It was Monday and time for work again. Krystal wasn't able to sleep for the rest of the weekend. Sure, she was angry at Sung Yeol. She had been so thankful because her parents had smiled again, but Sung Yeol just undermined the whole meaning of that by calling it an act. 

"That jerk," she muttered under her breath, "And all I said was nice things to you."

She slipped on a pretty blouse over herself and checked herself in the mirror. 

"Hmph," she scoffed. 

She decided purposely to wear nice clothes to work. 

"I'll show that kid."

She took a deep breath. She had taken the whole day yesterday to think things through.

"Sung Yeol..." she murmured to herself, "Lee Sung Yeol...I hate you."

But she ended up laughing to herself in the mirror. 

"Krystal-ah!" her mother called to her before she went out the door.

"Yeah, Mom?" 

Mrs. Jung handed Krystal a lunch box.

"For you and Sung Yeol to share. I made lunch for two."

"Ah..." Krystal awkwardly accepted it, "Actually, he isn't coming for work today."

"Oh, really?" Mrs. Jung dismayed, "Still, take it! Nobody's gonna be home for lunch. Why don't you share it with a friend?"

"Krystal!" a familiar voice shouted from behind. 

It was Minhyuk.

"Ah!" Mrs. Jung ran out to greet him, "Minhyuk-ah! Are you going to work as well?" 

"Haha," Minhyuk laughed, "Yup."

"This is great!" she exclaimed, "Can you drive my daughter to work?"

"Mom...no..." Krystal refused, "I was gonna take the bus."

"Also!" Mrs. Jung ran over and snatched the lunch box from Krystal, "I told Krystal to share this with her friend, so I really hope that you eat a lot of it!" 

Minhyuk carefully took it in his hands and made eye contact with Krystal. She swiftly looked away. 

"Bye!" Mrs. Jung waved from outside the car window. 

Krystal sat nervously in the passenger seat. There was no conversation for some time, until Minhyuk broke the silence. 

"I..." Minhyuk started.

She could tell he was anxious.

"You what?" she snapped. 

"I took care of Victoria."

"What?" Krystal responded in a louder tone than she planned.

Minhyuk couldn't help but chuckle. She was cute when she was surprised. 

"Yeah," he suddenly felt accomplished.

But Krystal shoved his shoulder instead.

"What?" 

This time Minhyuk was surprised. 

"Do you really think that she'll just let you off that easily?" Krystal laughed. 

"She said fine, though..."

"Minhyuk-ah," Krystal sighed, "Why are you trying so hard to almost get rid of her? She doesn't seem like a bad person and she's really pretty. She has a lot to offer you."

Minhyuk grit his teeth. 

"And from the looks of it," Krystal faced him, "You guys seem really comfortable around each other."

"Krystal, the reason why is---"

"So if the reason was because of me," Krystal sighed, "Don't do it anymore."

Minhyuk stopped the car. The cars behind them started honking. 

"What?" 

"Minhyuk-ah!" Krystal yelled, "Pull over!" 

Once the car was settled at the side of the street. 

"What are you talking about?" Minhyuk demanded.

"I...I still like you," Krystal stated heavily.

"Then what I did is the best for both of us!" Minhyuk argued, "I...I like you Krystal! I like you too!"

Krystal leaned her head back on the seat. 

"You can call me a selfish , but," she explained calmly, "I realized that I want to have a love that won't cause so much pain."

"Any love will cause pain."

"Yeah, but what would you choose?" Krystal asked Minhyuk, staring straight at him this time, "A love expecting hurt or a love expecting happiness? With you, I know there's going to be a lot of difficult obstacles to get through just to stay by your side and I'm just not up for that. And when I'm with you, even now, I harbor this feelings of loneliness. It's like, there's a part of you that I can't touch."

"Krystal, that's not---"

"But with Sung Yeol," Krystal continued, "I'm not sure of my feelings exactly for him yet, but I feel really happy with him. He feels like my best friend kinda and whenever he jokes around it makes me laugh, and even my parents; they smiled for the first time in ages because of him, and even if he says it's all an act..."

Krystal felt a teardrop fall into her lap.

"...I want to stay with him."

Minhyuk's hands balled into fists.

"You don't even know if you like him!" 

"But I want to see what else there is for the two of us!" Krystal cried, "I want to get to know him more."

"This is just your curiosity!" Minhyuk tried to explain, "Krystal, please don't throw away this chance with me!" 

"See?" Krystal said, "You're talking as if you won't like me anymore tomorrow. You're acting as if you're just giving me this one time."

"That's not what I meant!"

"But Sung Yeol, you see, I can trust him."

"You can't trust that guy!" Minhyuk shouted. 

"No, you're wrong," Krystal stated firmly and opened the car door, "I'm saying this beause I can trust him."

She slammed the door shut and decided to walk the rest of the way to work. She felt tears streaming down her face. She still liked Minhyuk, but something inside was telling her that it was wrong to be him. She turned around. Minhyuk's car was already gone. 

"Wow," she was in disbelief, "He just left."