"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

Luke 6:37

Without the project to force them to meet, Krystal only saw Minhyuk during the days they had Professor Song’s class together, which was only an hour each Tuesday through Thursday. Initially, she had hoped his absence would help her lessen her crush on him, but of course, life refused to have it that way. It insisted her affection to only grow whenever she did see and talk to him.

Despite her growing affection, Krystal managed to contain her feelings to a minimum. That is, she didn’t make her crush so obvious. She’d die from mortification if it were so blatant. Having her friends about it was bad enough.

But as the time for the school year crept closer and closer, the burden on Krystal’s shoulder became heavier and heavier. She wondered if she should co- No. She immediately shook the thought from her head. What a ridiculous idea. There was no way Minhyuk felt the same for her. They only knew each other for 3 months, and just because she fell quickly for him didn’t mean he did as well.

Who knows if he would ever fall for her?

If there was one thing Krystal learned from her experiences, it was that liking someone who genuinely likes you back was a rare miracle, and you should treasure the gift. The chance of your crush not returning your affections was sadly larger than the chance of him or her returning them.

Krystal was far more than content to let her crush to simply remain a crush.

“What classes are you taking next year?” Minhyuk asked the day before school let out.

She named a few, and to her disappointment found out he was taking only two of the same courses. And it wasn’t a guarantee that they’d be in the same class.

“We should still meet up next year, even if we don’t have a class together,” he suggested, and Krystal smiled and nodded in agreement.

After a few moments of relaxed silence, she broke it by asking, “Do you remember me talking about my sister’s party?”

“Yeah.”

“Have you talked about it to your friends?”

Minhyuk looked apologetic when he said, “No, I haven’t had the chance to.”

“Is it possible for you to find out tonight and tell me tomorrow?” Krystal thought for a split second then added, “Actually, if you can’t tell me tomorrow, then you can text me by next Friday.”

Minhyuk nodded slowly as he mulled over her proposal. “Sounds good to me,” he agreed cheerily. “But I think I can get an answer to you by tomorrow,” he added thoughtfully.

And he was right. The next day, as Krystal was walking to her last class of the day, Minhyuk came running up to her to inform her that his three friends and he were attending the party. “But are you sure your sister is okay with four strangers crashing her event?” he worried.

Krystal waved his concern aside. “I alrea