The one thing Krystal doesn’t miss during promotions is this state of being constantly busy. Going from one event to another, and then yet to another fansigning drained what little energy she has. But she can’t deny that being with her members crowding the same van, talking and eating snacks, is the most fun she had in a while. And to see their fans is another pleasure entirely.

So, Krystal may be tired, but it’s nothing some iced coffee and Amber’s adorable face can’t fix. And her amazing shoulder and hand massages definitely puts her over the top of the best girlfriend list.

Sitting in the van, alone this time, Krystal scrolls through the multitude of selfies she took with Amber. Even after knowing her for more than five years, being around her for concentrated amounts of time, and finally admitting to herself that she has a crush on the huge dork, Krystal still can’t go for more than a day not seeing Amber’s face, or hearing her smooth, calming voice.

Krystal sighs dreamily. If she’s not a girl in love, then the Earth is flat and the sun is not the center of the galaxy.

Their manager pokes his head into the van through the front door. “Soojung, there’s a last minute change with the schedules. Amber has to do solo work until this afternoon, filming for her friend’s show. The interviewers are kind enough to reschedule so you won’t have to do the interviews alone.” Their manager grins a little. “I guess they remember how awkward the maknae can be.” He teased.

“Hey, I’m trying!” Krystal shakes her fist at her manager-oppa, who cowers playfully. “I know I was better with interviews when I was younger, but it’s only because I had to cover for Victoria-unnie and Amber. Plus I grew out of it.”

“And you call yourself an actress. So, what will it be? Do you want to wait for Amber before doing the interview?” Krystal shoots her oppa a look and he smiles. “Of course. I’ll tell them to reschedule then.”

While he returns into the building to tell the radio host Krystal’s plan, her phone rings to the special tune she assigned for Amber. Her heart leaps as it does every time, and she immediately answers.

“Helloooo,” Amber drawls, her voice throaty like she just woke up. Krystal cannot help her smile.

“Hi,” she struggles not to seem too shy now that Amber’s voice is in her ear. “Why didn’t you tell me you have another schedule today?” She whines.

“Oh, oppa already told you?” Amber chuckles. “I was about to tell you, which is why I called. But we can reschedule it later, manager-oppa said. I promised you I won’t let you do interviews alone, after all. I still haven’t forgotten it.”

And it was true. The first anxiety attack Krystal went through was before an interview that she had to do alone. She was younger then, newly aware of the media and their desire to twist everything she says into something that makes her sound hateful, only to be criticized and insulted over the Internet. It was for her first stint as an actress, so she had none of her members to help her. If Amber hadn’t called, hadn’t soothed her with soft assurances, Krystal would’ve gone crazy. Since then, Krystal knew Amber is her best friend who’d do anything for her. Her servant, Amber would remark with a crooked smile, but Krystal thinks differently.

Amber is her knight in shining armor.

“So it’s okay for you to come directly even after working already?”

“I’m used to it. It’s okay, Krystal. I’d do anything for you, remember?”

Krystal bites her lip to fight the heat rising to her cheeks. She lets out a steady stream of air through pursed lips and rubbed her warm face.

“Anyway, what do you plan on doing with your free morning? Lie around and do nothing?” Amber asks.

“You know me so well.”

The sound of Amber’s laugh can most likely resurrect anyone from the dead with how infectious it is. Even through the phone, Krystal’s heart swells ten times its size at the knowledge that she can make Amber laugh. It’s not difficult at all, but that doesn’t make it any less beautiful to hear.

“Alright, alright. I gotta go now. Have fun, Krys. Okay?”

“Okay,” for some reason unknown to her, Krystal’s heart begins to thunder in her chest, like a caged bird, its wings flapping widely in an attempt to escape. “Am?”

“Yeah?”

There’s a rock lodged in that she needs to cough out. Words like a geyser, overflowing. Krystal takes a deep, shaky breath and spits it out.

“I love you.”

What comes after is something Krystal didn’t expect. Even though technically, she had no idea what was going to come out of her hasty, yet honest confession.

“Oh, uhh… I-I’ll see you later, Krys. Bye!”

Amber hangs up.

Stunned into a numbed silence, Krystal barely manages to fake a smile before her manager comes back, climbing into the driver’s seat. “Do you want to go home and I’ll just pick you up after, or do you have somewhere you want to be?”

Tears burn the back of Krystal’s eyelids. Her lower lip trembles. All she can manage to do is shake her head.

Sensing that something is definitely wrong, manager-oppa guns the engine of the van and drives to Krystal’s house. The entire ride is a blur through the haze of tears that have yet to fall. She clenches her phone in her lap.

You’re overreacting, she tells herself. Maybe Amber really was short on time. Maybe she really had to go.

Not realizing that the van is parked on the driveway of her house, her manager slides the van door open for her and helps her out. He walks her to the front step. “I’ll call you when I’m about to pick you up.” He tells her, and he drives off, leaving Krystal alone in her empty house. Like a zombie, she climbs the stairs and lands face first into her cold bed. She doesn’t feel like crying now that she’s more curious than sad.

Why didn’t Amber say she loves her back? It’s possible that she took the older girl by surprise. Maybe there was someone else in the room with her, and they did promise each other they would keep their relationship a secret… More thoughts piled higher and higher in the back of Krystal’s head. Lost in a daze, she almost didn’t hear the doorbell ringing.

Sluggish and tired, Krystal runs downstairs and yanks the door open. Amber stands at her doorstep, breathless, her skateboard tucked under her arm. There’s a scrape on her leg and a trickle of blood staining her socks. “Hey.”

“I thought you had a schedule?” She demands, but pulls Amber by the front of her shirt into her home. “Sit down,” she orders, while she rummages in the bathroom for the first aid kit. “Why are you bleeding?”

“I went here as fast as I could,” Amber explains, propping her leg up on the coffee table. Being active has provided Amber with many scars, mostly on her knees and elbows. “I just wanted to explain something, and I know you. You were probably overthinking why I didn’t say I love you back over the phone.”

Krystal lets her hair curtain her face to hide from Amber’s inquisitive eyes. She focuses on cleaning up her wound instead. She drenches a cotton ball with a cleaning solution and carefully dabs at Amber’s wound. Krystal is not delicate or maternal, and caring is not really the word people use to describe her, but in her hands is Amber in pain. She doesn’t want to do anything to make it worse.

“Krys, look at me.” Amber’s voice is gentle, a hint of begging in her tone. “Please. I didn’t fall off my board and skid a few feet on my leg just so you’d ignore me.”

Krystal looks up to see Amber staring at her, a tenderness in her eyes. She looks up, meets her dark eyes with hers. “Now that I have your attention,” Amber takes the bloodied cotton ball out of Krystal’s hand and places it on the coffee table so she can lock fingers with Krystal’s. “I didn’t want to say it over the phone because I had it all planned out,” she says. The tips of her fingers trace the lines of Krystal’s palm until the younger girl finds herself leaning in closer towards Amber.

“I wanted to look into your eyes and say it so I can see how you’d react. I don’t want to throw those words away like hellos or goodbyes. And it’s our first time saying it to each other so it has to mean something!” Amber brings Krystal’s hand up to her lips and kisses her knuckles, her fingers. “I know you think I’m a cheesy person and I probably watch way too many movies, but the only way I want to say I love you is when I’m so full to bursting with it.”

Krystal frees her hands from Amber’s hold and wraps her arms around the older girl’s neck instead. “I overreacted.”

Amber her sides and places a tender kiss against the spot where Krystal’s neck and shoulder meet. “You didn’t.”

“I don’t want you to say it until you’re really ready. Until you’re really sure.” Krystal mumbles. “But that doesn’t change what I feel for you.”

“And that’s the thing,” Amber laughs, easing back so their foreheads meet, noses brushing against each other’s. “I’ve known that I love you for a while now and I’ve wanted to say it for so long, but we’ve been so busy and I can barely get you alone. But now that I do…” Amber kisses Krystal once, twice, and a third time. “I love you, Krystal.”

Hearing those words makes Krystal shiver. Her heart flutters in her ribcage and she clings to Amber. She grabs a handful of Amber’s hair and kisses her. A glow of desperation weakens her knees. “I love you too, Am.” Krystal whispers, shy now that Amber is in front of her, grinning. Her hair messy with a dazed look from the kiss.

“Good! Now I have to go again before the crew realizes I’m gone.” Amber stands, no longer limping, her wound covered with huge patch of Band-Aid. She kisses Krystal on the lips and on the nose. “I love you.” She whispers against Krystal’s mouth with a childish grin. Amber waves goodbye and Krystal hears the sound of her skateboard racing on the sidewalk, the ghost of Amber’s lips all over her face.

At a loss for words and the need to do something with her hands and heated face, Krystal buries her face in the pillows and lets out a delighted squeal.