She glances over her shoulder before stuffing her phone back into her bra, then looks again to make sure no one saw. She's not supposed to have the device with her while filming, but Kai's message from that morning runs laps through her mind and Krystal can't help the compulsion to stay in contact with him.

And actually, he's not even that far away, resting with s before they record their comeback stage for the second of three Inkigayo maknae editions. But she wants him to know that she's there if he needs her and that she appreciates his warnings about Chanyeol.

He's in a mood, the text had read when she'd checked her messages on the drive over. Be careful.

She'd scoffed under her breath and her manager had reminded her to be on her best behavior, or else. But Krystal wasn't afraid of him, and she certainly wasn't going to be afraid of Chanyeol. Only cowards resorted to physical violence, and only the worst of those hit in the dark.

Krystal didn't need to use her fists to inflict irreparable damage. And Chanyeol would be a walk in the park, after Taemin.

As if summoned by her thoughts, Krystal's fellow MC emerged from his dressing room wearing a sneer so haughty she was amazed his face didn't just freeze like that.

She told him it might, unbidden, and his nasty expression morphed into a wicked grin.

"They'd love me anyway," Taemin replies. His arrogance is palpable. "You know they would."

She does know that, but she doesn't acknowledge it. He doesn't need her affirmation to think even more highly of himself.

"They wouldn't," she tries to argue instead. "You'd be ugly then, and no matter how flawlessly you danced, that'd be all they'd see."

He leered at her; she wondered if he could see the phone where she'd hidden it or if he was just looking at her chest because he could. Her mind suddenly flashed back to his tongue on her skin and she flushed.

"Does that mean you think I'm not ugly now?" He asked her, stepping closer and trying to goad her into lashing out. "The feeling's mutual, little queen. Keep frowning like that and I might actually find you beautiful."

Her response is instantaneous, and Taemin rolls his eyes at the flinty smile that suddenly breaks across her face.

"That wasn't a threat," he says, sounding petulant now.

"But isn't it always," she answers, tone sickeningly sweet as she maintains her smile. It's exhausting. She hopes he can't tell how much work it is for her, but she knows he can. Taemin can always tell.

His eyes narrow and he opens his mouth, but she's saved from their banter when her phone vibrates and she pulls it out to read the text that's just come in.

We can't find Chanyeol, Kai's message says. Be careful.

He'd told her that this morning, to be careful, to watch her back and pay attention in case Chanyeol tries to corner her. She'd laughed it off then when she'd been fresh from breakfast and energized from an actual eight hours of sleep, but now, with Taemin hovering in the background and reading over her shoulder like her texts are of course his business, Krystal reconsiders. There's nothing the EXO rapper can do to her that she can't return tenfold, but now Kai is worried. About her. And that's unacceptable.

Krystal almost hopes that Chanyeol will find her. And she hopes, when he does, that Taemin is there too.

Let them see why they call her the Ice Queen. And why people love her for it.