The next practice, the same guy came and interrupted Jongin and Krystal’s practice, delivering a bouquet of pink and red, heart shaped balloons.

“What’s your name?” Krystal had snapped at the guy, when he had tried to give Krystal the balloons.

“Uhhh… Noh Minwoo…” The guy stuttered. Krystal was clearly intimidating him.

“How much is Hyungshik paying you to do this?” Krystal badgered. The guy named Minwoo didn’t answer, just avoided Krystal’s gaze, uncomfortably.

“Listen, Minwoo,” Krystal said, “You look like a freshman. Are you?” Minwoo nodded tentatively. Krystal continued, “Okay. Well, I’m not taking those balloons. Take them back to Hyungshik. Tell him, that it’s useless to try to apologize now, and that I really, really don’t want him calling all the time, or sending random, useless gifts. Got it?”

The freshman kid nodded and scurried out of the studio, the balloons trailing behind him and bouncing into one another. Jongin stood to the side and watched it all occur, having no idea what to do or how to respond. Krystal just groaned in annoyance, and apologized to Jongin, yet again. Jongin had wanted to tell her that she didn’t need to apologize for any of this anymore, but he missed the chance to say so, because Krystal was so quick to start practicing again.

The next few days, Minwoo came back carrying a variety of romantic apology gifts, all of which Krystal sent back. However, on the day that Minwoo brought in a huge, white teddy bear, half the size of him, he explained, “I’m not allowed to go back with anything anymore, Krystal sunbae. I don’t have a choice! I have to leave it with you, or go dispose of it myself. Please, just take it!”

Krystal heaved a sigh in frustration. She let Minwoo deposit the giant bear at the back of the studio.

“Arhhgg! Yah, why are you here? I don’t want you!” Krystal yelled at the bear, slapping it in the nose. At that, Jongin stifled a laugh.

“What??” Krystal whined.

“Sorry, sorry…” Jongin said, still grinning, “You know you’re talking to a stuffed bear, right?”

Krystal snorted at Jongin, though a smile was tracing the corners of her lips. “I can talk to you if I want, right Mr. Bear?” She said to the bear. That got Jongin cracking up again.

Hyungshik sent chocolates, which Krystal told Minwoo to keep. He sent a jar of paper-folded stars, which Jongin doubted Hyungshik folded himself. He sent a basket of apples: a play on symbolism because the Korean word for apology is the same as the Korean word for apple. He sent a first-aid kit, supposedly symbolizing the need for Krystal and Hyungshik’s relationship to “heal”. In the end, Krystal and Jongin ended up laughing at most of the gifts Hyungshik sent, though Jongin felt a little guilty about it. Krystal was handling everything all too well. She never seemed to budge, whatever Hyungshik sent. She didn’t even seem to mind throwing away or donating all of the gifts.

Minwoo came one day holding a two-layer cake topped with fruit, frilly pink icing, and lighted, pink candles making the shape of a heart. “Yah, what am I supposed to do with this!?” Krystal had yelled at Minwoo.

Jongin had to hold in his laughter, while Minwoo, seeming truly sorry for being such a bother, hurriedly handed Krystal the cake, then ran off.

Krystal looked at the cake in her hands, not knowing what to do. “Well, blow out the candles!” said Jongin. Krystal, looked at him, shrugged, and blew out the candles in one breath.

Jongin helped Krystal pluck out all the candles Hyungshik had used to make the heart shape. Krystal kept sighing. Jongin knew she was tired of all the gifts, because she had to give them all away. Even to Jongin, it all seemed so wasteful.

“Well, at least he had enough sense to attach forks,” Krystal muttered, detaching two plastic forks from the bottom of the cake’s plate. She set the cake down on the studio floor, and sat down herself, too. “Do you wanna take a break and eat?” she asked.

Jongin looked at her quizzically. They still had a good twenty minutes left of their practice time.

“I know, I know, we still have stuff to go over… but if it’s okay with you, I really don’t feel like practicing right now,” Krystal explained, as if reading Jongin’s thoughts. She looked up at him with wide, pleading eyes, and Jongin shrugged and sat down across from her, taking the plastic fork she handed him. Krystal had already left two big fork marks on her side of the cake.

Jongin was pretty sure, that it was wrong for him to eat the cake that Hyungshik, Krystal’s ex-boyfriend, had sent her, as an apology gift. But if Krystal thought so, she didn’t show it; she just worked away at her side of the cake at lightning speed.

“Do you not want any?” Krystal asked with a mouth full of cake. Jongin looked at the cake awkwardly.

“Oh, are you worried that this is wrong or something? Don’t be! Yah, you’re a lot more sensitive than you look, you know that?” Krystal nagged, “Just eat it already! If you don’t help me eat this, I’m going to have to throw it away.” Again, it was as if she had read Jongin’s mind. With a sigh, Jongin decided he’d listen to Krystal. He scooped up a bite. The cake was fluffy and rich, melting in his mouth.

For a few minutes, the two sat and ate wordlessly. Something nagged at Jongin though. He wanted to ask Krystal about Hyungshik. But when he finally mustered up the courage to do so, all that came out was, “No offense, but this Hyungshik guy is kind of… crazy.”

“Oh you’re a genius. How did you ever manage to figure it out?” Krystal replied sarcastically.

“Oh…” Jongin mumbled. “I didn’t… well, okay… so… why does he wanna get back with you so much?”

cream from her upper lip, Krystal frowned. She looked at Jongin expectantly, her eyebrows furrowed. “Ohh, wait!” Jongin finally exclaimed, putting up his hands apologetically, “Not that you’re not… you know… worth it or anything! Just…”

“Oh, relax! I’m messing with you!” Krystal replied with a smirk. “And with Hyungshik… as much as I’ve asked, he won’t leave me alone. Sulli’s been trying to threaten him away, as if that’s going to work. Honestly, I haven’t actually figured out what to do with him. Maybe when he realizes that all this money he’s been spending has gone to waste, then he’ll stop bugging me. But that might take a while, too.”

Jongin knew nothing about Hyungshik. But he didn’t have the kind of money to have sent even half of the apology gifts Hyungshik had sent Krystal; that was for sure. Hyungshik definitely had a hard head for trying so hard, but Jongin also thought that Krystal was standing her ground pretty well too. He would’ve guessed that with most girls, the first two or three gifts would have swept them off their feet. Krystal still seemed to have no interest whatsoever in taking Hyungshik’s gifts seriously. At the moment, she was too busy stuffing her face to consider any romantic aspects of Hyungshik’s cake. And she actually managed to look pretty with cake all over her lips, too.

“He must’ve been a pretty bad boyfriend, if you don’t want him back this bad,” he said, watching her devour the cake with a bit of awe. She had engulfed pretty much half of it by herself already.

“In my opinion, yes. Although, I can’t say I’ve had that many boyfriends,” Krystal answered.

Jongin had nothing to say to that. He helped her finish the cake, after which the plate and the forks went into the trash, and the partners continued practicing.

It was the final evening before the Seoul Arts High School’s mid-year showcase. Jongin had gotten home from school and was taking a shower. Scrubbing his head with shampoo, he thought back to the last practice he’d had with Krystal that morning. They were completely ready, and Jongin was sure that their choreography would be the best out of all the performers. Around the end of their practice time, Minwoo had shown up again to deliver a simple card. Hyungshik had plainly written ‘Good Luck!’, which struck Jongin as odd. Compared to all the other extravagant gifts the guy had sent Krystal, a good luck card for the showcase seemed small. Although compared to Jongin, it was at least something.

When he got out of the shower, he received a text message from Sulli.

[Come to the Noraebang with Sehunnie and me!!!]

[Why would I hang out with you two? So I can gag every other minute? I’ll pass.]

[Ughh, I invited Krystal too! Why are you such a meany face!!]

Shrugging to himself, Jongin went to his closet to look for a clean shirt and jeans.

[Fine.]

Jongin walked into the second verse of Sulli and Sehun’s awful duet of “Pajama Party” by Super Junior H. The couple both had an arm around each other, hopping and singing in quick, uneven breaths.

“Thank God! I was starting to think they lied to me about you coming just to get me to be here!” Krystal called from the Noraebang room’s sofa, genuine relief written on her face.

Jongin smirked. He seriously couldn’t believe Krystal was best friends with Sulli. He imagined radioactively hyper Sulli’s voice chattering away at the speed of light, and Krystal only pretending to listen with a bored chin on her palm. He had to shake that thought away though; Krystal was just down-to-earth, not mean.

“Let’s see which of us can tune out those two wackos longer before bolting it out of here,” Jongin suggested, taking a seat next to Krystal. She agreed, and they playfully linked pinkies to seal the deal.

Soon after, Sehun and Sulli’s song came to an end. “Yah, exactly what about that song sounds appropriate to you two?” Jongin nagged at the couple. The song talked about a guy and a girl having a pajama party at the guy’s house. It was definitely ironic that Sehun and Sulli were singing it.

Sulli turned and narrowed her eyes at Jongin. “Do I have to kill you before you even get to say Hello?” She threatened.

Sehun raised a hand at Jongin, greeting him as if his own girlfriend hadn’t just threatened to kill his best friend.

Next to Jongin, Krystal burst out into laughter. “Yah, is this how you guys always are? It’s hilarious!”

“I know, right?” Jongin added.

“Oh, both of you shut up,” Sulli sulked. She grabbed Sehun’s hand and sat next to Krystal on the sofa. “Sing something already.”

Jongin looked at Krystal expectantly. “What?” She asked.

“Sing something,” said Jongin.

“You sing something!” Krystal shot back.

“You’re a better singer than me.”

“When did you hear me sing??”

“At practice,” Jongin remarked triumphantly. Krystal crossed her arms at him. She was giving him the Hyungshik-look.

“Ugh, fine. But I’m warning you, I’m terrible.” Jongin grabbed a microphone and went to stand awkwardly in front of the tv screen.

He began to drone out Shinhwa’s “T.O.P” in monotone, laughing at how ridiculous he knew he sounded. Before he even finished the first chorus, Krystal had come up and taken a second microphone, shaking his head at him. She actually sang the song in a key that fit, while Jongin occasionally threw in his monotone lines here and there. Krystal eventually finished the song for Jongin, and got a 93.

Sehun and Sulli didn’t even look up, let alone clap. They had their heads side by side, almost touching, buried in the karaoke book, pointing at songs they both knew overexcitedly. Krystal rolled her eyes at Jongin, and Jongin sniggered.

Jongin and Krystal quickly came to realize that Sehun and Sulli had no interest in them, whatsoever. There was no reason for the two of them to even be there. The couple was too busy holding hands, feeding each other, and Sulli asking Sehun to dance for her to the most ridiculously bubbly songs ever produced in pop music. With every other disgustingly fluffy act, Jongin and Krystal made fake gagging noises at each other and teased their friends to no end. Finally, when Sehun and Sulli started singing Shinee’s “Noona You’re so Pretty”, Krystal tapped Jongin’s arm and gave him a sideways glance as a signal. Jongin watched her eyes point toward the door, and nodded smugly. Krystal then turned toward the couple and stuck her tongue out at them fondly. With one last glance at the clueless couple, Jongin crawled off the Noraebang sofa and slipped out the door, Krystal right behind him.

Jongin and Krystal came out onto the evening Seoul streets, brightly lit with street signs and advertisements. “I’m never going to the Noraebang with those two again,” Jongin remarked, taking in a breath of the outside air.

“Same here… Oh, crapp!!” All of sudden, Krystal jumped behind Jongin, hiding herself behind his shoulders.

“What?” Jongin asked.

“It’s Hyungshik!!” She whispered urgently, peeking out from behing Jongin’s shoulder.

A few feet ahead of Jongin, in front of a pool bar a few buildings down from the Noraebang, was Hyungshik, surrounded by four other guys. The all looked like kids from Jongin’s school. They were grinning and shouldering one another, and were about to walk over in Jongin and Krystal’s direction.

“We have to get out of here!” Krystal whispered. Nodding, Jongin started walking backwards. He felt Krystal moving with him, matching his steps. Hyungshik and his friends seemed to be headed toward the Noraebang that they had just come out from. Luckily, they didn’t see Jongin, or if they did, they didn’t see Krystal hiding behind him. As Jongin backed away from the group, they reached the Noraebang and disappeared.

Jongin sighed quietly. Suddenly, he felt Krystal grab his hand, and he was running, following Krystal down the street toward a turn. Once she turned right, bringing Jongin with her, she came to a stop in front of a brightly lit seafood restaurant, breathing in quick breaths.

“That was close!” she said.

Jongin could tell from Krystal’s huge sigh of relief, that she had genuinely not wanted to run into the guy. “Is this what you do when you’re in danger of running into him at school?” he asked.

“Basically,” she answered, the corners of her lips curving up slightly. Again, Jongin felt that strange feeling of guilt crawling over his skin. All this time, he’d been watching Krystal practically be stalked by Hyungshik and his luxurious gifts. He felt like he should have done something, though what, he didn’t know.

“Do you want me to take you home?” he suggested.

This time, Krystal smiled fully. “Yes.”

While they walked, they mostly talked about their performance tomorrow, Krystal doing most of the talking. They got to Krystal’s apartment complex quicker than Jongin expected. He felt like he had more he wanted to say, but Krystal was already waving at him from the entrance. “See you tomorrow! Get a good night’s sleep!”

Before Jongin could even respond, she was gone. “Bye,” he said to no one.

[A/N]

Hello!

The Kaistal story is almost coming to an end! Btw, do you guys have any thoughts and/or complaints (or even gagging and brick chugging) about the various Selli couple (GIANT BABY COUPLE YAYY) cameos in this story~?

The attached video is the song that Jongin and Krystal are performing to in the story, Icebox by Omarion.