14^th of February, 2006

The dark-haired girl dug through her bag frantically, pawing through books and stationery before she triumphantly held up her prize – a box of the best-quality chocolates money could buy. Despite the fact that it had cost her a few weeks allowance, Krystal Jung knew it was worth every cent.

Valentine’s Day at Seoul High School was a big event – all over the school, girls confessed and presented their crushes with lollies and chocolates, cards and heartfelt notes; some of the older girls even dared to visit their Seoul University seniors. Couples celebrated the romantic holiday with dates and shows of affection the public usually looked down on, but February 14^th was the exception.

Unlike the other girls of Seoul High, whose fickle hearts meant they gave presents to more than one boy, Krystal knew exactly who she wanted. He wasn’t just a crush or a passing fancy – no, Kim Sunggyu was her first love, her only love, her true love, and had been since the beginning of high school. Handsome, smart, rich – not to mention extremely popular and talented – he was every girl’s dream boy.

It didn’t matter to Krystal that Kim Sunggyu had a girlfriend – even though the so-called golden couple had only begun five months ago, not even the beautiful Tiffany Hwang could stop Sunggyu’s admirers from showering him with gifts.

“Are you ready?” Choi Jinri, better known as Sulli, placed a reassuring hand on Krystal’s shoulder.

Krystal shook her head wildly. “No!” She spun to face Sulli, and behind Sulli was the rest of their group – Joohyun, Luna, Serri, Naeun, Bomi and Jieun. “What if he rejects me? What do I do then?” Krystal panicked. Having spent several years admiring Sunggyu from afar, she knew her confession would change everything for her.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Bomi scolded. “You’re beautiful, talented and just as good as Tiffany, if not better.”

“Besides, there’s always next year,” Jieun suggest unhelpfully. “Or White Day, or his birthday…or Christmas!”

“Don’t chicken out now! If you don’t do it today, you might not ever get this change again,” Joohyun said practically. “There are a lot of other girls out there, and all of them are waiting for the time when he and Tiffany will break up.”

“So why am I doing it now?” Krystal protested.

“You’ll regret it!” Luna promised, before shoving her forwards. There was a growing crowd waiting around Sunggyu’s locker – some shy girls dumped their gifts on top of his locker, or stuck them on. Others stubbornly waited for him to arrive, while another bunch of girls surrounded Sunggyu himself as he made his way to the locker.

“Excuse me! Let me through!” Krystal marched her way through the crowd, not afraid to elbow and push them out of the way. “Excuse me! Seonbae!”

To everyone’s surprise, Sunggyu looked up and spotted Krystal, giving her a small, confused smile. It was almost impossible to hear him speak, now that the girls had begun squealing “Seonbae!” instead of their usual calls of “Oppa!”

Krystal was almost pressed against Sunggyu, thanks to the crowd, but she smiled warmly and said, “Sunggyu-seonbae, I just wanted to give you this.” She the box of chocolates into his hands, bowing deeply. “Happy Valentine’s Day!”

Sunggyu’s expression turned polite. “Thank you very much…”

“My name is Krystal Jung, seonbae,” Krystal said quickly, flashing another charming grin at him.

“Jung?” he mused. “Well, I–”

There was a sudden hush as everyone quieted, turning their attention to the end of the hallway where Tiffany Hwang made her entrance. She was the perfect match for Sunggyu - beautiful, smart and rich; she even had a lovely voice to match his. They were dubbed the golden couple, but they weren’t together because they were obliged to – Tiffany was glowing with happiness and love for her boyfriend.

All of Sunggyu’s fans muttered and eyed her distastefully, but retreated to a respectable distance from Sunggyu. Tiffany ignored them all and cooed, “Sunggyu-ah!”

Krystal sighed enviously, but the game was over, and as always, Tiffany Hwang had won. She bowed her head, taking a few steps back into the crowd.

Someone stepped forwards, and there was a split-second of shock where Krystal realised that it was Sunggyu, before he leant down and kissed her. She stared at him, eyes huge with confusion and surprise, until her mind caught up with her body.

Her eyes fluttered shut, and she swooned as Sunggyu cupped her cheek, bringing her closer to him. In return, Krystal wrapped her arms around his neck as the fire in her mind and body consumed her, drowning everything else out.

 Suddenly, a slender hand grasped Krystal’s arm and wrenched her away from Sunggyu. She stumbled back, wincing at the tight grip on her wrist, but as her eyes refocused, Krystal realised that Tiffany Hwang was standing before them both, and she was not happy.

With a hiss, Tiffany squeezed Krystal’s arm tightly until she yelped with pain, before throwing it down savagely, accompanied by a cold, hateful look. Krystal narrowed her eyes and glared back, lifting her chin proudly until Tiffany turned her attention to Sunggyu.

“What was that?!” Tiffany screamed. “Are you stupid? Are you blind? I’m your girlfriend, not her!” She pointed at Krystal. “Why were you kissing her?!”

Sunggyu stared coolly at her, the warmth and passion from before fading away. “That’s none of your business.”

“Yes, it is!” Tiffany scowled, breathing heavily. “Boyfriends don’t kiss other girls behind their girlfriend’s back, you know!”

“Well, it wasn’t exactly behind your back, was it?” Sunggyu glared and stepped closer to his girlfriend. “I made sure you saw – how else was I going to break up?” The entire hallway was silent, waiting expectantly for his next words. “Face it, Tiffany. We’re over. Don’t waste your time trying to get me back.”

Tiffany looked absolutely shattered by his words, and sure enough, tears began to fill her eyes. Brokenly, she whispered, “Oppa…” before storming off in a flurry of tears. Alternating between glaring at Sunggyu and worry over Tiffany, her friends soon followed.

Krystal gaped, stunned by what had just happened. Kim Sunggyu had broken up with the gorgeous Tiffany Hwang – the golden couple had finally broken up…and it was all because of me.

Nam Woohyun and Jang Dongwoo caught up with Sunggyu, grinning and laughing. Sunggyu shrugged them off, turning to his locker. Ignoring all the gifts, he retrieved his books and walked off to class with his friends.

Sunggyu stepped out of the class, laughing at different girls’ reaction to Woohyun’s fanservice. It was hilarious to the two of them that girls were so easily entertained by something that meant nothing to the boys.

“Oppa!” Both Woohyun and Sunggyu looked up to see a pretty, familiar-looking girl. “Sunggyu-oppa!”

Woohyun pouted at the rejection. “I’ll see you later, hyung.”

Irritated, Sunggyu sighed. He wasn’t in the mood for fangirls, but his parents had always told him to be polite, just in case a girl happened to be a rich heiress or something.

“Sunggyu-oppa!” the girl called again, beaming brightly as she stood in front of Sunggyu. “How was your class?”

“Oh, yeah, it was good,” he responded absently, ruffling his hair. “Look, I need to go now. See you around, okay?”

“Oh, okay,” the girl said, disappointed. “Bye, oppa!”

As Sunggyu left for his next class, he heard the girl’s enthusiastic voice behind him.

“Isn’t my boyfriend so sweet?”

Boyfriend? Sunggyu shook the thought off.

“Sunggyu-hyung! Is it true you have a girlfriend?” Lee Sungyeol snickered. “That was pretty quick.”

“Please, the girls are swarming for my attention,” Sunggyu snorted. “But no, I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“That’s not what the juniors are saying.” Kim Myungsoo, better known as L, sat down beside Sungyeol. “Some random girl called Jung Soojung is calling herself your girlfriend, and everyone seems to believe it.”

“Why would they believe her?” Sunggyu rolled his eyes. “I’m a free man, and I’m not about to be chained to another girl. Five months was more than enough.”

The hallways were crowded – not terribly so, but crowded to the point when it was getting difficult for Krystal to reach the cafeteria. She had remained unusually silent throughout the whole day, constantly day-dreaming and fantasising about the one and only Kim Sunggyu. It seemed she could hardly believe anything – on any other day, she would have been jumping around and screaming with joy.

“Snap out of it!” Sulli impatiently flicked her friend on the forehead. “You’re blocking the way!”

Startled, Krystal realised there was indeed a growing number of students behind her and quickened her pace. With years of practice, she dodged other students as they went their ways, sidestepping and swerving at the right times, and inevitably, her thoughts strayed to Sunggyu.

“Watch where you’re going!” a familiar voice snarled, and Krystal immediately backed up. Reluctantly, Krystal dragged her gaze up to make eye contact with none other than Tiffany Hwang.

Tiffany looked her up and down coolly, before a wicked gleam shone in her eyes. “Well, well, well,” she said. The students around them stopped talking, and like ripples in a pond, a hush spread throughout the hallway. “What do we have here?”

As Tiffany spoke, her friends – Choi Sooyoung, Kwon Yuri, Kim Hyoyeon and Im Yoona – came up behind her in a triangular formation, with Tiffany as the spearhead. Kim Taeyeon, Sunny Lee and Jessica – the only three girls from the same 8-membered group who were older (and therefore outranked) Tiffany – were nowhere to be seen.

Despite her previous resolve to stay under the radar, Krystal couldn’t keep shut. “Tell me, Tiffany Hwang,” Krystal began, her voice carrying in the silence, “does Jessica Jung know about what you’re doing?”

“What does it matter to you?” Tiffany narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

“Don’t you know?” Krystal lifted her chin proudly. “My name is Krystal Jung, and my sisters definitely won’t approve of what you’re doing.”

The older girl stared at Krystal for a few moments, before she answered, “Well, Krystal, your sister doesn’t need to know, does she? And I’m sure Soomin is too busy to come to the rescue right now.”

Even though she knew Tiffany’s words were true, Krystal didn’t back down. Although it would have been amazing if her other older sister had emerged from the library and come to her rescue, it was most unlike Soomin to pay that much attention to her.  “What do you want with me?”

“I just wanted to ask you a few questions,” Tiffany said silkily. “Like how long have you and Sunggyu been going around my back.”

“We haven’t. Even if we were, why should I tell you?” Krystal said boldly

“Are you talking back to me?” Tiffany snarled, and without warning, she pinned Krystal to a nearby locker. Behind them Luna and Sulli screamed in protest, but Yuri and Yoona were quick to silence them.

Krystal dully registered the pain on the back of her head where Tiffany had slammed her into the lockers and the pinching grip on her arms.  All she could see was the older girl’s furious face, her ears ringing with Tiffany’s yells.

“Tell the truth, you little ! How long have you been seeing him behind my back? Tell me! I said, tell me!” Tiffany shook her wildly, her eyes almost crazed. “HOW LONG?!”

Krystal shut her eyes and screamed, “I don’t, I don’t!” Her feeble attempts to push Tiffany away only enraged the older girl. “I don’t know him! I’ve never talked to him before today, okay! Let go!”

For a few, peaceful moments, her vision went black; when she regained consciousness, she was sprawled against the lockers. Above her, Tiffany stared coldly at her. It was like a switch had been flipped – where there had once been anger and desperation and fury, there was nothing but faint tear tracks on her face.

“Get up.”

Krystal’s eyes flickered open, the throbbing in her head getting worse. Her voice came out in a raspy whisper. “What?”

“I said, get up.” Without warning, a slim hand shot out and hauled Krystal to her feet, where she half-fell against the locker for support. Her legs shook beneath her, and she could feel herself slipping, but once again Tiffany grabbed the front of her uniform and pulled her. “And stay up.”

Blinking slowly, Krystal tried to focus her eyes on the hallway. Many students had drifted away, not interested in the soon-to-be-scandal, but enough had remained to form a crowd. Of her friends, she could only see Sulli and Luna; the rest had disappeared, not wanting to be associated with Krystal any longer.

Her eyes refocused on Tiffany, now pacing leisurely in front of her. The steady click-clack of her shoes was slow and deliberate, echoing in the silence. The senior girl looked deep in thought though her gaze was always on Krystal, disdainful but calculating.

By the time Tiffany opened to speak, the tension had built up to the point where Krystal could almost feel it.

“Poor Krystal.” Tiffany’s voice was laden with false sympathy, and pity had replaced her concentration. Her unexpected words caused a ripple of whispers to spread through the crowd.

“Poor, lovesick, Krystal,” Tiffany said in a sickly sweet voice. “So innocent…so naïve.”

Krystal swallowed nervously and her lips. “I…”

“Too hung up on Kim Sunggyu to notice who he truly was,” Tiffany continued. “Who he truly is.” Her lips curved into a knowing smile, and she met Krystal’s confused gaze with a confident, triumphant one of her own.

Despite her firm resolve, Krystal knew she was wavering. Tiffany knew Sunggyu in a way that Krystal didn’t, and now her words had planted a miniscule seed of doubt in Krystal’s heart, growing in that very moment.

The younger girl shut her eyes tightly. “What…what do you mean?” Even though her voice was nothing but a faint whisper, Tiffany knew what she was asking. 

“Do you really want to know, Krystal Jung?” Tiffany asked.

“…Yes.”

“Poor Krystal,” Tiffany repeated, and then she asked, “Don’t you know? He’s using you.” She continued her explanation, enjoying Krystal’s stunned expression. “He’s using you….to get back at me.” Once again, murmurs and gasps sounded in the hallway. With a triumphant expression, Tiffany continued. “All those rumours about you and Sunggyu dating – they’re all lies. I bet Sunggyu doesn’t even remember you.”

Fury pulsed along with her racing heartbeat; with a hiss of pain, Krystal straightened her back and glared defiantly at Tiffany. “You’re lying. You’re just jealous and bitter that Sunggyu chose me and not you.”

Tiffany shrugged off the insults easily. “You’re right, of course,” she said airily. “I was jealous at first, but now I know the truth – Sunggyu doesn’t love you. He doesn’t even remember your name, because you were nothing but an excuse to break up with me.”

Krystal closed her eyes and let her tears fall for a moment before she angrily wiped them away. “Let’s go ask him, shall we?” She stared defiantly at Tiffany, gazing directly into her eyes.

“Lead the way,” Tiffany said mockingly, a cruel and predatory smirk spreading across her face.