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“Hey you, what’s your name?” A nine year old boy asked a petite girl.

“Me?” The girl tilted her head cutely. “Jung Soojung. Why?”

“You’re pretty. I like you.” He grinned, showing his perfect straight teeth.

Little Soojung blushed. “I’m pretty?”

“Yep! You’re sooo pretty. Wanna be friends? But you look younger than me though. How old are you?”

“I’m 7..”

“Then you should call me oppa, Chanyeol oppa. Try it!”

Soojung blinked. “Chanyeol.. oppa?”

He beamed, liking what he heard. “I’ll call you Soojung-ie.”

She nodded her head shyly. Finding it’s cute; Chanyeol couldn’t help but stole a peck on her cheek.

She gaped in shock.

“Soojung-ie! You can’t like anyone but me, okay?”

 “..stal.. Krystal...” Faintly, she heard a familiar deep voice calling her name and barely opening her eyes.

“Chanyeol.. oppa..” Her voice was almost inaudible.

His heart skipped a beat when he heard that. Did she actually remember about him? He wondered. It’s weird that she suddenly called him Oppa out of the blue, even though right now he was indeed her ‘Oppa’.

On second thought, after considering her half-conscious state because of high fever, he decided to just brush it off.

“Krys, you need to eat your medicine before sleep.” He said with a soft voice while brushing her hair in a gentle way.

He put his arm behind her back and supported her. In sitting position, he fed her the medicine and the water. Gently, he lay her down again, her face with his thumb as she closed her eyes. He then soaked the towel in the bowl of cold water that he brought before. He leaned over and moved her fringe out of the way, before placing towel on her forehead.

Worried he would disturb her sleep if he sat on the bed; he grabbed a chair in front of her study desk and dragged it over to sit next to her bedside. He gently removed the towel from her forehead some time later, to find that her temperature had calmed a bit. He finally sighed in content.

He knew he shouldn’t be like this. He shouldn’t be watching her sleep like a creep. But she looked so peaceful and innocent that he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. During the day, she always looked stressed, if not bored or annoyed. She rarely smiled but when she did, he always found himself smiling with her. He loved how her eyes made a moon crescent shape when she smiled or laughed.

He always watched her, but she never knew. And she didn’t have to know.

Honestly, it’s not really unexpected that they met again in High School. They lived in the same town anyway. What shocked him the most when he first saw her again was that she was extremely beautiful now that she had grown up, and her indifferent attitude just made her even more charming. He was lying if he said he didn’t feel somewhat attracted to her, but it was already too late for him to even try, especially now that they were siblings.

It’s a dead end for them.

If only he wasn’t being a coward back then and bravely made a move to her before his Mom met her Father, maybe everything wouldn’t turn out like this. If only..

He collapsed in his chair, rubbing his face harshly, trying to remove the thoughts from his mind. “You are crazy Park Chanyeol.. You shouldn’t even think about it, she is your sister dammit.”

---

A few hours later, she woke up confused and disoriented. She still felt achy and crappy, even though her fever had gone down. The most important thing was, she wanted to go to the bathroom, badly this time. She looked at her side and saw Chanyeol’s sleeping face. She then remembered that she asked him not to leave her alone and mentally stabbed herself. She was always extremely clingy and sensitive when she was sick; but she didn’t clearly remember the rest of what happened. All she knew, the fever had made her lost her mind.  

She looked down at his face as he lay his head on the bed next to her. Smiling, she pushed his brown hair away from his face. “Chanyeol?” She called him, her voice a little hoarse. “Chanyeol, wake up.”

He stirred, his eyes fluttered open. She watched him as he blinked drowsily and then looking around in a daze. He rubbed his eyes and looked back at her. His eyes were red because of lack of sleep.

“You’re up?” He glanced at the clock on the bedside table, “its 4 am, are you hurt somewhere?” His tone emphasized his worry.

His concern warmed her heart.

“I need bathroom..” She was a bit embarrassed.

“Ah..” He nodded awkwardly. “How do we do it.. err..” He stood up and scratched his head. “I will carry you?”

“N-no! It’s fine. I think I can walk there. But.. can you help me?”

“Oh, sure.” 

He held her hand and put his arm around her as they walked to the bathroom. It would be a romantic scene, she thought, if she weren’t sick and he wasn’t purely trying to help her walking. And of course if they weren’t heading to the bathroom.

---

“It’s good that your fever had gone down.” He said once they back to her bedroom. “But if you actually ate your medicine earlier, you wouldn’t pass out in the hallway like that. What if nobody’s there? Something worse might happen.” He nagged.

She just looked at him in amusement but said nothing. When he realized what he did, he coughed. “Sleep, you need rest.” He quickly changed the topic, and she chuckled.

“Thank you for taking care of me.”

“No problem, you are my..” He paused, feeling something choked on his throat, “family.”

She let out a dry laugh. That’s right, they are family. What did she expect anyway?

Without saying anything, she lay back down and pulled the blankets over her. “I feel better now, you can leave me. You also need to sleep.”

He was contemplating for a while before sitting down again on the chair beside her bed. He didn’t really want to leave yet.

“I’ll stay here, you might need something later.”

“Its fine, you can go.” She insisted.

He frowned slightly. Why did she suddenly become so distant?

“I’ll go when you sleep.” He said firmly.

She was silent. To be honest, she didn’t want him to go either. But if she kept receiving his kindness, she might forget who she was to him. Moreover, she didn’t want to interpret his kindness as something else.

“Krys..”

“Hmm?” She glanced at him.

“If something troubled you, you can always tell me you know.”

She looked at him questioningly, trying to comprehend what he meant by that. When there’s no respond from her, he quickly added, “It’s just that, you looked stressed and tired recently, at school.”

She wasn’t sure if she should feel happy or not. She always thought he never paid any attention to her, so he actually did? She bit her lips so she wouldn’t look too happy. “I’m working on my debut novel right now, so…” she trailed off into silence.

“Ah that novel..” He nodded understandingly.

“You know that too?” She was surprised.

“Sulli told me once.”

Her heart sank upon hearing that name. Her gaze shifted from his face to the ceiling. “I see..” She tried not to sound bitter.

Being with Park Chanyeol was like riding a rollercoaster, she pondered. The excitement was just as big as the fear of falling. She needed to always hold on tight and secure her safety bar properly, because if she fell down no one would catch her. And just like that she would die alone miserably.

“I’m not sure if I could help you, but if you want I can listen to your problem.”

She could hear the sincerity in his voice. Park Chanyeol, you are too nice for your own good.

She sighed. “My editor told me that my story lacks of ‘feeling’.” He listened intently, even though she was talking more to the ceiling than to him. “He even doubted if I knew what love is. Well, he didn’t say that directly but I know he thought that way, that I’m not capable in writing romance. Now, I have writer’s block and I don’t even know what I should write anymore.”

“Didn’t he give you any advices?”

She almost snorted, remembering what Key said before. “Yeah, he gave me some useless advices. He told me to write about—” She suddenly stopped, blinking rapidly, and then looked at him with wide eyes. Suddenly she had an epiphany. A realization that all she needed to write was right in front of her eyes all along.

He felt a little uncomfortable at the way she looked at him right now.  

“Would you be my muse?” She blurted out.   

A pause.

“…sorry what?”

“......”

Krystal Jung, you don’t just ask anyone to be your muse you idiot! It’s creepy, awkward and embarrassing!

“F-forget it! I didn’t say anything!” She turned her back on him and covered herself with the blanket.   

He blinked, trying to understand what had occurred. Muse.. what??