Amber was driving the company car to Busan for a much needed vacation with Soojung. It was a perfect day to forget all the nuisances everybody seemed to be giving them. Soojung also wanted to see the kids after setting the trip aside because of a certain someone.

“What are they like?” Amber asked her while she drove the company’s SUV into a road surrounded by bushes and autumn trees.

“Hmm, they’re a bunch of happy kids,” She looked outside and pondered. “They kind of like doing everything; from cartwheels to hugging random strangers…”

“Ugh, hugs,” Amber made a sour face.                                                                                                                 

“You’ll appreciate them after awhile. Don’t go off being a Scrooge and growl “Bah, humbug!” every time some kid hugs you, okay? I promise you, you’re going to have a good time.” She messed Amber’s hair and leaned back on her seat. “Don’t you like kids?”

Amber shook her head. “I kind of have this terrible headache when I’m with them. It sets off the moment they start getting touchy.”

“What? Like you’re allergic to kids too?” She crossed her arms.

“Haha. Funny.”

She liked provoking Amber. It had turned into a routine now, even after being together. Mimicking her gestures. Laughing at her clumsiness. She really adored, no—loved dorky Amber. It was one of the reasons why she fell in love with her in the first place.

“Amber, is this really okay? I mean, you still have that thing with your sister and Mr. Kim and your grandfather’s other will--”

“Jackie needs time, and that’s the only thing I can give her right now. I think I also need time too, to bring back my memories and everything else that’s in between. It’s better if Jackie, Mr. Kim and I don’t see each other for awhile.” She mocked a smile at her which Soojung had read. She held Amber’s other hand, the one that was not on the steering wheel, and played with her fingers.

Amber felt her smile spread across her cheeks.  “You know when you do that; we’ll eventually crash, right?”

“To die by your side is such a heavenly way to die.” She smirked and let go of her hand.

“And now you’re quoting a song? I’m getting goose bumps.”

“Bug off, Scrooge.”

Amber snickered and hid a smile while she turned into a corner.

---

“Krystal-sshi!”

A brown-haired lady came outside the moment they set foot on the orphanage. She was a tall and boisterous woman with a resonating laugh. She came in long strides and her hair was in a bun leaving just two locks of light brown hair on her face.

“Krystal-sshi! Welcome back!” 

With that as a precaution, a flurry of children began running on the pathway, hugging the living daylights out of Soojung. She mouthed an “I told you so” to Amber.

“Noona, who’s that pretty man? Is he your boyfriend?” A boy with jet black hair asked her.

“She’s a girl, In Suk.” Soojung patted the boy’s head and laughed at Amber.

“But she looks like a man!” In Suk scratched his head.

“Stop annoying your noona’s guest, and welcome them in,” the lady said disparagingly.

 The girls were, however, already tugging Amber’s appendages. She looked at Soojung for help.

“She’s cute, unnie. We like her!” the one with the pigtails exclaimed.

They all surrounded Amber, guiding her inside the house. She turned her head to Soojung and said, “Help me”.

She laughed hard at Amber’s predicament. She waved her hand and said, “Go on! I’ll follow you.” Amber pouted and went inside.

Meanwhile, the caretaker accompanied her. “Krystal, it’s been so long since you came here.”

“I know, Sooyoung unnie. I’ve been really busy with work.”

“Wow, good thing your boss let you off today.”

“My boss actually tagged along.”

“Oh,” Sooyoung said. “OH!” She clapped her hands and whispered, “Good going Krystal. She’s a catch.”

“Sooyoung-unnie!”

“What? You can’t hide that fact that she’s on the good looks department and you both look ridiculously cute together. You want me to marry you guys off?” She elbowed her on the waist.

“Aish, who’s marrying who?” Soojung said bashfully.

Sooyoung laughed at her expense.

----

Amber was completely amazed at the sight of these kids scribbling her face on paper. It seemed like they never had visitors before aside from Soojung. Maybe Soojung’s reason for wanting to be here was completely understandable. She was all they had left. She was their beacon of hope.

She smiled and thought, “That makes the both of us.” She was patrolling around the leisure area and stopped at a drawing of her with a llama face.

“Amber-unnie looks like a llama in my drawing!”

“But Krystal-noona said she’s stupid. She’s stoooopid.”

“She is not!”

“She is!”

“Well, at least she’s a llama! Llamas are cool.”

Amber shook her head in disbelief.  She was about to argue this futile point when suddenly, someone hugged her from behind.

“Ambweo-unnie!” She looked back and found a little freckly girl, about her waist’s height, with a bob cut and a sweet smile.

“Ddyoodungie doesn’t want to leave Ambweo-unnie!”

Her head began to ache.

“I want Ambweo-unnie to come with us!”

“I--- don’t---.”

She crouched and rummaged her hair. She couldn’t stand the pain in her head. It was hurting so much.

“Ambweo-unnie?”

“I have to protect you--”

“Amber! You need to get out of this house now! Amber!”

“Dad, I have to protect--”

“HELP! HELP ME!”

“MOM! Where are you? Tell me!”

“HAHAHAHAHA!”

“What are you doing to her! STOP THAT! IF I EVER GET MY HANDS OFF THESE, I’LL KILL ALL OF YOU!”

“You have such a bad temper, you rascal. I was just helping this little girl--”

“Get your filthy hands off of her! Let her go! I said let her go!”

 “Amber?”

“Soojung!”

 “Amber, snap out of it!”

She was met with glazed dark orbs. They were staring at her with a look of worry and confusion.

“Soojung.”

“Yes, I’m here. I’m here, stupid. Where else would I go?” Soojung embraced her. “What happened? You scared Eun Bi half to death,” Soojung cupped her face and Amber knew she saw panic and fear in there. “Come on. Let me get you a glass of water.”

She saw the kids’ frightened faces, moving away as she slowly stood up, walked to the kitchen and sat on the seat of their dining table.

“Come, you little rascals, let’s give them some space.” Sooyoung huddled the children away from the two.

“Is she okay?” The girl named Eun Bi asked Sooyoung while they proceeded back to the leisure area. Soojung closed the door behind them.

Amber watched Soojung as she fell silent. She sat at the chair adjacent to her and left the glass of water on the table.

Amber was holding her temples and drank the glass of water with big gulps. She felt, after what happened, as if she had an out-of-body experience. Who is she? Who is this girl? Why does this place suddenly look familiar? She pressed her forehead with her thumb and closed her eyes tight. This is just a dream. Just a dream.

She felt a hand touched hers that was on the table. It was warm and real. She opened her eyes and felt the tangible warmth scorching her from the inside. “Krystal, I--”

“You don’t have to explain. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have forced you here. I was being catty and pushy.”

“No, I overreacted,” she told her.

She smiled at her. “This was supposed to relieve you of your worries, and because I pushed you into that situation, it completely backfired. I’m sorry Amber.”

“Hey, don’t blame yourself for what happened. I came here because this is a part of you that I should know. I have to know because I’m a part of you too...”

Amber leaned closer to Soojung and met her eyes. “All those things I did awhile ago, the emotional train wreck that I was, that’s the real me.  I have issues deep inside my head that even I couldn’t comprehend. And I have to know, that no matter what you find about me, about us, please tell me that everything will be alright between us, okay? Because I am deeply and irrevocably in love with you. I’m sorry I put you into such a hard position but I wanted to be honest.”

 Soojung held both of Amber’s hands. “Stop saying things like I’m going to leave you. I’m not going to. I love you too Amber, so much that it’s killing me for not being able to get rid of all your doubts so please, don’t think that. Don’t you ever think of that.”

“You don’t understand,” Amber said, with tears staining her cheeks. “Soojung, I need you to fix me.”

Soojung stood up and walked in confident strides to her girlfriend. She held her hand tightly and pulled her up. When they were both standing and staring at each other, she hugged her with all she had.

“I wish I could hug you so tight, that all those broken pieces inside you can be whole again.”

-----

There was a dilapidated ceiling above her. She peered at the broken window panes and rusted metal all around the area. She felt like she was in an old warehouse of sorts; a ramshackle that was long forgotten in the middle of nowhere. It was getting harder to breathe.

She realized was gagged with duct tape plastered all around her head and over .

She tried to stand up and found that she was strapped in a chair. Where was she? How did she end up here?

“Jackie Liu. How very nice to meet you again.”

She looked around, trying to find the source of this noise, and found the man who told her that she was the niece of the CEO of Liu advertising back in Hawaii. She made a commotion and tried to cut loose the ropes that tied her hands from behind.

“You seem to be excited to see me. Dare I say that you miss me?” The man took a chair from somewhere, positioned it in front of her and sat on it.

“Honey, don’t get angry at me for tying you up. This is just so you can listen to what I’ve got to say. And may I add that it’s as important to you as it is to me.”

She didn’t want to look at him. Tears started streaming down her eyes and she stared at the hard granite floor. She didn’t want to look at this man. He pretended that he was a family friend; that he was a friend of her uncle, but now looking at him, it seemed that she was just a pawn in all his plans.

“Now let me start with this,” he crossed his legs and grinned, “Jackie, have I ever told you that Amber Liu, the CEO of Liu Advertising and your most beloved sister… is adopted?”

***

a/n: Wait for it... 

DOUBLE UPDATE! :)