Papa Jung strolled out from the kitchen carrying two bottles of milk, one for him and one for Mrs Jung. “Ah, Donghae! You’re here.”

Donghae slid his shoes and socks off, waving and bowing a little as he went to join Krystal on the couch. Mrs Jung shut the door and grabbed the milk from Papa Jung’s hand. “We heard from Krystal that you bought all the milk for us.”

He scratched his nape and nodded, smiling sheepishly. “Yeah, I did. You guys ran out of milk, so I thought I should restock for you guys.”

“And how did you know we ran out of milk?” Mrs Jung pressed on, suspicion and accusation almost oozing out of .

Krystal cleared and raised her hand. “I, uh, I went over to his house to grab some milk a while ago.”

Papa Jung chuckled. “Always good to have you around, Donghae! Greatest neighbor, we’d say. Your parents have raised you well.” He took a mouthful of the milk, then smacked his lips together. “And this is some good milk!”

Mrs Jung pursed her lips. “Krystal, you went over to someone else’s house without telling us?”

Krystal rolled her eyes. “Mom, come on. If I had to get your permission over something like that, I’d have died of demilkation already.”

“What is demilkation?”

“Like dehydration but in the milk-style?”

Papa Jung laughed, but Mrs Jung shot a look that got him to shut up. The look also instilled a lot of fear in Donghae, and he looked to Krystal for help. Krystal rolled her eyes to signify that she was perfectly fine. “Mom, chill out. Donghae’s a nice guy. He wouldn’t hurt me.”

“And you know that because…?”

“When I touched down in Seoul, he allowed me to go to his house first because you guys weren’t around. I’d have had to stayed on the steps if he didn’t make that offer.”

Mrs Jung put the milk down. “Okay, and?”

“Isn’t that enough?” Krystal clucked her tongue. “Mom, come on. Donghae wouldn’t have the guts to hurt me. If he did, you guys would just have to go next door to dismember him.”

Papa Jung raised his hand. “That is kind of true, sweetheart,” he told Mrs Jung.

Donghae cleared his throat to remind everyone that he was still around. “Mrs Jung, with all due respect, I definitely wouldn’t even try to hurt any of your girls.”

“Plus, he likes—“ Krystal got cut off when Donghae jumped in to flick her in the forehead.

“Hey, Krys, don’t I have to help you with homework?”

Mrs Jung squinted. “She doesn’t even study here.”

Krystal guffawed. “I, uh, I was going to say something about that. I decided that you could enroll me in the same school as Jessica. I mean, wouldn’t it be better if both of your daughters could study and stay in the same area? That way, better parenting can be executed.”

Papa Jung joined Krystal and Donghae on the couch. “I agree on this, sweetheart. It’s better if both our darlings were in Korea. I told you I objected to sending her that far away for boarding school years ago.”

Mrs Jung frowned. “Are you sure you’re going to like it here, Krystal? Haven’t you been running away time and again?”

Donghae realized that he was the one who got Krystal into trouble, and he bit down on his lower lip. He watched as Krystal swatted the air with an awkward fling of the hand, and how the gears in her head worked as she tried to scramble a solution together.

“Mom, Dad, come on… I think that’s enough running away for a lifetime. I miss you guys, I miss Jessica, and I really wanted to be home.”

Donghae wasn’t sure if Krystal was a really good actress, or if she meant her words. But judging by the special spark in Krystal’s eyes that appeared as she threw a glance to both her parents, Donghae decided that it was the latter.

Mrs Jung’s frown broke into a smile as she went over to hug Krystal, ruffling up her hair in the process. “Oh, sweetie, you don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for this!”

Krystal glared at Donghae as her parents fawned over her and hugged her everywhere. She forced a giggle and nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been waiting so longfor this too.”

Donghae gulped.

=

Later on, Papa Jung and Mrs Jung were upstairs unpacking their stuff from the trip. Donghae and Krystal were seated before the coffee table, after they were restricted access to Krystal’s room by a wary Papa Jung and Mrs Jung. “No boys in the girls’ room, Donghae,” Papa Jung joked. When Mrs Jung nodded in agreement to his statement, he nodded to show his insistence. Then when Mrs Jung left, Papa Jung shrugged, his face falling. “I should know,” he added in a whisper.

Donghae forced a grin out and retreated to the coffee table, where they were now seated. Krystal had her head buried in her hands, her hair falling in a mess around them. Donghae was at a loss.

“Hey,” he tried, poking at Krystal’s arm.

Krystal grunted in response.

Donghae glanced away to look out for her parents, and when he saw that the coast was clear, he turned back to her. “I’m sorry, Krystal. I didn’t expect things to get out of proportion that way.”

“So you expected things to go another way?”

“I… Well, just not that way.”

Krystal sighed. “I guess this is all fated.”

“What’s fated?”

“Me choosing to run away, and then me getting stuck here. It’s all fate.”

When Donghae didn’t seem to understand, Krystal looked up at him and inhaled. “I guess,” she explained, including a slow tone just in case he failed to understand again, “that I was destined to come back here and stay here after all.”

“…oh.”

“So I’ll make the best of it.”

“Your optimism touches me, Krystal.”

“Good to know that my optimism does that… Wouldn’t want my hands to do it.”

When Mrs Jung came down the stairs again, she smiled at Donghae and Krystal, but the smile disappeared just as soon as it appeared. “Weren’t you guys working on homework?”

They realized that the table was completely empty before them. Donghae started stammering and Krystal shot a look at him before turning to her mother with the sweetest smile ever. “He was just asking about things here in Seoul, whether I’m doing okay and stuff.”

Mrs Jung smiled, almost a little gratified. “That’s very sweet of you, Donghae.”

His stammering stopped when he heard the words from Mrs Jung’s mouth, and he scratched his head. Meeting Krystal’s eyes again, he got his cue to nod and chuckle good-naturedly. “Thanks, Mrs Jung.”

She was ushered away by Papa Jung, who had just come down from upstairs. Krystal breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Donghae. “You should be so damned thankful.”

“Why?”

“…because I just put in a lifetime’s worth of good words for you to my parents?”

“Oh. But what for?”

Krystal resisted the urge to punch Donghae in the face. She massaged her temples. “They still don’t know that you are Jessica’s boyfriend. Which, by the way, I still don’t know why you’re keeping a secret.”

Donghae squirmed a bit. “Well, for starters… I wanted to give your parents a good impression of me first. I didn’t want them to come back from Jeju to find out that their daughter’s dating someone, this out of the blue.”

“Donghae, they have the best impressions of you.”

“But still! It’s a whole different thing to be able to entrust a dear daughter to another person.” He sighed. “I want them to be extremely sure that I won’t hurt her.”

“But you would never!”

“A verbal guarantee doesn’t always hold. I feel like I should do more than just promising verbally that I can care for her, and would never hurt her.”

“Ah, you’re such a meticulous guy. It just so happens that my sister digs such extinct men and I dig the exact opposite.”

He smiled a bit. “That’s good to hear.” And then his smile went away. “But… There’s still one more thing.”

Krystal prompted him to go on. He shifted his position a little to lean closer to her, as if he was afraid of letting others hear this. “I… still don’t know if I’m considered her boyfriend yet.”

She stared at him, eyes expressionless for a while. Then she narrowed them ever so slightly and leaned in further to scrutinize him. He leaned away, almost afraid. “What,” he squeaked.

“You know I was kidding, right? About her not calling you her boyfriend?”

“I kinda figured you were kidding, but there has to be some certain element of truth in your words. I mean, it’s all very sudden with me and her, and I think we should clarify things a bit.”

“Donghae, would you just relax. Jessica’s not the type to fuss over such things. She’s head over heels for you, just as you were – and still are. Heck, she hugs your jacket to sleep every night!”

There was a freeing feeling in Donghae’s chest, and he knew that a heavy weight had been lifted off. But that wasn’t the last of his worries. He shut his eyes to imagine her going to bed snuggling in his denim jacket, and he couldn’t help but to smile. Krystal giggled.

“Look at you, lover-boy. You have nothing to worry about. You guys will be fine.”

“I’m just… just worried, you know? I’ve liked her for so long and I don’t want to screw this up in any way at all. I just feel like it’s all a blur. Like we haven’t figured out each other yet.”

“That takes time. You need to be patient for that.”

“I’m aware. And I’m also aware that I’ve waited ages for this.”

“Is she worth the wait?”

He glanced at Krystal, and she could see the answer teeming in his eye. “Yes,” he added for emphasis.

“Then what’s a little more waiting? If it’s for her, a little bit more wouldn’t hurt.”

“Yeah… You’re right.”

=

At night, when Jessica returned from cheerleading practice, she saw her parents sitting on the sofa and leaped in joy. “Mom, Dad! Welcome home!”

The three hugged and only broke apart when Krystal came out of the kitchen with milk. They dragged an unwilling her into the group hug, that ended when Krystal expressed her inability to breathe.

“Oh, Jessie, you would never believe what Krystal told us earlier in the day.”

Jessica glanced at Krystal, her eyes questioning if Krystal informed them about the Jongin incident. Krystal’s blank expression told her that no, she hadn’t. “What did she say?”

“She said that she wanted to stay in Seoul from now on. No more running away!”

Jessica stared at her, and then at their parents. “Forever?”

Papa Jung sighed. “Oh, Jessie, come on. We know you girls haven’t had the best of relationships but we know this will be fine for you guys.”

Recalling their sisterly bonding a while ago, Jessica shook her head, sure that she wasn’t troubled by that. “No, I get it, but… Why?”

Krystal sighed and shrugged. “I’ll explain.”

The sisters made their ways into the kitchen. Krystal made sure that their parents were out of earshot before she began.

“Okay, look, Donghae was here earlier in the afternoon. I almost exposed that you guys were dating—“

“But Mom and Dad have no idea at all!”

“I know! So I almost exposed you guys, and then he stopped me with some sorry excuse of helping me with my homework. The thing is, I don’t even study here. So I had to come up with a lie and it just… snowballed.”

Jessica hugged Krystal. “That sounds much better than what I had in mind.”

“You thought I was trying to escape from the incident forever, didn’t you.”

Jessica patted her baby sister’s head, eyes suddenly melting and taking on a softer stance. She bent a bit to level herself with Krystal, and then took her sister’s hands in hers. “I did think that at first, but I know we sisters are tough nuts to crack. So… Have you told them yet?”

“Obviously not.”

“Are you going to do it?”

“Like, now?”

“Yep.”

“No way.”

Krystal shrugged out of her sister’s grasp and went to dump the now-empty milk bottle. Jessica pursed her lips. “You have to do it soon, you know.”

“Not this soon.”

“You can’t keep this from them forever, Krystal—“

“I’m not going to! I’m just not ready for them to know. I know I came clean about everything to you, but it’s a lot harder for them to understand, don’t you think?”

“I get your drift, I really do.”

Krystal turned from the dustbin to find Jessica staring at her, eyes still warm and soft. She nodded in gratitude and left the kitchen.

Papa Jung and Mrs Jung were catching up on the shows they missed while at Jeju. Krystal thought about joining them, but decided against it and headed upstairs.

Jessica followed suit.

=

Donghae was putting his ear to the wall after dinner to hear for any chaos erupting at the Jungs. He heard nothing and found it relatively cheering, and so he stepped backwards and stood akimbo, staring hard at the wall.

“I have to break you down, you wall separating me and them. I will.”

=

That night, when the Jungs were about to end the night, Jessica knocked on Krystal’s door. Krystal put down the book she was reading. “Yeah?”

“I have something to say to you,” her sister’s muffled voice came from behind the door. Krystal opened it slightly, almost wary of letting her in.

“Jess, if this is about telling them about Jongin, I’m not going to.”

Jessica bent down a bit, just as she did in the kitchen. She took her sister’s hands in hers and patted them tightly together. “I’m not going to force you to tell them.”

“Then…”

“I’m just here to let you know that anytime you do, I’ll be right there with you. Because I can’t let you do this alone.”

Krystal stayed speechless, expression unreadable, as Jessica took her hands away and started returning to her room.

As she headed through the doorway to her own room, Krystal called out. “Jessica!”

The older one turned to find her sister scurrying up to her. “Yes, Krystal?”

Krystal slid her hand into Jessica’s and held it tightly. She glanced up into her sister’s eyes and they both knew immediately what this meant.

“Let’s do this.”