3

“You might need these... and these...Oh you’ll definitely need these” Mother exclaimed piling home ware goods upon one another on the already full shopping cart; From duvet sets to frying pans, Mum was buying the lot, if not the whole store.

“Mum, I really doubt I’m gonna use all these pots and pans. I think One will do, anyway what do you suppose I’m gonna cook, A whole roast dinner?” I told mother has she examined another saucepan.

“I just want you to be prepared darling, there’s nothing wrong in being prepared” She said to me then looked back down “That's rather pricey “she mumbled, putting the saucepan down as she saw the price.

“Ok let’s just make sure we have everything you need. Duvet...check, Pillows...Check...” Mother counted as she checked off each on her list. I watched her as she did so, my mind suddenly thought about life at Eastwood. It was only a couple more weeks until I’d be going and I couldn’t wait. I’ve been practising hard just like I had promised Mrs Chambers a few weeks ago. It was hard at first, I mean mother had still occupied my mind but as the days went Mother got better and the worrying had stopped, helping me focus more on my ballet.  Krystal is also leaving soon; tomorrow in fact, I’m travelling with her to London and I’ll spend a couple of days there with her, before I travel back to town.

“We’ve got everything lets go to the check out then” Mum said with a hint of relief in her voice. I followed her as she led the way to the tills, pushing the monstrous cart along. By the time we got to the car, we had to squeeze the boot close and the whole back seats of mother cars had already been occupied by others things we had previously bought.

“What time are you leaving tomorrow?” Mother asked me as we went home.

“Around 7 in the morning, Krys wants to get there early so she can tidy up her place before it gets dark” I told her while I strolled through my instagram feed, I kept scrolling liking a photo here and there until I came across  Krystal’s posts. It was a photo of her and a boy with honestly, quite handsome features. I wonder who that is. It didn’t have a caption or anything which had just fed on my curiosity. She doesn’t have a new boyfriend does she? I thought as I continued to stare at the image. Of course not, she’ll tell you if she does. I decided to forget about it and ask Krys Tomorrow when I next see her. As we got home we unloaded all the shopping with the help of my brother who had just woken up. It had taken us at least 7 trips from the house to the car to get everything inside. I looked at my watch and it was 2 in the afternoon and I was Starving, I quickly made myself a peanut butter sandwich engulfing it in one bite almost choking in the process before running to have a needed shower.

***

“See you mum” I said as I came down the stairs the next morning, my small suitcase stomping behind me. Mother was in the kitchen preparing me with some sandwiches she thought Krystal and I could eat on the way to London.

“Have a safe journey and call me once you girls get there, ok?” Mother said, handing me the paper bag filled with food.

“I will. I love you” I said hugging mother before kissing her cheek.

 “I love you too” She said smiling at me. “Joshua! Come down here and say goodbye to your sister!” she shouted causing Joshua to stomp out his room, eyes half closed and hair everywhere.

“But she’s only gone for like 5 day!” He said as he reached me and mother at the bottom of the stairs.

“Still, she’s your sister” mother pointed out to him

“Fine” he said forcefully, turning to me giving me a quick hug.

 “See you then” he said as he ran back up the stairs probably to go sleep again.

“Yeah see you” I muttered when he was out of sight. He is soo nice... I gave mother another final hug and waved goodbye as left to catch the bus to meet Krys at her house.

***

I got to Krystal’s around 7:30am and she had already started packing boxes into her car. Her hair was tied up into a high ponytail and she wore her usual black jeans and plain T-shirt with a denim jacket.

“Hey Jin!” She shouted from the other side of the road, dropping the box that was in her hand to wave out to me. I waved back at her looking side to side waiting for the right moment to cross the road.

“Hi” I said and gave her a hug as I got to her.

“Mum and Dad are inside having breakfast; you want to eat something before we leave.” She said, pulling off the hug and grabbing the box she had been previously holding.

“No it’s fine I’ve already eaten”

“Ok, then help me with these boxes will you” Krys said pointing at the boxes left by the doorstep of her house. I went to pick one up and saw Mrs Jung walking toward me.

“Jinri your here, It’s nice to see you again!” She said as I dropped the box to give her a hug. “How’s your mother? Krys told me what  happened” she asked full of concern, still holding my hand in her palms.

“She’s much better”

“That's good to hear” she said “I’ll leave to guys to get to work then” I picked the box up and turned around only to find that all the other boxes that had previously been laying around were now stuffed into her small mini cooper.

"You're quick" I said trying to fit the last box in.

"No, you and mother just talk a lot" Krys stated with folded arms, slamming the door of the boot shut. "K, I think we're all ready. I'll just say goodbye to mum and dad, wait in car ok?"

"Sure"

She dashed off to the house as I sat by the passenger seat listening to music on my phone. I don't know how all I had been waiting but as Krystal got to the car her mascara was already dripping down her face and her parents waving a sad goodbye from the front door.

"You Okay?"I asked although it seemed stupid to ask seeing as though everyone was crying. She turned to me giving me a look that spoke of ‘are you kidding me?', "Sure, stupid question" I said as Krystal tried to sort out her makeup through the mirror, wiping at the smudged mascara until it was just a faded grey.

"Ok lets go" she said taking hold of the wheel and waving a final goodbye before they were out of sight.

***

After travelling for an hour, we stopped by the nearest service station to grab a quick coffee and snack, and although the coffee wasn't by CoffeMe, it still did its job in boosting our energy as both Krys and I were just ready to go back to our bed in Summer Valley and sleep.

"I honestly just want to sleep right now!" Krys said; arms crossed and head resting in her arms.

"Well It was your idea to go there early, wasn't it" I said taking a bite out of the blueberry muffin I had ordered since my stomach was demanding for some food.

"I know and it was a stupid idea" she said lifting her head, catching me taking a picture of my muffin and coffee. "Really? You taking a picture of that"

"Yes?" I said snapping the picture and uploading it unto instagram after finding the right filter. Perfect. Doing so I remembered the photo I saw yesterday of Krys and some boy that I was meaning to ask.

"By the way, who was that boy in the picture you posted yesterday?" I said catching her attention. She looked at me, confused for a few second before understanding what I had meant.

"Oh, he's just a friend" She replied rather uncertain of what she was saying, although I knew I should trust her words something told me that that wasn't the full truth.

"Are you sure about that" I asked again, but this time she didn't reply and was instead thinking about something. "You can tell me Krys" I said getting sigh to escape from her.

"Well, we are friends but..." She started

"But what?"

"He's Kinda sweet, you know?" she said finally looking at me.

"You like him?"

"I don't know but He's really nice and funny" She said full of excitement. But I was still trying to fit the pieces together.

"When di-"

"When did we meet? Krys said finishing of my question “Well, our parents know each other from work and  well, my parent invited a bunch of colleagues and their family over for dinner at that posh restaurant in town about three weeks ago and they introduced me to him since he was around my age and we just kinda clicked and that's the story really..." Krys said so quickly I almost didn't catch the whole story.

"And you never told me!" I said quite hurt that I didn't know my friend had found someone new and had moved on from Jongin.

"No, it not like that Jin, I mean were not together, anyway I won't be seeing him anymore since I'll be living in London now so I thought that you didn't really need to know."

"I guess so" I said thinking about her explanation. I looked back at her and now her face seemed hurt by the sudden mention of not seeing him again.

"I'm sure you'll see him again"

"I wish, His really quite handsome" A smile plastered on her face once again, you’re weird I said to her in my head.

***

We arrived at London around 11 o'clock, and had shifted everything to her tiny flat which fortunately was only on the third floor, but however was at the furthest end of the narrowest corridor I had ever seen. That being said her room was overlooking the enormous beauty of Hyde Park, shades of greens and small hints of pinks and oranges filled the window, imitating a fine art piece, it was truly amazing and I’m not exaggerating one bit, in fact it made me quite jealous knowing Krystal was living in such great area. It had been a three hours of unloading the car and organising the basic layout of her room. We managed to even fit a desk and a small fridge into the condensed room and I still don’t know how we did it and still manage to have some space to walk.

“So, where exactly am I going to sleep?” I said looking around the room looking for a spot free from furniture or boxes.

“Um” Krys said also taking a look around the room before shifting a few boxes together to make some space “There you go you can sleep there” She said gesturing at the empty space on the floor.

“You have a sleeping bag right?” She joked but to her surprise I actually did have one, pulling a lovely pink one I had since I was 13, from my suitcase. I looked at her with a smug smile, leaving us both laughing as I helped Krystal unpack her clothes (I didn’t have to worry about mine seeing as though I was only staying for a couple of days.) And when I say unpack I actually mean shoving tops and other clothing into drawers making sure the drawers would still close even with a bit of force.

 “I’m starving!!” I screamed once we had unpacked our belonging. It was already 2 in the afternoon and neither of us had a proper meal yet.

“Should we order a pizza?”Krys suggested. I looked at her in horror, offended by her suggestion

“How can we order a pizza on this lovely day? The suns’s out and were in London!  London Krys! We can’t just stay in this dump we need to go out!” I exclaimed already grabbing my bags and putting my sandals on.

“You’re right, we need to go out” Krystal said following my lead out the door.

***

We didn’t exactly know where we were going at first; having to ask the passing people where we could find the nearest train station. By the time we found the station we decided to go the convent Garden and maybe find a good restaurant to eat at. We took the Piccadilly line from Hyde Park corner, which, in fact we had almost missed but in all honesty I wish we had because once we had gotten into the carriage, it seemed like we were sardines in a tin; all squished together. After we while the air became limited and on this unusual hot weather, the sweat radiating off of people seemed to add to the thickness of the air. This is just lovely... I thought to myself as I was squished by the door with Krystal stuck at my side.

Thankfully by the time we got to Leicester Square most of the people had gone out. Giving us back the cool air we had highly needed; allowing us to get a breather of the now empty carriage.

 ‘Convent Garden’ Krystal and I stepped out and followed the Exit signs.

Once we got out we were met by old looking building that stood mighty in its place People scattering here and there but some stopped by a small crowd that had been gathering in the middle of the open area and soft music had been faintly drifting in the open air, rejoicing in my ears.

“Let’s go and see what’s happening” Krys exclaimed grabbing hold of my arm and pulling me with her towards the sea of bobbing heads. As we got closer we squeezed passed the crowd to get a view of the source of the chaos. In the middle a guy with short dark  brown hair and a muscular body, danced to the music as the rest of the crowed clapped along. The way he moved was certainly mesmerizing. I could tell he was a ballet dancer from the way he was so elegant in every moved he had made; How he seemed to flow with the sound of the music.

“Whoa he's soo good” Krystal stated eyes fixed on the dancer.

“Yh he is” I agreed with her, noticing his big brown eyes and how handsome his face had seemed under the glow of the sun. For just a second I caught his sight but looked away too scared to fixate on them and it wasn’t apparent that I was the only one that noticed his awfully good looks. From the other side more girls had grouped together, drooling over the dancer; dancing his way to their hearts.

“God! I am Hungry” I said rubbing my stomach as it grumbled suddenly feeling the emptiness within me.

“Common, let’s go find something to eat' Krystal said moving out from the growing crowd. I took a second to look away from the dancer before following Krystal’s pursuit.

We found a nearby restaurant, selling organic and great Italian food. The restaurant itself looked amazing, it had a vintage, classic look to it and it could totally have been on tumblr. A waiter showed us to our seats and took our order; Spaghetti for me, the usual, while Krys ordered her favourite margherita pizza. It took a while and my stomach was becoming more and more impatient, growling louder.

"Where do you want to go after this?" Krystal asked as she took a photo of her pizza that had just came.

"Not sure, Maybe we could go look around the market stalls, they look interesting" I said looking around, searching for any sign of my food.

"Can you calm down, your food is coming" She said catching me looking around,

By the time our food came, I had already grabbed my fork and spun it around the soft strings of spaghetti. I indulged it into one gulp and closed my eyes, tasting the pleasant flavour that burst into my mouth. Almost as good as mother's. I opened my eyes only to have met  Krystal’s suppressed laughter, she bit down on her bottom lips making her cheeks puff up as she watch me devour my food. I took another gulp satisfying the craving my tummy had been having all day.

"This is soo good!" I exclaimed my mouth half full, not too sure if Krys even understood what I had said.

"I can see that" she replied as she wiped with the pristine white cloth, leaving an orange stain in the process.

It had taken us no time to wipe the plates clean of our food and by the time we had nothing else to clean off our stomachs were full to the point of bursting. We stayed seated, ordering another drink, chatting back memories of the past; funny one as well as the memorable ones.

"Do you remember our first ballet performance in front of the school?" I asked, thinking back to the time I was only 6, shivering with nerves in my pink leotard while Krystal stood beside me clinging unto her mother’s hand crying. Half way through our performance (mainly me dancing while krystal stood eyes red on the side of the stage) I heard the rest of the children sniggering in the audience, while Krys’ parents along with my own rushed to the stage. I stopped and looked towards Krystal who stood in a pool of liquid.

"Oh how could I forget" Krys stated sarcastically laughing at the memory.

***

We left the restaurant a few minutes past 4, and I tell you that it was a struggle having to stand up; we were literally carrying our weight in food as we left. By the time we came out the dancer that had been previously dancing was now gone and I don't know why but something inside me felt rather disappointed that he had left. I probably just curious about his dancing life, Yes of course that's it. I thought to myself as we headed towards the small but very busy market.

Every stall we had stopped by caught our attention, From cute little homemade Knick Knacks to some tasty snacks, Everything was there.

"Oh look how beautiful this is" Krystal exclaimed showing me a statue of a gorgeous ballet dancer that had been carved and polished out of wood.

"Yes, that one is quite a beauty isn't it and the only one I made" The owner told us noticing our interest. His comment got Krys’ attention, she looked at me, opened and her eyes almost begging me to get it.

"We must get Jinri! It's the only one he has, we can't get it again!" Krystal begged looking back at the ballerina in her hands.

"How much is it exactly?" I asked quite cautions of the price.

"£95" The man stated, Leaving me in surprise, I certainly don't think I could afford that much right now. "But you know what I'll give it to you for £75 if you buy it now"

"I really still  don't think I can buy it right now" I told Krys “I don't have that much cash on me, I love it, I really do. Maybe you can save it for me so I could buy it next time" I said to the owner but he just shook his head.

"No can do, if someone wants it they buy, Sorry"

"Oh ok" I said as Krystal put back the wooden statue back in its place of the small table, a frown plastered on her face as we left to look at another stall nearby.

"It was soo beautiful Jinri"

"I know" 

Authors Note:

I'm back guys!!! I really hoped you enjoyed this week's chapter and please remember to comment any feedback and suggestions on how I can improve my writing down below.

jcookiecakes xxx

Ps What name do you want me to give the boy with the brown hair in this chapter because I'm thinking about making taemin a different character in this fanfic but still not sure so please comment on what you think I should do.