Krystal woke up so early as 6 o'clock excitedly search for her nanny. She ran fast towards the kitchen and embraced Mrs. Lee who was then cooking for their breakfast. The nanny was completely shocked by her action.

"My goodness, Krystal don't do that again or else I'll gonna have heart attack!." She told to her while holding her chest.

 "Okay. Sorry hihihi" Krystal giggled at her reactions.

Mrs. Lee's face brightened to see the girl in her unusual happy mood.

"Krystal you look so happy today ha?"

"Yes." Krystal smiled. "I have to tell you. Oppa and me talked so much about everything like our favorite sports, then we ate very delicious foods, and after that we danced ballroom. You know he don't know how to dance so I taught him. Oppa is really handsome and gentleman. " She blushed.

"You're full grown lady now Krystal. I'm so happy for you." The nanny commented.

Krystal helped Mrs. Lee to prepare for the breakfast, while continued talking about the date last night. She looks like she is talking with same pal as she found companionship with her long time nanny. At the dinning table, Jung family gathered around. Krystal who was quietly waiting for her mother to ask her about her date was suddenly upset when she was asked a different question.

"Krystal when will you go to enroll in Cheonan?"

"I don't know Mommy." She replied immediately.

"The first semester will begin in first week of March, you must go there right after this. Otherwise the enrollment will be close and you'll gonna be stock here again for another year." Mr. Jung said to her.

"Okay." She answered her father. As usual, Krystal's parents are little or not interested at all on what she is doing.

Krystal was about to leave when she almost forgot her Valentine's gift for Minho. She ran  back  towards the kitchen and found the thing inside refrigerator.

"There you are!" She exclaimed.

"Give it to him when the enrollment is done." Mrs. Lee advised her.

"Ahh okay nanny. I forgot to give this last night. Bye!"

"Bye!"

Minho was still in his bedroom, when his mother interrupted him from sleep.

"Son. You have visitor. Would you want to go down or I will ask her to come back later?" Her mother asked him in  a low tone.

"Who is she?" He asked while scratched his sleepy eyes.

"Eunseo, your ex-girlfriend."

"Huh?" Minho was surprised to know that his ex is visiting him as early as seven in the morning.

"Okay Ma, I'll go down.  I'll just wash my face first."

Eunseo who was dressed in her new trend outwear, looking depress with her eyes visibly stained with tears.

"What happened?" Minho went to her side with an urge to comfort her.

"My boyfriend. He cheated on me so I decided to break up with him. " Tears were rolling on her face again as she could not stop her emotion.

"How did you know that he cheated on you?"

"There were signs already, but I just ignored it. It's only last night that I completely surrendered. We were having our dinner date. A lady came to us and yelled us that she is carrying his child. I didn't want to absorb her words, as I won't want to believe but what shock me is that the girl is already married and that my boyfriend is forcing her to divorce her husband." The scandalous confrontation between the three was disgracing on Eunseo's part.

Hearing this, triggered Minho to be so angry with her boyfriend. "What did you do then?"
 

"I walked away, declaring that we're over. I trusted him for so long, I just can't believe he will do this to me." She cried out.

Minho who remained her close friend after they broke up, could feel the miserableness her former girlfriend is encountering. Eunseo is a brave and matured person he knew. She does not bother to seek helping from others as long as she can handle her own problem.  But now, only she can do in front of him is to relinquish her emotion. For Eunseo, Minho is one of the few persons who can listen to his problem and will make her feel at ease.  He ran his arm along her back calming her while giving a friendly support.

Meanwhile, Krystal was supposed to be going to school decided to drop by in Minho's place first to give him the special gift she forgot to bring last night. She was in her gleeful state, swaying her hand with bag and hopping her feet while walking down. When she was already near, she saw Minho in front of their gate with a woman besides him. They look so seriously talking with each other, she observed as she was watching them. Then unexpectedly, Minho kissed the woman's forehead and hugged her firmly. Krystal who was then in blissful mood got completely stunned on what she saw.

Eunseo bid goodbye to Minho and went away. He was about to close the gate when he noticed Krystal looking fiery at him from the other side of corner.

"Krystal!" He called her. He moved to talk to her but she ran hurriedly out of his reach. He visualized then that she had misinterpreted him and Eunseo's interaction earlier.

Krystal ran faster as she could. Her heart beats quicken and teardrops kept falling. The scene that she witness had affect her entirely. Mrs. Lee who was digging soil at the garden saw Krystal running towards her room.

"Why too early?" She asked herself as she thought Krystal was already in Cheonan. She followed Krystal to her bedroom and found her burying her face on her pillow, sobbing.

"Krystal what happened to you?!" Mrs. Lee asked her curiously. "Why are you crying?"

"Leave me alone!" She shouted at her.

"Why? Have you enrolled already or Is it close now?"

"No! I said leave me please!" She was bawling nonstop.

With Krystal's condition, all Mrs, Lee could feel is pity. She did not leave her, she lifted her over her back and wiped her tears with her own hand.

"He's such a player!" Krystal exclaimed.

"Who's player?" The nanny asked her, guessing out on who is she referring to.

"I hate him! He's trying to get all the girls he want!"

"I said who?"

"First Sica, then Victoria, then Yuri, yesterday me, and now that woman!"

Form Krystal's enumeration, Mrs. Lee found out that it was "Minho??..."

"I really thought he's a nice guy taking care of me. I'm really wrong.  I should have observed him first."

"Wait a minute. What did your oppa do to make you cry like that."

"Didn't you hear those names I mentioned, including me? He likes collecting girls and uses us for his own good!"

"Shhh. How can you said that? MInho is Sica's childhood friend and you are only his dating partner because you won it, so how can you judge him like that?" She asked her trying to prove her mistake.

Krystal paused for a minute, searching some reasons. "The way he looks at the girls, the way he looks gallant in front of us, and the way he kissed that woman!"

"How then you caught him kissing a woman?"

"I saw them in front of their gate, he kissed her."

"I told you not to go there before enrolling, you didn't listen? Now, you deserve this." Mrs. Lee blame the girl's foolishness.

"Yeah I know! But I'm fine now. At least I discovered his real intention."

"Why are you overreacting Krystal? Is he your boyfriend? What if the woman is his real partner?"

"Then why he didn't informed me? He shouldn't date me then since he's already have one."

"Calm down Krystal. You don't have to expect him to be so clean and nice to you. He's not your boyfriend afterall... Unless you are already in love." That words struck Krystal. Yes she might be overreacting, but  that what she feels. She does not have right to be jealous at first place. "If it bothers you then talk with him. I'm sure Minho will tell you the truth.."

"No need for that. I don't want to trust him anymore."

"Whatever! How about your enrollment? You need to go back now, or else your father will get angry with you."

"I said I don't like! I don't want to study anymore!" Then Krystal laid back again on her bed.

In his room, Minho pondered on Krystal's thinking about him. He asked Sica for Krystal's mobile number and she forwarded it to him. He kept calling Krystal then but she was not answering. Krystal was lying on her bed watching her cellphone ringing. She knew it was her oppa, but she was scared to answer it. She was afraid to hear his side, that the woman is indeed his girlfriend, an idea she does not want to hear. Minho gave up dialing, dropped his cellphone on the bed. This guilty feeling enraged him for a mistake he never committed.

Krystal's parents arrived at home, coming from a day long spent in their work.  Mr. Jung Jaeyoung asked the old nanny if her daughter had already enrolled but Mrs. Lee did not cover her up.

"Why?"

"I don't know, better ask her." The nanny told him.

Mr. Jung was set to go to Krystal's bedroom but his wife stopped her. "Leave it to me darling." Mrs. Jung told to her husband, trying to prevent some problem between the two.

Krystal was watching a teenage romcom when her mother entered her room.

"Krystal explain to me why you did not got to school?" Her mother sounds upset.

"Mommy I want to go back to America. I want to find some part-jobs there."

"What are you talking about?"

"I just don't like the climate here, I'm not comfortable here." With Krystal's resentment over Minho's action earlier, she only wish to stay away from him.

"You're still young to work."

"Please Mommy. If you want I can volunteer as clerk in Uncle Byung's shop, while studying."

"Stop it! You will go to enroll tomorrow with me. Get it?

"Please Mommy! I don't like to study here! I hate this place! I hate everyone here!"

On hearing their arguments, Mr. Jung strode to Krystal's room and furiously turned off the TV.

"Why are you doing this Krystal?! You defied my order and disrespecting your mother! You're testing my patience?!"

"Calm down please." His wife plead.

"You must send me back to America then! I hate the people here including you!" Krystal yelled straightly to her father.

Mr. Jung was boiling of anger, pulled off his belt and whipped Krystal repeatedly. It was so hard lashing her skin that sent her body on the floor.

"Don't try to convince us that we raised a bastard!" He wanted to punish Krystal until she learned from her wrongdoings.

"Hon please stop it." Mrs. Kanghye cried while watching Krystal bawling in pain. She went to her daughter and hugged her deeply.

"Krystal I warn you. Please stop acting like a child or else I will give you more than that!" Then her father left them, banging the door behind him.

The day was too unfortunate for Krystal. She caught Minho kissing a girl in the morning,t hen her father punished her at evening. She could not understand why she must have to endure these inevitable sufferings as always. In her distress, she got the special cookies she made for Minho and once again threw a gift into trash can.

The next day, Krystal was accompanied by her mother to enroll in Cheonan. They were already leaving when Krystal saw Minho coming. His presence somewhat brighten her day but she pulled it off reminding herself on what he did. She went inside the car, trying to avoid him.

"Good Morning Minho." Mrs. Jung greeted him.

"Good Morning Mam. Where will you go?"

"At Cheonan School, Krystal will be enrolling for this semester."

"Ahh. I see."

"You want to tell something?" The mother was in rush that she could barely entertain him.

"Mommy can we go now?!" Krystal called her mother loudly, too eager to leave.

"Yes baby." Her mother was bit startled by her daughter's call. "Sorry Minho, we'll have to go now."

"Okay. I will come back later." Minho told the mother.

"Okay, see you again." Mrs. Kanghye went inside and drive the car.

It was Minho's opportunity to explain to Krystal and yet her gesture told him she was not interested. He felt like an idiot willing to apologize to something unworthy. He changed his mind not to go back for her sudden coldness hurt him.

to be continued...