I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

John 10:28-30

Krystal used to love her birthday. It was a day when she could hang out with her friends and family and just have fun, celebrating another year of her existence and seeing how much she grew in simply one year. She was especially looking forward to celebrating her 20th birthday- a very special age in Korea- with Kai. But after he broke with her a week and a half before her birthday, well, there was no way she was ready to party just yet.

“Come on, Krystal, you have got to stop moping,” sighed Sulli.

Luna sympathetically looked at the youngest curled up in her bed, refusing to budge. “Sulli’s right,” the blonde said sweetly while raking her hand through Krystal’s hair, “It’s your birthday, so let’s go have fun, hmm?”

“You guys go have fun without me. I just want to stay home,” Krystal’s barely audible voice cracked, causing both of her friends to heavily sigh.

Before either girls could open their mouths to argue any further, the bedroom door burst open and Amber bounced in cheerfully with a loud, “Yooo! Wassup?” She stopped in her tracks when she spotted the miserable birthday girl in front of her and tsked loudly. “She’s still moping?”

“Yes, I am, and I can still hear you,” she reminded them, her voice muffled under her thick blankets. Krystal, although buried in her blanket cocoon, heard the groan of the bed as it dipped down to accommodate one more person’s weight, and she felt someone settle near her foot.

“Why are you being like this?” Amber was never the type to avoid a problem; instead, she preferred to charge at it head on. “Is it because of that guy?”

Whereas her every word was muffled before, Krystal’s loud groan rang clearly throughout her room. “Yes! Yes, it is because of him,” she huffed, finally throwing the blanket off her head to glare at her friends. “I really wanted to celebrate my birthday with him because I couldn’t celebrate his, but then he dumped me a few days before my birthday. Imagine how I feel, huh?”

The three stared at her for a few moments in silence before Sulli timidly said, “You don’t need him to celebrate your birthday though, do you?”

“Well, if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be like this, now would I?” the youngest snapped drily.

“That’s no way to talk to your friends, young lady,” Jessica’s voice could be heard, berating her sister, as she walked into the room with Victoria.

Huffing loudly, Krystal made no comment, only crossing her arms as a gesture of frustration.