Chapter 5: Illusion

Krystal walked down the aisles of the grocery store, her heels clicking and clacking with every step. She had worn a tank top and jeans, but every man was eyeing the brown-haired beauty. It had always been this way. As she picked up a package of strawberries and a large bag of rice, she wondered why men had stared at her the way they did. Was it her skin—creamy and blemish-free? Was it her eyes—golden, kind, oh so alluring? Or maybe it was the melodic voice that escaped her plump lips. Whatever it was, Krystal used it well.

As she continued through the aisles, her eyes caught sight of the cream puffs. She wasn't sure why but a twinge of guilt mixed with jealousy went through her. Taemin had called Sulli a cream puff: small and cute, sweet too. But strawberries were red and sensuous, beautiful and delicious. Krystal had Taemin to herself—she had the ring to prove it—but just the thought of the petite brunette made Krystal glare.

Why was she so jealous of the girl?

Sulli sipped her champagne. Minho sat across from her in a black button-down shirt, tie, pants, and shoes. She wore a red cocktail dress with black heels, her curly hair up in a cute but messy bun. "Why are we doing this again?"

"Dunno," he answered. "I guess I felt like it." She chuckled. "What?"

"You just felt like taking me out to a super expensive restaurant?" she asked, an eyebrow cocked. He nodded and she shook her head. "You and Luna are probably the weirdest people I know."

He smirked. "Weird is a compliment nowadays." She shook her head again before popping mushroom ravioli into . She moaned at the taste.

"I don't care what anyone says. This mushroom ravioli is the greatest ever." Minho nodded with her as he chased the ravioli down with champagne.

"It is." Sulli smiled at him. It was then that Sulli suddenly felt like someone was watching her, as if they were trying to stare through her. It was a paranoid thought but she looked over her shoulder to scope out the other tables. And what she saw made her gasp.

Her parents, her stepmother, and stepsister sat a few tables away from her.

Sulli panicked. They couldn't see her; it just wouldn't happen. She wiped with her napkin before devouring the rest of her ravioli. Minho raised an eyebrow while the girl downed the champagne. She coughed afterwards. "What're you—"

"My family's here," she whispered. Minho chewed slowly. "And I don't want them to see me."

"Why?"

She sighed. "It's a long story." She grabbed his hand. "Can you eat faster? We need to get out of here."

"Sorry but I paid to have a nice dinner with..." He trailed off to search for the words. "With you, and I—"

Sulli looked over her shoulder. Her stepsister, thankfully, had their attention. She was probably telling another unnecessarily story. "Please. I'll make it up to you."

Minho sighed. The girl was really freaking out. But he could see she was being genuine about it. How could he say no? "Alright." She mouthed a thank you as he called the waiter over and handed him his credit card. The waiter disappeared; Sulli tapped her foot as she waited for him to return. "I still don't see why you don't want to see your family."

"If you knew my family, you wouldn't want to see them either." Minho signed the check before taking his credit card back. He put it in his wallet as the two stood. Sulli looped her arm through Minho's. "Don't look at them and keep it moving."

With flawless execution, they had left the restaurant without any of them noticing.

They walked through the park, ice cream cones in their hands. Minho his chocolate cone before he glanced at the petite girl beside him. She had barely touched her vanilla, with rainbow sprinkles, cone. She grimaced before sighing and giving the cone a halfhearted .

They sat on a bench, their eyes on the pond that was put up by the lights surrounding it. "You've been upset since we left the restaurant. What's up?"

Sulli shrugged. "I'm just...thinking."

"About?" She began to realize a pattern in her and Minho's conversations: she would say she was thinking and he would ask what about. That gave her the impression that he wasn't taking no for an answer; he wanted a full and complete answer. Minho watched as she began to the cone.

"I don't want to see my parents." Sulli leaned forward, elbows on her knees. "And I don't want them to see me."

"Why?" Minho his cone. "They're your parents."

"Because they're bastards, that's why," she snapped. Sulli sighed again before quickly finishing her cone. Despite the brain freeze, she kept talking. "Because they treated me like . I'm just giving them a taste of what I felt."

Minho didn't know what happened between her and her family but he was curious to learn. He stared at the pond, at the changing colors of the lamps surrounding the dark water. He was thankful for the patience he had learned when dating Krystal. It was about to pay off.

"What happened between you and your family?" Sulli closed her eyes, allowed the memories she locked away to resurface once again. Was she actually going to tell Minho? The only other person who knew was Krystal but her past was one of the reasons their friendship ended so bitterly: because Krystal judged too quickly, because she couldn't keep shut.

She shook her head. "My father cheated, they got divorced and he blamed me for everything that happened. So I told him to go to hell and he..." Her fingers touched her cheek, rubbed her arm. Minho was a smart guy; it didn't take a genius to figure out that her father had lashed out on her. "Well, you get the idea."

"That explains why you hate your father. What about your mother?" Sulli snickered.

"She forced me to do all this useless that I didn't need. She even tried to convince me to get plastic surgery because she needed a 'perfect daughter'. We had a lot of arguments and she cast me out of her life. Said I could go live with that bastard of a father." Sulli scoffed. "So I went to my aunt's house for a while."

"Oh," was all that came out of the man's mouth. The two finished their cones and Sulli sat up again. A soft breeze blew by and she shivered. "Cold?"

"I'll be fine." Sulli rubbed her arms as she her lips. She then reached up and removed the ribbon from her hair. Her locks fell with grace around her form.

Minho swallowed. "What about those two other women?"

Sulli rolled her eyes. "My father moved to America in hopes of starting a business. And he did. But he figured starting a new life was a good thing, too. So he met Suki and her daughter Ai. They got married and they've been trying to get on my good side. It's pretty pathetic if you ask me.

"Suki's a nurse. And Ai's an annoying . We spoke on the phone once—all she did was talk about herself and how I gave up a great father. Then I told her off, she got mad and told my father. Then he told me to respect my stepsister and I told him to kiss my . Never spoke to him since then." She sighed.

"My mother was mad that I did that. So she called me and tried to get me to see their views on everything but I didn't want to. So she got mad, as usual, and we had this huge argument. She called me an ungrateful brat and that I would always be alone with my attitude. So I told her to never speak to me ever again. And she didn't."

Now he understood why she acted the way she did at the restaurant. He sighed. "Why's he in Korea?"

"Because he wants to see me. He and my mother want to reconnect with their daughter." Sulli sneered. "He should've thought of that years ago."

"Sorry to hear that."

"Don't be." Her brown orbs focused on Minho. She smiled. "I'm not. It's better without them if you ask me."

"Heh, then I guess it's okay then." He leaned back on the bench. But he still had a question in mind. "What about Krystal? Why'd you two stop being friends?"

"Well for one reason, she knew I loved Taemin. When she told me they were dating, she didn't understand why I was so upset. When I finally told her, she told me I didn't make any moves. She said that she made a move and he happened to like her back. And I told her that she wasn't into Taemin. She was always into Key during elementary and then it was you.

"But she told me that sometimes the unexpected happens. And then she said for me to get over it. That was our first argument." Sulli sighed. "I wished it wasn't about boys because I felt really shallow later on; I got over it though. Just not Taemin."

"The final reason is because she judged me when I told her about the situation with my parents. She told me that I overreacted, that I should've heard my parents out. That change is going to happen. And then I told her that my father beat me when I gave my opinion, that my mother tried to change me for her benefit. And Krystal called me a selfish brat that only wanted the good for me. And I called her a manipulative ." Sulli chuckled at the memory. "We almost had a fight."

Minho chuckled as well. "I wonder who would've won."

Sulli smiled but it quickly diminished. "Taemin and Key came between us and when Krystal told him what happened, he got mad at me and told me that Krystal was just trying to help. I called him stupid for listening to her and then Key said for me not to call anyone stupid. By then I already knew I had lost. After that, they stopped hanging out with me. Key went to France to study pastry making and life just went on from there."

Minho watched as the brunette turned away, quickly wiped at her eyes and nose. "Are you crying?"

"A...a bit." She sniffled long. "I'm fine." She turned back to him and smiled. He stared at her, tried to picture her with Taemin. They looked good together but he knew Sulli could do better than him. She could do a lot better than the guy who unconsciously broke her heart.

"Sulli, why are you even doing this?" Minho stretched his arms before staring at her with his intense brown eyes. "Why are you torturing yourself by being around Taemin?"

Sulli blinked a few times. She narrowed her eyes. "You know why I am."

"But I think you and I both know you don't really want to do this." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Luna just talked you into it."

"So what if she did? She told me it's better to know the what if instead of never knowing. So that's what I intend to do."

"But he broke your heart. You're just setting yourself up for another disappointment. You and I both know he's not going to leave Krystal."

Sulli hated that his words made sense. But she had to try! She stood up and glared at Minho. "As if you wouldn't be there for her when she's crying!"

Minho narrowed his eyes at the petite girl. "Me and Krystal has nothing to do with you."

"You're helping me aren't you? If it does work, I can guarantee you Krystal's going to be all over you!" Minho stood at this, a full glare in his eyes. "And you'll be all over her!"

"But that's not what I want!"

"Like hell it isn't!" Sulli pointed an accusing finger at Minho. "Tell me you didn't feel jealous when you saw Taemin kissing Krystal at the wedding! Tell me you didn't feel heartbroken when they exchanged the vows and rings! Try and tell me you still don't love her!" Tears were threatening to spill over her eyes but Sulli held them back, despite the burning.

Minho was cornered. He couldn't relax the glare as he looked away. His hands shoved themselves in his pockets and he cursed. "I do," he admitted aloud. "I still love her."

"So don't say that I'm setting myself up for—"

"But I don't want to be with her again," he interrupted. Sulli lowered her arm, eyes wide. Her tears still hadn't spilled over; they were slowly retreating. "I'm not going to do something stupid and get back with her only to be disappointed again. Krystal's indecisive. The last thing I need is for her to be indecisive with her feelings for me."

Minho walked towards Sulli and he hovered over her. Sulli stared at his rising and falling chest, mentally told herself that crying was weak. "It's not worth it. And you and I both know I'm right."

He was right but Sulli had already put so much faith into the plan: fall out of love with Taemin, fall in love with someone else, make him fall in love with her. But what was to happen after? She would probably just be alone like before.

So would anything really be different?

Minho stared at the girl. She didn't move or speak. "Sulli."

"So what am I supposed to do?" she whispered. "What am I going to do now?"

"Figure out a different plan."

"There is no different plan. There was only this one and now it's ruined!" she exclaimed.

"There's always a plan b."

"Well, what the is it?"

Minho thought about it for a while. What was the plan b? Sulli could always fall out of love with Taemin and move on, continue with her life. She could always truly befriend Krystal and reconnect with her parents. But she didn't want that. So...what now? He sighed. "I don't know."

"You see? We might as well just give up and—"

Minho grabbed her shoulders. "Don't give up. Just think about what it is you truly want."

The tears began their descent at rapid speed. She felt stupid for showing her weakness but there was no controlling it. In a cracking voice, she mumbled, "I want Taemin." Sulli stared straight into her glassy eyes. "I want him to love me."

"Do you really want him?" He rubbed her shoulders before trailing his hands down her arms and grabbing her hands. "Or do you think you want him?"

Sulli narrowed her eyes despite the crying. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that you may say you want Taemin to love you but I think you just want something about Taemin to be with you." Sulli didn't understand. "You think you want Taemin, but you may just want his personality or the way he smiles or something like that."

"You mean...I really want just a part of him?" Minho nodded. He squeezed her hands. Sulli thought about it. His words made sense but what did she exactly want about Taemin? His smile? Or maybe his gentle eyes? His kind and sometimes snappy personality?

The more she thought about it, the more she realized that she truly didn't want Taemin at all. The tears came faster and Sulli was sobbing. Minho hugged the girl. "What do you want, Sulli?"

Her small fingers dug into his shirt. "I just want to be loved."

A/N: Minsul action all the way, I hope you liked it. Review!