Out of all her sister’s group members, Tiffany Hwang is her favorite. Krystal has never actually said it out loud because like her sister, expressing her feelings isn’t her strongest suit. She’s also half-convinced that if she did say it out loud, Yoona and Sunny would unleash their devastating pouts on her and Krystal doesn’t think she could stomach that amount of cuteness.

She remembers being twelve and Jessica bringing Tiffany home during pizza night and the duo’s less than successful attempt at making garlic bread. Jessica had given her one of the pieces from the reject pile because that’s just what her sister did at that age. She remembers Tiffany looking at her plate and going, “Here, Soojung, have mine. It’s not as burned as yours. Jessi’s just being a meanie.”

Most important of all, she remembers countless instances over the years of the cheerful girl coaxing brilliant smiles and raucous laughter from her normally reticent sister.

When the actress that Jessica had been dating in secret for almost a year broke up with her, Tiffany had been the first one by her side, the first one to make her smile again. Overall, making Jessica happy again had been a group effort but Tiffany was first then and so she is first now as Krystal’s favorite.

*

Krystal is now used to coming home and seeing something of Tiffany’s or Taeyeon’s around the apartment, like a pink bracelet by the sink or a snapback on the couch. But with her schedule of waking up early and coming home late at night, she hasn’t actually seen either or both of them in person since that unfortunate day last week.

It’s close to two in the morning when she finally comes home from a promotional event with the other girls. She just wants to fall face first into her bed and go to sleep. Her stomach growls and she amends her plan. Get something to eat first and then go sleep like the dead.

“Oh, Soojung-ah. Welcome home.”

Krystal nearly lets out a yelp at the voice. She hadn’t been expecting Jessica to still be up but when she finally gets her heart to calm down and her eyes to focus, she realizes it hadn’t been her sister that had startled her.

“Tiffany unnie,” she says with a small bow of her head. What are you doing here, she wants to ask but she recognizes the shirt the older girl is wearing and the answer is obvious enough. “What are you doing up?”

Tiffany gives her that famous smile of hers and it’s not hard to figure out why her sister fell for this girl. “I woke up and had a craving,” she explains, gesturing to her bowl of ice cream. “Want some?”

Her stomach growls again and Krystal doesn’t think twice before grabbing a spoon and settling down next to Tiffany. Ice cream will have to do.

“So…Jessi told me you two talked.”

This really isn’t a conversation Krystal is up to having right now; she’s too hungry and too tired. She just wants to pass the time in silence but Tiffany is giving her this look and she supposes that after the older girl was nice enough to share her ice cream, the least she could do is answer.

She lets the ice cream melt on her tongue before giving a simple nod and going for another spoonful.

“And you’re honestly okay with this?”

Again, Krystal nods wordlessly. The few times she’s actually seen her sister this past week, there was no denying how happy she looked even when she was just fiddling on her phone.

“That’s really good to hear. Here, Soojung-ah, you can have the rest.”

Krystal doesn’t even bother to put up a polite protest, she’s that hungry. When she finishes inhaling the rest of the ice cream, she looks up to see Tiffany looking at her with an indulgent, affectionate smile. It’s only then that she realizes her poor manners and blushes, mumbling a small apology.

But of course, Tiffany is Tiffany and it doesn’t even faze her. “Do you want me to fix you a sandwich before I go back to bed?”

She shakes her head, wiping with the back of her hand. It’s fine to make Jessica do things for her like make her food but it’s another thing to get her sister’s girlfriend to do it, even if the girlfriend is someone Krystal has known for almost half her life. She’ll make her own sandwich.

Tiffany stands up and ruffles Krystal’s hair. “Alright. Good night, Soojung-ah. Sweet dreams.”

“Fany unnie?” Krystal finally speaks and the older girl turns back towards her with a curious look. She hesitates. Sentimental words have never been her thing and anything overly sappy tends to give her a stomach ache but she remembers the smile on her sister’s face just talking on the phone - to Tiffany or Taeyeon, she couldn’t tell and maybe that’s the point - and something in her feels compelled to say something to the other girl. “Jessica unnie has been really happy lately. So...thank you.”

The smile Tiffany gives her is softer than the one she’s become famous for but no less beautiful. Maybe even more beautiful because Krystal knows she doesn’t smile like this often. “She makes me really happy. They both do.”

Krystal doesn’t really know what to say to that but she tries to anyway. “I - “

The sound of a door opening cuts her off and then a groggy “Fany-ah?”

“Be right there, TaeTae!” Tiffany calls out and when she turns to Krystal, the younger girl just smiles and shakes her head. Never mind.

"Goodnight, unnie."

"Night, sweetie."

*

If someone were to ask Krystal to rank the girls in SNSD besides her sister, it would go a little like this:

1. Tiffany

2. Yoona

3. Everybody else

.

.

.

8. Kim Taeyeon