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Year 2010: Summer; Playing Cupid

“Can you get to the part, where you actually meet this guy?” Kai demanded as he put the groceries away. He felt like his mother was paying attention to her friends, rather than the actual story. It’s fun and all, but he was impatient. He was supposed to meet Ellin in a few hours.

“We’re getting there, honey.” Krystal soothed.  She chuckled seeing her son, so jittery. She started to place the groceries inside the cabinets, and her son helped her put food on the highest shelves. He was tall like his father, but so distinct at the same time.

Krystal walked back to the living room, and picked up one of the grocery bags her son had left by the entrance. But as soon the bag rose, she dropped it. Her hand began to shake furiously, and the pain shot from her wrist to the tip of her fingers. She tried not to make noise; her son would reproach her for picking up heavy objects, knowing that she is strictly forbidden to do so.

“Mom, have you seen the spaghetti sauce, I can’t-“Kai stopped in his tracks, seeing his mother in pain, he knew what she had done, judging by the way his mother held her shaky hand. Anger rose with in him, but he knew better than to scold his mother. Kai remembered the way his mother use to paint every morning, but now she could hardly hold a brush without her crying out in pain. He cared for her deeply, and seeing her in agony, made him extremely hurt.

Kai clenched his teeth, and walked towards his mother. “Find it anywhere.” He continued with a short smile. He hoped his smile had masked the displeasure in his voice. “It’s in this bag.” His mother pointed. “I’m sorry.” Krystal softly said. Her hand still throbbed, but slowly the pain went away.
“It’s time to take your medicine.” Kai advised, as he bended down to pick up the few fallen objects. He then followed behind his mother to the kitchen. He set the bag on the counter. He forced his mother to sit on the chair; he wanted to make tea for her, he wanted her to rest.

Krystal tried to get up, but Kai kept pushing her back to the seat. His mother was at that point, where he believed she needed to be taken care of. “I’ll take care of it.” Kai said he took the medicine out of the cabinet. He opened the bottle, and handed two pills to his mother. He hummed a subtle tune, alike one his mother hummed a few weeks ago. It was catchy, yet very soothing.

The fresh aroma of mint tea filled the cozy kitchen. Kai had forgotten his anger completely, the scent of the warm tea took him far way, as he thought about Ellin^A/N, the girl of his dreams. Was she the one? He didn’t know, but it sure dam felt like it, when he was around her. Her laughter could make his heart dance, like the dust when it hits the sunlight’s rays. Just by being around her, Kai could feel his heart growing, but of course he had to keep these feelings to himself. He didn’t want to lose what they had, but he was willing to risk it.
“So,” Kai implied. It took him a while to get the words out of his mouth. He poured the tea onto his mother’s favorite teacup. Silence roamed the kitchen, like the tea’s sweet aroma. “How exactly did you two officially meet?” Kai questioned. He scratched his head, and smiled. Ellin’s smile lingered in his mind.

A peaceful smiled formed on Krystal’s face, as she picked up the warm cup of tea.
“I met him through a mutual friend of ours.”

~✿~

Krystal walked in a daze to her next class, she had bumped into her crush; the notorious captain of their school soccer team, that was all she could remember. She wasn’t so sure why she was attracted to him, maybe because of his amazing skills in the game, his strong sharp facial features, or his quiet demeanor, but she was enamored, nonetheless for the very first time.

 His soft voiced lingered in Krystal’s head, as she greeted Luna, who quickly linked her arm with hers.
“I have a plan!” Luna enthusiastically whispered to Krystal, as they passed their other classmates. Krystal didn’t show much enthusiasm, she had her mind on the boy she liked, and on that math test she wasn’t sure if she had passed. But Luna took no noticed, and yammered away, “We need to get Sulli and Chanyeol together!” Krystal gawked at her friend, who had a wide mischievous smile from ear to ear. “How are we going to do that?” Krystal question, she started to feel excitement surging in her heart. Krystal knew how much Sulli liked Chanyeol, and she wanted to help her friend out. “Simple.” Luna caroled softly, “Plan Chanli.” She said in a low voice, so that eavesdroppers could not hear. “Chanli?” Krystal inquired, but after in taking the information, she was able to figure what it meant. Chanli meant Chanyeol and Sulli. Krystal playfully smacked Luna in the arm. Her friend couldn’t help but laugh.  The students around them,stared with a confused look on their face.

“But how are we going to do that?” Krystal whispered to Luna, as they walked into class. Krystal did not share any classes with Chanyeol; well she had not seen his curly yellow-brownish hair anymore. Heck, she didn’t even talk to him for the rest of last year’s semester, so how would that play out, she thought. “You’ll see.” Luna teased as they both took a seat. “You’re going to help me right?” Krystal took out her books, and started to doodle in her student planner, as their teacher settled in. “Count me in.” She agreed, but she wasn’t too sure.

“That is it! I’ve had it with you all!” Ms. Shim hollered. She was in the verge of a nervous breakdown. “I’m tired of speaking over you brats!” She smacked her hand on the board. The loud class fell into a semi deep silence. “Do you think this is game, huh?” Some students snickered; they were amused by seeing their teacher reach her boiling point. It only takes one rotten apple to ruin the bunch, and sadly most of the students in the class were all rotten apples. Most of the students did not take the class very seriously; they were loud, and they could not be controlled. Ms. Shim would lose their attention, just with in the time she finished taking attendance.

But it was most of the students, not all. Krystal and Luna were the type of students that tried to listen as much as possible, took notes, did the classwork to the best of their ability, and then they would play or just talk.

“You’re by far, the worst class that I have ever taught.” Ms. Shim vented. There was a deep scowl on her face. “In my twenty years of teaching, I have never had a class so unconcerned about their education...” She went on and on, telling her anecdotes and her woes. Krystal looked around, and half of the students did not show any slight interest, in fact some smiled, as if they had accomplished something big by getting the teacher in the verge of tears. Even Luna chuckled here and then, when one of the ‘witty’ students countered everything the teacher said.
“You know what this is my fault,” Ms. Shim admitted. “I shouldn’t have let you choose who to sit with.” She paced back in forth, examining the class, that’s when the class became extremely quiet.  Krystal could hear the ticking of the clock, and she chuckled a bit.

Ms. Shim started to seat people by their last names. By the time Ms. Shim got to the ‘C’s’, she gave up, and arrange the students in girl, boy, girl, boy fashion, but there weren’t many girls. Krystal hoped to be seated with a quite boy, or somewhere near Luna. Krystal didn’t want to be seated next to another girl other than Luna, for some reason she didn’t get along with the other girls.

Luna was called; she was seated at the second to last row, in the middle seats. Her new desk partner was a boy, whose name escapes my mind, but I’ll call him Ravi. Krystal saw how quickly Luna became friends with him. It came to be her turn to be placed in a new seat, and to her surprise she was seated right behind Ravi. Luna turned, wiggled her eyebrows, and winked at her. Krystal became instantly happy but yet slightly confused. Krystal took her student planner, and continued to doodle on it.

“Chanyeol” Ms. Shim called out. Krystal head shot up, and she looked at the tall boy next to their teacher. Chanyeol looked at her with a perplex expression, his lips tugged into a small smile. Not him again, she thought. Krystal's face formed into a frown. She wasn’t able to get close to him, last year, why would now make any difference. She felt embarrassed. Chanyeol squeezed in between the desks, trying to reach his seat. He sat behind Luna. Krystal rested her head on her hand; she tilted her head to the right. Her long black hair fell to the same direction, creating a barrier between them.

“It’s you again.” Chanyeol greeted. “Well isn’t this funny.” He mused. Krystal didn’t listen and instead focused on finishing her drawing.

Luna happily turned around, and giggled. “Hi, best friend.” She caroled, and waved cutely. “I want to introduce you to someone!” Luna mischievously glanced at Krystal. “Who?” Chanyeol asked. Luna pointed at Krystal. Chanyeol turned to his desk partner, who wasn’t paying attention to them at all.

“Krys, pay attention!” Luna said, in English. Krystal looked at her friend, completely lost. “What?” Krystal replied rather rudely, she had forgotten Luna’s great master plan. “Krys, this is Chanyeol; Chanyeol, this is Krystal!” Luna introduced. They both turned to look at each other. Krystal was a bit taken aback. Chanyeol no longer had light blonde brown curly hair, he had dark auburn hair now, it fell straight on his head, and he had long side fringe that covered most of his face. No wonder she wasn’t able to recognize him. Krystal’s heart started to thump really fast, and she felt her cheeks become a bit rosy. Krystal looked away from Chanyeol, and glanced at Luna, who was observing them with anticipation.

“Hi, I’m Krystal.” She greeted in Korean. She didn’t know why she would even try, but this was for Sulli. Her friend really liked the boy next to her, and she didn’t want to disappoint Sulli.
“I’m Chanyeol, nice to meet you!” He greeted happily. He awkwardly extended his hand, and Krystal quickly took it, lightly shaking his hand. His hand felt clammy, while her hand felt soft and warm. Was he nervous? Krystal thought to herself.

~✿~

Months passed by, and Krystal and Chanyeol became close. It started off slowly, but they quickly became close with each other. They had many differences, but also many things in common- one being they both had an older sister, around the same age. Chanyeol older sister’s name was Bom; she had spent sometime in the US,studying abroad, and she was the reason why he understood English. As they learned more about each other, it turned out that they also had a math class together, but they were seated on opposite sides of the room. During math class, they would pass notes to each other; some notes would cause Krystal to laugh out loud in the most inappropriate times. During the class they shared with Luna, Krystal would forget she was even in class, and they would talk and talk. The pair would even get in trouble, and Ms. Shim would send them outside, and make them kneel with their hands in the air. But even that was okay because Chanyeol would make it better. He was her happy virus.

Eventually, Luna became jealous, but not in a malicious way. Luna would tell Krystal, that she stole her best friend, but it was okay, because she had another best friend. Yet ever since then, Chanyeol declared Krystal to be his best friend. Luna, also abandon plan Chanli, but Krystal didn’t. She would lay hints here there, trying to find information for Sulli. Surely, Krystal felt bad for ‘playing cupid’, but she thought Sulli and Chanyeol would make the cutest couple the whole campus had ever seen.

Finally, the day had arrived, the day where Krystal would put her plan in motion. The school had announced there was going to be a festival. It was a celebration dedicated to the seniors, but there was a dance competition that sophomores and juniors could part take in. Amber had created a dance routine that needed eight people, thus they had name their group F(x) featuring Henry and Sungmin , but they were missing one more member, Krystal explained to Chanyeol for the tenth time that week.
“ So would you like to be our eighth member?” Krystal said sounding hopeful, as she pleaded with her hands. She lightly pouted, she knew Chanyeol couldn’t resist, if she acted sort of cute. Chanyeol pondered a bit, and then nodded in agreement “Are you going to be my partner?” He looked straight into her eyes, searching for an answer, Krystal felt her cheeks turn lightly pink and quickly looked down to her folder. She felt discomfort; she no longer liked the idea of being cupid. “Nope,” She quickly asserted, shaking her head. “Do you know her?” Krystal asked, as she pointed at a picture of Sulli.

“Yeah, I have her for art, I think.” Chanyeol kept staring at the picture, as if trying to make memory. “Then it’s settled!” Krystal smiled, trying to hide her uneasiness that rose in her heart, but she quickly shook it off. She had done well, Krystal thought; she was making her friend happy, at the cost of betraying another.

Krystal’s partner was Amber, and the group practiced every day for lunch, whether it was just the five girls, or with the other three boys, they practiced. That particular day, the boys were late. “Girls,” Sulli said “I have something to tell you.” She said shyly.  The other four girls stop dancing, and quickly listen to what Sulli had to say.
“I need to change partners.” She suddenly declared. Krystal listened attentively. “I’ve been going out with this boy, you all know him-it’s the new kid, and well he gets jealous of Chanyeol…” She confessed. Krystal glared lasers at Sulli, all her hard work had gone to waste. “I thought you liked Chanyeol.” Krystal sneered, as she curled her lip. “Well, I did, but he’s not my type. I like someone who can dance, and Chanyeol can’t even take step without stepping on me and this guy- the one, I’m dating-he can really dance, we can even replace Chanyeol with...” Sulli said eagerly. Anger rose within Krystal, a small tornado whirled inside her, and she was ready to unleash it on Sulli.  “We will have none of that,” Amber broke in, feeling  the tension. “Chanyeol has worked his off; it’s not fair to him.”

Krystal nodded her head in agreement and opened to speak, “Besides, if you just like him based on his looks and dancing rather than his personality…” Krystal paused, and looked at Sulli dead in the eyes. “That would make you very shallow , don’t you think?” Krystal said with a defiant smile. At that moment Krystal didn’t care, if she had insulted her friend or if she lost Sulli’s friendship. Sulli had disrespected someone she deeply cared about it, and wounding Krystal’s feelings as well. “What did you call me?!” Sulli retorted coming forward defensively. Luna quickly held Sulli back, and Amber held Krystal back, who was pulling her hair into a bun.

“Enough!” Victoria screamed in Chinese. “There’s no need to fight!” She continued. “Look at both of you, fighting for something utterly stupid!” The four girls were very surprise, and fell silent, they had never seen Victoria loose her cool, or rant in Chinese. “Now, you two will apologize to each other, do you understand?” Victoria said, with a motherly authority. Krystal and Sulli glanced at each other and rolled their eyes, none of them making a move to apologize. Amber and Luna watched attentively, was this the end? “Sorry.” Krystal muttered, it had been her fault for dragging Chanyeol into this, she wanted to play cupid, and now it was biting her in the . “No, I’m sorry. It’s because of me, that he’s in this,” Sulli retorted.” And you’re right; I was being a shallow .” She finished off with a small laugh. The girls hugged it out, and the five promised to never fight because of a guy.

In the end, Chanyeol became Krystal’s partner, and somehow it felt right. He never stepped on me nor was he clumsy. He improved a lot, actually. While we danced he would make me laugh, and he made practice much better. He was my happy virus.’

Hello guys!<3
Hope you guys enjoy this chapter! :D
Author's note here, I've made some changes,
Kai's love intrest no longer goes by the name of Bora,but by the name of Ellin!♡
And if your're wondering who Ellin is, well it's no other than CRAYON POP's Ellin, of course C:

I also made some changes to Chanyeol's nickmae ,on the previous Chapter!
Thank you for the people who subscribed!
 ❀Don't forget to comment, gracias!❀

Asta la vista,

Jewels03