Baby, good night

Krystal head nestled on Jessica’s shoulders. Her little sister was already sleeping. Tomorrow, they’ll be separated again. She attended an all-girls school on the other side of Seoul that required her to stay in dorms.

Jessica brushed her sister’s hair from her forehead and kissed it lightly. She loved Krystal to bits. Her angel, the person who pulled her out of every problem she had. Her savior, that was how important she was to her.

The taller girl lifted her leg to Jessica. She didn’t mind it. She was busy admiring her sister’s face. They were both pretty but they said Krystal resembled their mother more while Jessica bore their father's face, though it was hard for her to piece together why they said those things about them. She had never seen the resemblance.

Soojung. When their found out their mother was pregnant with Krystal, she was working on a project in Hong Kong. Jessica remembered that before she left, their parents got into this huge fight. In her stressed condition, she was forced to stay there for about a year before she was well enough to return to the states. She called her sister Xiujing which was Chinese for crystal.

So came her English name: Krystal, they briefly attended school in San Francisco. However, they had moved back to Korea so they can expand their business. Although they referred to each other with their American names; they used their Korean counterpart during business meetings.

My elegant crystal. Her most precious gem. Just being beside her like this made Jessica feel safe. Her fingers played with her sister’s hair.

Knock knock!

Jessica carefully pushed Krystal’s leg aside. It woke her baby Jung up but she was pressured to answer the door. The housekeeper better have good excuse to knock at this time of night. The younger girl pulled her sister’s nightdress. “Unnie…”

She kissed Krystal’s half closed eyelids. “Back to bed, you.”

Knock knock!

“Alright!” She shouted as she stumbled towards the door while she quickly wore a robe that matched her white camisole. “What is it?” She swung the door open.

“Ma’am…” The housekeeper called but Jessica’s eyes focused on the visitor that intruded their home this late at night. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Can you get us some tea?” Jessica ordered in English as she shut the door. She walked to the door adjacent to their bedroom. “Unnie, we can talk in my office.”

“We can talk here.” Jinkyu said as she placed a folder and strewed the contents on the bureau. “Where’s Soonkyu?”

Jessica flipped her hair. “What makes you think I know where Soonkyu is? She hasn’t even called me the past few days…” She cut herself off.

On the table, were several candid pictures of Krystal; all with a bull’s eye drawn across on her face. She felt her face turn red in anger. “What the is this?”

“I go to extreme lengths in protecting my sister, Soyeon.” Jinkyu said as she took slow, hostile steps towards the younger woman. For the first time, Jessica found herself on the defensive side of an argument. “… How far will you go to protect yours?”

“Don’t you dare go near Krystal.” Jessica barked.

“You think your little games can fool me?” Jinkyu dropped a stack of paper the floor. “You booked rooms to Jeju to make believe she stayed there. What kind of amateur do you think I am?”

Various receipts and credit card statements scrambled at Jessica’s feet.

“You even set up an impersonator to use the cards regularly.” She continued. “And the Cooper? I found it running around Seoul.”

“YOU STAY THE AWAY FROM MY SISTER!” Jessica shouted as she stepped to push Jinkyu away but the older girl caught her wrists before it could even touch her. They heard the bedroom door slam against the wall. Everything happened so fast. In just a blink of an eye, Krystal had thrown Jinkyu out of the way.

“Unnie?” Krystal took Jessica to her arms. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

Jessica’s heart has never beaten so much blood from all over her body, but she was frozen when it came to Jinkyu’s assault on her sister. So did she ask people to follow her? Take pictures of her while she walked around, ate or attend meetings? Nowhere was safe! There were pictures of her in school, in the office at home. The way the pictures were taken felt like someone was pointing a gun to her face.

“Gwenchana.” She said, her hands thawing at Krystal’s embrace.

“Jinkyu unnie.” Krystal called.

The older woman regained her composure and spun around. There was one last thing on her hand, a white note, but she crumpled that and placed it on her coat’s pockets. “You’re going to tell me, Soyeon. One way or another.”

She walked toward the door and glared at the two sisters one last time, stopping slightly at Krystal. “I wonder where our other sister is.”

When the door shut, Krystal hugged her sister. “Unnie?”

“I’m okay.” Jessica dispelled her sister’s arms and quickly picked up the pictures on the floor before Krystal would even get a chance to see them. “Go back to sleep.”

“Are you kidding, unnie what…?” She was about to help Jessica but she shot her a cold look that threw her back. 

“Room! Now!” Jessica lashed. Krystal kept her head down and went inside the room quietly. She made sure she hugged the pictures closely to her chest so her sister wouldn’t see.

The maid entered the room, with three cups of tea on her hand. “Miss Jessica?”

Jessica threw the photos towards the help. “Burn those. All of it. I never want to see these again.”

The housekeeper placed the tea on one of the side tables and took the snapshots of Krystal away. “Miss Jessica?”

“What?”

“Did you just… Meet your match?”

“GET OUT!”

The Jung residence went silent after that. Jessica went up to the tea, adding honey and lemon on the brown brew. She stirred the beverage and sat down on one of the chairs. She was still cringing while she spun the teaspoon on the liquid.

So Jinkyu found out about Sunny’s disappearance faster than she should. Jessica didn’t admit to it but her reaction to Krystal’s pictures obviously spoke the truth more than it should have.

The plan was simple: Jinkyu kept an eye on Sunny by regularly checking the expenditures on her credit card; so her possessions would be shipped constantly and her hotel bookings would be in one place after another. She had various cards, so it was easy to distribute it to random people who are willing to do their bidding. It was a good scapegoat. And if that falls apart, the tracker on Sunny's BMW would drive around Seoul. That way, Jinkyu would have something to chase until Jessica would bury Sunny somewhere else.

How she figured it all out in a matter of days was a mystery to Jessica. She picked up one of the bills that Jinkyu threw and read it. Or not.

One bill listed that she had brought drinks for everyone at this one bar in Jeju.

Of course, even if Sunny can handle her own drink, she would not and ever go to lengths in giving them out for free. Jessica placed her tea on the side table and ruffled through the stack of receipts.

Books that Sunny never had interests on, shoes that was on discount and a bunch of bags and accessories that came from boutiques that Sunny hated... No wonder Jinkyu knew something was up.

Well played, Jinkyu. She thought as she drank the hot pokoe brew. She must've had people tailing Jessica now as well.

She could only hope that Sunny would receive her message in time.

•••••••

Leeteuk slammed the shot glass on the counter. This was his second set of Soju shots. He told Tiffany everything. How he prepared the perfect date with a well thought out movie and a luxurious dinner at one of her family’s hotels, all the way down to the kiss.

And the ring… His fingers went to his neck. Dreams. It read. Two argent pieces of sterling shined from under his shirt.

“So what’s the story?” The bartender asked. She was putting aside the shot glasses he used. When Leeteuk lifted his head, he wanted to tell her to mind her own business. First the ahjumma, now some fangirl trying to earn money for her Oppa’s next concert was asking him what the deal was.

“Talk to the wall.”

She smiled. “I’m just curious to know why you go to a high end bar just to order soju?” Her hands skillfully cleaned all the glasses with minimal water and cloth. He can tell that she must have been doing this for at least a year.

“Maybe I don’t trust your bartending skills.” Leeteuk chuckled, trying to hide his face as much as possible. He didn’t want anybody coughing up an ‘I know what you’re going though’ story.

“Well, I’m making you laugh right now.” She giggled as she placed various spirits and syrup in a cocktail shaker. “And it’s part of my job to converse with customers.”

“Touché.” Leeteuk said as he downed another glass. “You’re a girl, right?”

The bartender laughed. “Do you want to die?”

“What if your girl, liked her best friend… That’s also a girl and the feeling is mutual?”

“How many shots did you have so far?” She said as she shook the drink she made. The ice rang against the metal container.

“Lost count.”

“I think maybe twenty?” She said as she took a poured the contents into two cocktail glasses. Leeteuk took another shot down his throat. “Twenty one.” She counted.

Leeteuk kept silent as he eyed the girl.

She was a lot taller than the blonde DJ; that’s for sure. When she smiled, cute dimples popped on the sides of her face. Everything about her was big: her eyes, nose and mouth. Her face had minimal sharpness but had really protruding cheekbones. She was totally different from Taeyeon's defined and petite frame.

"Are you trying to avoid the topic?"

“Maybe you should try letting go, experience new things? If she's not happy with you, then let her be happy with someone else.” She said as she garnished the white foggy drinks with lime wheels. She laid paper coasters on the table and placed the drinks in front of them. “In the house.”

“Wow, so you have money to give this out for free?” He laughed.

“Our manager doesn’t keep inventory.” She giggled as she sipped her drink.

He tried it too. It had a citrus taste. “Hmm, not bad. What is this?”

“Daiquiri.” She said. “Who says I’m a bad bartender?”

He smiled. “What’s your name?”

“Kang Sora.” She reached out her hand. “And you are?”

“Park Jungsu.”