“So…so then what happened?” You whisper. “When did she…”
Kris bit his lip. “When did she die?” He let out a single bitter laugh. “I’ll get to that…”

“Yifan, I promised I’d build you a new life, right?” Krystal asked happily. She seemed over excited, clapping her hands lightly.
Yifan nodded slowly; he had no idea where she was going with this.
“Well, we have to go somewhere. You trust me, right?”
Yifan nodded again, feeling a bit dumb.
“Oh, good.” Krystal clapped her hands once more, then whipped out a blindfold from behind her back and tied it around Yifan. “W-where are we going, Krys?” Yifan asked as Krystal slowly led him somewhere.
“Oh, you’ll see,” she giggled.
He was then sitting, and heard a car door slam shut. Krystal was sitting next to him; he could feel her body heat.
In just a couple minutes, they had arrived at their destination. Krystal led Yifan out of the car and untied the blindfold.
“Jajja~ang!” She did a little dance.
Yifan looked up at the impressive (and very expensive-looking) building in front of him.
He looked at Krystal, confused.
“I bought you a condominium, silly!” She said happily.
Yifan was struck speechless. He was overjoyed. He was … *amazed* that she would go this far for him.
She placed a key in his hand, “Let’s go inside, hm?”

“On her way of creating my new life, she did everything possible to help me. She was an earnest person; she went to no end to make my life better, and she rarely let me help.”

“So, you know how you always call me ‘Krys’?” Krystal asked, pouring Yifan a glass of wine. They were celebrating the fact that they had finally moved Yifan into his condo and set everything up.
Yifan nodded, his eyes watching the wine pour fluidly out of the bottle and swirl into the sparkling glass.
“Well, in honour of your new life, I’ve decided to give you a new name.” She set the bottle down and looked at Yifan. “You-…do you mind?” Krystal asked cautiously.
“On the contrary, I would much rather associate myself with a new name, rather than use this same…impure name,” Yifan said, choosing his words carefully.
Krystal laughed, “By the way, promise me you’ll drop the extremely formal tone when talking to people.”
Yifan grinned, “Sorry, old habit.”
“From where?” Krystal inquired.
Yifan hesitated, “M-my family.”
Krystal nodded, -ignoring Yifan’s implication that he was from a good family and- pretending not to notice Yifan’s hesitation.
“Yeah, my mom used to try to make me speak formally to everyone,” She made a face, “But she gave up after 12 years of trying. She mostly lets me do what I want now, except for…” She trailed off, deep in thought.
Shaking her head, she slid Yifan’s glass across the table to him.
She raised hers, and Yifan did the same. “To Wu Yifan’s new name,” She announced, “and to Kris’ new life.”
The clink when the glasses met seemed to reverberate forever.

“As part of creating my new life, she also gave me a new name. It was one pleasant surprise after another with Krystal. She gave me a part of her name. Even when she’s not really here, she’s with me. Kris, derived from the K-R-Y-S in Krystal. It was the beginning of my new life. Krystal was also supporting me financially, I couldn’t refuse her. She wouldn’t let me; she was awfully persuasive. I stopped selling myself, I got a new place in a nice neighbourhood, she even got me to enroll in a school! I slowly brought myself to trust people again. But then it happened.”

“Kris…I need to tell you something.”
It had been over half a year since they had met. The pair acted very much like a young married couple.
Krystal lay wrapped in Kris’ bare arms, the bed sheets strung loosely around them.
“Anything.” Kris replied, burying his face in Krystals hair.
“I-…I’m getting married, Kris.”
Kris’ heartbeat stops for a second, then plunges through the ground. He remains silent.
Krystal twists her body to look up at him. Kris’ passive face forces her to explain.
“I had another marriage meeting. My mother…she says this is the last one. I won’t-…I’ll get disowned if I don’t marry him.” Her voice slowly drops to a murmur. “I’m so sorry, Kris.” She whispers. “I just-…I know I would be forced to have kids with him. He’s forty! *Forty!* And it’s just that…I’d rather have your child…than a stranger’s.” She says quietly. Her words turn to tears, silent sobbing racking her bare body.
Kris was never one to handle women’s tears, let alone the tears of the girl he loved. He her hair awkwardly. “Don’t cry, Krystal,” he said softly. “*Please*, don’t cry. It hurts me more than you.”
Of course, Krystal started crying even harder, turning and wrapping her arms around Kris.
“Kris, I don’t care if I’m getting married! Promise we’ll see each other every day! Promise me.” Krystal held up her pinky finger. Smiling a little, Kris entwined his pinky with hers. “It’s a promise.”
“Good,” Krystal said, pressing her lips to Kris’.
His spirits lifted a little; even if she was getting married, she still trusted him enough to tell him beforehand.
Krystal’s sniffles abruptly turned into hysteric giggles. She hiccuped nervously, wiping at any of her remaining tears.
“Kris, I still love you.”

“She told me she was getting married. For a second I didn’t believe her, but I could see it in her eyes. She had to get married or she would’ve been disowned. I didn’t doubt her feelings though. She was the most sincere person I had ever met; I could feel it right through to my heart every time she told me she loved me. And I had no doubt that I loved her too.”

“Kris, how old are you? I always ask you, and you always evade me. Somehow.” Krystal walked down the street, hand in hand with Kris.
“I? I have no age, I am a creature of the streets. I prowl the night-…”
“Kris, seriously. It’s been, what, like a year? Since we met? And I don’t know how old you are!”

Kris’ eyes darted nervously towards Krystal. “How-…how old do you think I am?” He asked, trying to keep the anxiety out of his voice.
“Mmm…” She stopped Kris in his steps, circling to study him carefully. “Maybe-…well you’re pretty tall, I would guess at least-…wait, just give me one hint.” Krystal looked up at him with pleading eyes.
Kris looked away, then back at Krystal. He succumbed to her begging eyes. “I’m younger than you are,” he sighed resignedly.
Krystal’s eyes lit up, and she gave him another once over. “You are…19? At the least, right?”
Kris felt like laughing aloud. This one move might have ruined their relationship. It was all down to this; would he speak the truth or lie?
“I…I’m not 19,” said Kris slowly. Krystal fell back into step beside him, making her way into the ice cream parlor.
“I’m actually 15,” he sighed.
Krystal screamed.
The parlor went dead silent; every eye in the room was on them.
The look on Krystal’s face was one of horror and mingling disbelief.
Biting his lip, Kris dragged her outside.
“You-you’re 15?!” She repeated incredulously.
“Turning 16 this year,” Kris volunteered helpfully.
Krystal’s mouth was wide open in shock. “Do- do you know what this *means*?!”
*This is the end. Say goodbye to your fairy tale life, Kris.*
“I’m sorry, I should’ve told you earlier. I know you probably don’t want to-!” Kris was abruptly cut off by Krystal (who had been ignoring everything he had said since ‘I’m actually 15’).
“Kris, I’m- I’M A ERT!!!” Krystal screamed.
People along both sides of the street turned to stare.
Kris quickly ushered Krystal towards a less-packed street.
“Wait…you’re not mad at me?” Kris asked nervously.
“Mad? Of course I’m mad! I’m a ert and I didn’t even know! I’m not just a ert, I’m a e! You know how *creepy* that is?! I’m not fit to hang around humans anymore, I’m not even fit to hang around kids anymore!”
Kris didn’t bother to correct Krystal’s chaotic grammar. He was too ecstatic that she didn’t care how old he was. Even if it was only because she was concerned -for lack of a stronger word- about how she was a ert.
“I’ve been a erted e for a whole year! And I haven’t known! Kris, I’m so sorry for ruining your-mmph!” Kris grabbed Krystal and kissed her hard on the mouth. She flailed wildly, having forgotten how to breathe.
Kris released her, breathing hard. Krystal looked up at him through her lashes.
“So…you really don’t mind?” They said in unison, then laughed.
Krystal hooked her arm around Kris’.
“I don’t mind, Kris. You were always 15 and I never cared before, so why should I care once I know? It’s like the time my mom ate escargots without knowing it, and then someone told her what it was, and she spit it out, but I kept on eating it, because the way they had cooked it, it was really quite good. But it didn’t matter that it was escargots because food is food is food.” Krystal drew a deep breath, “and Kris is Kris is Kris.” She grinned up at him, then pecked him on the lips. “And *you* don’t mind that you’ve spent the year with a e?”
Kris laughed, “*I’m* the one who made you a e. I’m not complaining.”

“Even when I felt horrible about lying to her about my age, she made me feel better. Afterwards I wondered if she just said she was a e to make me feel better, and I was just gullible. I have no way of finding out now, but either way, I’m glad she did it. It was another one of the many subtle ways that she showed me her love.”

okay, again no formatted text, and I'm sooo sorry I didn't update in awhile but now we're feeling the effects of me not having a laptop...

anyways, thanks to the lovely Capitalize for making the above graphic (which I will post in the foreword when I get the chance0 and thanks to all of you, my beloved readers/commenters!

-double update because I hate updating using tablets- (if that makes sense)