(credit to fx2you.net by way of wonderfulgeneration.net)

(Krystal’s POV)

It’s been a few weeks now since mom and dad decided to take off and travel the world. They were recently retired and they had been planning this trip for awhile now. They wanted to wait until I was old enough before they took off and since I became an adult this year, they decided that the time was right, leaving me home alone with my elder sister Jessica who was only 5 years older than I am.

The house was quiet without dad cracking his not-so-funny jokes and mom constantly worrying about us. I was actually surprised that she somehow managed to get over the fact that she was leaving her two daughters for months. I guess she finally decided that I was no longer a baby and that I had to live my own life and take care of myself. Nevertheless, we were still on strict instructions to contact them or our designated emergency contact, mom’s cousin, our closest relative, should anything get out of control.

It also felt a little awkward with it just being Jessie and me. In fact, I nearly had a heart attack when they told me that they were leaving me alone with Jessie for a few months. I love my sister but she can’t even take care of herself properly let alone the both of us.

(Flashback…)

“WHAT?! You guys are leaving? When?” I exclaimed upon hearing the news. My parents hadn’t once mentioned their plans to travel the world before this.

“We’re leaving in 2 weeks. Don’t worry, I told my cousin to check in on you girls once in awhile to make sure everything is alright. We’ll only be gone for a few months, sweetie,” said mom.

“WHAT?! A few months? You’re leaving me alone with Jessie? Are you punishing me for something I don’t know about?” I protested still unable to comprehend the sudden news.

“Don’t make your sister sound so bad, sweetie. Besides you turn 20 this year so you’re an adult now. I expect you to be able to take care of yourself.”

She then turned her attention to my sister who was spacing out. “What about you Jessie, sweetie? Will you be alright?”

Come to think of it, Jessie hasn’t said a word since my parents announced the news. Now I was curious about what she thought.

“Hmmm? Yes… fine. I’ll be fine, don’t worry. I’ll take care of Kryssie while you guys are gone,” she replied blankly.

This was exactly why I was afraid of being left home alone with her on top of everything else.

“Yes, mom. We’ll be fine… I got it.”

“Good. I know you’re the younger one but I’m counting on you to take care of Jessie, okay?” mom said in a low voice, not wanting Jessie to hear her.

Even mom knew that Jessie despite being an ultra-protective and loving sister also tended to be a little unreliable when it came to being the responsible one.

I nodded and she gave me a pat on the head.

When mom left the room, I walked over to Jessie and gave her a nudge.

“Hey! Don’t you have anything to say about mom and dad leaving on this trip? They’ll be gone for months! We’ll be all alone!” I exclaimed in frustration at her lack of any reaction to the news.

“It’s not a big deal, I already knew about this for awhile so it’s not like it’s a surprise,” she explained.

“WHAT?! How did you know and I didn’t?!” I demanded an answer.

Was I the only person in the dark about this?

“Calm down Kryssie, they weren’t hiding it from you or anything. I just overheard them talking about it a few weeks ago. Why are you so hyped up about this? Are you really dreading having to be home alone with me that much? Don’t you want to spend some quality time with your big sis?” she whined.

“No, I didn’t say that… It’s not that I don’t want to spend time with you… It’s just… Ugh… If you knew, why didn’t you tell me?” My thoughts were all jumbled up.

She just shrugged. “Actually, I’m quite excited… It’s about time mom and dad trusted us to take care of ourselves. And… I get you all to myself! Jung sis adventure!” she yelled out excitedly and threw her arms around me. Actually it was kind of an awkward position because she was sitting down while I was standing so her face was level with my stomach.

When we were younger, Jessie and I were inseparable. With our , she was always very protective of me and always kept me by her side, while I always looked up to her, followed her everywhere she went and did everything she did. In fact, mom always said that I clung onto Jessie more than I did her, even though I couldn’t really remember it. I just remember thinking that my big sister was the best and coolest. When I wanted something, she would do her best to get it for me. When I was tired, she carried me. She was always there for me, my pillar of strength.

(Childhood flashback…)

Krystal: Aged 4, Jessica: Aged 9

I ran over to my sister, crying.

“J-Jes…sie…” I sobbed as I showed her the scrapes I had on my knee and elbow. The scrapes were minor but they were still bleeding.

“What happened Kryssie?” she asked when she saw my injuries. She knelt down and started blowing on my knee. “Is it painful?”

I was crying so hard that I couldn’t answer her, so I just pointed in the direction of the culprit. I looked over and saw that the boy who pushed me off the swing was now trying to push another kid off. My eye widened in anger and disgust.

Jessie looked over and saw what I was looking at and pieced together the puzzle. She took my hand and walked over to the boy.

“Yah! Stop it! Can’t you see you’re going to hurt someone else like you hurt my little sister?!” she yelled at him.

He laughed in our faces and gave us an evil grin. “That’s why it’s funny!”

Jessie gave him a death glare, one that made me a little frightened of her. It was the first time I had ever seen her this way.

“Why you…! You better apologize to my sister, OR ELSE!”

“Tch, I’m not apologizing to that cry baby… Get over it…” he sneered.

“Are you really not going to apologize?! I’m going to count to three…: one… two… THREE!” And then *bam*, she punched him right across the face sending him to the ground.

He clutched his cheek in pain as tears started rolling down his face.

“Don’t you ever do that to anyone ever again, especially not my sister! It’s not nice!” she warned him and then walked away still gripping my hand.

Once the boy was no longer in sight, she stopped and turned to me.

“Kryssie, are you alright? Does it hurt?” Even after all that, she was still worried about me.

I was in such a shock that I had stopped crying but now I could see that her hand was still clenched and her knuckles were red and slightly swollen.

“J-Jessie… Y-Your hand…” I said, pointing to her reddish fist. Just the sight of her hand triggered me crying again, except this time I was upset for her.

“Oh, don’t cry Kryssie. I’m okay… Look it doesn’t hurt…” she said as she clenched and unclenched her fist a few times as proof. Then she knelt down and wiped the tears off of my face with her hands. “It’s okay… I’ll always be here to protect you… no matter what.”

It was one of those things people say all the time but I knew that she really meant it, because she was Jessica Jung, my big sister, my protector.

I grabbed hold of her arm and snuggled up to it, and in return she my hair gently.

“Shall we go home?” she asked.

I nodded. I was definitely tired and still a little upset. We started walking but then the pain from the scratches on my knee became clear again.

“Oww…” I cried.

“Does it still hurt?”

I gave her a nod.

She bent down in front of me with her back towards me. “Get on, I’ll carry you home.”

“Uhm… b-but…” I protested. I didn’t want to trouble her anymore than I already had.

“It’s okay… Just get on…” She said again.

I hesitated but when she didn’t move, I decided to get on and she carried me all the way home.

(End of flashback…)

That was my first vivid memory of Jessie being my big sister. Everything about that one moment was permanently etched into my head; what she was wearing, the smell of her hair, the warm feeling of her back… I wanted to be just like her.

As we grew older, our relationship changed. Somehow, our roles reversed and I found myself doing things for her and taking care of her instead. Sometimes she relied on me too much causing us to fight as sisters do but we always made up just as quickly as the fight started. Once in awhile, her elder sister instincts would still kick in, mainly whenever I was in trouble or if she thought I was in trouble. But I think for the most part, our relationship has settled on me being the more responsible one.

So, the problem was not that I was worried about having to take care of her… The problem was that I was a little nervous about being alone with her. The problem was that I was worried about spending too much alone time with her. The problem was that I have been having some really confusing feelings about her for some time now. I know it’s sick and wrong but I didn’t know what to do about it, and it was getting increasingly difficult to suppress them and I’m very worried that spending too much alone time with her would just make things worse. I’ve really been trying to ignore those feelings but they’ve just been getting stronger, especially when she initiated skinship, which was quite often because she was just that kind of person.

I brushed her off as gently as I could, pretending that I was just annoyed, careful not to trigger any alarms.

“Well, I mean I guess we might be spending more time together but don’t forget that classes will be starting again soon,” I told her. It was a good thing too since I will at least have something to distract me.

“What happened to us Kryssie? You used to be stuck on me like glue… Now you won’t even give me the time of day…” she said, sounding upset.

I was a little taken aback; I honestly didn’t think she cared or even noticed that I was avoiding her.

“N-Not true… It’s just that I’m not a little kid anymore!”

She stood up, swung her arm around my neck and somehow managed to put me in a headlock despite being shorter than I am.

“Oh so now you’re too good for me… I see how that is, you rascal,” she teased while giving me a noogie.

Even the noogie was causing my heart to beat a little faster.

Why am I feeling this way?! It’s sick!

I fought to release myself from her hold to no avail, so I just gave up and sighed.

“Fine… I’m sorry… I’ll do whatever you want…” I pleaded.

She kissed me on the top of my head and let me go.

“Good! And don’t you forget that…”

I felt myself melting away.

(2 weeks later…)

“Bye girls, be good! Remember everything we told you… NO PARTIES!” dad said to us as he kissed us goodbye.

“Take care of each other. Call if you have an emergency!” mom said, hugging us.

“Yes, yes… We got it…” I responded.

Jessie just smiled and waved goodbye.

We watched as our parents left for their trip. It was really happening… They were really going to be gone for months…

Now what?

Jessie and I stared at each other awkwardly as the reality of the situation sank in.

“Soooo…” I trailed off.

“I’m hungry. You?” she asked.

Typical Jessie, always thinking about food.

“Uhm… I guess… Shall I cook?” I asked. There was no way I was letting her do the cooking.

“I was going suggest that I make us something…” she said.

“NO!” I exclaimed a little too quickly and loudly but I really couldn’t let her do that. Her cooking attempts always ended in disasters.

She frowned. “What’s wrong with my cooking?!”

“Nothing… nothing… I think it’s just easier if get ordered in or ate out…” I lied. Her cooking was awful.

“Ooooo… that sounds good, actually! Then we can snuggle up to a movie, yes?” she was too excited and was now going into aegyo mode. There was no rejecting her now…

“Yes…” I said reluctantly.

“Yay! This is going to be fun! We’re going to have such a good time,” she chirped pulling me into one of her hugs.

“Yup… Can’t wait…” I told her but on the inside… I was definitely worried…