Previously...

"Alright man see you tomorrow!"

"See you..." He wasn't able to finish his sentence as he heard her laughing with another guy on the other side of the line just before she hung up.

"Well, that went well." Henry thought to himself. At least he could sleep with the thought that he'll see Amber tomorrow and he's one step closer to clearing up his mind and possibly even his heart.

He thought he'll be able to sleep after that. The fact that he's standing outside a cafe waiting for it to open at 6:30 AM proved it was a lie. He just couldn't sleep so he decided to just go all the way and pull an all-nighter. When the cafe finally opened and he was sitting in a secluded corner sipping his daily dose of caffeine, he thought about their latest conversation which took place just hours ago.

"I'm kind of with Scott right now. Why though?". 

Funny how she always seem to be with her other friends nowadays. Whenever he sees her updates on her Twitter and Instagram, it's as if she's always with Scott, Rome, Eric, and the others. He never thought anything about her hanging out with the boys up until now. In fact, they used to spend time together from sunup till sundown back when they had a bunch of projects. He never spared any thought when Amber would spend all night and day hanging out with Gen, Neil, and Isaac.

Henry, and the rest of the people of South Korea, knows that Amber Liu is one of the friendliest idols in the industry. Yes, her name may not be the first one uttered when asked who their ideal type is or who has the prettiest features in the K-pop industry, but rest assured that her name is the first one that comes to mind when asked who the most approachable, most outgoing, and most likable idol in the show business is.

Amber Liu has a way with people. Henry knows this for a fact. He spent a good amount of time thinking about how she always makes friends with everyone in and outside the realm of K-pop. He finds it interesting how she always ends up being friends with strangers upon their first encounter. Henry has a whole theory about Amber's way with people and he concludes that Amber Liu is a highly infectious friendly virus that you never knew how you got but can never get rid of.

And Amber Liu has a way with Henry too. Henry has an image to project and protect. He makes great efforts to make it seem like he's exactly who the public thinks he is and he likes to keep it that way. He had a playful, innocent, and carefree image to uphold. Keyword: had. Whenever Amber has the chance to talk about Henry, she never fails to tarnish his reputation. She knows it irks Henry up to no end, but she keeps on doing it as a joke because she loves to poke fun at the poor boy. Henry could have told her to stop, in fact, Henry has actually told her to stop but she always has her way.

Henry and Amber have this cycle going on ever since they first met. She jokes around, bashes him, he gets annoyed, she apologizes with a smile, he forgives her, they laugh about it, then they repeat the cycle all over again. Some people get concerned about this habit of Amber to bash Henry and get defensive quite quickly, but the majority of the people who knows of their seven-year friendship join in on Amber and laugh at Henry's expense. Everyone knows how their friendship dynamics is. They just don't know how they got there. Specifically, no one knows how Amber and Henry got so comfortable with each other to the point that they challenge South Korea's norms of how best friends, of different genders at that,  should act.

Henry scoffed at that thought. "If only they knew. Heck, if only she knew too! Oh God Henry Lau why must you be so clueless?" He said to himself. His stupidity eats at him again.

"Why don't you join us then!"

Of course she'll say that. Being the ever polite person that she is, she'll invite Henry to whatever she has planned for the day. But Henry knows that she's with her other friends. Amber has been hanging out with the DPR team for the past year or so. Henry finds it fascinating that she managed to blur the line between business and fun whenever she works or hangs out with her team. It's just that things have been changing without them knowing and by the time that he noticed it, it was already too late. They're still friends but somehow, they've drifted apart. She no longer spends her entire day with him and so does he. Both parties didn't make a big deal out of it. But Henry is currently rethinking his life choices and he realized that he wasted a lot of time during the eight years that they've known each other. 

When Henry found out, he felt like someone just threw a bucket of ice water in his face. He can't believe that he doesn't really know her and it's killing him inside.

"I'll just go to your place then"

"Oh wait! Hold on."

This is what frustrates Henry the most. She never hesitated to hang out with him before, but it's different now. Everything is different now. She suddenly became so busy. Henry's glad that she's busy though. This means that she's actually working and that their management is finally giving her the spotlight they should have given her seven years ago. But she used to always have time for him.

"Well, she definitely could have spared me a few minutes of her life if only I knew the truth all along." 

Henry glanced at his watch. "8:45 AM. Great! I only have around four hours to get my act together." He started drafting a game plan in his head. He thought about how he'll attack the pressing matters at hand for a good three hours until he finally came up with a solid plan. 

"Okay. Phase 1, bring food. Amber can't resist food and I owe her food so that's out of the question." Henry writes it down on his to-do list. He's planning to stop by Coreanos since he's in the area anyway and he knows that a couple of burritos and three wise fries will soften the blow of their talk.

"Phase 2, prepping. She definitely needs this. Oh who am I kidding! I need to do this otherwise she'll cut my head off immediately!" Henry has known Amber for eight years and he knows how much she feels awkward when engaging in small talk, but this is something that he has to prepare her for. He can't just abruptly tell it to her face and expect a nice reaction from her. Henry knows as much as that so he'll ease his way into his agenda.

"Phase 3, drop the bomb." Henry gulped at this thought. He imagined a hundred thousand ways that she could react. So he prepared his mind, body, and soul for each and every possible reaction.

"Phase 4, apologize. Yes. Apologize." This is what Henry swears to do and he has to. He just assumed things from the very beginning so he ended up wasting the eight years they spent together. Because of what he has done, he realized that he doesn't really know his best friend at all and it's killing him. He also knows that this is a very sensitive topic for Amber, hence he just assumed when he first met her and has never tried talking to her about it. He knows that this will hurt her for sure and the mere thought about Amber hurting, pains Henry up to no end. So he has to apologize. He can never make this up to her. He knows just how forgiving Amber is and he's sure that she'll forgive her, but he doesn't know exactly when she'll forgive him. Henry prays that she'll forgive him in time. She has to.

"Phase 5, don't mess it up." He knows how much he screwed up so he can't screw things up even more. Henry promises that whatever happens, they'll still be friends and things should go back to the way they were before. Their friendship is just too precious for him to let go so he can't lose Amber. If he does, he's not sure if he can ever