“I got sunshine in a cloudy day.

When it’s cold outside,

I’ve got the month of May,

I guess you’d say,

What can make me feel this way,

My girl...”

Amber Liu yawned through The Temptations playing from her alarm clock. She dangled her feet, wore her slippers and dragged herself towards the bathroom. The alarm clock still played ceremoniously throughout her room.

“I guess you’d say, what can make me feel this way...”

She brushed her teeth meticulously and stopped only after hearing a knock on her apartment door. 

“My girl.”

“I’ve been talking ‘bout my girl.”

She opened it and left the door ajar, just to be greeted by her secretary.

 “Good morning sunshine,” Soojung was on her formal wear again; Her white sleeved blouse tucked in her black pants.  “Nice song.”

Amber smiled mockingly, baring her foamy teeth, then went right back to the bathroom to finish her business. Soojung examined Amber’s sleeping attire, which included black pj’s adorned with pink skulls, and a white top with a picture of a lonely sleeping black cat. Underneath it, words were written in black font. “I has a sad,” Soojung had read. She tried hard to stifle a giggle.

As Amber tidied in the bathroom to get ready for work, Soojung  explored her apartment and figured she had not unpacked. After brushing off some of the used clothes on the sala, she sat gracefully, with her legs crossed.

She reviewed everything she wanted to do with her at work. Plan a reconstitution of everything. Sort out a new propaganda. Start again. If there’s one thing that she wanted to do first, it’s to review the entire staff, especially that Mr. Kim. She had a dire feeling that he was the root of all this. He might’ve gained advantage of his personal connections with Mr. Liu and took a gander at business accounts he was handling. She wanted to investigate further.

After 15 minutes, Amber turned to Soojung, wearing only her jacket, a tshirt and a pair of pants. She was lazily sms-ing someone on her cellphone and yawned  naively.

“Hey! Stupid! What are you wearing?” She stood at the sight of her boss. After circling her like a prey. She tutted, “You are not going to the office wearing THAT.”

“Wearing what actually?” Amber raised her eyebrows.

“That-that-that rubbish!”

“This is what I’m used to, darling. Get used to it.” She focused her attention again at her cellphone.

“I will not approve going to the office, working for someone who dress like some bullying LA gangster,” She placed her hands on her waist.  “Come. We’ll drop by the mall first.” She walked out of the apartment. Seeing as Amber was not following, she went back and dragged the hem of her jacket. “Come on! We’re going to be late!”

“Ack! Okay okay!” Amber choked. Soojung  had let her go and walked ahead.

“Now who’s the bullying gangster now?” Amber said and after wearing her sneakers, followed suit.

_____________________________________________________________________________

She felt it again.

That stirring in the pit of her stomach that she didn’t quite understand.

It was after the 5th attempt of dressing up Amber. They tried quirky formal, strict corporate and trendy woman attires but failed miserably. It seemed that everything female was against Amber. Soojung then succumbed to the men’s attire and found her a white Armani shirt and black pants; adding a black fitted coat and a tie.

So then she waited for Amber to dress up. She looked at brochures and magazines to kill the time. Then, she heard the lock of the dressing room unbolt. She glanced at the opening door and saw the new Amber. She’s. He’s. I mean-

“For the nth time, is this it?” Amber said disparagingly.

Soojung nodded with hanging open. He’s beautiful.

“Finally!” Amber hurried off to the cashier and gave her credit card. Soojung just slumped there, all lost and confused. She didn’t understand why she was feeling this sudden lightheadedness, and her stomach was kind of queasy.

“Yo, Jung.” Someone tapped her. She looked at Amber and started having fits in her stomach again. She coughed, forced a smile and went outside the store. Amber just scratched her head and followed.

_________________________________________________________________________

Sulli was yet again running late. She regretted sleeping late. She had watched those late night korean dramas and also ate 3 packs of ramyun noodles as a midnight snack. She ended waking up at 8 in the morning, all puffy eyed and swollen. After taking a quick shower, she dressed and dolled up as quickly as she can. In less than an hour, a flustered Sulli was running through the revolving doors of Liu Advertising and into the elevator.

Ding!

Sulli entered and was about to close the door when she saw Krystal hurrying towards her.

“Annyeong Haseyo Krystal!”

Krystal greeted her with a grin, looked outside and said in english, “Hurry! It’s your first day of work!”

Sulli searched the new employee Krystal was pertaining to and saw... a korean idol.

“Omo! Is he that guy in Shinee-“

The new guy sheepishly grinned at Sulli, acknowledging her presence.

“This is Sulli, Amber. She’s one of our account executives.” Sulli heard Krystal ‘s english accent and knew right away that this person didn’t know much Korean. “Sulli, this is Amber. Our new CEO.”

“OMO!” She tripped on her heel and bowed low. “Mr. Liu, I am sorry for being rude.”

Amber stifled a laugh and said, “What’s a Shinee? And why did you call this woman Krystal?”

“Shush Amber, we’re here.” Krystal turned to Sulli , “We’ll meet at Lunch Ssul, okay?”

She said goodbye to Sulli and left the elevator. Amber bowed at her and snickered, “See ya, Miss Sulli.”

Sulli was left there, jumping and squealing in spite of herself.

_______________________________________________________________________

Amber wasn’t accustomed at all in this corporate gibberish. She had heard the words “consolidation”, “media buying”, “copywriters” and such. She didn’t realize that her Uncle’s business was not as easy as she expected it to be. One was arguing about the new policies and regulations. The other refuted about the new CEO and stood up, telling the others that there should be a votation. After fumbling her fingers for an hour or so, she heard one of the members say, “Miss Jung Soojung, kindly stand up.”

Her secretary stood up in a graceful demeanour. Amber was amazed at how soft and elegant she looked at the outside but so dreadfully frightening on the inside. The thought of this gave her goosebumps.

“This is what we decided. You Miss Jung will tutor our young lass here everything about the business for 2 months. She will have to know the do’s and don’ts, the in’s and out’s; everything a course graduate has learned in a university for only 2 months. You will also have to tutor her a bit in Hangul and some other practicalities, like social media and the press here in Korea. If she doesn’t comply...”

Amber saw Soojung’s hands balled into angry fists.

“Mr. Kim will be the new head of Liu Advertising.” The member said finally.

“But sir, she IS the heir. She’s the only living Liu who deserves the rightful claim to the company. I have here Mr. Liu’s will to justify--”

“We respect Mr. Liu’s wishes, Miss Jung. But the fact that this kid doesn’t even know a thing about the agency is outrageous. Mr. Liu should also respect our opinion that if Miss Amber Liu isn’t fit to be the head of this company, Mr. Kim here, his trusted colleague, will be able to take his position.”

All of the members kept nodding their heads in agreement. Soojung just kept looking down.

“Okay.” She quietly added.

“Then it is agreed.”

Soojung shook Mr. Kim’s hands firmly as he smiled in merriment. “Good luck to you Miss Jung. I know this kid has the heart of his uncle.”

“I’m sure she does, Mr. Kim.” She strained one side of her lip upward.

Amber felt the tension the two were giving off. She felt sparks emitting out of Soojung. This might be the worst atmosphere she had felt on her, sans that incident where Amber ate an apple at some marketplace.

She saw Mr. Kim sneer and they had let go.  “Meeting is dismissed.”

All of the members stood up the conference hall and started leaving with their suitcases. Amber just sat there with a fuming Soojung.

“I can see you gnashing your teeth, Soojung.”

“That Kim! I swear for the life of me he is stealing your uncle’s company to put it to brankuptcy!”

Suddenly, she sensed a feeling of foreboding. Here was Soojung, not in any relation to her uncle, protecting his company, fighting hard to keep it off of harm’s way. And here she was, detached and unsure of herself if she could or should take this company and manage it just like the way her uncle did.

She looked at Soojung and wondered what it was with her and her uncle. She once said that her uncle was too hardworking...

“Soojung, why did Sulli call you Krystal?”

Soojung looked at her with her eyebrows raised. She sighed, “That was my name back in LA.”

“You’re from LA?”

“Born and raised.”

Amber felt like a burden from her chest had been lifted off. She began to look at her in a different way. She suddenly remembered someone with the same name back in LA. Was it Krystal? Or Kristine? She forgot. Her memory of childhood was very vague. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“No reason why.” She said.

“Pff. You’re always pissing me off.” She said half-heartedly. She grinned at her, “Can I call you Krystal then?”

“Call me anything. You’re the boss, right?”

“Now, I’m the boss.  You’re too complicated, Krys.”

“Krystal. Not Krys.”

“Krystie?”

“Euurgh. KRYSTAL.”

“How about princess? Since you’re acting like one.”

“Then I’ll call you stupid for obvious reasons.”

“I hate you.”

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

Whew! Finished! Thank you for waiting, guys. So another thing to complicate the plot. What happened to Amber’s childhood? Does it have anything to do with Krystal?

Next chapter, I might reveal Suzy’s role. Hmmm...

 Thank you for all the subs and comments! I love you guys to bits and pieces! Remember, it takes a few minutes to read this chapter but a few seconds to leave a comment. Ciao! Out~