taken the seat next to Key and had his head buried in his palms, trying to muffle his cries.

After speaking to the police and giving their statements, Minho had been trying to get a hold of Krystal with AJ’s bloodstained phone, but when the latter wasn’t picking up he punched the wall. Henry had taken it upon himself to continue calling Krystal, but when the girl’s phone was switched off he bit back his curses and had immediately called Sulli, somehow knowing that the girls were together. He could barely hold back his tears as he informed Sulli on what had happen to AJ.

The boys’ head snapped to the side when they heard footsteps running towards them.

It took all of Henry, Key, and Taemin’s strength to hold Minho back from attacking the distraught Krystal.

“Now you decide to show?!?” Minho thrashed around, trying to free himself from his friends’ grip. “LET GO OF ME!” He kicked his feet into the air while tears poured out as he was dragged a safe distance from the girls.

“Please…tell me…how is he?” Krystal cried, begging for them to tell them AJ’s condition.

Before the boys could say anything, the lights indicating that the operating room was in use switched off and the surgeon in charge walked out, his white uniform stained red. He looked at the two groups, who had pleading looks, and let out a sigh. He hated this part of his job the most.

“NO!! Let me see him…please!” Krystal tried to push through but was held back. She needs to see him. She needs to tell him she still loves him. She needs to let him know that she doesn’t care about his secret. He needs to know. But she couldn’t. “Please…” she cried softly before she slumped to the cold ground and her world turned black.