D.O was disturbed from his peaceful slumber by the sound of his phone ringing. He lazily reached for it on the dresser next to his bed and looked at the caller ID. It was an unknown number. “Hello?” he said groggily, still half asleep.

“Hello, D.O-sunbae. It’s me, Krystal. I’m sorry for waking you up.” All the sleep went out of his system as soon as he heard her voice. To say he was surprised was an understatement to what he was feeling at the moment. He never thought Krystal would call him especially after the incident at the garden.

“Uhhmm, it’s fine but where did you get my number?”

“I got it from Chanyeol-sunbae. I hope you don’t mind.” She said apologetically before asking, “Are you free this evening?” D.O’s heart skipped a beat at the question but he stopped himself from being too hopeful.

“Yes, I am. Why do you ask?” he asked monotonously, hoping that she could not hear the anticipation in his voice from the other end of the line.

“I was hoping that we could get started on the project. I know it’s due next month, but I don’t want to wait until the last minute to start. If you don’t want to, I’ll just do half of the project on my own and you’ll do the other half later.” Krystal explained and D.O’s excitement deflated a little.

“Oh, sure. Let’s start on the assignment today. Do you want to meet at the public library?”

“No, the library is closed on Saturdays. How about you just come to my house instead?” Krystal asked hesitantly. Truthfully, she did not think that it was such a great idea to let him come to her house, but she had no other choice as all the books they needed for their research were at her house and she doubted that he had them at his house. Well, at least not all of them.

“Sounds good to me. I’ll see you at four?” he grinned to himself, loving the idea of getting a chance to know the new Soojung a little bit better.

“Okay, I’ll text you my address.” She said briefly before hanging up.

D.O glanced at the ticking clock on the wall. It was still early for him to start his usual weekend morning routine but he was too happy to go back to sleep. He rested his head on a pillow while staring blankly at the white ceiling above him. The boy could not help but smile like a child at the prospect of having a chance to show Krystal that he had truly changed and he was sincere to be her friend again.

He reached for the frame on his dresser and grinned at the picture of two children; a boy and a girl holding hands. The lad ran his thumb over the girl’s face and smiled affectionately.  “Soojungie, I truly miss you. Please, let me in again soon because I don’t know how much I could take you treating me like a stranger anymore.” D.O whispered to the girl in the picture, hoping that maybe somehow the real her would magically hear his pleas.

The address led him to a house on the outskirts of the city. It was not as big as Krystal’s previous mansion but it was definitely as big as his house if not, bigger. He was about to ring the bell when a female voice interrupted him, “You’re early. I thought you’re supposed to come at four.” D.O turned around and found a frowning Sulli behind him.

“Oh, hey Sulli-sshi. Yeah I’m a bit early. I thought it would take a long time to find her house so I left my house an hour early but it turns out that it’s really easy to find.” He smiled at the tall girl but quickly wiped it away when she gave him an icy look. An awkward silence fell upon them, so D.O proceeded to ring the bell to avoid it.

“I’m coming, wait just a second.” Krystal’s voice was heard from inside the house.

“Don’t ever try to bring up the past or ask her about her family.” Sulli warned, earning a confused look from the older boy. He was about to ask what she meant but Krystal was already standing in front of the door.

“You guys are earlier than I expected. Well, come on in.” Krystal invited them into the house with a warm smile.

D.O’s eyes scanned the interior of the house. It was not as he had expected. There were no decorations in her house; just a couple of furniture here and there and it looked really empty, somewhat abandoned. It was a complete contrast to her childhood home that was b with life, warmth and happiness. He noted that the walls were empty and plain; not even a single picture hung on it. He wanted to ask her but decided not to after he recalled Sulli’s warning.

Krystal led them to the study room on the second floor. He found himself amazed by the amount of books occupying the shelves. The room was spacious and was filled with many bookshelves. The books were organized in their specific genres and sections. This room was completely different from the other rooms in her house that he had seen so far.

“Wow, your study room is almost like the school’s library!” He exclaimed, causing the girl to chuckle lightly at the amusement evident in his eyes.

They sat down at a table that was situated nearest to the Biology section. Krystal and D.O went to look for the books they needed for their project in the Biology section while Sulli went to the Mathematics section to look for a reference book to help her understand the last topic she learnt at school better.

Krystal had to stand on tip toes to reach for the book she was looking for as it was on the highest level of the shelf. She gasped when she accidentally knocked over some books in the process. The girl prepared for the impact of the falling books on her body but it never came. Instead, she found herself safely wrapped in D.O’s arms, protected in his warm embrace.

D.O ignored the pain as the books fell onto him and focused on the comforting warmth of the girl in his arms instead. His heart beat erratically when he breathed in her sweet scent. God, he missed this girl so much and he wished he could stay with her like this forever. Unfortunately, every good thing has to come to an end. He was forced to let her go as she hastily pulled away from his embrace when Sulli yelled from the Mathematics section. “Soojungie, what was that loud noise I heard just now? Are you okay?” She asked, concerned about her best friend’s safety.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I accidentally knocked over some books, that’s all.” Krystal answered calmly even though her face was still crimson from embarrassment.

“Uh, okay then.” They heard Sulli chuckled before adding, “Be more careful next time, Soojungie.”

“Sunbae-nim, are you alright?” She was genuinely concerned about the doe eyed boy. Judging by the size and thickness of the books that had fallen on top of him, Krystal was pretty sure there would be some nasty bruises forming on his fair skin soon.

Seeing the worry and guilt in her eyes, he quickly flashed a smile that would make Chanyeol’s run for its money. “I’m fine. The books weren’t that heavy so you don’t have to worry.”

“I’m really sorry for the trouble, D.O-sunbae and thank you.” She bowed politely.

He smiled cheekily before giving her an affectionate pat on her head like he always did when they were young. A sudden wave of nostalgia hit her as he gently touched the top of her head. She quickly stopped herself from delving deeper into her thoughts and distracted herself with the task of putting the books back to their original places on the shelf.

They got started on the project as soon as they found all the materials needed. They split the work fairly and after a few hours, Krystal was already done with her half while D.O still had about four pages left to complete. She had worked very diligently for the past few hours; her nose buried in different books at all time while her hand scribbled furiously as if her life had depended on it, so it was not a surprise when she finished first.

Sulli groaned in frustration after she tried to solve the Math question for the third time and failed to get the right answer. “Soojungiiiee~!” She pouted cutely, trying to gain her best friend’s sympathy.

Krystal simply raised an eyebrow towards her in return. “Yes?”

“Can you solve this question for me please? If I don’t complete my Math homework, I’ll get in trouble with the teacher on Monday.” She pleaded with as much aegyo that she could muster.

Krystal sighed. She knew the taller girl would ask her to do something she would disapprove of when she acted cuter than usual. “Sulli-ah, you know I can’t do that. If I answered all the questions every time you can’t solve them, you’ll never learn.”

“But Soojungie, I really don’t know how to answer this question!” Sulli whined.

“How about if I teach you how to instead?” Krystal suggested.

“Fine, but if I still can’t understand you’ll have to answer it for me, okay?” She gave her the puppy dog eyes and grinned victoriously when Krystal agreed.

Krystal took Sulli’s work sheet and searched for the mistake she made. After she identified the the wrong step in Sulli’s calculation, she ushered the fair skinned girl to come closer so that she could explain it to her. “Everything is correct up to here. The mistake that you made is that you didn’t solve this equation first. You have to find the value of x by solving this equation before using it to replace the x in the other equation.”

“Oh, now I get it! Thanks, Soojungie.” She hugged the petite girl before going back to her seat with her work sheet in hand.

Both D.O and Sulli were busy with their own tasks, forcing Krystal to sit there quietly with nothing else to do. She thought of killing time by doing some reading but she decided against it when she felt sleepy. She folded her arms on the table and rested her head on them. Slowly, she fell asleep.

“Krystal-sshi, I’m-” D.O stopped in midsentence when he saw her sleeping soundly.

“I’m done with my work, are you done with yours?” Sulli whispered, careful not to wake the sleeping girl.

D.O nodded before asking, “What should we do about Krystal-sshi? Should we wake her up?”

“No, let her sleep. It’s already night time anyway. Let’s just carry her to bed.”

The boy carefully lifted Krystal and slowly carried her bridal style towards her room with Sulli’s direction. Sulli helped to open the door for them. D.O gently put her down onto the bed and pulled the blanket over her sleeping form. He froze when the sleeping girl grabbed his left hand and snuggled into his arm. “Kyungie oppa.” She mumbled in her sleep causing him to widen his eyes in surprise. “I miss you..” Her face was contorted with sadness and a lone tear rolled down her cheek.

Meanwhile, D.O was having mixed emotions. A part of him was happy that she still actually cared about him and a part of him felt guilty that even in her sleep, she could still feel the pain that he had inflicted on her heart. He caressed her beautiful face, not caring that Sulli was watching his actions. “Soojung-ah, I miss you too. That's why you have to give me another chance so that we could go back to being the inseparable duo and it'll be like old times again; you and me vs the world.” He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead before leaving the room with Sulli in tow.

“I’m going home. Do you need a ride?” D.O asked.

“No, thanks. I  told my mom I’d sleep over at Soojung’s tonight.” She shook her head and once again silence fell upon the two of them.

“Wait.” Sulli suddenly said when D.O was about to get into his car.

“Yes?” he looked at her questioningly.

“Look, I don’t know the details of what happened between the two of you in middle school, but what I do know is that she got hurt badly by you.”Sulli said with a frown while D.O looked down in shame. It was true that he was a complete jerk toward Krystal back then.

“Soojung told me that she wanted to forget everything that happened in the past but I don’t think it’s possible because there will always be a part of her that would hold on to the memories she had with you. She’s been through a lot and she deserves some happiness and you’re the only one who could make that possible. That’s why I beg you, if she gives you another chance, please don’t hurt her again. I don’t know how much more pain she could take before she finally crumbles.” Sulli wiped away the tears she unconsciously shed for her best friend.

“You don’t have to worry. I swear I won’t let her down again.” He smiled reassuringly to her before igniting the engine and drove away.