Only You

Chapter 26

Suzy's POV (Before)

"Ah, your lip's bleeding too. Ugh. Ottuke?" I muttered, fumbling with the first aid kit. In the end, I resorted to dabbing a bit of ointment on his lip and letting it be. 

After I had led Taehyung downstairs, his expression had changed from angry, to poker-faced, to horrified. It wasn't any of his fault, so I couldn't understand why he was like that. During the entire time when I was treating his lip, not a single word was said from him.  

"Thanks." he mumbled as he shut the door behind him. I frowned, completely and utterly confused.

IU's POV (Later)

"What are you doing here?" I asked in disbelief, my hand still lingering in front of me.

Krystal stood up defensively and glared at me, though that was rather diminished by her puffy eyes, runny nose, and the tears still trickling down her face. 

"It's none of your business."

"Well, you don't seem to be in the best condition, and you're on my street, so..."

She crossed her arms and shifted all her weight onto one leg, displaying the I'm-a-lot-better-then-you pose that I had seen thousands of times. 

"I'm perfectly fine, thanks-ACHOO." She sneezed hard, and then shivered unwillingly.

I chewed on the inside of my cheek, feeling like I would regret this decision.

"Come on. Follow me." I sighed, walking back towards my house. After taking a few steps and sensing no one behind me, I turned around and gave an exasperated huff.

"Hurry up. I don't have all day." I said to the Krystal, who hadn't budged an inch.

Uncrossing her arms, she walked toward me with a defeated looking posture. 

After we reached my home, I handed her a set of my clothes and led her to the bathroom. 

"Here, go take a hot shower and wear these clothes. Yours need to be washed, so I'll go and run them through the laundry."

She stared at me for a little bit, then did as I instructed. When she emerged from the bathroom, I think she honestly looked prettier with her normal features than with the amount of makeup she usually wore. 

"Here," I said, handing her a warm cup of water and a few crackers. "You don't want to get sick in this type of weather, it'll be hard to recover."

Tentatively, she took the water and crackers, then sniffed as tears started pooling in her eyes again.

"W-Why are you crying?" I asked, slightly startled and wondering if I did something wrong. 

She wiped her eyes using the hand holding the crackers, and took a deep breath that shuddered slightly. When she looked up to meet my gaze again, her expression was so different from what she usually showed me that I nearly took a step back.

"Can I tell you something?" She said, cradling the cup of warm water in her hands.

I studied her, noting how she hadn't bothered to tidy herself up after showering, her hair tangled and dripping water.

"Sure."

Like, two minutes later...

We settled down on my bed, and she began.

"My parents run a company, and apparently something serious went wrong not too long ago. They've been working with two others to try to fix the issue, but apparently it's not getting much better." 

She paused to take a steadying breath, then continued. "My parents sent my younger brother to study in America in hopes that he can receive an excellent education so he can find a good job in the future, and I'm extremely worried about him." Her eyebrows furrowed as she spoke about her brother. "I'm here in Seoul to try to get a good education while working so that I can gain a steadier way of earning money to help my parents out."

"But you're famous, right? The money you earn should be able to support your parent's company..." I trailed off at the bitter smile on her face.

"Celebrities are the faces of companies. We might have a decent salary, and some larger than others, but the companies are the ones that earn the big cash. My parent's company need more money to recover than I'll ever make." she said, looking down at her lap to watch the last wisps of steam curl up and disappear. 

"Plus, I've already sent all my savings to them. I barely have enough to sustain myself" she mumbled. 

I sat silently, absorbing what she had just told me. "My parents also run a gigantic company." I admitted. "I haven't seen them in months."

Krystal looked up in surprise at this. "I thought you lived with your parents and were one 'big happy family' or something." she said, putting air quotes around part of her sentence.

It was my turn to show the bitter smile. "Well, no. And I also have a brother who studies so hard that he's hardly home. Although he's older than me." I added hastily at the sight of her eyebrows migrating off her forehead. 

"Oh." she said in a small voice. "I miss my brother." she murmured, looking back down again. 

We sat there for a few moments, listening to the ticking of my alarm clock.

"How about this," I said, turning myself to face her. She looked up. "You can stay with us for whatever amount of time you need to, and you can use the guest room."

Her eyes widened. "A-Are you sure?"

"Ne. I'm sure." I said, giving her a small smile.

"Kamsahamnida." she said thickly, the tears starting to run again through her smile.

Later in the living room...

Of course, I hadn't anticipated the factor of Suzy exploding when she saw Krystal. 

Yeah. That was some first-rate planning. 

"What is she doing here?!" They both exclaimed at the same time, turning to me.

"I'm living here!"

"No you're not!" Krystal and Suzy yelled at each other in perfect harmony.

Crap.

I held my hands up for silence, and they both glared at each other one final time before turning to me. 

"Suzy, Krystal will be staying with us." I sent her a warning look as she teetered on the verge of shock. "Krystal, Suzy has been living here since the beginning of the school year."

They both stared at me like I had gone crazy, which I probably have-to some extent. Suzy opened her mouth to protest, but I sent her a there's an important reason look, and she closed her mouth, resorting to frowning at me. 

"Krystal," I said, turning to face her. "There's more than enough space in my house, so don't worry about anything. It'll work out." I said, displaying more confidence than I actually felt.

The doorbell rang just then, causing me to glower at the entrance. "Who the heck is it now?" I growled, completely not happy with the extra thing to worry about.

Suzy went to open the door.

"I've been kicked out of the apartment that I share with Taehyung, and none of the other members will let me stay with them, so I'll be staying here for the rest of the year." the unwelcome guest said with a cheeky smile.

I sank onto the couch, my tolerance capacity at it's limit as Suzy and Krystal both gawked at the idiot.

The hardships in my life are just endless, aren't they?

A/N: Guess who that is? It's someone. 😆 Krystal isn't as shallow as you guys thought she was, right? ^^ I think she's really awesome. Don't forget to vote and comment!! Saranghaeyo!! :)