"Close Enough"
"Hey mate!" Kris sighed and looked around to see his classmate, Chansung Gan, waving animatedly while he sprinted towards him, even bumping some of the busy people in the streets of Hogsmeade just so he could briefly get to him. Kris contemplated the thought of running away, but decided he'd just be bothered again when they'd get back to their common room anyway. "Better get this over with," he murmured to himself as he turned around to wait for his seemingly excited friend. He sighed internally while balancing some shopping bags on his arms. He had to go to the Beauxbatons' carriage to deliver Krystal's things. She tried to tell him not to bother in carrying her things for her but he still insisted. He had to make certain she'd be as comfortable as possible while she was here.
"What is it?" Kris asked; looking evidently annoyed knowing that his friend would be discussing the same topic all over again. "Where's your sister? I thought you guys are going shopping today," Chansung grinned breathlessly at him. "We started earlier so we're done now. I'm about to go deliver these things for her," he replied nonchalantly while lifting his things a little to emphasize that he was busy and he would really appreciate it if he'd just go away. "I'll go help you with that, then," Chansung offered. Honestly, could he even be more annoying? "I can carry them on my own. Thank you," Kris replied while tightening his grip on a couple of Krystal's shopping bags on his right while balancing her handbag on his left. "I insist," Chansung said while stubbornly pulling Krystal's handbag away from Kris now. "No, go away, Chansung. I just—shit!" Kris suddenly cursed when Krystal's handbag had suddenly burst open due to their constant tugging and yanking. Some of her personal things had fallen, including a small paperback book that he knew she had always carried with her every day.
"Look at what you've done! This is her favorite book," he scorned at his guilty looking friend while picking up the book and whisking away some of the dirt that its cover had gathered from the alley's ground. "I was just trying to help," Chansung murmured disdainfully while finally walking away. Kris just rolled his eyes exasperatingly and continued to whisk away some of the dirt that had stuck on the worn out book's cover. He opened and tried to skim through its frail old pages too, just to see to it that none of it were soaked and ruined since the ground that it had fallen upon was a little damped. He then found himself smiling gently while he scanned through the pages. The book was a compilation of muggle Greek Mythology stories that Krystal loved reading to him when they were younger. Each of the stories brought about fond childhood memories of them together.
He curiously frowned, however, when he found something compressed on a certain page. He narrowed his eyes and discovered it wasn't a bookmark but a pressed brown dried flower. Its daffodil shaped appearance had been stuck and drawn on the page, revealing its outline and replicating its form on the old paper itself. He could tell that it had been there for years, guessing from its facade. He slowly took the dried pressed flower out and read the title of the page.
"Pygmalion and Galatea," he whispered while caressing the very letters of the words itself. In a very strange way, he suddenly felt his heart flutter down as a memory had abruptly pierced his mind without warning… Krystal never wanted to talk to anybody as she cried uncontrollably inside her room. Kris hated it when she would cry. But what he hated the most was that he couldn't do anything to stop her from crying, because she didn't want to let him. "Stal? Please open the door. Please talk to me," he pleaded while leaning on the door and listening to her painful sobs. As a first year student, he'd already known a few spells and tried to unlock the door, but Krystal was pushing it with her body in order to stop him from walking in. He didn't want to hurt her so he pleaded her to open it instead.
"Go away, Kris. I just want to be alone for now," she sniffed behind the door. That morning, the Parks had finally left. He didn't know what happened with Krystal and Chanyeol at the gardens but he had seen Chanyeol before his family and he had flooed out of the manor. He looked very distressed but also very red in contrast to his once pale skin. Concerned of his sister's whereabouts, Kris tried to look for her at the gardens. But when she saw him looking worriedly at her crying feature, she pushed him aside and ran as fast as she could to her room, slamming it with all her might. Kris was very alarmed and concerned with what happened so he told his parents about it.
