Krystal woke up to the sounds of rain falling from the sky in the early morning behind her window. She stays in bed and sighs. Why is it always raining? She thought. She wasn’t even annoyed at the rain anymore. She was beat. Too tired to think about what made her mad and upset. She couldn’t believe she lost her necklace. Something that she’s cherished and protected all her life, to disappear out of nowhere. She woke up 3 hours ago, around 7 AM. She’s been in bed thinking, if I lost it, would I remember my purpose? Will I be able to fall in love and remember why I must fall in love? Will I remember my thoughts about love? She silently cried. Feeling the tears fall down her cheek. She turned to face the window where the rain fell. For once in her life, she wanted it to rain the whole day. She didn’t plan on getting out of bed and if her mom forced her to, she would finish her task as fast as she could and try to return to bed. Today was her day off.

 

She layed in bed for a couple more hours until it was noon. She was a little hungry but honestly, she had no appetite. Either way she knows that she needs to eat. So she got up and went downstairs to the kitchen to find some leftover stir-fry her mother had made. She reheated the food on the stove and began to make some green tea to drink. When her meal was ready she sat at the table and slowly ate. Fatigue had taken her body as tears slowly fell down her face.

After she was done eating, she washed her dishes and went back into her room. She wiped her tears and laid down in bed.

 

She didn’t think she would hurt this much from a necklace. It’s not like it was gift from someone special either… yet she was devastated as if she just got out of a relationship. She sighed and quietly grabbed her phone, while wiping a tear away. She looks at the time to see that it was almost 2 o’clock. She was tired. Sleep was taking over her and she closed her eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kai had woken up early that day. He was awake at 7 AM in the morning. On his bedside table, sits a pretty little snowflake necklace. He grabs it and looks at the necklace, staring at it, reminiscing what had happened 9 years ago. He sighs, thinking to himself how he remembered he’d give it to the person he loved… but he had given up on that 5 years ago when he was 12. His mother had passed away. It left him empty and sad. After a year, he finally had the mind to get up again to go back to work and have a stable life because it’s what his mom would’ve wanted.

He wanted to cry when he thought of his mother again. He held the necklace in his hands and silently cried as he thought of his mother. The snowflake was a symbol of love. To him, he was always protective of his necklace. He remembered his mother’s words very clearly. It was 9 years ago that had made him happy.

 

Jongin and his mother had just gotten done engraving the letter K for Kai on the back of the bail. His mother kneels down to him. “Jongin, keep this close to your heart, okay? Don’t lose it. When you find the one you love, give this to them.” Jongin had the heart to move the necklace to his mother. “Here mommy, it’s for you!” His mother laughed and shook her head. “No honey,” she said as she pushed his hand back to him. “This is for the one you would like to marry. The one that you promise to love forever, okay? I will always be in your heart and you will always be in my heart. We don’t need a necklace to know because i’m already with you in your heart.” Jongin nodded as his mother took the necklace to put it on Jongin’s neck.

 

He silently cries in bed. He closes his eyes and wishes to fall asleep to stop his sorrowful memories from getting to him, but he cannot fall asleep. He has one lingering thought that keeps

him awake.

 

 

 

 

Krystal had the same necklace as him.

 

 

 

 

He had laid in bed thinking about Krystal’s reaction when she had lost her necklace. It made him feel bad. He was always rude to her. That day he remembered her crying. The necklace was that important to her… He knew she had a kind heart… It’s just he wasn’t thinking about others. He was too involved with himself. It wasn’t like him to react like that. His mother would have told him to be gentle with her. He cries as he silently apologizes to his mother. He admits it. It only took a few minutes, but he wanted to get to know Krystal. It’s what his mother would’ve wanted. He finally gets the feeling to go to sleep and closes his eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When Kai wakes up, it’s almost 12. Kai smells the food from downstairs. Kyungsoo was cooking. He was so glad that Kyungsoo was over to cook a meal. If it wasn’t for Kyungsoo, he wouldn’t have ever gotten up to eat.

Kai puts the necklace back on his desk and walks to the bathroom to wash up. Then he walks out of his room, down to the kitchen.

“Just in time, Kai.” Kyungsoo says as he places plates on the table. He turns off the stove and stirs the food once again before taking it off the stove to distribute the food into the two plates. Kai sits in the chair and begins eating after Kyungsoo puts the food into his plate. Kyungsoo walks back, putting the pan into the sink. Kyungsoo begins eating as well. He looks up to Kai who is eating a bit too fast for his liking. “Kai, slow down, you’ll choke.” Kai looks up to Kyungsoo with a mouthful of food. He shrugs and begins to eat a little slower than before. Kyungsoo sighs as he gets up to get two glasses of water for the two.

 

Kyungsoo puts the water down next to their plates and he began to eat again.

“So… When are you gonna give Krystal a call?” Kyungsoo asked. Kai waited until he was done chewing before he answered.

“I’ll call her later today,” he quietly says. Kyungsoo widens his eyes, “Really?” Kai slowly nods as he takes a bite of his food. Kyungsoo nods as he tries to take in what Kai had just said without fighting back, before finishing his food.

 

After they finished eating, they put the dishes in the sink. Kyungsoo told Kai he would wash them later when Kai leaves. Kai sits down on the couch as well as Kyungsoo. They sit there, watching a movie. Around 2:30 PM, the movie ends and Kai stretches and sighs. “I think i’ll give a call to Krystal right now.” Kyungsoo nods as he continues to find another movie to watch.

 

Kai walks back to his room to grab his phone and sit on his bed. He clicks on the name “Krystal” and waits for her to pick up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Krystal sits in her bed in silence until she jumps to her phone ringing all of a sudden. She grabs her phone on her bedside desk and sees the name “Kai”. She sighs as she picks up the phone.

 

“Hello?” she hears Kai say through the phone. Krystal tries to talk, but had become sore, preventing her from trying to talk for the first time in the day.

“Krystal?” He says again.

“Hm?”

“Are..are you okay?” He asks. She swallows and sighs before answering.

“Uh.. yeah. I guess i’m fine, yeah.. Why?” She says in low voice.

“I know it’s raining… but do you wanna go out today..? I didn’t mean for us to get off on the wrong track. I-it wasn’t like me. I was just annoyed that day. I’m sorry for your necklace and i’m sorry I couldn’t find it. I wanna restart? If that’s okay with you? You don’t have to,” Kai says as he struggles to find his words. It’s been awhile since he’s said sorry to someone like that.

Krystal looked down and thought about it. She did owe him… But she wasn’t expecting to see him ever again. She had lost all hope when she lost it. She was no longer annoyed at him either. She knows she’s stubborn, but she knows when not to be stubborn. She was a sweet kind girl. She quietly sighs as she breathes into the phone again.

“Uh, yeah...T-that’s okay. I uh..I look like trash right now-”

“I’m still in Seoul… So it’ll take me a few hours before I get to you...You can fix yourself up or something. Uh, the drive is about 3 hours so.. I’ll see you in a bit,” Kai says. Krystal nods. “Y-yeah,” She hiccups. Kai ends the call. Krystal who still hiccupped every once in awhile from crying earlier in the day, gets up to get ready.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kai sighs as he gets up, getting ready to leave. He changes into a more presentable outfit and grabs his wallet, keys, and phone. He goes downstairs to Kyungsoo. “Hey, i’m about to leave. Don’t forget the keys if you ever leave the house.. Don’t forget to eat.. And uh..oh yeah, if you’re leaving Seoul, tell me.” Kyungsoo nods. “Okay, Kai. Good luck with Krystal,” he says. “Thanks, Soo. Bye.” Kai says as he walks out the door into the garage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Krystal takes a steaming shower to freshen her mournful morning. She’s still sad of course, but it’s best to not look so sad. After a 30 minute shower, she puts on makeup to hide her dark circles and to make her eyes look more happier and open. She combs her silky hair through with her brush, and puts clips in her hair. She looks in the mirror. She still looked different from usual, but it was better coverage than nothing. She had about an hour and 40 minutes left before he’d arrive. She sighs while walking to her closet.

Krystal didn’t wanna look too nice, but she didn’t wanna look lazy either. It was a little cold from the rain, but she didn’t wanna wear anything tight like jeans. So in the end, she chose a black and white sweater dress that had a pattern of a white simple flower. She wore long socks so that her legs wouldn’t be cold.

 

By the time she was satisfied with her looks, she sits on the couch downstairs, waiting for her ride. After about 20 minutes, she hears a doorbell and walks to the door to see Kai in all black with a jean jacket on. He’s carrying a black umbrella big enough for the two of them. Kai gently smiles to reassure Krystal of his request to take her out once again. “Let’s go,” he says. She nods and locks the door. They walk to his car as he holds the umbrella under the both of them until Krystal is in the car, then goes to the other side to begin driving to his destination.

 

They drive in silence. When they get to their destination, Krystal questions why they were there. When Kai finds a parking spot, he sighs before answering, “A chance to redeem myself. A friend of mine made me realise that i’ve been being a because of my actions. I didn’t mean to be so rude to you in the first place,” Krystal laughs. “We’ll see about that.”

 

Kai gets out of his car and opens the umbrella, as Krystal unbuckles her seatbelt and opens the door. Kai is there waiting for Krystal to get under the umbrella before she could step out.

 

Krystal closes the door as Kai automatically locks it and starts their journey walking.

 

“There’s a pastry shop here… I wanna go there,” Krystal says. “Are you there to look again?” Kai laughs. Krystal stops and frowns, “I thought you were trying to redeem yourself.” Kai laughs again, “I’m just joking, i’m joking, don’t get too defensive. We’ll go there. Do you know where it is?” Kai asked. Krystal nods. “It’s one of the first stores on this side of the street,” Kai nods and lets Krystal lead the way. He felt like he should say something so they could keep a conversation, but he didn’t know how, which made him a little anxious and awkward.

 

Krystal stops in front of a small cute pastry shop. She looks through the glass doors and smiles. She opens the door and gets inside while Kai closes his umbrella and follows behind the girl. She looks at all the pastries from the top to bottom and left to right. She repeated that two more times before she goes back to one set of pastries. She stared at the chocolate cake and the mille feuille next to it. She her tongue and nods to herself. Kai frowns as he watches her move left and right and then finally go to the cashier.

 

“Hello, can I get two slices of the chocolate opera cake and mille feuille each? And then i’ll also get 4 macarons…Can you take the macarons with a rilakkuma bear and the one with red hearts?”

The cashier nodded as she turned to grab  small box to put the 4 slices of cake and then a small bag to put the 4 macarons in it, then grabbed two plastic forks and plates and tied it to the cake box.

 

“...That’ll be $44,” the cashier said. Krystal widens her eyes, “Really?”

The cashier bites her lip and awkwardly laughs, “I didn’t make the prices. I just got hired a month ago. Each slice is $7 and each macaron is $4.” Krystal smiles. “It’s okay. I’m sure it’s worth it,” Krystal says as she begins to dig in her purse for her credit card.

 

Kai then walks forward and takes his card out of his wallet. Krystal looks up at him, “I can pay this myself.”

“I can pay. I was the one who brought you here. Plus it’s $44. I didn’t know you were gonna buy things when we got here,” Kai chuckles. Krystal sighs as she finds her wallet and takes out her credit card.

 

“You keep forgetting that i’m an heir to a big company too, you chaebol.” Krystal said as she handed her card to the cashier. Kai pouts and shrugs. She’s right. He did forget that she was an heiress.

 

Kai puts his card back in his wallet as Krystal grabs the treats. They both sit down at a table as Krystal unties the bow to grab the plate and forks. Then she opens the box and opens the bag to reveal the delicious macarons.

 

Kai sits amused watching her distribute the pastry treats onto the two plates. When she finishes and gives the plate to Kai, he chuckles to himself. Krystal pouts, “What?”

Kai shakes his head.

“Pink macarons with small red hearts and a brown rilakkuma macaron…” He says amusingly.

“Shut up. I like cute things. Why are you always so judgemental,” she scowled. Kai shrugs.

“I didn’t mean it like that. It’s cute. Andddd let me guess. You’re going to take a picture before eating it.” Krystal nods as she takes her phone out. She snaps a couple pictures and sends it to her sister before grabbing her fork.

 

Kai chuckles and begins to eat the cake. “This is really good.. You know, I have a question to ask you,” Kai says. Krystal nods as she takes a bite into her macaron.

“Why do you like pastry shops so much?” Kai asked. Krystal shrugs as she finishes her macaron. “I don’t really have a story to it. It’s just comforting I guess. I like to see all the decorations. The pastries are all made delicately and the smell is amazing…” She answered.

Kai nods as he takes a bite into his cake again. “I guess it’s a valid answer. Since when did you start liking places like this?”

 

Krystal takes a bite into her cake as Kai asked her another question. “Umm, I think I was around 10 years old? So 7 years ago. A friend of mine left to China, making me really sad.. And my mom took me to a pastry shop to try and cheer me up by giving me some cake or something. Hm.. I guess I do have a story behind this…” Krystal says as she continues to eat. Kai nods. “So, who was this friend of yours that made you so sad?”

 

Krystal sighs. “Well.. I’ve seen her a couple times when I was in China, but I never got to talk to her. I don’t know if she remembers me, but she was my best friend. She was like an older sister… I mean I know I had my real sister, Jessica, but she was always busy doing her own thing. Her name was Victoria. She was actually older than Jessica, but Victoria was always there since I was born. She was someone I really looked up to. She left because she had turned 17 and it was time for her to work under her parents’ company. I do miss her. She’s quite famous in China. I’ve seen her on variety shows and she’s even made her own music. She’s very talented in everything...Quite like you,” she said as she eats her last macaron. Kai frowns, “Wait what?” he asked.

 

“Oh..” she said as she finished chewing. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just hear about you a lot in the company. That you do a lot of performance stuff and charity,” she said. Kai nods, “Yeah, I do it for my own liking. My dad wasn’t very fond of it at first because he wanted me to stick to helping with the company and doing something like piano… but I didn’t want to… and I had a passion for dancing,” he said. Krystal looks up at him, “Really? I didn’t know you liked dancing. I mean I knew you did it, I thought you were forced to or something. And by the way, i’ve seen you dance before. You’re really talented. I think if Victoria was still here you’d be one of her favorites,” Krystal said. Kai noticed the slight sadness in Krystal’s voice after the last sentence.

 

“Why do you say that as if you’re not talented? I’m sure you’re good at something,” Kai said as he frowned.

 

Krystal looks down to her half finished cake. “Yeah.. I love to do a lot of things… It’s just that ever since my sister and father left to America, I have to help my mother with the company…”

 

“Well why doesn’t your mom just hire someone for you to do that??”

 

“She did. I’m her so-called ‘assistant’ and I work as an employee for some reason,” Krystal sighs. Kai frowns.

 

“Why? That’s… weird. You’re the daughter of a big company, why do they make you an employee? Shouldn’t you be doing some entertainment or something? Like.. trying to get a celebrity image or at least have people know who you are?” Kai asked.

 

“...Yeah, but they focused more on my sister for that since she’d be more likely to take over the company. Me on the other hand, I was really popular as a child, but now my popularity has gone down. I love singing, acting, modeling and have a passion for dancing, but then Victoria left.. And that was the same year that my father and Jessica left, leaving me and mother in Korea,” Krystal said sadly.

 

Kai got up to throw away his empty plate as well as Krystal. They both walked to the door as Kai opened his umbrella. Before they left, Krystal looked at the cashier, “The money was worth it. I’ll be back one day,” She said. The cashier was left with a smile as they left the shop.

 

Krystal and Kai started walking down the street. “Continuing what we were talking about, have you ever told your mom that you want to focus on something else other than being an employee? Plus, if you work for your own company, you could’ve been at least the manager,” Kai said. Krystal shakes her head, then sees a small toy shop and points to it. Kai nods as they walk towards it.

 

“Well, I guess I haven’t talked to her about it… I was just always helping my mom since it was only her and me in Korea.”

 

“Well, when you get the chance, ask her. I can help you get back into all the things that you wanted to do,” Kai said.

 

Krystal frowns as she looks up at Kai. “Are you a different person?” Kai looks down at her confused as they’re about to walk into the toy shop.

“You’re being too nice. Are you trying to get something out of this?” She asked. Kai pouted. “I wasn’t. I actually was trying to help you. I thought I finally made a new friend,” he said sadly. Krystal shakes her head as she goes toward a small little plushie.

Kai follows behind her and looks at the plushie. “You know, I wasn’t lying when I said I really wanted to restart, and I wasn’t lying when I said i’m a nice person. I really am trying to redeem myself,” Kai said.

 

Krystal sighs as she puts the plushie back on the rack. “Sorry, it’s just.. No one’s ever this nice. There’s always a reason behind the kindness,” Krystal said as she looked at the toys on the table.

 

Kai stops Krystal by the shoulder and turns her around to face him. “Krystal, look, I don’t have any intentions, I promise. I genuinely wanna help you and I really wish to start over. I wanna get to know you. Not in a romantic or ual way.. I just, feel like I can relate to you somehow. I’m sorry for what happened before. And I can prove myself. If you want space i’ll give you space. If want to talk to someone you can talk to me whenever. If you need help, i’ll be here. When you said your sister and dad left to America, Victoria left, and you not being able to pursue the things you like to do… I’ve been there,” Kai said. Krystal sighs again decides to walk out the store with Kai following behind.

 

Kai quickly opens the umbrella and puts it under Krystal before she got wet.

 

“My mother is away. My older brother went to America. My best friend moved to America too. I had to beg my father to let me do things I wanted to,” he said. Krystal slows down her walking and stops to turn to Kai. “Your mother...is away?” Kai opens his mouth to say something and then closes it for a moment before saying something.

 

“She passed away. She… she had cancer and died 5 years ago when I was 12,” Kai sadly said. Krystal bit her lip. “I’m sorry. You don’t have to tell me..”

 

Kai sighs. “No, it’s alright. You didn’t know and you asked. When she died, my father was really upset and had me and my brother working a lot. He was too engrossed in his own feelings and not thinking about me and my brother. When me and brother needed him the most, he just sent us away… And I can’t forgive him, but then again, I do understand him too. The love of his life just died..” Kai said as his eyes started to get watery. Krystal stayed silent.

 

“...I told you, you didn’t need to explain, look at you now..” She said quietly as she reached her hand to wipe his tears.

 

At that moment, Kai slightly jumped at her touch and shakes his head as he wipes his tears by himself.

 

Krystal sighs as she puts her hand down. “Let’s just walk around. I don’t feel like stopping inside any stores,” She says as she softly tugs on Kai’s sleeve.

 

 

 

 

 

They both walk and have small conversations here and there. And until it was late, they both decided to turn around so they could head back to the car.

 

As they walked back there were lights everywhere. “The lights are really pretty. I wish I was allowed to go out more,” Krystal said. Kai only nods and looks at the city lights.

 

They both walked in silence until they finally got to the car.

 

When they both got inside, Kai the engine grabbed his phone.

“Any song requests?” he asked. Krystal nods as she takes his phone and types in “Secret by Taeyeon”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That night Kai drove her home, and he went back to his house. He thought of calling Kyungsoo to see how he’s doing in Seoul, but he figured he’d do that tomorrow since he was tired.

 

That day, he forgot about his assignment that his dad told him to do. When he and Krystal began talking, he had forgotten his father’s request. And that night he had forgot to ask her about the necklace.

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Krystal and Kai's outfits^

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Thank you guys for waiting on this chapter! I am passed the deadline on one of the writing contests. Unfortunately it ended yesterday. But to those of you still reading, thank you so much! I'll continue on trying to write this!