Once again, Crystal found herself completely out of the loop as Yoongi and her mother conversed about a movie they'd watched. She hadn't watched said movie so had absolutely nothing to add to the conversation, so like last time with Sehee, she'd turned some music on to keep herself occupied while her mother worked on her hair. She was glad they were bonding on their own and things weren't awkward, because she sucked at breaking the ice.
It was fairly early in the morning and Crystal felt bad for waking Yoongi so early on his day off, but she supposed the huge breakfast spread her mother had cooked up made up for that. She'd never seen him eat so much.
"Uh dangerrr," she sang out loud when she recognized Taemin's Danger playing lowly from the speakers.
Nadia just chuckles at her antics, but the outburst had frightened Yoongi, making both women laugh at his expense. He watches slack jawed as Crystal gets up and starts doing the choreo in tiny before heading behind the trifold to change into her clothes for the photoshoot. He could still hear her singing from behind it, the unusual sight making him grin. He'd never heard her dance nor heard her attempt to sing something before and it was adorable to watch this new side of her be shown, probably brought on by the comforts of home.
"She's been a Taemin stan for years now. She literally can't sit still when one of his songs come on," Nadia grins.
"Oh really? I didn't know," Yoongi replies.
"Didn't know what?" Crystal asks, coming out in a gray cropped top, joggers, and white heels.
"I didn't know you were a Taemin fan, but I suppose I could've guessed you were at least a Shinee fan the day you played Replay in the kitchen," he says thoughtfully.
"Oh yeah Shinee was like my introduction to boy group Kpop as I like to say. My stepdad had me listening to Rain and JYP and stuff but Shinee was the first boy group I've listened to since debut. I was 12 when they debuted and I've seen them in concert and at fan meets so many times, the members started to recognize me," she chuckles fondly at the memories.
"Oh really? Who?" he asks, narrowing his eyes.
It was clear that he wasn't fond of what she'd said, his displeased answer coming out before he'd tried to stop it.
"Yoongi, is that jealousy I hear?" Crystal giggles, putting her hands on her hips.
Yoongi scoffs, squinting his eyes at her. He pokes his cheek with his tongue and purses his lips before deciding not to say anything—his silence speaking loud and clear for him.
"Aww Suga-ssi! Don't be jelly. It was years ago and I was a minor. My last time seeing them in concert was when I was 15. I went consistently from 12 to 15 and as you can see, I'm not hard to spot in a crowd and especially not in a fan meet. That's all it was," she says between amused laughter.
"You should've mentioned that right after you said that," he gripes, groaning when Crystal pinches at his cheeks.
Nadia holds back her laugh watching the two as she sets up her camera. It made her happy to see Crystal so happy. She often worried that the girl worked too hard with not enough play. Some of her childhood had already been taken helping her raise the kids and now her golden years are spent working, going to school, and helping run a business. She was proud, but always had that worry in the back of her mind that Crystal's would look up one day and realize her life had passed her by; and grow to resent her choices. Hopefully, now that Yoongi is in her life, she could see and enjoy things more. At least she was going to get to travel the world.
"Sweetpea, leave that man alone and come on," Nadia teases and Yoongi sticks his tongue out at her as she leaves, making her flip him the bird behind her back.
His mouth hung wide open and he narrowed his eyes at her again, a silent vow that he would get her back later.
Crystal goes and stands in front of the stark, white background and poses naturally before Nadia gives her a plain, black stool so pose on.
"Keep the pants on, but change into the second top. There's three different ones," Nadia instructs and Crystal quickly changes before coming back out and posing again.
They do it one more time with the last too and Nadia announces another outfit change, going through the pictures she was going to keep while he waited.
Yoongi was just amazed at how easily this photo shoot was progressing. Crystal was a natural, like she didn't have to try at all and Nadia was a great photographer—not needing a ton of fancy equipment to take high quality pictures. He could see the screen from where he sat and they looked great, not one picture worthy of deleting in his opinion.
"This must be rather boring for you. You do photoshoots all the time right?" Nadia asks him.
"I do, but I wish mine went as calmly and smoothly as this one. It's actually interesting watching this side of her," he says, nodding his head towards the trifold Crystal was changing behind.
"I'll bet. Crys is a true Gemini. You never know which her you're going to get. My husband and I used to joke that all her former selves still live inside her. He believed in past lives," Nadia chuckles.
"Should I be worried?" Yoongi asks, half joking and half serious.
"About what?" Crystal asks, coming out in brown sweats, a white cropped top, and Timberland boots.
"About your past selves," Nadia snickers, making Crystal suck her teeth.
"They thought there were so funny. The you that you give me determines the me that I give you. Let it sink in," she winks, making her way back in front of the camera.
Yoongi cocks his head as he mulls over her words before it clicks for him. It made sense but she didn't deny the multiple personalities part.
Three more outfits and Crystal's on her last one, a black cropped top and joggers to match along with some strappy black heels.
Yoongi gulped, his throat suddenly dry when he sees her. The outfit wasn't much different from the others but something about it gave off a subtle, but sexy vibe. Maybe it was the way she was posing in the black chair that he'd managed to miss making its way on set.
She looks over at him and raises a brow before quickly looking back at the camera with sultry eyes. Boy was he glad this was the last set.
✨✨✨✨✨✨✨
After the shoot, the three had settled in the living room to talk about the old days. Crystal got her mother to retell the story of she and Jihoon meeting, claiming it was more magical when it came from her and they all shared their favorite family memories—most of Crystal and Nadia's including their late loved one.
Yoongi had felt a little bad he didn't have as many to share, but Nadia had assured him that he had plenty time to create new ones and that the ones with the boys counted for him as well. To him, Nadia was the embodiment of what mothers should be. She was warm, inviting, and easy to talk to. She wasn't as rigid as most older people and loved to laugh, just like Crystal. He felt at ease in her presence, a rare occurrence for someone he'd only met twice.
"Shoot, I almost lost track of time. Im going to pick up the kids. Do me a favor and order the food Crys. Ill go by and pick it up," Nadia says, grabbing her purse and keys and making her way out the door.
Crystal goes into the kitchen to find the number for their favorite Korean American fusion restaurant and dials the number, damn near ordering the whole menu. Nadia suggested ordering from there since it would probably be their last family dinner before the tour and Yoongi had never tried it before.
She makes her way back into the living room and plops down next to Yoongi on the sofa.
"This is a nice house. You did a good job with the decor," Yoongi compliments, making her smile.
"Thanks, you want a tour?" she asks and he nods.
She grabs his hand and shows him the rest of the ground floor since he'd already seen the basement.
There was a laundry room, a spare bedroom, a study room for the kids, and the entrance to the vast backyard where the back deck lead down to a nice garden her stepdad designed for her mom.
"Upstairs is just everyone's bedrooms so I'll just take you to mine. The girls are getting older and value their privacy more and Chris can sense when things are out of place," she chuckles, leading him into her room.
"It's a lot brighter than I expected," he says, surprised by the minimalist style bedroom.
"I redecorate my room a lot. I like to try different styles. This one most certainly made it easier to get up in the morning," she says, referring to how the natural light from the uncovered windows would reflect off everything.
"I could see that," he says, doing a double take when he looked over at her work desk and the Shinee painting that sat above it.
She giggles when she sees what he's looking at and he remembers her teasing moment from earlier.
"Oh is it funny?" he asks, raising his brows at her, his bottom lip clenched between his teeth.
"It is," she grins, making him suck his teeth.
"At least it's a Shinee picture and not just a solo Taemin picture. I was going to replace it this year," she shrugs.
"Oh so you like like him?" Yoongi deadpans.
"I mean...he's attractive and he can sing and dance his ass off if that's what you want to hear," she says, sitting on the edge of her bed.
Yoongi stares at her for a moment, making her shift in her spot with the intensity of his gaze.
"What? I don't want the guy. It's not like I'd go for him or anything. I have you," she exclaims, rolling her eyes.
"You're damned right you wouldn't. You're mine," he says, walking backwards towards her door and locking it.
The look in his eye was almost animalistic as he stalked towards her slowly.
"What are you doing?" she asks, her heart starting to hammer in her chest.
"How long will your mom be gone?" he asks, not answering her question.
"About 40-45 minutes," she answers, gulping as he stands over her, his demeanor transfixing her.
"Just enough time for me to do what I need to do," he says, smirking down at her.
"And what is that?" she asks, lost in his gaze.
"To make it so you never even think of another man that way in my presence."
A/N: to be continued...😇