“You know them?” Krystal asked me. “Ah, yes. I’m actually with them.” I answered. Minho and Yuri noona are now having an intense staring competition, I wonder what’s up with them? Yoona-noona then grabbed my arm and smiled saying, “Haneul-oppa introduced him to us…I didn’t know you know him too.”

Krystal then looked to our linked arms then said, “Yes, unnie. He was introduced to us by Haneul-oppa too, last week.”

“Anyway, is this yours?” I interrupted them to get back to my current objective. Krystal nodded and muttered a simple thanks. Our fingers touched for a brief second which froze me making it difficult for Krystal to take the purse from my hand. Yoona-noona must have noticed this so she put her hand on my hand which is holding the purse, and lightly massaged my palm. This successfully made my grip on the purse loosen so she then handed it to Krystal.

“Amber has been spacing out a lot lately so I hope you don’t mind that.” Yoona-noona said and smiled while I was just staring at the ground wondering what just happened.

“I see…I never knew you are this close to the SNSD unnies Amber.” Krystal said which caught my attention. Good thing Yuri-noona decided to speak up and save me from the possibility of embarrassing myself in front of my princess and her first love. “Amber is good, so we close to him easy. Anyway, we have to go…the food is waiting.” Yuri and Yoona-noonas started dragging me upstairs but…

“Ah, noona. You guys are staying here too? Mind if we join you?” Minho said which made Krystal look at him. Krystal then said, “Right unnie, is Jessica-unnie with you?”

“I’m sorry…but the booth is currently full.” Yuri-noona answered while Yoona added, “I’m sorry, we really want you guys to join. I’ll just tell Sica-unnie you’re here Soojungie.” Krystal just nodded. I then let myself get dragged by the 2 noonas without looking back at the couple. My heart haven’t even recovered from that encounter when Jess shouted with her cold and sharp eyes, “Yah! How dare you let me and the food wait?”

“I’m sorry, I just ran into something.” I said. Jess immediately replied, “Are you really that ‘accident or bad luck-prone’?”

“Unnie, we met Soojung and Minho downstairs.” Yoona-noona said resulting for Jess to drop her chopsticks. “What?!” “Sica, relax…” “You dare tell me to relax when my sister is with that guy!?” Okay…at this point, I really am lost. Jess was about to stand up but was pulled back by Yuri-noona. “And what are you going to do? Your sister is not going to listen to you anyway.” That statement seems to have hit something on Jess. She sat there quietly contemplating.

“Uhmm…Mind telling me what’s happening?” I nervously asked. Jess just stared at me for a long time and I was mentally scolding myself for trying to intrude in their lives. I looked away but Jess decided to speak up.

“Seobang…do you mind?”  Jess asked looking at Yuri-noona. “I don’t…after all, we both fell for the Jung sisters.”  Jess nodded.

“Okay kid, what I’m going to tell you…is an absolute secret that a selected few only know.” The way Jess looked at me while saying those words made my insides churn up. “You have to understand that you are going to be a part of the selected few, meaning, we are going to trust you…so please, listen carefully and promise not to tell anyone.” Did Jess just sound desperate? She did. I know I haven’t known her for a long time but, hearing her like this…I just had to nod and assure her that she can trust me. Yuri and Yoona-noonas just smiled warmly while Jess took a deep breath.

“Yuri and I have been in a relationship for 2 years now.” She stopped and looked at me for any reaction. I admit, I was quite surprised with the revelation—with 2 beautiful girls dating each other, it’s not usual, but heck, it’s love! I just nodded and smiled sincerely. “You…you’re not…freaked out of us?” Jess nervously asked.

“I was just surprised…but now I know what Yoona-noona was talking about a while ago.” I said. “Huh?” “It’s nothing Jess. I’m really glad that you two are happy despite the obvious differences.” I just grinned but was immediately punched in the shoulder by Jess. “Yah! What does that even mean?!” “Nothing! I’m just glad okay?” I said and smiled even if my shoulder still hurts.

“You smiling. You not hate us?” Yuri-noona asked me curiously. “Noona…why will I hate you, you didn't happen to seriously hurt or kill anyone did you?” I asked with an eyebrow raised. Jessica is now giggling because Yuri-noona is now pouting, asking Jess to translate what I just said. Yoona-noona and I just laughed with their cute interaction. How can I just blindly hate such a wonderful relationship?

“Ehem. I don’t want to cut short your lovely time but can we eat now unnies? I am hungry!” Yoona-noona said the last words in her baby voice, surprising me. “Aww…I didn’t know you guys have a baby.” I said laughing while patting Yoona-noona’s head, making her pout cutely. The couple just laughed and Yuri-noona said, “She is our child.”

“All right. You may eat while I tell you more.” Jess said so I just drank some water, readying myself for some more surprises.

“If you must know, Korea is not as liberal as other countries who accept this kind of relationship. Add the fact that the two of us are in this industry, an industry where everything you do is a big deal.” I just nodded, signalling Jess to continue. “So…like what I said, only a few know about us. Not even my parents nor Krystal. Our relationship continued for months with no one knowing but the 2 of us, but eventually, people around us began to suspect. Our members started knowing the truth and I’m glad that they accepted us whole-heartedly. However, not everyone will be happy for and accepting of you.” She took a pause and sighed. I can see clearly how she is struggling just by looking at her eyes. I’m glad that Yuri-noona is there by her side, holding her hand, thus, giving her strength to continue.

“Being in this industry gave us the opportunity to meet and interact with different kinds of people. However, it could also be a curse. We have too many people in our lives that it is difficult to know who to trust. Yuri…she had this friend, who she was really closed to. They do a lot of things together and sometimes, even hangs out with us. We treated this friend as our younger sibling…but never did we imagine that he has been feeling much more than that for Yuri. Some time has passed, and he confessed to her. But of course, Yuri and I are together. He was like our younger brother…so we thought he deserved to know about us so it would be easier for him to move on. But that’s where we went wrong. He didn’t take it lightly, instead, he mouthed words we never thought he could…cursing us.” This time, Jess started tearing up that Yuri-noona pulled her into a hug.

“Jess…it’s okay if we stop now. We can continue this once you’re ready…” I said but she cut me off… “No, I’ll be fine…it has to be now, or I don’t know when I will have the courage to…” I just nodded.

“He distanced himself from us…so did we. We thought distance is what he needs to move on so we let him. Our relationship is doing great…until he made his first move. The management has been suspicious of Yuri and I for quite a long time but we did our best to be careful. This friend has started to get close to Yuri with the intention of ruining our relationship and to have her in his arms…but we saw through that. We asked him to stop and told him that he can never ruin our relationship, but he just ignored us and continued. He then went to the management and told about us. Of course, the management was against our relationship…but they can never really do much about it. They became strict and tried to break us apart, but we just stayed stronger with the help of our real friends. They convinced the management to let us do our thing as long as we continue doing our jobs and don’t ruin the group. We were happy then…I thought everything is going to be okay now. Until I learned that he has been making his move…on SooJung.” What?! Does she mean…

“Yes…that friend is Minho, my sister’s first love.” Jess said, confirming my thoughts.

“But…are you implying that he’s only faking his feelings for Krystal?” I asked. I don’t know what to feel anymore. 

“He must be…after all, what revenge would be better than breaking my sister’s heart?” Jess said. Now my thoughts are clearly scattered. “Haneul-oppa knew about Yuri and I’s relationship…he was actually one of the few who helped us with the management’s decision, so we really trust him. He told us about you…about you being a possible member of SooJung’s group and how you like my sister. He thought that you could help us protect SooJung if ever you become one of us.” Now I know what those meaningful stares and whispers they have been sharing the past days mean. 

“Please…help us protect SooJung.” Jess pleaded with me. I just looked at her…trying to organise my thoughts. “I would like to give Minho the benefit of the doubt.” I said, surprising Jess. I then stood up and bowed saying, “But don’t worry noonas, I will give my everything to help you protect Krystal.” I then straightened myself but was surprised when someone hugged me.

Jess hugged me tightly. I can feel my shirt getting wet so I hugged her back and let her in my arms for a while. She then looked at me and said thank you. Yuri-noona, though she may not have understood what we just said, smiled and hugged us both. 

“Aww…we are one happy family aren’t we?” Yoona-noona said and the other 2 who understood what she said, laughed and motioned her to join us. We remained in that position for some time until…I heard my stomach roar. I guess it wasn’t just me who heard because the 3 laughed at me and pulled me back at the table. Jess then summarised what I said and Yuri and Yoona-noonas smiled at me saying thank you.

“Dongsaeng, we help you too. No worry.” Yoona-noona then said and winked at me. I nodded and smiled…how can I not help these wonderful people? Besides, I know I will do anything to protect my princess from getting hurt. I know I will.

It is then that I realised…Jess was correct—Yoona-noona eats a lot!

(A/N: There...I hope I cleared things up nicely. And thank you again for your support! If you think that some things still need clearing up, just comment and I'll try to answer either by replying or through the next updates. Thank you and advanced Merry Christmas! :D)