After the mess that was made, Krystal told Amber to call for the janitors to help clean up. But since Amber was in such good mood, she decided to head down to the maintenance level instead.

When she got there, she made her way to the front desk asking to see Kim Shin young, the head janitor. She was then told to take a seat at the lounge to wait for Shin young to meet her.

As she was waiting, a tall girl with long wavy hair entered the room. Amber hasn’t noticed the girl, but the girl, immediately recognized the person she yearned to see for almost seven years now.

“Amber?”

The tomboy looked up at the person who called her name. That was the last person she’d expect to see.

“Han…byul?” She almost couldn’t believe her eyes. “What…what are you doing here?” She stood up and walked over to her old flame.

“I could ask you the same…I work here now. I heard you joined the company a few months back?” Han byul spoke.

“Yeah…you work under the maintenance department? I thought you were into art?”

“I was. Then I realized, science seemed more attractive to me and I took that up instead. How I got into this company…well, let’s just say a friend introduced me. It’s not that bad, working under maintenance. We get to experiment with different solutions daily to come up with the right concoction for cleaning. It’s fun.” Han byul smiled at her old beau. “It’s been too long…hasn’t it?”

“Yeah. It has. I really didn’t expect to see you here.” Amber took her seat once more.

“I heard that you’re dating Krystal Jung now?” Han byul took the seat next to Amber.

“Yeah. She’s a really nice girl.”

“Not forgetting she’s homophobic too. How on earth did you get her to fall for you?” Han byul who was interested in how her ex managed to turn a straight girl, gay.

“Well, she doesn’t exactly know I’m…a girl.” Amber answered.

“Seriously? She thinks you’re a guy?” Han byul raised an eyebrow. “Well, not really a shocker. I thought I turned straight when I fell for you.” She started laughing at herself. “But you know what? I’m glad that you’re happy and that you ended up with a nice girl.” She smiled.

“Thanks. It’s sad that she gets misunderstood.” Amber explains.

“I heard that she was brought up that way.” Amber nodded in response.  “So it’s not her fault.” Hanbyul smiled.

“You accept her?” Amber looked at her ex while surprise written all over her face.

“Of cause. We can’t expect everyone to be so open about people like us. So why not just accept them for who they are and then there will be peace. That’ll show them that we’re all the same? We’re all human.”

“You’d make a very good friend to Krystal.” Amber smiled at her ex. “She needs friends like you.”

“Yeah. I’ve seen all the hate going around this company, I’d be joking if I said that things aren’t so heated up that the oven might just explode any moment.”

“So that’s how it is here?” Amber sighed. Hanbyul placed a hand on Amber’s shoulder.

“You know you can talk to me whenever Ambs.”

“Thanks…It’s been too long since I last saw you. We should catch up. Krystal would love to meet you.” Hanbyul stood up and told Amber she’d take her leave first as there were stuff that needed to be cleared.

Not long after, Shin Young came out and Amber briefed her the situation that was going on in the Layout Department. Only to be asked, “What do you kids do up there everyday?”, to which the tomboy didn’t know the answer to.

When she was leaving the place, someone had bumped into her.

“Oh…I’m so sorry.” She bowed while apologizing.

“Well isn’t it AJ Liu.” The tall girl greeted.

“You are…”

“Name’s Gina. Gina Choi.”

“I’m sorry for bumping into you Ms. Choi.”

“Call me Gina. Ms. Choi sounds way too formal.”

“I’m sorry but we’re not close enough to be addressing each other with first names. Sorry once more, I’ll be making me move first Ms. Choi.” She turned to walk but was only pulled back by the wrist.

Gina’s pull was so strong that Amber’s back slammed into the wall. Keeping her lips sealed, Amber clenched her jaw in though the pain was almost unbearable. Praying her old injury earned from skateboarding wouldn’t come back.

“Now, what’s the rush…Mister Liu? Or should I say, Miss Liu?” her face came closer. There was nowhere Amber could run. The pain was shooting throughout her body now.

“HEY! Get your hands offa her!” A voice caused Gina to take at least two steps back. “What do you think you’re doing to Amber?!”

Amber turned her head in the direction of the voice, knowing all too well that it belonged to Hanbyul. Her secret was now out of the bag. Someone else in the company, who in anyway knew her before she entered, now knows her real name.

“Amber?” Gina turned and looked at the tomboy and smirked.

“Get away from her! Don’t you know that she’s got a girlfriend? Stop trying to come onto her!” Hanbyul got close enough to shove Gina into and other side of the corridor.

“See you around…Amber…” Gina said before walking into the opposite direction.

“You okay?” She checked Amber from head to toe.

“I’m good…uh, could you do me a favor? Maybe next time try not to mention my real name?” Amber begged with her eyes. “I just…want to start afresh. With a new identity.”

“Sure. I’m so sorry…”

“It’s okay. Maybe it’s cause, what I have with Krystal is so strong that, I don’t want my gender nor my uality to get in between us. You know? It’s just harder.” She spoke honestly. “Anyway, I’ve gotta get going. Work ain’t gonna get done if it’s just lying on my table.”

-----------------

When Amber got back to the fishbowl office, just like she expected, Krystal questioned her for being out so long.

“Honestly, it’s cause I bumped into my ex.” She decided to be honest to her boss. Knowing that all relationships have to have a certain amount of trust to last.

“E-ex? She works here?” Amber saw how Krystal’s face paled at the mention of ‘ex’. “Have I seen her before?”

“Probably. But I’m telling you this because I don’t want you to think I have the capability to cheat on you.” She smiled. “It’s the right thing to do too. Telling you the truth.”

Surprised at AJ’s honestly, Krystal could only take the backseat and blank out. Partly because the term ‘ex’ was brought up and the probability of meeting that person again was high.

“You’ll love her too. We talked about you while I was waiting to see the head janitor.” Amber spoke, bringing Krystal out of her thoughts

“R-really? She won’t feel…in any…any way intimidated by me?” she swallowed some spit before waiting for her boyfriend to speak.

“No. She’ll like you just the way you are. Don’t worry, she won’t judge you because of your views. That’s just the way she is. Very open-minded.” Amber tried to calm her girlfriend down.

“Is that why you liked her?”

“Are you jealous?”

“N-n-no…” She stuttered.

Amber walked over and sat next to Krystal on the couch. She combed some hair out of her bosses face and smiled at her. She then pulled her in for a hug and kissed her forehead.

“Hey…it’s okay to be jealous. This way, I know how much you love me.” She pulled the girl in for a kiss. “Thank you for being jealous.”

“That’s cause you never fail to make me feel that way. I feel like I’m never good enough for you. You’re just so nice…everyone would want you. Even gay girls are falling for you.”

Amber laughed out loud so hard that it got Krystal pouting. When she saw her girlfriend’s face, she immediately kept quite and kept to doing her own stuffs for the rest of the day.

--------------------