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PARADOX (KRYBER)the news about a group of students being summoned to the principal's office echoed in the entire campus the next day.
it didn't surprise you when you found out it was krystal and her gang.
well not all of them.
luna and yerim are the studious ones in their group and aren't getting themselves involved in any trouble.
you grunted at the news, secretly hoping krystal would just stick with yerim and luna instead of her boyfriend and the others. you think it's another serious case as krystal, tiffany, and jimin were absent in all your classes today.
"i heard they were caught taking illegal drugs and drinking alcohol in school premises," said suzy when she saw you staring blankly at the direction of krystal's empty seat. "i hope they'd all get expelled soon so all the students here will have a peaceful life."
you don't mind getting all the others kicked out. but krystal, you think she deserves a chance. it's not because you have feelings for her (duh). it's just that you've felt there is still something good in her. she was even concerned about your scholarship when you talked about her friends drink spiking her.
you don't know why but whatever others say about her you still don't see her as worse as tiffany and jimin. maybe you're just being dense for thinking that. but you don't care.
---
'make friends, not war.'
you stared at the note posted on the principal's office door, still amazed how the school lives up to it.
every student in your university is compelled to follow the school's motto. they don't tolerate fighting. any student who starts a brawl or trouble will either get long hours of counselling or get kicked out of the school. that's the reason the school strictly prohibits aikido members like you in using your skills against any other students of the school. it doesn't matter if you started the fight or not, but once you fight back, then it's over for you.
you knocked three times before opening the door a little and sticking your head in. the secretary is already looking at you with a smile on her face.
"hi, is she here?" you asked, pertaining to the principal.
the secretary nodded and gave a wide smile. "you're here to have your scholarships paper signed? yes, she's just on the phone with someone. you can wait here inside."
"thanks." you opened the door further to let yourself in. the figure of another student waiting on the couch made you jump in surprise. "whoa!"
krystal, who's sitting on the couch with her hand fiddling on her yang necklace, also flinched in surprise when she saw you.
you're not sure if you should smile or not. but since krystal immediately took her eyes off you, you made your way to sit at the other end of the couch. krystal shifted her position from slumping to sitting up straight, straightening her blouse with both hands.
could she be feeling awkward like you do?
"you two know each other, right?" the secretary asked, pointing at you and krystal.
krystal is still spacing out so you answered, "yes, we are classmates in some of our subjects."
"then how come you both are acting like you don't know each other?"
you turned to krystal but who was still emotionless. "we're not that... close... yet," you said.
the secretary fixed her glasses and rested her chin on one hand. "don't tell me you two are fighting? i can feel the tension here, you know..."
that finally made krystal look at you.
"no. no..." you answered right away. krystal is shaking her head too. you'll both be in detention if you admit the real score between you, especially the encounter with tiffany and suzy yesterday.
it might be a different thing for krystal because of several offences she previously had; it could mean the end of her student life in the university.
you personally don't want that to happen.
"are you sure?" the secretary asked, sceptically raising her eyebrows.
"don't worry, miss," krystal butted in, her mood had somehow changed. "we are cool. right, amber?"
damn. you are ready to die now.
"yeah. we're just in the process of getting closer," you agreed, chuckling awkwardly.
the secretary kept on eyeing you, maybe trying to find out if you're pretending or not.
"oh. by the way, can i borrow your notes for the classes i missed today?" asked krystal, scooting closer.
troubled by the sudden closeness, you involuntary slanted your body away from her. it will take you time to recover from missing her if you'll be given the chance to touch her again.
"are you all right?" asked krystal, invading your space and touching your arm.
the heat of her palms burned your skin. "yeah..."
krystal's scent filled your nostrils and you can't help but remember how vulnerable she was that night in your room.
gosh. you missed her. you missed holding her. you missed having her so close to you.
krystal smiled. "i'd like to ask if i could borrow your notes for today."
she squeezed your arm gently.
"yeah. sure. i'd be glad to be of service." you smiled at her, making sure the secretary will see it.
"all right. thanks!" she bows.
"umm. i could discuss some topics with you over a carrot cake," you said without thinking.
"ah?"
wait.
did you just ask her out?
did you just freaking ask jung krystal out?
.
you mentally facepalmed yourself after realising what you said.
how could you forget that this girl hates you and could be mad at you for declaring war with them yesterday?
this is one of those situations where you just want to disappear from where you are sitting. you could feel how krystal was taken aback by what you said.
"sure. that's... that's a perfect idea," she replied.
you stared at her, blinking, not sure if that was a serious answer or if she's just riding along.
"miss jung, you may come in now," the secretary called.
krystal stood up and went into the office. she came out after ten minutes and you were called in right away.
your head was filled with your stupidity the entire time you are talking to the principal. you know krystal would never go out with you. she agreed because it's part of the show.
the signing of papers didn't take long. however, the principal discussed a lot of things about your scholarship and aikido club. the discussion went for over thirty minutes.
you felt dejected when you saw the empty couch outside the principal's office. you thanked the secretary and went out of the room, silently cursing yourself for even hoping that krystal would wait for you.
"hey."
you jumped in shock when krystal approached you outside the office.
"what's with the shocked face?" she asked, folding her arms on her chest.
"i thought you went on ahead," you said. "what were you doing here?"
"waiting for you. what took you so long?"
"the principal discussed some things with m--" you stopped. "wait, you were waiting for me?"
krystal nodded lazily. "you said you're gonna discuss things with me over a carrot cake, right?"
your jaw dropped. so she took it seriously?
"we should go now," she said, looping her arm through yours. "we have a lot to discuss."
---
for the first time in your life, you mentally prayed to all the gods you know so that no jinx would ruin this precious moment.
you can't believe this is happening. krystal just transformed your not-so-good day to one of the best days in your entire existence. she has no idea how happy you are right now. your heart flutters each time you feel her body being pressed against yours while you walk with your arms linked.
you're stealing glances at her from time to time. her face is emotionless but you can feel her rubbing her thumb on your arm once in a while.
since she's fine with carrot cakes, you brought her to the place where you believe offers the tastiest cake in town: your cousin yuri's café which is only a few blocks away from school.
yuri noticed you right away. she strode towards you to give a big hug. "llama!"
"hey, yuri. how's it?"
"what happened to you?" asked yuri, pulling away. "i haven't seen you in two weeks!"
"been busy with school stuff..."
"busy with school or busy with suzy?" yuri elbowed you, teasing. yes, another suzber shipper.
"ugh, not that again," you grunted, feeling shy because krystal is just behind you. "oh, by the way, i'd like you to meet my fr-- err... classmate."
"wow!" yuri's jaw slacked and her eyes popped. "hi! i'm amber's cousin. please call me yuri."
krystal bowed. "hi, i'm krystal, amber's friend."
you had to repress a smile. friend? yeah. at least that's an improvement.
"you're krystal?" asked yuri, surprised. she knows all about krystal and this is the first time yuri had seen her.
"y-yes, why?" krystal smiled awkwardly, glancing at you and looking back at yuri.
"oh well, you're so beautiful, darling." yuri held both krystal's hands and turned to you. "amber knows which friends to choose, huh?"
"huh? why me?" you blushed, almost melting down when krystal showed her warm smile.
after the quick introduction, yuri showed you your table. you went back from the counter with plates on your hands.
"how did you know i like carrot cakes?" she asks after you put down the plate in front of her.
"hmmm. not a guess, but i'm not a hundred per cent sure either." you sat in front of her. "i just thought you like it because i always see you order that in the cafeteria."
krystal placed her spoon by her lips. "oh. you were observing me?"
you tried to act cool even if you're feeling chaotic inside. aside from the fact that krystal's so y with what she just did, how can you say something as careless as that?
"it's a habit of mine to observe my classmates," you said instead. "we've been classmates for over four semesters now. i kinda have memorised you a bit."
"oh." krystal took a slice of the carrot cake. "i have to admit this is tasty, huh."
"i'm glad you liked it."
you can feel krystal observing you while you eat. it's hard for you to look at her direction because she's so pretty. the way she holds her spoon, the way she flips her hair and the scent that hangs around her, you just love everything that's about her.
she's wearing a purple cuticle today. it looks so hot on her fingers. she was wearing dark red the night you brought her to your place. it fits her too.
you let out a sigh as you munch on your cake. was krystal born to tease you? whatever she does just gives you a feeling that you don't understand. but still, you loved having that feeling.
"es..." muttered krystal, her eyes focused on her cake.
you looked up at her. "huh?"
"those girls," she said, nodding to her left. three girls were sitting outside the café looking at you, giggling. "they've been ogling at you since we came here. can they at least try to not make it obvious? can't they see you're with someone?"
you are not sure what she meant by that. you turned your attention back to the girls outside and saw them giggle more, this time their chuckles are audible.
"tsk." krystal dropped her spoon and turned to glare at them.
it must have been a scary glare because the girls immediately looked away and never glanced back again.
you were staring in awe with what just happened. but since krystal seems to be in a bad mood, you let her enjoy her cake in silence.
"how about you, what's with you and pringles?" she asked like nothing happened.
you looked up at her, amazed with the sudden shift in mood.
"i always see you order pringles in the cafeteria too. your favourite?" she asked.
"ahh, yeah. can't get enough of those." you chuckled. you pulled out one can from your bag and put it on the table. "want some?"
krystal chuckled. "are you seriously bringing pringles in your bag daily?"
"yeah. i have lots of this."
"i can now imagine how your grocery basket looks like."
that made you think. since you're starting to feel comfortable around her, you've thought of sharing this to krystal. "umm. i know this may sound weird but someone has been sending me a box of pringles for more than a week now."
her eyebrows rose. "sending you? you mean like delivered to your place?"
you nodded. "yeah. but i don't know who the person is."
"and you don't have the slightest hint who sent it?"
you shrugged. "but i have a feeling the sender is one of our classmates."
she leans forward, looking interested now. "how could you say so?"
"well, i was getting two boxes a day, which is too much for me," you said, scratching your head. "afraid they will just rot, i shared it in school. but after i gave people free pringles cans, the delivery went down to one box. maybe the sender saw it and he or she doesn't want me sharing those with others?"
krystal nods. "could be." she shifted her position on the chair. "any prospects for that?"
"i have no idea at all. i'm not even sure of the motive of the person sending that."
"maybe the person likes you?"
you blinked. "likes me? why me? i'm not a likeable person."
"unfortunately, you are," krystal muttered, almost inaudible, rolling her eyes. "do you want me to enumerate the names of the girls in our class, which is like half of the population, that's all over you? oh, and those don't include the ones from other levels and the es here outside."
you reclined back on your chair, shaking your head. you're not sure where krystal got all that information from. as far as you are concerned, you've been living a normal student life where everyone, especially the girls, is nice to you.
"but why didn't i receive a box yesterday?" you asked, puzzled. "after a few days of continuous delivery, i got nothing yesterday. maybe the person doesn't want to send them anymore?"
krystal bit her lower lip, thinking. "there could be a lot of reasons for that. maybe the person ran out of money?"
you shrugged. "maybe. but i hope not."
krystal chuckled. "or it could be because of your actions. you said you think it's coming from one of our classmates, right? why don't you think of the people you've had an encounter with yesterday. try to recall if you've done anything to offend someone or did anything stupid or upsetting."
you ran the events from yesterday in your head. as you try to recall, the only unforgettable encounter you had was with krystal and her gang when they were about to bully suzy.
your eyes widened when you realised something.
"what?" asked krystal, seeing your reaction.
"is it tiffany?" you asked.
"tiffany? you think it's tiffany?"
you nodded hesitantly. "it's just a wild guess."
"well, she has a motive, yeah. you could be right," said krystal, tapping her chin with her finger.
"you don't know if it's her?"
krystal shook her head no. "i can't tell. she has mentioned nothing about it to me yet."
"oh." you puffed your cheeks as you rock your chair back and forth. you kind of feel disappointed, wishing it was krystal who did that.
"why do you want to know that anyway?" she asks before she scoops the last slice of cake on her spoon. "can't you just enjoy the pringles and forget about the person?"
"i want to thank that person for his or her generosity," you said. "my days have been bright because of those heavenly pringles. maybe i could also ask that person out just to return the kindness."
krystal smirks as she the last icing left on her spoon elegantly. "are you sure you'd want to go out with that person in case you found out who he or she is?"
"yes. i'd be glad to."
"what if it's jimin?"
"seriously?"
krystal laughs, making your heart flutter. how you wish you can make her laugh like that every day.
if you're not meant to be together, being friends with her would be enough for you. the fact that you could make her smile and talk to her naturally like one of her friends is already a milestone. you know she'd never like you back the way you like her so staying friends would be enough.
at least that's what you think.
"amber, there's something i've been wanting to ask, if you don't mind..."
you looked at her, feeling a bit uneasy. "sure, go on..."
you saw the hesitation in her face. her expression shows the dilemma she's having. but she managed to ask the question that almost made you fall off your chair.
"since when did you start caring about me?"
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