"Did Henry attend class today?"
"Well hello to you too."
She facepalms
"Right. Hi."
Ailee was arranging papers on Henry's desk in their office.
It was after lunch and Amber breaks in looking for the president
"He didn't come to school today. I think he's sick or something like that. I forgot. Why are you looking for him?"

"I was going to return something."

"Ooohh... I see. Hey do you know about the HenBer forums? You guys are quite the fad in the campus lately"

Amber just sighs "yeah, I know. Anyway, I best be going"

She walks her way home.
She s her bag, feeling for the warm jacket Henry left for her to borrow weeks ago.
Why can't I wait for tomorrow? But he's sick. He can't go to work...

"Wanna switch shifts for once with me tomorrow?" She leans against the counter, smiling at her sister who was preparing her stuff before leaving

"Ehh? What's up?" Jackie smiles curiously because she thinks she knows why

"Weeeellll... I don't have an intern tomorrow sooo..."

"Hey hey hey... you've had no interns since the beginning anyway. Surely, you'd do fine without Henry. What's up with him?"

Amber hesitates but answers anyway, fidgeting

"He's sick."

"So? Give him the day off"

"But--"

"Ah, you wanna bring him soup to get better?" She wiggles her brows

Amber's mouth was agape, trying to find the words
"I-I-- no! I just figured we could do the tutoring in the morning so he can rest in the evening."

"Uh huh... okay. I believe you."

"Hey! I mean it. This training is important for him and the school"

"Right. But fine. I'll switch shifts with you" she winks at the flustered younger sister

She doesn't notice it but she smiles another private smile and her stomach has butterflies and she finds herself anticipating for tomorrow to come

"Coming!" Henry groggily walks his way down the stairs to answer the door.
He can't be here yet he thinks as he got to the door

"Hi." It was the person he never thought would visit him in his state.
"Amber! I-I'm not feeling well. Can I skip this shif--"
"Say no more. I got ya covered." She raises a finger and hands him a canister
"Chicken soup."
Henry was speechless. Why is she in a good mood? 
"Thanks."

"Let's do the tutorial now. so you can rest later."

"By the way, I'm expecting my cousin today. So, I hope he won't get in the way" he explains as he brings out his studying stuff into the living room
"It'll be fine as long as you stay focused." Amber settles herself on the couch, fumbling for something in her backpack
"Hey, here's your jacket."
"Oh. Yeah, thanks. And I'm not the one who's gotta stay focused if he comes over."
Amber raises a brow and her eyes dilated when she recalled that Henry's cousin was Kris, her elementary to junior high crush. He transfered when they became seniors. He grew tired of SM High (a/n: iykwim) much to Amber's dismay. And that was when Henry decided to enter SM High.
"O-oh. Kris."

"Yep."

Speak of the devil, the doorbell rang
"Yo" his now deeper voice greeted and Henry noticed that Amber was a bit... flabbergasted. He rolls his eyes as he closed the door after Kris entered

"Amber!" Surprise can be detected from Kris's voice

Is she blushing??

It was Henry's turn to be flabbergasted

"Sup."

"So what are you doing here?" He high fives with her and just like that they began to get reacquainted and Amber did the exact opposite of what she told Henry not to do.

She got distracted just like that

"Oh yeah, Henry, here's the medicine mom sent" he tosses a paper bag from the couch where he and Amber were sitting and chatting
"And you can start reviewing these stuff" Amber stands up for a bit and hands the hamster a bunch of papers before returning to Kris's side.

The two enjoyed chatting while Henry was in front of them trying to concentraten on what he was reading. Trying not to feel frustrated why Amber doesn't smile genuinely like that when she talks to him.

A few minutes later Kris looks at his watch and tells them he has to leave
"Girlfriend wants to meet up" he shrugs and smiles apologetically "nice to see you again, Am" he kisses her cheek and Henry's jaw just fell off his skull. Amber was tomato red. Kris leaves. And the whole house was silent for a full minute.

"Oh. So he has a girlfriend now..." Henry looks at Amber who was staring at the floor the whole time after his cousin left.

He doesn't say anything. He goes up the stairs to his room and after a minute, he comes back down, shirt and jeans changed.

Without anything being said, Amber's wrist was wrapped by his hand and he drags her out of the house and into his car.

"Wh-wha--"

"Let's go to the game center" he smiles at her as he starts the car

"But you're sick! And you still have your review"

"Nah, I'm good."

Hurt and confusion was very evident from the tomboy's voice but Henry tries not to mind and focuses on making her forget what just happened.

"Guitar Hero??" She exclaims as Henry straps the guitar on to her
"You need to have fun. You're too immersed with your school stuff" he shouts through the thick noise in the arcade

They play a round with rock music and Amber struggles with the buttons, causing her to lose

"I hate games!" She stomps her feet and attempts to take the guitar off

"Giving up already? C'mon, you're no fun!" He laughs at her state and she blushes
"You try it!" She offers him the guitar and he gladly obliges

.

As expected Henry was better. She tries her skills again and Henry could see that she was trying hard to at least finish one song

Her eyebrows were furrowed as she focused on coordinating her senses with the game

Cute. He smiles from the side, watching her slowly enjoying and finally revealing the genuine smile he always wanted to see.

As if she was a different person, Henry finds her dragging him by the hand to try on a few games here and there

At this moment Henry forgot that he had fever and Amber forgot about her shift because the two were enjoying too much. And for the first time, enjoying each other's company.

The sun had set and both people find themselves sitting on a nearby park's bench, munching a variety of food, from cotton candy, to pop corn and hotdogs. As if they were on an evening picnic.

"I never thought you never really had experience in games! Your childhood was a lie" he says through a full mouth. Mustard smeared on the corner of his lip.
She points at it, and Henry wipes it away.

"Well, yeah. I have always been focused on getting top place."

"And Kris"

She glares at him
"He's a different case." She goes back to stuffing pop corn in

"Yeah. Of course he is.
He's competition"

"What do you mean by that?"

"He's a contender in the inter school competition stuff. So yeah." He winks
"I suggest you keep distance from the guy. Besides, he already has a girlfriend" he nudges at her and the younger one just gives him a look, causing him to stop

"I'm really tired." He weakly says but perks up anyway and goes back to munching more hotdogs

"You know..." Amber speaks up, eyes fixed on the now starry sky
"You... kinda amaze me" she looks at him and smiles.
Henry couldn't find words
What do I say what do I say

"Yeah? Ha.. ha.."

"I mean... You get to experience all this... fun." She gestures to the air
"While you also run the student body. And get to secure a very high place in the rankings. Plus you have a great social life. Then there's me. I wasn't able to attend Sunyoung's Christmas play. I wasn't on the bleachers to support Song Qian's performance. I ditched helping Jinri with her Science project. I chose books over my friends. And now, I didn't even get even one copy of Soojung's school paper. I gotta say, respect, man" she pats his back

She falls quiet when she notices him just smiling, staring at her.

"That's the first time you actually complimented me directly"

"..."

"And smiled at me not in a sarcastic manner. You should smile more"

"Well, I really did enjoy today. so I thought, I might as well smile. I guess I needed this. I might have been quite unhappy and pressured because of you, but you certainly proved yourself today. In your sick case." She chuckles and Henry was lost. She lost him in between those words and now he can't comprehend if he still wanted to be valedictorian anymore.

Kiss her! 
No!
Do it!
No!
Just do it!
Okay, that just got weird. I heard Shia's voice...

"Oh . I forgot about my shift!" She snaps out of her trance and suddenly starts fumbling for him to get up
"Let's go back. You need to rest, too"

By the time they arrived outside the pastry shop, Amber finds her sister still running her shift.
"I hope she doesn't get mad." She says a prayer out loud. Henry just reached over and patted her shoulder, reassuring her that it was going to be alright. "I'll explain things if she gets angry."

Kiss her!

Just before she pulls the door's handle open, Henry reaches over once more and grabs her by her shoulders so she faced him.
1...2....3...

He pulls her close for a hug. Amber was oblivious of what was going on.

"Thanks for today."

Was all he said.
She hugs him back, though still lost.

---

Rename contact:
secondratehamster
Renamed to:
Henry :)

To: Henry :)                 
Thanks for today. Rest well

From: Henry :)           
Yeah, thanks. Will do :))

To: Henry :)             
Get well soon

From: Henry :)         
Awww you do care

... the nerve

To: Henry :)              
Ew no. You work for me remember

From: Henry :)         
☺

a/n: i'm having indecisiveness problems with the font. like i'm having problems with this OTP. why can i not decide on a unifrom font XD

anyway, here it is :D we goin uphill bc we finally arrive at the haha... sorta ._.