1. A Girl in Workplace

It was universally acknowledged that a man in profession of artist was messy, from his workplace to his life, unplanned things here and there, with lots of sudden inspiration out of nowhere.

But Kang Minhyuk was far from that, in fact, he was an excellent organizer with everything planned in details—even one tiny detail never escaped his tiny little eyes. He had his life scheduled from the morning he woke up until the night he slept, maybe that’s how he became such an accomplished manhwaga which never once missed the deadline—he had finished it way long time before deadline as impossible as it sounded.

As a neat freak, his workplace was never out of place, everything in accurate order from his manhwa collection to his tools. So when he came to work this morning, he didn’t expect there was something in his desk, because he remembered the exact places of things, and this one wasn’t there the last time he left.

Especially if that something was a gorgeous girl in school uniform that creepily looked like—

“Krystal? Is that Krystal? I had just finished her tone yesterday—Oh! Am I still dreaming? Do you happen to make a real life size of her? Wait—WHY IS SHE MOVING?!”

A shrieking Junhee, her assistant, on his side wasn’t really helping Minhyuk to think. He was sure an intelligent young man, but he too was sure even genius found it hard to give any proper reaction in this kind of situation.

“What is this gibberish place?” the girl said with a face pure of disgust. She sat on his work desk looking all intimidating, arms folded in an arrogant posture he knew all too well from long hours drawing the exact same one.

When he started drawing manhwa, he never really expected it to become real. Like seriously real. So he never bothered to make a nicer character. Now, he hoped he had.

***

2. A Girl Who Came Out of Manhwa

Krystal was a typical antagonist in a school life manhwa, a snobbish perfect girl who hated the so-called ordinary main character. Long straight shiny hair, porcelain skin, perfectly sculptured face, tall gorgeous body, and yet still added with the superb brain and wealthy parent on her back. The type of perfect every girl envied of.

And that sparkling eyes of admiration in Junhee’s eyes said so. Minhyuk wondered if he really needed to find himself a saner assistant. Almost all his assistants were far from normal, especially this Choi Junhee. But she got the work done and was good at it too. So he really didn’t have place to complain.

“Who are you?” the girl spoke, her arm still crossed, and her eyes stared intensely. Like really intense. Minhyuk felt weirdly intimidated. How was it possible to be intimidated by something that came from his own imagination?

“That’s supposed to be my question,” Minhyuk finally found his tongue, and brain—thanks God it still functioned well, “this is my place after all. Are you cosplaying? How do you even get in?”

“You’re not answering my question.” She didn’t look too pleased, but she had been looked like that to begin with. Minhyuk remembered make that expression as default face so that the character became more intimidating. Well, he now sure it was intimidating.

“You’re a fan, are you? You’re cosplaying as Krystal?” Minhyuk asked again as composed as possible, because he was a mature adult that no young girl would likely looked down on.

The girl looked at him like he was crazy, and Minhyuk too started to believe that he was crazy.

“I am Krystal,” she deadpanned, “And I am not a fan of anything, ever. Why would I cosplaying as myself?” With her brows never really got any distant.

Minhyuk’s eyes widened, as big as that tiny slits could open, bewildered. “Then you just jumped out of the paper?” Although he said it in perfect ease and calamity, now, he did sound a little crazy.

“What?”

The manhwaga sighed and reached his bookshelf, one that contain his recent works, pulled one out and opened one of many pages that he remembered all too well, “this here is Krystal,” he said, pointed the lone figure of Krystal Jung, “and looked exactly the same as you. Either you put a really good effort in cosplaying and also lying, or this is some kind of a sick joke that a drawing can possibly jump out of the book?”

“There’s a manhwa based on me?” Her face brightened. The look of amazement in her face made Minhyuk realized that she was a kid—a young teenage girl at least, with the hint of excitement that she tried hard to cover but obvious nevertheless. It’s kind of endearing.

But it didn’t last for long until the mighty frown made it home again in the pretty face. It added with a little anger too. “It didn’t base on me. It is Sulli’s!”

“Well, no one said you’re the main character…” Junhee blurt out after kept shut for a long while. Minhyuk knew his assistant was a bit bold, but he didn’t know Junhee had a little tact. She got the lesson at least, after got death glare from the other girl. Minhyuk could only hope Junhee didn’t really die, or else he seriously needed to find a saner assistant.

***

3. A Lost Girl

Minhyuk hardly ever left his workplace until he went home late in the night—if only his apartment wasn’t next door, maybe he would sleep right there in his desk. No wonder he was a bit stunned when he finally went out during the day, greeted by the strange yet familiar surroundings nonetheless.

It had been so long since the last time he had gone out after all, apart from buying necessary things he needed for works or daily supplies. He remembered drawing this neighborhood in his work but a lot had changed since then. It was quite a pleasure walk he had, stopping from a routine for awhile to observe the change, one of his hobbies before he became the busy man he was right now.

But the changes made Krystal scared the most, because now she realized that she was nowhere near familiar. She still couldn’t believe she was a fictional character coming out from books. But the fact that everything moved faster than her usual normal and all the difference here, she at least sure she was not supposed to be here, that she was indeed lost.

“This is not Gangnam.” Krystal strongly stated. She glared at Minhyuk, but the latter found that her eyes were in fact sort of terrified more than angry—despite her attempt to act tough. Minhyuk could be the one who confused—and scared, which he would never admit because he was a mature man—by the whole ordeal, but the one whom suddenly appeared in world she never known before must be more than terrified. “I want to go home! This is not Gangnam!”

“I draw the Gangnam that you know last year and a lot has happened in a year…  But your house and neighborhood were never existed in the first place.” Maybe he should have lie a little, honesty was always harsh, and the girl beside him was only a teenager in tough mask after all. But maybe it wasn’t Junhee but Minhyuk was the one who had a little tact.

Krystal hands were shaking, she looked so vulnerable, and Minhyuk had no idea how to comfort her, it wasn’t like he himself knew what happened—he hadn’t even have a slightest idea what was happening. Minhyuk hated being useless, having no control or plan over things.

“There’s an ice-cream parlor at the end of the street…” He suddenly said, breaking the almost solemn silence.

“I know that place,” her voice was quivering—she was on her edge to cry, so Minhyuk hold his urged to snort and told her that he was the one who made her knew that, he wasn’t as tactless as Junhee okay—or so he thought. “I’m not a little girl you could persuade with ice-cream.” She then added, sounding especially strong with her sentence.

“Yes, I know…” He said. Voice so soft like he was cooing a little girl, persuading, and yet assuring her that he knew—He knew she was strong.

“I want to go home…” she whispered, he could hear a pout in her voice, but Minhyuk knew better that she was not whining, she was just that desperate.

“Okay, let’s go home, then,” Minhyuk gave his best smile, one he never really realized he had, one from deep inside his heart, warm and more or less like home. His hand patted the girl head so carefully trying not to break her more than she had already had.

It was a strong sentence. By all means Minhyuk had no idea how to send her back to her real home. Even if he referred to other home, his home, it was still a strong sentence. It’s mean he would gave home to the lost girl—it was a promise to give her home.

“Can’t we stop by the parlor first?” the girl finally looked up to face him, she looked so hopeful. Minhyuk had difficulty not to pinch her cheek—she was that cute, Minhyuk almost lost his control—because if he did that, the magic would break and the mighty frown would definitely come back. So, instead he smiled again and nodded.

“And then we go home.”

“Home, huh?” The girl repeated the words, no longer sad, but not really happy either. She just felt fine about it.

So she smiled back to Minhyuk, just a little—tip of slightly bend, but enough to make the older of the two’s heart beat faster.

***

4. A Jealous Girl

Junhee was not exactly a broke college student, but her life was already difficult as it was. Minhyuk could not bear to give her extra person to feed and load in her tiny studio apartment for God knew how long. Especially that Krystal didn’t exactly easy person to be taken care of. Beside Junhee had a long day of class if she didn’t work, and leaving Krystal all alone all day in her current state of knowing nothing didn’t sit well in Minhyuk’s logic.

Krystal missed her home. And his apartment was after all the most inspiration Minhyuk got for Krystal’s house, the closest things to her home, so it only logical for her to live there for the time being. Beside, Minhyuk had a guest room. This was all about doing the logical things—Minhyuk tried to believe.

“I don’t think she would fit or like my clothes, so I’ll bring Choa’s.” Junhee said while putting a bag of clothes in the sofa, “She couldn’t walk around forever in a uniform, right?”

Krystal took a quick look on the bag, it was not the best clothes, but beggars couldn’t be a chooser, so she was still relieve she didn’t have to wear Junhee’s flowery and lacey dress. Junhee had a little tact to consider that at last—Krystal approved.

“I owe her meals,” Minhyuk then replied, “we could go to that one big restaurant when she back to Seoul, okay?”

“You know you don’t have to do that, Min.” Both Junhee and Minhyuk laughed. Krystal suddenly felt she was invisible, and she didn’t like that feelings very much. And wasn’t Minhyuk supposed to be Junhee’s Boss? What’s with the nickname! Not that Krystal cared so much—maybe just a little bit that she would never admit—but she didn’t like to be ignored.

“You want to have dinner first before go?” Was Minhyuk supposed to cook only for her? Krystal thought, Minhyuk promised to cook for her, and so it supposed to be only for her!

Junhee shook her head, “Even if this is a rare chance to eat something you cook, busy person is busy, so no. I had a lot of homework to do.”

Krystal didn’t like to be ignore, she was always the center of attention, and a ‘cutie’ little girl could never take that away from her. So she coughed, a vigorously loud one, with a lot of conviction that the two others couldn’t help but looked at her. Junhee tried not to laugh and gave a meaningful look at the other girl. And Minhyuk just frowned, confused.

“I think I have to go now…” Junhee quickly said, her eyes still gave quite evidence of meaningfulness—whatever that supposed to mean—then she half-ran to the door. She had had enough murderous glares that day after all, she didn’t need another. Oh and yes, Junhee had more than a little tact, mind you.

“Are you okay?” Minhyuk asked not so long after he sent Junhee outside, completely oblivious. The self-declared genius could be painfully clueless sometimes.

“No, I’m not okay,” Krystal scowled, “I’m hungry.”

Basically, she didn’t lie; hungry was a not okay feeling.

Minhyuk smiled again when he looked at Krystal because of her cuteness and all the endearment. But the heart that did somersault was Krystal’s.

***

5. A Girl Next Door

There were a lot of things Krystal was curious about, but she never really asked that to Minhyuk, in fact she didn’t talk much at all in the past few months she live with him. Krystal only stared at things with really suspicious look, observing it until she got her answer and she would nod to herself in understanding.

Everything with ‘sound’ fascinated her, because in her world she was hearing things but never really heard a sound, it felt different. Krystal was sometimes easily startled to basic movement too, everything moved too sudden for her, so Minhyuk always talked—even if she hardly ever talked to him—and walked really slowly when she was around.

Minhyuk showed her music, a real world’s music—he pulled out all his albums collection—and Krystal looked like she was in love.

“I never heard music this… ‘alive’ before…” Krystal sighed mostly to herself. But Minhyuk smiled anyway. All things that made Krystal happy tugged something inside his heart, and he could never help himself but smiled.

“A friend of mine is a musician, he invited me to his exclusive concert next Sunday,” Minhyuk started, and Krystal turned to look at him in both interest and confusion—maybe a little bit anticipation too, “Do you want to go with me?”

Krystal opened then closed it again, in a flash, Minhyuk saw her cheeks turned red.

“Only if we go to the ice-cream parlor again…” she chirped quietly, looking everywhere but Minhyuk. Nevertheless, her red ears and a corner of her smile could be seen clearly as a day anyway.

“Everything for you,”

And Krystal turned—much more, if that even possible—redder than ever.

Minhyuk said that to , but he felt his face getting hotter too.

***

6. A Girls’ Days Out

For her whole live, Krystal only had one best friend, who left her, and none existence of girl friends—well, there was Sulli, but… she was a protagonist. So Krystal had no idea what would it be to shopping with—sort of—girl friend. Krystal never needed to shop because she had everything in her wardrobe to be the most stylish girl in the school, just like that. It was a manhwa’s life after all. Krystal realized slowly but sure that her life were in fact unrealistic.

“Wow,” Junhee looked amazed all over again, “your so-called allowance was far higher than my monthly salary.”

Junhee was an okay girl after known her better enough. In most days when Minhyuk was working and Krystal was bored from watching all dramas and movies, she would visit the workplace next door. But Minhyuk was really busy by then, so Krystal spent time bonding with Junhee.

It was easy with her since both of them were the same kind of blunt person and she was the only one who knew—beside Minhyuk—the truth. Minhyuk’s other assistants knew her as Soojung, the cousin who visited for a while—some of them bend the stories and said she ran away from home because she was arranged married but she was in love with Minhyuk. What a drama. If only they knew the crazy truth—it was more scandalous than a mere drama.

“He doesn’t have to give me allowance, though. I’d never used it anyway.”

“Well, you used it now,” Junhee grinned cheekily, “to buy clothes for your date with hiiim.” She dragged her last word in a very annoying manner until Krystal thought she needed to review again her conclusion of ‘Junhee was okay’.

“Shut up,”

“This is so cute. Both of you are so cute.” Junhee giggled and squealed like a mad fangirl who had just witnessed ‘a moment’ from their favorite pairing. All hail the ship! All hail HyukStal!

“Remind me again why I asked your help…”

“Because you’re incapable of thinking if it comes to Minhyuk-oppa,” she answered immediately and earned a glare from the other girl. But after months, Junhee had already immune to the death glare, because behind the glare, Krystal was only a girl who only got cuter when angry.

When they finally really went shopping, Junhee found out that Krystal wasn’t really the stylish Krystal from the manhwa she assisted making. She was a normal plain teenager, not necessarily all fashionable, but just enough to be awed to.

Junhee sighed, “Everything you wear looks good, so unfair.” was what Junhee said after seeing Krystal trying every clothes.

So unfair, Krystal repeated in her thought, so unreal.

But Krystal wanted to be fair.

Krystal wanted to be real.

***

7. A Girl on a Date

Back in high school, Minhyuk used to date a girl named Lee Bona, a spoiled rich girl but had a good heart nonetheless. She was his first love, the one who appeared to be tough and mean. They didn’t last for long, and later Bona found her true love in their class president. But still, she was the one who inspired Krystal’s character. Maybe it was because Minhyuk always saw Bona in Krystal that Minhyuk thought he had fallen for her, but the Krystal beside him right now was more than Bona.

Krystal was much more complex than a mere character he drew late at night on a rush deadline, he was more than sketch inspired by his first love. Krystal’s wrinkle in the corner of her eyes ad stars deep inside her eyes wasn’t his drawing.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Krystal asked when she realized Minhyuk wasn’t enjoying the show as much as she was. “Why aren’t you looking at your friend?”

“I saw his concert back in our dorm every single day,” Minhyuk laughed, and he didn’t know how much longer he could see her like this, will she suddenly vanished like she suddenly appeared?

“But your friend was really great! His voice was made in heaven!”

Minhyuk frowned, “I can sing too!” he said defensively, “I can sing better than he!”

Maybe he said that a little too loudly, because suddenly there was a static sound and a voice that booming “Then sing in front of here, Kang Minhyuk!”, the person on the mini podium said, followed by a shout and a laugh from nearby table.

“I swear I’d kill Jungshin and Yonghwa-hyung,” Minhyuk cursed under his breath.

The man with the guitar in the stage smiled widely and walked down from his seat to the table where Minhyuk and Krystal sat—with the lighting following him of course. “Sorry, I stole your date for a moment then…” the man with dimple said to Krystal, dragging Minhyuk in his arms.

When Minhyuk and the dimple man back in the stage, the clap erupted, the dimple man calmed the small crowd of audience and smiled wickedly—or so Minhyuk thought. “Everyone, we had a special guest today, the famous young manhwaga and my best friend, Kang Minhyuk!”

“So, today was a special day, since this is the first time in a while the busy man here came to my concert, and bring a date on top of it, so to honor the special girl, Kang Minhyuk will sing a song both of us wrote back in collage for her.”

Minhyuk face contorted into somehow like a constipated face, but the two thumbs Krystal gave him made it much more breathable. So when the dimple man gave him the microphone, Minhyuk managed to not throw it away.

The intro started and Minhyuk started to sing, but it was only because the one he saw wasn’t the crowd, but Krystal alone.

… From a very long time ago
I know that you are the love I’ve been dreaming of…

Minhyuk sang in his sweet voice, locking eyes with the sweet girl.

Minhyuk didn’t know Krystal was real or not, because she was always be the girl he dreamt of meeting and how was Minhyuk supposed to know?

 

8. A Lonely Girl

The last time Minhyuk had roommates was in college, one from the same hometown as him, Ilsan, and two others from Busan. Jungshin and Yonghwa could be a little loud sometimes, and Jonghyun with his guitar wasn’t really quiet either. But they were mostly quiet so it didn’t really make any difference when he lived alone. Even though it could be lonely sometimes, but he got used to it.

Krystal wasn’t a loud roommate, there was not much difference either, but he felt no longer lonely. And Minhyuk didn’t know that was a good sign or not.

“You haven’t slept yet?” Minhyuk asked after finding Krystal in his living room in the middle of the night. There were pills of books beside her, and after looked at it a bit longer, Minhyuk knew it was his manhwa she was reading. “That’s a lot of volume you have read…”

“Hmmm…” She said shortly, didn’t really put effort to look at Minhyuk. 

“You need to sleep now, it is almost midnight…”

“Even my parent never said things like that to me,” Krystal muttered, “Oh you must have known that, since you’re the one who make it like that.”

 “What do you mean?”

“You know what I meant!” shouted her while throwing the book she read before to Minhyuk. Krystal stood up and ran to her room, leaving confused Minhyuk with his own books.

Maybe Minhyuk used to lonely feeling and kind of making his character feeling the same way. He might have forgotten that lonely was a horrible feeling. No one wanted to be alone.

Minhyuk opened the book that Krystal had thrown earlier, skimming the story he knew like the back of his hand once again. And yes. He knew this part. The when the main character realized her best friend lied to her and she finally could be together with the male lead. One where the reader sighed in relieves after all the struggle the main character had all the chapters before.

And no one ever took a second thought for the antagonist, except all the hatred.

Minhyuk knew this part. The when Sulli realized that her best friend, Krystal, had lied to her so that Sulli and Kai would never could be together—because Krystal hated Sulli’s perfect life, one where she was loved by everyone and no one ever loved Krystal—and Sulli finally could be together with Kai… But what about Krystal?

What about Krystal?

***

9. A Mean Girl

When Kang Minhyuk started drawing manhwa, he never expected it to become real, he never expected to be this attached—he had felt connected with his creation before, but not Krystal-attached—and he surely never expected to be this worried about anyone.

“Are you sure she is okay?” Minhyuk asked again, voice laced with too much concern, the person on the other end of the phone could almost imagine how much crease his forehead could make. “Did you buy her Korean beef? It would make her felt better.”

“Are you crazy, Oppa? Do you think I can afford that much??” a shout from another line was heard.

“Then I should go to your apartment, Junhee-yah, I will buy Korean beef on the way.”

“No, no. Please, Oppa. Just give her some time…” there was silence on the other line, “Give her and yourself some time…”

When Kang Minhyuk started drawing manhwa, he never expected it to become real. But when Krystal suddenly appeared at his workplace, he expected her to suddenly disappear again, so now Minhyuk was afraid, he didn’t have some time to give, anytime would be the last time he saw Krystal, anytime she would be disappear.

He didn’t have time. But he sighed and said “Okay…” slowly over the phone anyway. “Does she want to come back tomorrow?”

“I don’t know, Oppa…”

“Please tell her that I’ll wait for her…”

Minhyuk was terrified.

It had only been two days since Krystal left home and stayed at Junhee’s apartment. But Minhyuk felt like an eternity had passed. He wanted to hold her, to make sure she never left. But what could Minhyuk do other than making her life hell?

 

10. The Miserable Girl

Krystal was right in front of him right now, but somehow Minhyuk felt like Krystal had gone further and further away. She always distanced herself with him from the very first start, but the bridge that Minhyuk built over the time seemed to gone—even the space became deeper.

“Sulli is a really nice girl…” was the first sentence Krystal said after a long silence in their table, “It is not her fault that I have a messed up life…”

It is my fault, Minhyuk wanted to say, but Krystal didn’t give him a chance to talk.

“Why I was so mean to her? All she has done to me is nice things… She is the best friend I’ll ever have…”

It is my fault, Minhyuk wanted to say, but Krystal didn’t give him a chance to talk.

“All I wish was to meet the person, who made my life miserable, but then I ended up in this world,” Krystal said slowly, “And I met you…”

The silence came again between them, not the comfortable silence they shared before, but dead and icy silence anyone could broke the crisp air with single .

“Because I’m the one who made your life miserable. You wished to meet me.”

Minhyuk remembered the first time he met Krystal, a week after the release of books twelve, the book which Krystal read two days ago, the book Krystal wanted to meet the person who made her life miserable. Maybe her wish was the one who brought her to him, and what if her wish had came true then?

“Why do you think my life is miserable?”

“I made—“

“No,” Krystal laughed hollowly. “Because I’m only a story, character in fiction, drawing in your pages, I’m not real, and even if my life was perfect, I’ll never be real. So my life will always be miserable.”

“You—“

“Right at this moment, I’m just a fictional character trapped in a real world. I don’t have home, I don’t have name, I don’t have life… What if I’m in love with real person? Is that even real? Is that even possible? If I come back to my unrealistic life, what will become of me? What—”

“I like you!” Minhyuk cut her sentence immediately, “And it is real. You’re more than a character I draw! You’re not even the character I draw! You’re different… I don’t care if you’re real or not, for me you’re real. A person I grow a feeling for. Aren’t I crazy? Don’t you think I’m crazy?” Minhyuk sighed deeply, “Don’t you know how afraid I’m when you were gone? Can’t you just stay for a while…? For living at this moment, maybe you would never back to your life, maybe you could just stay here by my side forever…”

Krystal looked shocked for a moment, then she laughed, so loudly, Minhyuk started to think both of them had gone crazy together.

“I never said I like you, you know…” Krystal said slowly, “And you just asked me to stay here by your side forever.”

The older was stunned, but nodded in confirmation, “That was how crazy I am.”

“Fortunately I like you too.”

The grin that spread in Minhyuk’s face until his eyes gone was something he could not control, really. So did the boiling red in Krystal’s face.

“Then you know, in real world, two persons who like each other stay together, they don’t care what will happen in the future. That’s real, future is an uncertainty.”

“What about the past?”

“Well, that one I don’t really care.” Minhyuk nodded again, then took Krystal hand and held it tightly.

 

11. The Far Away Girl, and a Boy from Far Away

Minhyuk always knew that this day would come, that his life wasn’t all planned perfectly by him, that all schedules he arranged late at night would not help him escape this. The day when the one who appeared will soon disappeared.

Krystal was gone, without a trace at all, leaving a big hole inside his soul.

Minhyuk planned to move forward, but again, life couldn’t always be planned. That, Minhyuk learned the hard way.

“Are you sure you don’t want to continue Krystal’s storyline?” Junhee said carefully, knowing all too well the name she had just said pull an invisible trigger to the bullet right through her boss’s heart. For a big guy, Minhyuk’s heart was quite fragile right now, even after a year he lost Krystal.

“Her life was no longer belonging in there,” Minhyuk said, “Krystal wouldn’t want to continue living in there, she wanted to be real.”

As much as Junhee loved the character, she didn’t say much, her fangirl’s heart might be broken—it could healed over time, but Minhyuk’s heart was beyond crushed—it would only be healed by miracle.

“I will leaving first, there’s a wedding to attend, you could finished this by yourself, right?”

“Yes, of course.” Junhee nodded, and Minhyuk smiled—the one who didn’t reach his eyes—before he walked out of the door.

Junhee sighed, skimming the pages of the new Highlight Dance book, the book where Krystal was no longer there. On the first chapter, Krystal was told to leave the school and went abroad to the faraway place, where Sulli and other character never knew—the truth the author had no idea either. That was the only brief information about Krystal, the next chapter continued without more mentions of Krystal.

At first Junhee thought it was because Minhyuk didn’t want to draw her anymore, but how was all the drawing of Krystal in his apartment explained if that so?

“Loving a fictional character is hard, huh?” Junhee muttered to herself.

After cleaning a bit, Junhee put the pages back in the folder neatly in Minhyuk’s desk, and then went out of the room.

But when she turned after she closed the door, the view in front of her wasn’t the corridor that was supposed to be. In fact, there was a young man—not far older than her—in front of her.

“Who’re you? What are you doing coming out of my apartment?” asked the said person confused.

“W-What?!” Junhee shrieked, “Y-you!” she stammered, pointing at the person in fear, confusion, and every kind of emotion in one place, “Kai!!”

Right at that moment, Junhee fainted.

If you loved the books, living in one would not be difficult, right?

1. The Girl who came back home

Lee Bona said that her soon-to-be husband, Yoon Chanyoung, was not her first love, but she saw him in her first love. Her first love, it was like she almost found the right person but not quite yet. She always looked for him, the right person, and finally found him at last. Now, they stood side by side in front of the preacher, and Minhyuk could not be more than happy that she found him.

Kang Minhyuk found the right person too, one he almost saw in his first love, but maybe he had gone crazy and needed to go to doctor.

“Yo, Minhyuk,” a tall man beside him called, “You never say your girlfriend is Jung Sooyeon’s sister!”

“Hmm? Ha? Which girlfriend?”

“Jungshin’s means the one you brought to my concert. She is with Sooyeon right now,” the dimple man Lee Jonghyun appeared and gave some light to the vague sentence which said by Jungshin before, even if it was still void dark in Minhyuk’s head.

Maybe Minhyuk should rethink his self-declared intelligent, because after a long moment of pregnant silence that he finally understood, “What? She was here?!”

Jungshin or Jonghyun said something but Minhyuk didn’t really hear, well, he didn’t listen. He dashed out to the place where ‘the one Minhyuk brought to Jonghyun’s concert’ was, even if he didn’t have any idea where she was. She was near, that was all Minhyuk could think of. A person in love could become a fool indeed.

Minhyuk saw her, in a black dress, her jet black hair hang loosely onto her shoulder, elegant in her own way. She looked different but still his Krystal nonetheless. Minhyuk just knew it somehow, and because he had already lost his mind, he ran onto her, and hugged her tightly no one could make them apart no more.

“Excuse me,” Krystal said loudly, trying to push Minhyuk to make a room for breathing, “this is not how real people introduced themselves to each other!”

The older of the two finally loosen his iron grip, pulled apart looking at Krystal with raised eyebrows. “W-what?”

“You should have introduced yourself first, then I’d say my name too,” Krystal pouted, “My name is Jung Soojung, and I’m a real person now. After that you could take me on a date first, one or two calls, but a hug is still a long way to go!”

Minhyuk laughed until his eyes wet—he wasn’t crying! Mind you!—and took both Krystal’s hands in his, “I don’t think I can wait much longer,” he said before suddenly kissed her, with that the clap erupted from all the guest, and the manhwaga whispered, “Introduction could wait, really.”

Lee Bona was happy, Minhyuk, her first love, finally found the right one, but she wasn’t happy that the said first love stole the spotlight on her wedding day. Not Happy Lee Bona was trouble.

How could Minhyuk survive the wrath of both Bona and Krystal?

 

12.  The Forever and Ever

Jung Soojung sat patiently in the arranged chairs, waiting for her so-called boyfriend’s author fan meeting session, with every poster of his book’s new edition. Sometimes Soojung felt the attached feeling when she saw the book, but her real life was here right now, and that was what all that mattered.

Especially when the said author smiled at her from the podium like she was the only thing he looked at. And all of this was real.

 

 

end.

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Author's note: There might or might not be a spin-off, part of the story where Junhee stuck in the Manhwa. But, well, one thirteen pages 'oneshot' full of crap was enough. Thanks for reading!