He was staring at her reflection in the mirror, particularly examining her facial bone structure with utmost attention. High cheekbones, a striking jawline and a lovely chin that gave a softening effect to her androgynous features, he was quietly contented watching her as she sat beside him.

Head bowed, brows furrowed, almond-shaped eyes partially covered by grown-out bangs and lips pursed—she was a picture of full concentration as she worked on the Rubik's cube she was nimbly turning over and furtively twisting in her hands. Amber had been trying to break her record of 1 minute and 28 seconds for the last 30 minutes.

They were waiting for the stylists and make-up staff for wardrobe change and a retouch before the shoot for the next episode starts. On a break while waiting for the next guests to arrive for the Solo Day episode, the two of them were left alone in the make-up room sitting on the swivel chairs next to each other.  Jinyoung was with them earlier as the three of them went over the script for the next shoot, but the younger man was now nowhere to be found. Kangin didn't even notice him leave the room.

He was planning on taking a nap while waiting, but she asked him to jumble the cube for her every time she finished solving it. He whined at first and told her to do it herself (because, really, no dongsaeng is allowed to order him around), but since he felt a little bit guilty at making her fall during the musical chairs game with Red Velvet, he yielded. Besides, she rarely asks him to do anything for her. (And she still had on THE shorts she was wearing during the shoot, which made her his target during the game, because…damn those legs!) She also reasoned that if she jumbles up the cube herself, some muscle memory might come into play making her solve the cube easily and that would defeat the purpose of the challenge.

Whatever, Kangin didn't really care because she flashed him her usual cheeky grin, tilting her head to the side and laughed quietly as he took the cube from her hand and did as he was told. He normally wasn’t this agreeable.  He also liked the idea of her not winning so easily at any game. That was the logic he used to console himself for being such a er for her smile.

And so he spent that particular early evening like that, waiting for her to finish every 2 minutes or so, so he could catch the toy as she tossed it at him to disorganize. All in all,he felt a sense of ease at the comfortable kind of quiet in the room. It was often punctuated by Amber's gusts of disappointment whenever she discovers she missed beating her best time again.  That pleased him immensely as well.

For all Amber's seeming gregariousness, Kangin knew his dongsaeng was actually introspective and attentive--attentive and focused--especially when she was listening to someone talking. He always liked that about her. He liked that she was genuinely interested in people and would make others feel comfortable around her (even those who didn't quite know how to react to her for the tomboy that she is). She was generous at being understanding of other people's faults, including his.

It was nearing the 1 minute, 28 second-mark again and he could see pucker in disappointment as she quickly looked at the timer app on the iPhone cradled on her lap. He didn't show her he was keeping time with his watch as he was observing her from the mirror. Amber was pretty much oblivious to anything else when she was busy doing something she liked.

There was a mixture of amusement and sympathy in his heart when she heaved a small sigh at having missed the mark yet again. He felt a somewhat twisted sense of satisfaction whenever she got frustrated at herself, but he was also secretly rooting for her to succeed. Such is the contradiction of emotions Amber unconsciously triggers in Kangin all the time, and the manifestations when he voices them out are hilarious. Like during that coin game with Gongchan and his band members. He knew he sounded absurd cheering for her one second, then expecting her to fail the next, and then finally praising her for performing well.

She pressed on though, finishing the cube and jotting down the time for her latest attempt: 1 minute 43 seconds.  That’s the other thing he liked about her. She was persistent and didn’t just give up without a fight.

A half hour ago, he laughed out loud when he saw her record the time for her first try and called her ridiculous and obsessive. He soon after “ahhh-ed” in understanding when she explained it was to find out her average time and see if she was at least improving in this skill over the years, because she was actually quite proud of it.  Being the sarcastic fart that he was, he couldn’t resist retorting, “work on your Korean too a lot more, would you please, Amber-ya?” wearing an expression that matched the tone of his voice.

He was completely taken aback when she paused the timer, stopped her cube twisting and looked at him intently with eyes full of inquiry and an insecure looking smile on her lips. “But thanks to you, oppa, I do think there is some improvement in my speaking your language, isn’t there?”

Jeez, this kid, he thought. There was no need to act cute where Am