Krystal blushed and felt giddy with the thought of her together with Taemin. It would be perfect. She glanced shyly at him and smiled.

He smiled back and he kept looking at her as if…as if…Omo, does he like me, too? She felt giddier by the second as the idea began to sink in.

“So, where are you going?” she suddenly heard Taemin ask.

“Uh, I’m headed home,” she raised the bottle of mirin she was holding. “I’ve been to the grocery store. My mom asked me to buy this for her marinade,” she explained.

“Oh,” Taemin nodded.

“How about you? Are you going home?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“Um…” Krystal hesitated for a moment, then decided to just say it. “Would you like me to take you home so you don’t have to walk? I can let you ride with me on my bike.”

“Oh, no, no,” Taemin shook his head. “But thank you, Soojung-ssi. I’ll just walk. My home’s just a block away. It’s not that far.”

“Oh…” she said, looking down at her feet, disappointment overtaking her giddiness. But she looked up again. “Aren’t you tired?”

Taemin chuckled a little. “No, I’m fine. Thanks for your concern Soojung-ssi. But I really think you should get home now and give that mirin to your mom as it’s almost dinner time.”

“Oh,” Krystal looked at the bottle of wine. “Yes, I think I should.”

Taemin stepped away and waved at her. “Nice to meet you and see you around, Soojung-ssi.”

“Nice to meet you, too, oppa!” she waved back. “I can call you that, right?”

He nodded. “Sure.”

He turned away and Krystal stood there for a while and watched him walk away.

And then she let go of her bike, making it crash down on the pavement. She squeezed her eyes shut, hugged the bottle of mirin and danced around, letting out a squeal of delight.

…………………………………

From where he stood, Minho watched as Taemin talked with Krystal for a while. He was close enough to hear strains of their conversation.

He frowned as he saw Krystal smile shyly at Taemin. He hadn’t seen her like that.

He was surprised when she offered to take Taemin home on her bike. Krystal Jung is not nice. How come she’s being nice to Taemin? What’s with all this sweet girl act?

“Nice to meet you, too, oppa! I can call you that, right?” Minho heard Krystal say those words to Taemin and he was taken aback.

She wants to call him oppa? She never calls Minho oppa…unless they’re in front of elders, like his mother for instance.

“Aish, this girl, really…” he said to himself. It annoyed him. And he felt bad that Krystal seems nice and respectful to Taemin while she treats Minho like a two-year old when he’s much older than Taemin and she knows him longer than she knew Taemin. Why is she like that?

But a while later he understood, when he saw Krystal dancing around and squealing.

Eh? She likes Taemin?

Minho doesn’t like the idea.

“Yah, stop wailing! You’re disturbing the whole neighborhood with your shrill cries. You sound like a choking cat,” he yelled at Krystal before he could stop himself.

Krystal froze and whirled around to his direction. Her eyes narrowed and she raised the bottle of mirin she was holding.

“Say that again and I will smash this bottle on your hard head, I don’t care if umma will scold me and we will have no dinner. I’d be happy to do the smashing,” she threatened.

“Ooh… I’m so scared,” he said mockingly.

Krystal stood there for a moment, appearing to be thinking, and then finally she let her hand with the bottle fall to her side. Then unexpectedly, she smiled.

“Be thankful that I’m happy today, or else you’d be dead,” she said. Then she turned away, picked up her bike and mounted it.

Minho watched as she pedaled away. He was baffled.

So, she likes Taemin that much for her to mellow down and change?

He frowned. The thought annoyed him. But what does he care?

………………………..

Hey pretty…

Jinri’s brows furrowed as she read the text message. She didn’t know who it was from. She sighed and rolled over to lie on her stomach.

May I know who’s this?

Ugh. Probably another one of her admirers. She used to enjoy each of their attention even if she doesn’t like any of them. But somehow, when Taemin came back she didn’t want all of that anymore. Speaking of Taemin, her heart began to fill with disappointment once again as she remembered him saying that he will call her later…and that was yesterday, after they had exchanged numbers. He didn’t call and Jinri couldn’t help feeling a bit hurt. If he likes her he wouldn’t waste time. Her fanboys are like that…they are all eager to call her once they get the chance.

Maybe Taemin had been busy…maybe something happened so he wasn’t able to make the call…she had tried to reason out but when she overheard her Minho oppa talking to Taemin over the phone last night she gave up all hope.

She frowned, remembering. Who needs Taemin when she has a lot of boys pining for her? Might as well entertain that admirer who currently sent her the message. But she felt rather disappointed once again as she looked at the screen of her phone and saw that the person hadn’t replied to her message anymore.

Aish, who needs boys? She dialed Krystal’s number.

“What’s up, giant baby?” Krystal answered on the first ring.

Jinri pouted. She doesn’t hate it actually, but she’s very conscious of her height. She felt a bit awkward to be tall for her age and she doesn’t like being teased with it…unless it’s Krystal teasing her. It was a  sort of endearment, coming from her best friend.

“Yah, Soojung-ah, you know I hate it when you call me that,” she yelled on the phone, pretending to be mad.

“Sorry,” Krystal answered, though she didn’t sound like it. There was a scratching sound in the background then followed by a loud crash.

“What was that?” Jinri asked worriedly.

Krystal giggled. “It was nothing, just some books which I accidentally toppled over from my desk.”

“What are you doing, Jungie? Did I interrupt anything? Are you busy?” she asked again, though most likely Krystal would just probably be painting her toenails.

“Yeah, I’m busy contemplating and plotting your brother’s murder,” Krystal answered right away, her tone light. Jinri heard her giggling once more, sounding like she’s on a high.

“Well, then can you stop that temporarily and come with me somewhere? You can kill my brother some other day. I want to go out,” Jinri said.

There was a pause on the other end of the line. Then she heard Krystal sigh.

“Oh…I…I have to finish cleaning my room, Jinri-ah. My umma will hang me upside down if I won’t do it today,” Krystal answered after some time. “I’m sorry. Maybe this afternoon?”

Jinri felt disappointed. But she frowned at Krystal’s reason for not going with her. Since when does her friend need a huge amount of time to clean up her room? It was always neat and clean…well, not as neat as Minho’s, but then her brother is a total neat freak.

“It’s okay. I’ll probably go alone, then,” she told Krystal.

“Where are you going? I’ll catch up with you later.”

Jinri sighed. “On second thought, I think I’ll just stay in my room and watch a movie.”

“Oh, okay,” Krystal giggled once again. “I’ll go there this afternoon.”

“Sure.”

“Bye, Jinri-ah.”

The line went dead even before Jinri could say bye. “Bye,” she whispered dejectedly, staring at the phone she was holding.

She sat up on bed and stared out the window. What is she going to watch? She pouted. It’s no fun to watch a movie alone.

Then an idea came to her. She should just come over to the Jungs’ and help Krystal clean her room!  She hurried to dial her friend’s number again, but her phone began to ring. She looked at the caller ID and found that it was unregistered. Maybe it was that person texting her earlier.

She answered the phone and her heart began to thump loudly when she heard the voice on the other line.

“Jinri-ah? This is Taemin.”

She grinned widely and jumped out of bed. “Oh, oppa, hi. What’s up?”

“Are you free today?” he asked.

“Yes,” she answered immediately.

“Well, I was…” he paused for a second or two. “I was wondering if you want to take a walk at the park with me.  And then maybe we could go have lunch together.”

Jinri almost gasped but was able to hold it. Omo, like a date? She began to twirl and dance around.

“Well? Jinri-ah, are you still there? It’s okay if you don’t want to, you know,” he began. “I just want to catch up on some things with you. You know…get to know you again now that you’re grown.”

He sounded unsure that Jinri felt sorry for him and flattered at the same time. It doesn’t matter that he wasn’t able to call her the other day when he said he will. Maybe he likes her, too.

“I’d love to go with you, oppa,” she answered, her grin never leaving her face.

“Great!” he suddenly began to sound enthusiastic. “Is it okay with your parents and your brother?”

“Oh, my parents wouldn’t mind as it’s you I’m with anyway. But we have to tell them where exactly we are going. And Minho oppa…of course it would be okay with him. You’re his best friend,” she answered.

“I’ll pick you up an hour from now, then.”

They exchanged some pleasantries before hanging up. As soon as she tossed her phone on her bed she followed, tossing herself on the bed and jumping for joy.

She has a date with Taemin!

…………………………………

Krystal felt guilty that she had lied to and rejected Jinri. The truth was that she had found Taemin’s twitter account in the internet, and no, it wasn’t an accident. From there she was able to convince him to give her his email ad and they had been chatting for a while since early morning.

He said he enjoyed talking to her, and that really raised her hopes up. Really, who wouldn’t enjoy talking, and she means really talking, to witty and smart Krystal Jung? She smirked.

Then she felt guilty once again. It was the first time she said no to her best friend. She loves Jinri, she really does, but she couldn’t leave this opportunity to talk to Taemin. And she and Jinri are always together, she could just talk to her anytime she wants to.

I’m sorry, Jinri-ah. She has to tell Jinri that the boy she was looking for is Taemin. She’s sure Jinri would understand. And then Jinri might help her get close to Taemin since the two of them seemed close.

Krystal smiled as she found another message from Taemin.  She excitedly clicked and read it…

Smth came up. Sorry, gtg.

She frowned and encoded her reply.

Y? What’s up?

He already went offline.

Krystal stood up and walked to her bed. Was it an emergency?

She sighed. Maybe she should spend the time with Jinri now and tell her all about Taemin.

Jinri picked up the phone on the first ring.

“Yah, Jinri-ah, does the offer still stand?”

“Aw, Jungie, no. I have a date,” Jinri giggled.

Krystal’s eyes widened. Jinri finally agreed on a date? She laughed. “Well, who’s the lucky guy?”

Jinri giggled some more. “It’s Taemin oppa.”

Minstal's mission begins next chap. ; )