Following the successful first day of Dimension 4 in Seoul, f(x) held another two performances of their first solo concert. Each day was filled with more smiles, more laugher, and more moments that Krystal wanted to remember for the rest of her life.
Their fans surprised them on the second day by filling the air with periwinkle paper planes as they performed "Airplane" mid-way through the concert. Krystal smiled at the delicate aircrafts that flew across the concert arena, each one adorned the loving feelings of the fan that threw it.
And on day three, f(x) finally gave their fandom its name. Seven years of waiting culminated in an affectionate name that the four members had chosen specifically for the group of people who loved them unconditionally: MeU. The name was sweet enough to make them cringe, and yet Krystal loved the name that much more. f(x) was a group that only came back once a year, making it difficult for them to stay connected with their fans. But their fans were always waiting for them, loyally supporting them, and f(x) was always thankful and longing to see their fans. f(x) and their fans together, Me + U. MeU.
The Korean MeU cheered their hearts out for f(x) on day 3 and Krystal tried to absorb every moment fully. During the encore performances, the MeU thanked f(x) by waving banners with a heartfelt message.
[Thank you for being with us.]
Krystal picked up a banner that had made its way to the stage and smiled fondly at the phrase. Shouldn't it have been f(x) who was thanking fans instead of the other way around?
And at the end of the concert on day 3, with only two days to go until Victoria's birthday, Amber, Luna, and Krystal surprised their Vic-omma by performing "Surprise Party" for her on stage. Krystal held hands with Victoria as they warmly sang for her, congratulating her on her birthday and thanking her for all she had done and would do for them in the years to come. The members smiled and laughed and waved to their fans until the last possible moment before the concert ended.
It was a beautiful night for f(x) and MeU. And the night was only made more beautiful for Krystal when her extended family appeared to congratulate her after the concert ended. Krystal introduced her entire family to Amber. She didn't refer to Amber as her girlfriend, but seeing her relatives treating Amber warmly made Krystal happy.
And true to her mother's word, Mama Jung prepared a family dinner the day after the final concert and invited Amber over to the house. Dinner that night was Korean beef, Krystal's favorite. Krystal, who was still staying at Amber's apartment, had come over early to help her mother prepare side dishes for their meal, and her mouth had literally salivated the entire time while she thought of the delicious Korean beef they would be eating.
Mama Jung was more conversational than Krystal had expected her to be while the two of them prepared the food together. It was almost like time had rewound itself and Krystal had never confessed to her mother that she was attracted to women or that she was in love with Amber. With the way that Mama Jung cheerfully discussed family, fashion, and current events, it was like the relationship between Krystal and her mother had never changed.
And yet Krystal couldn't help but worry that something might be wrong in that cheerful atmosphere. Her mother had promised to try to accept her feelings for Amber, but she hadn't asked a single thing about her relationship with Amber all afternoon. The young girl wondered if her mother's approach was to tolerate the situation rather than try to understand and learn more about their relationship.
"It... it's better than nothing," Krystal told herself as she and her mother began plating the food. She couldn't expect her mother to completely turn around her attitude after weeks of icy disapproval. Even this much effort from her mother was more than she could hope for, and Krystal was grateful for her mother inviting Amber to dinner.
Soon after the side dishes were finished and Papa Jung had prepared a grill on the table for cooking the beef, Jessica and Amber arrived to the Jung household together. The older Jung sister had come to dinner directly from work, picking up Amber along the way. And it was now with mild apprehension that Krystal sat the dinner table with Amber on one side of her and Mama Jung on the other. Papa Jung was on Amber's other side while Jessica sat across from Krystal on the opposite side of the table.
Krystal was undeniably tense at the beginning of dinner, but she needn't have worried. As the table ate and laughed their way through a mountain of lettuce wraps filled with Korean beef, the young girl was amazed at how... normal the situation seemed. Amber had eaten with the Jung family before when Krystal and Amber were friends and band mates, and tonight's dinner felt just like those past dinners, calm and comfortable.
"What happened to the tension and drama?" Krystal wondered as Mama Jung laughed at Amber's very corny joke while Papa Jung heaped freshly cooked beef onto a dish that Jessica held for him. Was this what dating was supposed to be like? Were things meant to be this simple, this easy? Krystal had imagined an awkward dinner filled with uneasiness from every person at the table, but the only negativity here seemed to be contained within Krystal herself.
"Then I'll just have to wash away my negativity with beef!" Krystal told herself, taking a delicious bite of the latest batch of cooked meat at her sister's urging. Amber smirked at Krystal as a trail of grease dripped down the younger girl's chin. Amber brushed it away with a napkin before Krystal could react, causing her Krystal to bat her girlfriend's hand away in embarrassment.
"Aigoo, always so messy, Soojung!" Amber teased.
"She's been like this since she was a kid," Mama Jung teased with a laugh.
Krystal said nothing but smiled shyly to herself and savored the delicious bite of beef.
The plate containing the final batch of meat was passed around until only a single piece of beef remained. Krystal eyed it with hunger despite having eaten her fair share of the meal. Traditionally in the Jung household, the final piece of beef belonged to Krystal. Everyone knew that beef was their maknae's favorite food, so everyone wanted her to have the last piece. This had been the norm for so long that Krystal never bothered to offer the last piece to anyone because they would always urge her to eat it. So when Krystal received a light smack on the arm from her mother as she picked up the final piece of beef with her chopsticks, she furrowed her brow in confusion.
"Huh? What's wrong?" Krystal asked, inadvertently dropping the beef back onto the plate after being hit on the arm.
"Offer it to your guest," Mama Jung said, chastising Krystal gently while nodding in Amber's direction.
Krystal turned to Amber and smiled slyly. "It's OK mom, Amber always lets me have the last piece anyway."
Amber nodded in confirmation to Mama Jung. "It's OK, omoni. She can have it."
"What?" Mama Jung asked Amber in surprise. "She always gets the last piece?"
"Er... well yeah," Amber responded after thinking about it for a bit. "When it comes to food, Soojung's usually hungrier than I am," she laughed.
"Well that's not right. Shouldn't you two at least take turns on getting the last piece?" Mama Jung asked. The older woman showed more concern than Krystal thought was necessary given the situation.
"It's not a big deal," Krystal told her mom with a smile. "Amber's always happy to let me take it." The young girl went to pick up the beef again with her chopsticks, but was stopped by another slap on her arm from her mother. "Ah! What?"
"That's no good, Soojung. Things should be fair in a relationship," Mama Jung chastised, taking the plate and pushing it towards Amber. "Amber, let me know if Soojung's not treating you right. I'll deal with her."
The look of surprise on Amber's face was priceless, although Krystal was sure the same could be said about the look of surprise on her own face. Clearly her mother was acknowledging their relationship.
"Th-thank you, I will," Amber said, nodding respectfully at Mama Jung. She then turned to Krystal with a mischievous grin. "I'll just take this delicious piece of beef then."
Krystal smiled wryly and pushed the plate toward Amber. "Of course, please have it, princess-nim."
After dinner, Krystal and Amber went up to Krystal's bedroom while Jessica helped Mama Jung clean up. Krystal hadn't been in her bedroom since the day she moved in with Amber several weeks ago, but the room was still exactly as she remembered save for a single purple paper airplane that sat on her bed. The young girl picked it up with a smile, instantly recognizing that it had come from "Dimension 4" day 2.
"Who left that?" Amber wondered, coming over to inspect the plane. "Your mom?"
"Probably," Krystal said with a gentle smile. She placed the plane onto her nightstand and sat down on the bed with Amber. Her eyes roamed across her room, taking in the familiar site. The past month had been so busy that Krystal hadn't realized how much she had missed her own room until this very moment.
Amber laid back on the bed and gazed at her girlfriend, knowing that Krystal was caught up in nostalgia. "How does it feel to be home?" she asked softly.
"Weird but nice," Krystal answered truthfully. "I know I've been away for a month, but it feels like I never even left."
"Dinner tonight was nice, too. I kind of thought it would be a little more awkward, but it was good."
"Right?!" Krystal exclaimed. "I was preparing for the worst but mom was actually pretty cool about us."
"Yeah, I could get used to getting the last piece of food for a change," Amber teased, earning herself a playful and affectionate slap on the shoulder. The older girl reached up and gently brushed Krystal's hair behind her ears and gazed lovingly into her eyes. "I'm glad things with your mom are good again."
"Yeah, I'm glad, too. And thank you for being so supportive when things were bad." The young girl leaned down and kissed Amber gently on the lips. "I don't know if I could have made it through that without you."
Amber smiled back at Krystal. "You don't have to keep thanking me. I know you would have done the same for me."
Krystal nodded and then looked around the room again. "I honestly thought I'd never be able to talk to my mom again and that I'd never see the inside of this room again."
"It's good to be home, huh?" Amber asked gently.
The younger girl smiled. "Yeah, good to be home."
"Great!" Amber exclaimed, sitting up quickly and startling her girlfriend. "This works out perfectly because I have a surprise for you!"
"Surprise?" Krystal asked, confused by the sudden outburst from Amber. "What is it?"
"I uh, I packed up all of your stuff before I came over because I think you should move back in with your parents. Your suitcase is in Jessica's car. Surprise!"
"Wait, what...?" Krystal asked, pulling back from Amber in confusion. She tried to process the sudden news. "You packed up all my stuff?"
"Yep," Amber answered proudly.
"The stuff that I brought to your apartment?"
"Yep."
"And everything's in Jess's car?"
"Yep."
"Because you think I should move back to my parents' house?"
"Yep," Amber repeated. Then she paused and smirked at the blank look on Krystal's face. "Unbelievable and yet it's true."
Krystal had a bunch of questions she wanted to ask about the sudden and confusing situation she was now in, but she started with a less complicated question. "So you and Jess planned this together?"
Amber shook her head. "It was my idea to pack up your stuff and I did it myself, but Jessica offered the transportation. She called me 'a good person' when I told her about my plan. What do you think she meant by that?"
Krystal laughed and pinched Amber's cheek. "Clearly it was a jab at your character," she joked.
"I know, I thought so too!" Amber replied sarcastically.
The two young lovers smiled at each other, but the smiles faded into a subdued kind of sadness as they tried to discuss the more serious issue at hand.
"I can't move home now Am, not after I already moved out. It doesn't make sense..." Krystal murmured softly.
"I know, I get that. I won't force you to move home if you don't want to. I loved living with you Soojung, every second of it," Amber said sincerely. "But are you opposed to moving back home because you don't want to? Or is it because you feel like doing it would disappoint me?"
Krystal knew that Amber had analyzed her feelings perfectly. If she was being honest with herself, Krystal had to admit that she did want to move home again. Or to be more accurate, she had never wanted to move out in the first place. The only reason why Krystal had left home was because she was fighting with her mother. It wasn't a planned decision, but a spur-of-the-moment action. And yet at the same time, Krystal loved living with Amber and couldn't easily give up this new lifestyle either.
"You know," Amber began, interrupting the long silence that followed her question to Krystal, "people typically don't get a second chance to live with their parents after they've moved out. I know some people move out and never look back, but I think there are other people who do regret leaving early. That's why the decision to move out should never be made lightly. I know I hurt my parents a lot when I moved to Korea at 15, but I thought a lot about what I wanted to do with my life when I made that choice."
Amber looked at Krystal with a kind smile. "I'm sorry about springing this on you suddenly, but I'll support you with whatever decision you want to make about moving home. Just know that it's OK to take it slow with moving out of your parents' house. I don't regret coming to Korea, but I do have regrets about leaving home so early. I wish I could have lived at home and cherished the time I had with my parents just a little longer..."
Krystal hugged Amber tightly, pulling the older girl closer with all her strength. She knew that Amber was giving her wise advice about cherishing her time living at home, but at the same time Krystal was scared at what it would mean to their relationship if she left Amber's apartment.
"I don't want you to think that I'm taking a step back from you," Krystal whispered sadly into Amber's shoulder. "If I moved back here..."
Amber stopped Krystal gently with a kiss on her forehead.
"You know that saying, 'If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it's yours. If it doesn't, it never was.'?" Amber wondered.
Krystal nodded. "Is this what you're doing now then? Setting me free to see if I'll come back?
"No. I set you free almost a year ago when we took that break, and you came back to me," Amber explained with a smile. "Since that day, I feel like I've never really questioned if we were meant to be. I just wanted to let you know that. No matter what happens to us, I feel like we'll always come back to each other because we were meant to be."
Krystal nodded and gazed down at their intertwined hands with a shy smile. "The more moments we have like this, the more I know that we were meant to be, too."
When she looked back up into Amber's glittering eyes, Krystal couldn't help but smile sadly back at Amber, still feeling conflicted between gratitude for Amber's understanding and remorse over wanting to move back home. She wanted to apologize to Amber for being selfish and returning home. She wanted to ask Amber's forgiveness for teasing the older girl with the idea that they had permanently moved in with each other. But Amber was being positive about the situation, and so Krystal urged herself to do the same.
The younger girl pushed back her sadness and kissed Amber slowly on the lips. Her fingers gently caressed the older girl's cheeks and traced their way affectionately down Amber's face until they rested gently on Amber's chin.
"Thank you, Am, for being so understanding. I... I'm gonna move back home, but this isn't the end of anything between us."
"I know," Amber replied with a gentle laugh. Honestly, you moving home isn't a step back for us. This gives us a chance to see how our relationship has matured, so it's a step forward. And whenever you're ready to move out for real, I'll be ready and waiting for you, princess-nim."
Later that night, after Amber had returned to her own apartment, Krystal opened her suitcase to unpack and settle back into her own room. She thought about the three weeks she had spent at Amber's place and felt a twinge of regret about returning back to her parents' home. But keeping Amber's optimism in mind, Krystal knew that this wasn't the last time they would live together. Krystal had been given a glimpse of their future together, and she had really enjoyed it. Smiling fondly over memories of living with Amber, Krystal began to pull clothing out of her suitcase and put it away.
As the final articles of clothing made their way back into her closet, it slowly dawned on Krystal that she hadn't seen any underwear in the suitcase that Amber packed for her. Jessica had been the one to initially pack the suitcase when Krystal moved into Amber's apartment and nearly all that clothing had been re-packed by Amber, but where was all of her underwear?
Confused, Krystal picked up her phone and texted her girlfriend.
Krystal: [Hey, did you forget to pack any of my underwear?]
Amber: [I didn't forget.]
Krystal: [But there's no underwear in this suitcase.]
Amber: [I know, I did it on purpose.]
Krystal read the message from Amber twice and frowned incredulously at Amber's claim.
Krystal: [What the hell, Am? Why would you pack everything but my underwear?]
Amber: [Because I wanted to make sure you had a reason to come back here.]
Krystal frowned gently at Amber's reply. For all of the confidence and conviction that Amber had shown earlier when she told Krystal to move back in with her parents, the older girl was not immune to feeling insecure after all. Amber's vulnerability was now masked by a joke, but Krystal could see through it easily. She wondered if perhaps she had been neglecting Amber's feelings lately while dealing with the situation with her mom.
Krystal: [Stupid. You don't need a reason for me to come over. I'm coming back whether or not you take my underwear hostage.]
Amber: [Really?]
Krystal: [Yeah, really. In case you haven't figured it out, I kinda love you.]
Amber's reply was instantaneous.
Amber: [I kind of love you too. :)]
Krystal smiled and mentally planned to visit Amber in the morning. She wanted to do something nice to show Amber how much she loved her, perhaps come over early and make her breakfast. As Krystal weighed various plans in her mind, her phone buzzed again.
Amber: [PS, I didn't keep your underwear just to lure you back to my place.]
Amber sent Krystal a photo and the young girl stared at it incredulously. It was a selca of Amber in her bedroom, lying back on a bed strewn with Krystal's underwear.
Amber: [I've always wanted to sleep like this. :)]
Krystal laughed, wondering if there was any emoji or sticker that could properly capture the amount of annoyance and amusement that she currently felt.
Author's Notes: Greetings, dear readers! It's been too long! Sorry for keeping you all waiting. I hope you enjoy the chapter. :)
I wanted to write up something about the concert, but I don't want to keep everyone waiting any longer for this update. My concert tweets summed it all up anyway. Basically, the Dimension 4 encore was amazing. If you have the chance to go to a D4DS concert, please make every effort to go. You won't regret it. :)
One more quick thing. Next chapter begins the Kaistal arc. Some people have directly asked me to not mention Kaistal in this story or to say Kai's name, but I can't and won't avoid it. While I can't say yet exactly how big of a role Kai will have in this story, I will be addressing Kaistal in some manner since this is a story that tries to tie in with f(x)'s real life events. But this is definitely a Kryber story, so I hope you'll trust me to write something that Kryber fans will enjoy reading, and I hope you'll continue to read this story through to the end. :) Thank you!
Connections To Reality:
[Coming soon!]