“Hey Bob, stop drooling.”

A hand smacked the back of the FT Island member’s head. Turning to see Jaejin smirking, Seunghyun simply crossed his arms.

“Man, you really do like her, don’t you?” The other guitarist continued to prattle on. Backstage was a whirlwind of activity as always after a successful concert, with the various artists taking the opportunity to catch up with friends from other companies. Jaejin found his bandmate hanging out outside the action. To outsiders, Seunghyun was just being his antisocial self but his friend knew him better than to assume. His line of vision was fixated on a certain rowdy group.

Amber and Key were talking a mile a minute while the f(x) rapper had her arm slung over the maknae of SHINee. Unknowingly, Seunghyun had found himself watching her yet again while waiting for the rest of the band to finish socialising.

“Why don’t we go over, before Key steals her away for good?” The more outgoing of the two suggested but Seunghyun barely flinched.

Seunghyun simply stared at Jaejin as he carried on his monologue. “Are you just going to stand here and look at her for the countless time? It’s not like you are a stalker, although I might add that you are behaving just like one now. You know her so well, so why can’t you just go up and ask her out?”

The other boy just shrugged and finally tore his eyes off Amber, walking away from his bandmate. Man, did Jaejin want the whole world to find out about his secret crush on the f(x) rapper? A hearty laugh rang out – the sound was like a bell that hit him straight to the core. Even though he couldn’t see her now, he knew straight off that that was unmistakably Amber.  

It had been hard and fast. One minute, they were horsing around, Key, Jaejin, him and Amber – the only girl who could hold her own against a bunch of boisterous guys, and the next, his heart seemed to have gone on a sprint without the body and his mind was wondering how it was like to feel the girl’s lips pressed up against his. A typical question posed to every entertainer ever so often, especially so-called idols like themselves, was their ideal type of girl. Seunghyun had always stood by someone y with a good figure – well that technically wasn’t a lie, he had never seen Amber in anything body-hugging. Hell, being a hot-blooded young man, he wondered what kind of curves the rapper hid under those loose clothing.

Perhaps he was tired of Jaejin’s endless ribbing whenever Amber or her image appeared in the vicinity; this dude was remarkably sharp to notice all this, all Seunghyun ever did was look at her from the corner of his eye. Perhaps the closeness that Key and Amber shared finally got to him; it wasn’t like the both of them weren’t close, in fact, Amber never shied away from Seunghyun. Perhaps he was annoyed that she was so friendly to every other male entertainer out there; it wasn’t that he had any claim to her. Perhaps there was something in the air that day; out of all the FT Island guys, could she have been positively flirting with just him during the afternoon’s rehearsal?

They called him calm. No one could ever fathom the wheels turning at top speed in his head. He was impulsive, it was his artistic nature that demanded it, yet he kept it under control because there could only be one diva in the group and of course Hongki bagged the title.

Yet there was just something about Amber, his inner whirlwind was just begging to be unleashed and he finally snapped when Jaejin went ahead to schedule supper with Key and Amber. As Seunghyun was known for his nonchalance, Jaejin got a kick out of trying various ways to push his buttons to get a reaction from him and one of the foolproof ways to make him wince was Amber.

Grabbing Amber’s arm, Jaejin pulled her along, both of them furiously discussing where to eat. Seunghyun and the SHINee rapper followed behind. With every step he took, the guitarist got more and more annoyed, staring daggers into his fellow bandmate’s back. Why did Jaejin always have to hog the girl? Just like the pre-schooler who was fed up of waiting for his turn, Seunghyun surged ahead.

His one hand gripped Amber’s elbow tight. She turned to see who it was, with an eyebrow raised, wondering what was up. Jaejin chuckled, releasing her other arm, surrendering her. Seunghyun was beyond caring about Jaejin’s teasing. He was done with thinking straight and half dragged Amber along. The FT Island entourage travelled in the two mini-vans that were parked along the road. Instead of heading towards the one in front that Jonghun had got into, Seunghyun firmly pulled her towards the other vehicle. Both of them stumbled onto the back seat, he still holding onto her arm. He reached across her to slam the door shut.

“Seungie! Why are we in a different car from the rest?” Amber asked, curious about why they were separated.

Finally. He had her all to himself and her voice was like a wind chime that chased any doubts away. God knows where he got the courage to say what he said next but the words were out before he could regret it, “Because this is the only way I can do this.”

His palm caressed the back of her head and he used the rest of whatever courage to kiss her.

He was heartened when the girl in question didn’t move away, yet Amber seemed in shock. The next few seconds seemed like hours when she didn’t respond. Her eyes stared back at him, huge. Their lips were still connected and he realised he was holding his breath – doubt and worry now flooded his mind. Had he been too impulsive?

A glint flashed in those dark pupils before Amber shut her eyes. And pressed up against him. Hard. Kissing him back. Seunghyun silently uttered a quick prayer of thanks to the powers that be. His arms were now embracing her body so there was not an inch of space between them. He wanted to taste her, everywhere. God knows why he took so long to do this. He should have kissed her a long time ago.

At long last, he could display the magnetic attraction he held for this girl. The chemistry between them grew passionate long and he needed to slow things down before it got out of hand. Grudgingly pulling away two inches, Seunghyun gazed at Amber with a burning intensity.

“Amber, you are mine now.”

He could now put his stamp on the girl who had stolen his heart away a long time ago.

Their noses touched and she narrowed her eyes. “Says who?”

As quickly as his heart had soared, it now plummeted as he froze at Amber’s two words. What did she mean? Did she not like him? Had he really been too rash?

Her deep-throated laugh echoed in the stuffy vehicle chasing the dark clouds in his mind away. Grabbing the front of his shirt, she muttered, “Seungie, kiss me, you fool.”