Soojung was finished with checking the cubicles in the lady’s bathroom. She wondered if maybe, Ailee ate at some restaurant or bought something inside the groceries department. Maybe she should just regroup with that stupid boss of hers and think this through. She searched for Amber at the baggage area and stopped short at what she saw.

A dumb-looking girl was kissing Amber’s cheek.

Suddenly, she felt that unsettling sensation again. She knew that she was going crazy with whatever she was feeling for her. Despite all the things she did just to hide these emotions, it was still there—this invicible force enveloping her senses, making them revolve around Amber. Her constant fury was her defense mechanism to subdue this tension.

She felt that she was being betrayed by her own heart. Liking her was against everything she was. Against her morals. Against her character. Against everything she had worked and lived for.

There was only one person she was scared of in this world, and right now that person was holding her own cheek, flirting with someone she didn’t know.

Maybe it was really her fault that this happened. After all, it was her idea to find that hell of a singer and make Amber be the bait. Beneath this, she realized that the whole “Seducing Ailee” part was a disguise so that she could test how she felt about the set-up. She realized she did not like the scenario one bit.

She shook her head and walked closer to the pair.

Soojung stood behind Amber and the sensations turned tenfolds. They were shaking hands. She tapped her back and Amber motioned her head towards her. “Oh Krystal!” Amber looked at her and grinned adorably. Her stomach did backflips.

The lady was very familiar, now that they were in close distance. Soojung faked her voice. “Amber, I was looking all over for you!” She hooked her hand on Amber’s arm.

“Er—Didn’t you tell me to split up-“

Soojung cleared to cut her speech and said, “Would you mind introducing me to your friend?”

The girl studied Soojung and asked Amber, “Chingu(friend)?”

“Yeojachingu (girlfriend).” Soojung told her indiscreetly.  Oh my God! What did I just say? What the freaking hell did I just say? She mentally berated herself. She made a fist with her other hand and hit herself in the head.

Amber made a weird look at Krystal, “Uhh, Krystal this is Ailee. I helped her find her bag awhile ago.”

“YOU’RE AILEE?! THE VOICE OF KOREA AILEE?!” She had let go of Amber and placed a hand to cover .

 “Uhmm, If you don’t mind, please lower your voice down a little. I’m hiding from some of my detractors. It’s no good if you keep yelling my name.” Ailee said while looking from left to right. She held her hood tightly to make sure nobody looked at her straight in the face.

“I deeply apologize, Miss Ailee. I didn’t get to introduce myself properly. I’m Krystal, Amber’s-“

“I know. I know. Amber’s yeojachingu,” She smiled at Amber briefly. “I’m sorry. I thought Amber was single, so I plucked my courage and kissed his cheek. I didn’t mean any harm. I was just expressing grattitude.”

“No, no! What I mean was—“ Soojung was about to defend her blunder when Amber cut her off.

“I’m sorry Miss Ailee if my yeojachingu-“ Soojung looked down in embarrassment, “-misled you. What she meant was that we came here for business. Let me introduce myself again. I am Amber Liu, the CEO of Liu Advertising. We called you Tuesday to ask if it would be possible for you to endorse this CF we’re overseeing. We are sincerely hoping that you give this a second thought.”

“Hmmm.” Ailee was holding her chin upraisingly. Amber was gazing at her with those almost pleading eyes.

“I don’t know how you managed to find me... but since you guys went all the way here and Amber’s such a cute and funny gentleman...” She held her breath, “Okay.”

Amber looked at Krystal with glee which in turn, greeted her back with a thankful look.

“In one condition,” Ailee added.

They both looked at her expectantly.

“Treat me to coffee,” Ailee pouted at Amber. “With permission from your girlfriend, of course.”

Soojung shook her head. "No, I won't mind."

 “It will be my pleasure treating you to coffee, Miss Ailee.” Amber then offered her arm, which Ailee latched onto. They both left in matching strides, leaving someone alone with her thoughts.

After a moment's silence, Soojung screamed in frustration, “What did I just do!”

___________________________________

It was night time. Haeundae-gu shined more brightly with its dazzling city lights and eventful atmosphere. In the stream of strangers walking in the Haeundae district, a familiar lady ambled her way inside one of the busiest restaurants situated there. She took off her coat and slung it on the coat-hanger.

“Appa! I’m home.”

“Suzy! How was work?”

Her father was a middle-aged man. He had a rounded face masked with a bearded chin and was wearing a white apron. His eyes also appeared warm and nice. This must have been one of the reasons why his restaurant catered a lot of customers. He seemed to be everybody’s appa.

“Mr. Bae, your japchae was daebak!” A customer said to him while passing the two.

“Thank you! Come again, my dear customer.” His hearty laugh was infectious.

“Appa, I’d like to come up for some rest, okay?” Suzy walked upstairs and waved his father off.

“Be happy, my daughter. I’ll cook some kimchi soup for you.” She heard her father’s voice as she closed the door to her room.

Suzy laid on her bed and looked at the ceiling. She just couldn’t fathom what Amber was thinking awhile ago. What was wrong with her? Tears fell on her cheeks and on to her bed.

She knew that she should have kept her distance from the start.  

_________________________________

“Suzy! Suzy! Wait!”

She looked back to see Amber running to her. “Hey,” she said feebly.

“Hey!” She said and walked in time with her. “I’ve been dismissed by my ever-loving secretary Krystal.  So how about dinner?”

“Amber. I can’t...” She said waiting for her taxi in the sidewalk. “My taxi will be here in 3 minutes.”

“What about tomorrow?” she said leaning her back on a street lamp.

“I’m... busy.”

“But, you don’t even know if you’re busy or not. I’ll lay you off early. I’m the boss, right?”

“Amber...”

A taxi cab halted in front of her and she sighed. “I just can’t Amber.” She was about to enter the cab when Amber stopped her from closing the door.

“Can’t you tell, Suzy?” Amber hesitated, “I like you.” She stared at her feet. “I don’t know why I am feeling like this. It’s like I’ve known you my whole life. I feel warm and cozy when I’m with you. So I want to get to know you more and see where it goes from there.” She grinned sheepishly and waited for her answer.

Suzy just couldn’t. She had to do this. If Amber knew the truth, it would break her heart more. She had to.

“Miss Liu, you are a wonderful boss. You’re a good sister too. But that’s all you are to me.” Amber had let go of the car door. 

“See you tomorrow...” Suzy smiled half-heartedly at her and closed the door.

She looked back at Amber’s miserable figure as the taxi cab sped faster and faster.

____________________________________

It was a beautiful Friday morning. The sunlight reached the windows of a bungalow house located in the middle of Busan. Shadows made out to be silhouettes of trees from outside were seen inside the room of four little toddlers. The rustling of the leaves lulled them more to sleep.

The door slowly opened, revealing a tall woman dressed in a long black mantle. She was smiling at the four children. She shook them lightly to wake them up.

The eldest scrunched her eyes with her hands and helped the woman wake up the rest. When all of them were awake, the woman told them to clean up because there were people who wanted to see them. They nodded in understanding.

The woman was now in the reception area, handling paperworks. On the far left of her, five adults were talking with each other in hushed tones.

“So what brought you here?”

The man dressed in an impeccable black suit looked at his lovely wife adoringly and answered, “My wife had come up with this. Ever since she had her surgery, the doctor told us that there would only be a 10% chance for her to bear a child. That’s like ten to nothing. So we decided to think about this. You?”

“My wife died two years ago. She gave me this large sum of money that she hid from me all these years. I invested it into a fancy restaurant and it became successful. I’m living in the lap of luxury right now, but still, I feel like something's missing...” The stout man continued, “And I guess this is it.”

The three stared at the last couple. They were in formal attire. The man was familiar to them. The stout man spoke first, “Hey, you’re the owner of LBS, right? Liu Broadcasting System?”

The man nodded and held her wife’s hand. “It’s better not to let this get out.”

The man with the suit said, “We’re not the gossiping kind.” The other man nodded.

He turned to his wife who gave a nod of approval. “We were having problems bearing a child, too. Our father was very strict and he wanted a grandchild from us since I was the only son. So we made it seem that she was pregnant and we took off to the States. We consulted doctors there, tried in vitro fertilization but ended up in failure. It has been two years since then. This was the last resort.”

“We have old customs.” His wife said, ending the explanation.

“We understand.” Said the other wife. They looked at their spouses and to each other.

“Then, you should try trading places with me guys.” The stout man laughed heartily. The others chuckled with him.

The woman on the reception stood up and called them, “Are you ready to meet the kids from the orphanage?”

They stood up with a better appreciation for each other.

************************************

Soooooo... I’m halfway through the story now! Thank you for all the reads, subscriptions, and comments! You guys are so welcoming! :3

This one’s a BIG spoiler from the past. Four toddlers.  Orphanage. Hmmm... Keep guessing!

How about Amber’s surprising confession? Tell me what you think by placing your cursor on that tiny box underneath and typing what's inside that head of yours, aite? 

Bye guys! Out~