With a gentle push, the door swung open. There was soft, eerie creak, almost deafening in the silence. Light from the hallway spilled through in a shining path, and as I stepped into the room, the shadows melted into the darkness.

“It’s past midnight.”

Silence.

“Do you remember the tale of Cinderella?” I asked softly, reaching behind me. The tips of my fingers brushed the door and I let it close, hoping my eyes would adjust to the darkness. “The girl who ran from the prince at the ball, and left her glass slipper behind. And now she’s taken it back.”

The last of the light gleamed against the knife in Krystal’s hand, but as the door clicked shut, I flicked the lights on. “Soomin.” twisted into a wry smile. “I knew you’d come.”

“So you should know why I came.”

“Of course I do,” Krystal said, but her voice was small and uncertain. We both glanced towards the knife, held in a grip so tight her knuckles were white. For a moment I hoped, watching as she made a conscious effort to loosen her fingers, but the knife stayed in her hand, ready to–

I stopped my train of thought. Krystal would never hurt me. I swallowed nervously and looked at her eyes again, drawing on whatever calm I had left in my body. “Will you tell me, then?”

“Tell you what?”

I couldn’t tell whether she was being deliberately difficult or not, but answered anyway. “Tell me about Sunggyu.”

“I don’t want to.” Her voice come out as little more than a whisper, and tears filled her eyes.

“Krystal, please.” I took a few steps closer, staring her down. “You can’t hide this forever. Just tell me what happened tonight.”

There was no refusal, but Krystal didn’t open . Instead, she gazed at me with eyes full of panic and fear. I couldn’t help but notice the way her hand clamped around the knife again.

“Once upon a time,” I began, voice wavering, “there was a beautiful young woman who called herself Krystal. She went to a party with her friends and her sisters, but there were also other people at the party, like a man named Kim Sunggyu.”

I gave her a small, encouraging smile for her to continue.

“The young woman was in love with Sunggyu until she turned 16, and she never forgave him for what he did,” she said quietly. “But a few days before the party, Sunggyu approached the woman. They talked and laughed together, and the woman thought that maybe things would be different this time.”

I saw her sad, heartbroken eyes and cursed inwardly. “Did you ever…sleep together?”

“Almost,” Krystal said. “We never talked about what happened, and I was hoping that he was going to apologise later, but then we were in bed and we were kissing and I told him I was ready, but someone walked in.” She blinked a few times, tears spilling over. “Sohyun was screaming at him, and I realised that he was seeing both of us at the same time. I really thought that he was different, but he wasn’t.”

“What happened after that?” I asked gently.

“I ran, and I told everything to Victoria and Amber and Luna and Sulli, and they were so angry at Sunggyu,” Krystal sobbed. “They wanted to get revenge, and I was just so hurt and angry, so I agreed. We just wanted to humiliate him, to leave him weak and helpless so he could see how much he had hurt everyone else.

“At the dance, Sulli took him to the room, and we tied him up and…well, you saw all the injuries he had. He was unconscious when we left, and Amber and Sulli wiped the security cameras after we were finished.

“But afterwards when we were back in the hall, nothing had changed. I still felt angry and hurt and I realised that our revenge hadn’t done anything. I still hated him, but nothing was going to help. So I went back but I was still in my dress and Sunggyu saw me. We gagged him before, but he’d managed to get if off, and when he saw me he just went crazy.”

“Krystal–”

“I didn’t mean to kill him, I swear!” Tears streamed down her face as she looked at me helplessly. ”He just started to yell at me and he called me a pathetic, clingy and he told me how he was going to ruin me and our family and my friends, and somehow he just remembered who I really was, and what had happened when we were younger, and he was just screaming and spitting and I was crying so much and I just wanted him to stop talking but he wouldn’t, not matter what I said or did, and he wouldn’t shut up – Soomin, I just wanted him to keep quiet!” Krystal burst into fresh tears and fell to her knees, dropping the knife in the process. She buried her face in her hands, sobbing loudly. “There was so much blood, there was blood everywhere, Soomin – it was warm and on my hands and on my dress and on my face and it was on the knife and everything was blood, I just couldn’t…” She was too hysterical to finish the sentence.

I knelt down and wrapped my arms around her. She was shaking so much, every sob rattling her fragile frame as she cried into my shoulder. “It’s okay, Krystal, it’s okay, everything’s going to be okay,” I whispered, and I realised I was crying as well. “We’ll get through this together, okay? We’re a family, and we’ll stick together – I love you, Krystal, I love you so much and you’re my little sister; I love you, Krystal–”

Krystal screamed.