Krystal's POV

"Is the mask attracting more attention? We seem to be doing fine so far." Minho surreptitiously eyed the arrival hall behind his dark aviators and I had to suppress my amusement at how ridiculous he looked at the moment. 

Clothed in the most drab clothing you would ever see on the youngest son of the most distinguished family in America, it was a surprise that his overdone disguise hasn't alerted security yet. We've been standing here for almost 15 minutes now and the only look Minho got was from an old lady who kept side-eyeing him as she briskly walked past us, thinking he was a crazy bum. I couldn't blame her, he might as well have been one.

His question was left unanswered and I heard him chuckle awkwardly beside me.

"You still mad at me, huh? Can I at least know when I'm allowed out of the dog house?"

"When you manage to figure out how to reverse time and give me more than one week's notice prior to your sister's arrival to process that 1. You have a goddamn sister and 2. That she's going to be living with us for 'as long as she pleases." 

He looked sheepish at that and tried to look as earnest as he could with his covered face, "I'll apologize again for the billionth time. I'm sorry that I told you on such short notice-"

"Without even consulting my opinion first." I added.

"Without your consent, yes I'm sorry for that too. I'm sorry for the absence of any information regarding my sister's existence for the past 3 years that we've been together and I'm sorry for not being able to tell you why I've never mentioned her. It's a rather sensitive topic for me. So, forgive me?" He said and I could see that he was pouting even through the surgical mask.

My face remained impassive so he lifted my hands to his mouth and kissed them through his mask. I rolled my eyes but I couldn't help the small smile that broke onto my face at the giant dork in front of me, reminding me of why I fell for him in the first place.

"Fine, I'll forgive you for your sins. Now stop slobbering over my hands before you make a scene." I brushed his hands away only for him to pull me into his arms. 

"Can I get a kiss now that you're not mad at me anymore?" He asked me and wiggled his eyebrows.

I narrowed my eyes, "What makes you think I'm not mad at you still?"

"Because you love me and can't stay mad at me for long?" He tried, looking quite like an innocent child who wasn't sure if he was in trouble or not.

I sighed and pinched his cheeks, "Sometimes I feel like I've robbed the cradle with you. Come here, before I change my mind." I said and tapped my lips. 

He beamed at me and pulled down his mask a little. 

His lips barely brushed mine when we heard a soft grunt that sounded like a chuckle from beside us.

"I suppose I should get used to that." 

We turned to the source of the voice and I had to do a double take. 

Whatever vague assumptions I had of what Minho's sister would look like, whether she'd be pretty, or if she'd look like Minho at all, the person I saw before me was not what I had expected. What had I been expecting anyway? I've never once seen her in my life. It was all just superficial musings for me to fill in the blanks that was Minho's estranged sister. 

"HYUNG!" Minho yelled excitedly and enveloped her in a bone-crushing hug. His sister just stood there and patted him with less exuberance but her smile showed that she was indeed very happy to see him.

"I can't believe you're back. It's so good to see you." Minho said, and when he pulled away I could see tears falling from under his shades.

"Stop crying you big baby 4 years isn't that long." She pushed at his shoulders but her eyes were b with unshed tears.

"Shut up. You know you missed me."

"Of course I did. Where else would I find someone who willingly lets me order them around."

"I do not willingly let you order me around. You're just really good at being bossy."

"Admit it little man, you idolized me. Probably still do."

"I did not and do not! I'm a grown as man if you haven't noticed." 

"A grown man who is still scared of his big sister."

"Am not...... w-why are you staring at me l-like that?"

I could barely follow the siblings' reunion as I was preoccupied with checking out my finance's sister. I will admit that I was, because anyone with fully functional eyes could see that she is very good looking.

As brother and sister stood beside each other, I could easily compare the two. Both were tall, with Minho standing just a few inches higher. Both sported the same short brown hair but Minho had his combed and parted neatly and she had hers in a I-really-don't-a-give-rats--if-my-hair-looks-like-a-rats-nest kind of do. While Minho still had some boyish features, what with his bright doe-eyes and his aura that exuded a slight innocence, his sister had an almost world-weary vibe about her that only experience, and possibly a hard past, can be refleted in a person.

"......... is Krystal Jung, my soon-to-be-wife."

I blinked, reeling from my thoughts. I flushed and hoped the two siblings did not notice that from the time she made her presence known, I had not taken my eyes off of her since.

“Hello, I'm Amber.” Her hands were outstretched for me to shake but I was more transfixed with her eyes, looking at me as if she knew all of my secrets. 

It was both intimidating and oddly seductive at the same time.

No. No. No. Inappropriate. Inappropriate. Inappropriate.

"Nice to finally meet you." I smiled politely, keeping my greeting short in case my mouth decided to be as inappropriate as my brain. 

"Let's leave the catching up for the party tonight. We're starting to get noticed." Minho observed, seeing that some people already had their phones out and we're taking pictures.

"What party?" Amber asked with a frown.

"Well you insisted on not having a welcome home get together so it isn't that." Minho said, looking slightly nervous at his sister's look.

"Choi Minho. What. Party." She held his shoulder and stopped him before he could run away from her.

"It's the 4th of July, hyung. You know mom and dad always hosts a barbecue on the 4th.” He chuckled nervously.

Minho told me very little about Amber, but he did say that she always had a very rocky relationship with their father. It made sense because in the three years since I’ve been acquainted with the Choi family, Amber’s existence was never even hinted at and it made me all the more curious about the eldest sibling's history with her family.

"I'm not going." She stated and walked towards the car that was waiting for us outside the airport. 

“Amber, please. Everyone knows you’re back in LA, there’s no reason to hide.”

“There’s no reason for me to go.” She said and thanked the chauffeur when he took her bags.

Just before she entered the car, Minho tried again, “Mom wants to see you. She sarted sobbing when she heard you were being relocated back home. At least do it for her.” 

Her body became less tensed and she sighed heavily. 

“Fine. I’ll do it for her. And your stupid baby face.” She said and got in the car.

I stifled a giggle and Minho looked both elated and offended at the same time.

I liked her already.

“…… again, I’m so sorry hyung but I have to finish this last pile of work before the party tonight. Please ask Krystal if there's anything you need.”

Amber shooed him away, “Go, go. I can handle myself, little man,” When he was about to apologize again she cut him off before he could, “Don’t make me kick you out of your own house.”

He smiled, putting his hands up and then rushed through the door. 

Amber turned to me, slinging her duffel bag higher onto her shoulder. 

It was just us now, two strangers who knew absolutely nothing about the other, now living under the same roof. 

If that wasn’t awkward enough, there was something about Amber’s now exposed arms that were doing weird things to my body. I’ve always liked muscles in moderation on anyone and the first thing that I noticed when she took off her jacket was that her biceps were taut and sinewy as if she’s never touched a drop of processed food in her life. I had a strange urge to want to feel them around me. 

For science of course.

I groaned at that and pinched myself as punishment for my thoughts. 

Even though they were completely true.

‘INAPPROPRIATE KRYSTAL. IN-AP-PRO-PRI-ATE.’ 

In attempt to banish further musings of my future sister-in-law’s arms, I tried to start a conversation with her, “I have to ask, why does Minho call you hyung? If my failed Korean serves me right, wouldn’t noona be the right term for him to call you?”

Amber smiled, “Yes it would, but when we were younger he always mistook me for being an older brother. I mean I was never the poster child for femininity so I never bothered to correct him.”

“I see.” And we stayed silent after that.

Nice. It was awkward again.

“Not that I don’t like standing, I am grateful everyday for having two working legs, but is it alright if you showed me to my room?” She didn’t sound irritated nor did she intend it to sound sarcastic but I blushed out of embarrassment anyway.

Why am I such a bumbling idiot in front of her? This is not me at all.

Not wanting her to think that her brother was going to marry an incompetent idiot, I regained my composure and helped her with her bags. I guided her upstairs and pointed out the rooms to her as we passed them. It was a fairly large house in Malibu with five bedrooms and 6 full bathrooms. Our infinity pool overlooked the private beach and scenic view of the horizon. 

Amber nodded at every room I named, regarding the lavish house with indifference. I suppose she wasn't fazed by the extravagance since she was born into money, but something told me that she wasn’t particularly fond of the opulent life. As a person who grow up in a same environment, I could not understand why she wouldn’t like being filthy rich. It was another mystery to add to the ever so enigmatic soldier.

“This will be your room. Minho and I's is at the other end of the house so that will make privacy less of an issue.” I said and placed her bag on a table.

When I turned around, I was stunned to see her blatantly checking out my .

She looked up to me, "Sorry, if that was rude. You just have a nice rear, is all." She apologized with no real remorse and started unpacking her things.

I stood there with my mouth reaching the floor.

Did I really just hear that or am I still drunk from last night’s outing with the girls? I went with the drunk theory because I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt.

“E-excuse me?” I managed to get out.

“Yes?” She asked, not bothering to look at me.

“You just…. did you just check out my ?” I asked and my pitch came out higher than intended.

She looked at me confusedly, “Did I not just tell you that?”

My mouth shot open again. Has she no shame at all? I didn’t want to assume her uality based on her being rather masculine looking and all. Not that I was against homouality, in fact I’ve attended a few pride parades myself, but it was an entirely different story if she was being openly flagrant about her opinions.

“Isn’t that a little forward of you to say to someone you’ve only just met? Maybe a little inappropriate?” Immediately after I said that I cringed at the irony of it, knowing full well of what I have been thinking for the past two hours.

It was like she read my mind and responded, still not removing her attention from her task, much to my growing irritation.

“Inappropriate? I highly doubt you would be a good judge of that since the only thing you’ve been doing since we’ve met is ‘check me out’.” She quipped, finally glancing at me with a small smirk.

This time I gasped audibly.

The nerve of this woman!

“I was not checking you out as you so crassly put it. I was simply observing you in the most subtlest way as is the normal thing to do when you first meet a person you know nothing about!” I huffed, not caring that I was beginning to sound way too prissy for my liking. This woman has managed to screw with my composure one two many times today and it hasn't even been three hours yet!

“Say it however you like, princess. At least, I had the decency to be frank that I was, in fact, looking at your bum.” She made such an indecent topic sound so matter-of-fact that in any other situation, it would have been funny to hear coming from a rigid looking soldier like herself. 

I really wanted to hit her on the face with her duffel bag to wipe off that smirk.

And did she just call me princess? If she said it in the way that I think she was implying it in, then that was out of line. She barely even knew me.

However, this was my future sister-in-law that we were talking about. Not to mention, that we’ve only just met and I didn’t want us to get off on the wrong foot. So I in my pride and forced a smile on my face.

“Why don’t we forget about the last 5 minutes and start over. I think there were one too many misunderstandings today. Can we agree on a do-over?” I looked to her pleadingly for approval.

To my relief, there were no more snarky remarks and she offered her hand to me for the second time today, “Permission for do-over, granted,” She said, her lips still quirked in that amused smile that irks me for some reason. It’s like she already knows me too well and will relentlessly use that advantage against me.

This woman was dangerous.

Dangerously -

Nope. Not going there. Nope.

I grabbed her hand rather forcefully and we shook on it. Her warm hands sent a brief tingle down my spine and I pulled away before my byun mind could make a comeback. Somehow, her impossibly overconfident persona didn’t repel my suggestive thoughts about her.

“Well then uhm…. I’ll let you settle in. If there’s anything you need, just knock on my door. The chauffeur will pick us up in about two hours.” I said, still feeling slightly awkward from our earlier conversation. 

I internally scoffed at the thought of that. I am many things but I am far from being awkward.

Cool? Definitely. 

Hot? Yes, of course. 

Awkward? THAT’S NOT EVEN IN MY VOCABULARY.

This is ridiculous. My thoughts have degenerated into pointless nonsense and I needed a long bath to clear my head.

With that, I walked out of her room in the most collected way that I could after that rather uncomfortable exchange.

I had just passed the doorframe when she spoke.

“It still doesn’t change the fact that you have a nice .”

‘AUGH!’

A/N : I don’t know if there are others who feel the same way but writing in Krystal’s POV is HARD. Maybe it’s because I identify with Amber more. Oh well.

I apologize if this is short but I realize that I’m able to update a little faster if they aren’t so lengthy. 

Tell me what you think so far and thanks for reading!