These were Chance's worst dilemmas;

A choice between telling everyone about Amber's existence or not.

A choice between his happiness or Amber's hapiness.

A choice between Amber to Taec or Amber to him.

And it all made his head and his heart ache.

Did he really want to continue being this selfish man? Was this the man his parents took care of?

*Honestly, I can keep you away from Taec, but I don't know if I can keep you from our friends and your family any longer. Forgive me for being selfish Amber. I'm so sorry*

If he was to give her back to everyone, then he needed to start helping her from recovering her memories... and at the same time, keeping her away from Taec.

Can he do that?

***

It was a fine, breezy day for today's Sunday morning. Chance was sitting at their coffee table on the veranda while he sipped his black coffee. He rested his chin on his palm and watched two, colorful love birds playing with each other on the tree branch.  The birds can't speak, but Chance can see how they showed their love for each other on a different way. Then, another bird joined them and the love birds immediately flew away.

"Poor bird. I'm just like him... the third party on a lover's world." Chance muttered miserably. For the past days since Taec knew his secret, he kept thinking about Amber, their friends, and her family. His guilty heart felt heavy whenever he thought about them. Guilty was an emotion he tried to forget for two years, and now that he felt it again, everything seemed heavier... and worse.

"What are you thinking Chance??" Amber hugged him from behind his back and pecked him briefly on his cheek. "Aren't you going to meet your sponsors?"

"I canceled it." he replied.
"Again? What's going on with you? You're so troubled lately."

Chance did not reply. Instead, he stared at Amber and memorized her every feature.. Her beetle-black eyes, her nose, her eyelashes, even her slightly pouting red lips. 

"Why are you checking me out??" she demanded.
"It's just that my girl is so beautiful, I can't help doing it." Chance replied, smiling affectionately at her.
"Of course, I bet my parents are good-looking, just like me." she answered back.

Chance's smile immediately faded.

"By the way! You promised me when we were in States that when we go back here, we'll visit my parents. When are we going to do that??" Amber asked.

"Soon, perhaps. After you have your regular theraphy." he said.

Amber rolled her eyes. "Theraphy, theraphy. I'm fine now, can't you see??"
"It's better to be sure Amy." Chance pinched her cheeks then he stood up.
"Where are you going?" 
"Bathroom." he said. "You want to come with me?" he added jokingly.
"Yuck Chance. Shoo!" Amber said.

Chance walked away, laughing. Then, he stopped and turned around .

"Amy?"
"Hmm?" Amber said, looking up.
"What will you do when you find out that someone you cared for lied to you for a long time?"

Amber tilted her head in confusion and thought hard.

"Hmmm..... I don't know what will I do. But I surely hate liars." she replied.

Chance bit his lower lip and gave her a forced smile.

"Ah, I see."
"Why?"
"Nothing." he waved his hand and left her. When he reached his bed room, Chance pulled his phone from his pocket and tapped Nichkhun's number. It had been a very long time since he did this. He put his phone on his left ear and waited for Nichkhun to answer his call.
"Chance?" Nichkhun asked uncertainly.
"Hey, Khun." he replied rather rasply.
"Whoooaa bro! It's really you! 'sup man?! HEY YOU MAGGOTS! Chance called!!" Nichkhun yelled over the line.

Chance stiffled his laughter. He did not know until now how much he missed his friends too.

"Give me that!" he heard Minjun's voice. "Hello? Chansung? Is this really our maknae Chansung?"
"Yes Minjun."
"You were two years late man! Where have you been?!" Minjun shouted
"Ah, don't shout Minjun." he said.
"Oh oh! My turn, my turn!" Wooyoung piped in. Chance heard the phone being transferred then Wooyoung's voice rang. "Chance how are you?!"
"I'm fine Wooyoung." *So far*
"Give me that. Hello Chance.?"
"Hi Junho." he heard the line being transferred again and it was Nichkhun who spoke.
"What's up?" he asked.

Chance chose his words carefully before he spoke again.

"You want to meet up?" he asked.
"Sure man! Where?"
"Grand Park, at 2PM?"
"Alright, we'll be there! I'll tell Taec too! He's back in the country, do you know that?"
"Ah... maybe he's busy. It's ok if you don't tell him first."
"Why?"
"Bye, I need to go."
"But -" Nichkhun started but Chance already ended his call.

He was staring at his blank phone when it suddenly rang. 

Calling... Taec

After a moment's hesitation, Chance answered his call. He did not speak, and neither did Taec. The two of them waited in an awkward silence.

Tik, tok, tik, tok.

"What is it Taec?" Chance finally asked.
"Let's talk." he said.
"What for? I thought we're done talking?"
"No, we're not. I still need you to clarify some points."
"Fine. Grand Park, 1PM?"
"Ok. Bring Amber with you."

*I already planned to bring her for Nichkhun and the others.*

"Ok." he replied. Then Taec ended his call.

Chance threw his phone on his bed and heaved a deep sigh. Then he walked into his bathroom and took a nice shower, just to relax his stressed mind.

"Hey, breakfast is ready." Amber said after Chance was done in his shower.
"Argh!" Amber clutched her head suddenly and winced.
"What's wrong Amber?!" Chance stood up and guided her. "Is it your head again? Do you want to go to hospital?"
"No, I'm fine Chance. It's just a glimpse of pain. It's normal." Amber shrugged his hands away and smiled at him. "I'm fine, see?" 
"But..." he said uncertainly.
"I'm fine." Amber repeated. She shook her head and continued placing their platters.

Chance sat again and looked at her concernedly. 

"From now on I insist on doing the cooking, and the laundry, and other household chores."
"And what should I do Chance? Come on, for a year and a half, I spent my life from sleeping and sitting on a wheelchair. It's the least I can do for you. For us."
"However, it doesn't mean you should overwork yourself." he replied sternly. "If you don't take care of yourself more, we'll go back to States. I promise that."
"Ok ok doctor-slash-mother-slash-boyfriend." she said, stucking out her tounge.

Chance laughed.

"Hmm. Amy, I was thinking... do you want to meet my friends?"

Amber looked up on him.

"Really?! Oh I'd love to!" she said joyously.
"That's great. I'm sure you'll like them."
"But.. will they like me?" she asked nervously.
"Believe me. They will. Let's eat?"

***

"Hey, Taec." Taeyeon went outside her bed room and smiled at him. "Who did you call?"
"Chansung."
"Oh." she said and hesitated. "What for?"
"I want to talk to him." he replied. He walked towards Taeyeon and put his hands on her shoulders. "Can I ask a favor Taeyeon?"

Taeyeon blinked.

"O-okay."
"Will you help me with Amber?"

Taeyeon gaped at him. Did he really ask that? And to her of all people??

"Taeyeon?" Taec asked again.

She looked into his hopeful, shining eyes. She wanted to say no, but her tounge seemed to curl backwards, unabling her to speak. Can she even say no to this man in front of her? After a long pause, she nodded.

"Sure.... I will." she replied weakly.

Taec smiled down on her and patted her head.

"I know I can always count on you." he beamed. "We'll meet Chansung and Amber later. I plan to tell her everything."
"Do you think she'll believe you?" Taeyeon asked.
"I hope so. But whatever the cost is, I want her back."

Taeyeon winced but she managed to give him a smile.

"I'll do everything I can to help you. Besides, you were the one who helped me first." she said and walked away.

At 1:00 p.m., Taec and Taeyeon were sitting on the park bench in front of a fountain. Beside them were street food stalls everywhere. Taeyeon was watching three students eating isaw.

"Taec, what's that?" she pointed at those.

Taec furrowed his eyebrows. "That's isaw. It's a roasted chicken's intestine."
"What?" Taeyeon asked disgustedly. "And they seemed to enejoy it. Is it delicious.?"

Taec remembered the first time he ate an isaw. They were on the beach side by then beside Amber's hut.

"I forgot how it tasted. After I found out where it came from, I stopped eating it immediately."

Taeyeon laughed, then she looked at her wrist watch.

"They're late."
"They're here." Taec said, looking straight ahead.

Taeyeon took a deep breath before facing the new arrivals. Her eyes immediately landed on Amber, who was wearing a blue tank top, denim shorts and sneakers. Her curly hair bounced as she walked, and her hand was wrapped on the man's hand that she was with. She suddenly felt a huge amount of jealousy while she looked at her whole feature. She suddenly felt insecured, and she badly wanted to rush at the rest room and look at her face on the mirror at that moment.

Taec stared at Amber open-mouthedly. He can't take his eyes off of her flawless legs, and he can't believe that for three months when Amber lived with him, he did not catch a glimpse of that.

When Chance and Amber reached them, Chance clicked his tounge disapprovingly at Taec.

"Take your eyes off from her legs before I land another punch on you Taec." he whispered so Amber wouldn't hear.
"At the first place, she's not even your girl friend." Taec answered back.

Amber looked at Taeyeon and she gave her a kind smile. Taeyeon smiled too - but just a brief one. Chance glanced at Taeyeon and smiled.

"Hi, I'm Chance." he offered his hand to her and Taeyeon shook it.
"I'm Taeyeon." she answered, smiling at him.
"This is Amy, my girlfriend." he introduced while Taec snorted. Amber waved at Taeyeon.
"Hello Taeyeon." she greeted brightly.

Taeyeon gave her another brief smile.

"Hi."
"Amy, how about you and Taeyeon have some girl talks first while me and Taec talk?" Chance suggested.
"No Amber. Stay here." Taec replied warningly.

Amber frowned at Taec.

"You're still calling me Amber? How many times do I have to tell my name to you?" she asked.
"Whatever. Just stay." Taec said.
"No Amy, I think you should go." Chance cut in. He gave Taec a sharp stare while Taec glared at him.

Taeyeon and Amber looked at the two men. Then, Amber shrugged.

"Let's go Taeyeon?" she held her hands and pulled her away from Chance and Taec.

When the two girls were gone, Chance continued.

"What are you trying to do Taec?" he asked.
"I'll tell her everything. She may not believe me, but I decided to tell her who she really is and not who she thought she is." Taec answered.
"Don't do that."
"Of course you don't want me to. You want to keep her all by yourself don't you?" Taec snapped.
"You don't undestand Amy's situation. She -"
"Oh, and you do?" he cut in, raising his eyebrows. "You think you understand her that the best way for her to live is to stay away from her friends and family?"
"You don't know anything she's been through. Amy is -"
"Chance ! Taec!!"

Chance and Taec looked around. Wooyoung was waving happily at them. The rest of the gang and Torrey are with him. Chance looked at his wristwatch. It was only 1:25 p.m.

"You're early." Chance said when their friends reached them.
"Wooyoung was so excited to see you," Junho said and he whacked Wooyoung's head.
"Ow! Well I can't help it! Chance was gone for 2 years! And Taec was here too! The hunky Bench models are complete!" then he clapped happily.
"I thought you don't want to disturb Taec? You can't resist not asking him don't you Chance?" Nichkhun said.
"What? Why are you all here?" Taec asked blankly. "I don't understand. What the hell is going on?"
"Huh? Didn't Chance ask you to come?" Minjun asked.
"I asked him to come here." Taec said.
"Well, he did ask us to come too." Minjun said.

Taec looked confusedly at Chance. 

"What are you planning to do Chansung?" he demanded. Chance looked straight into his eyes.
"The selfish Chansung planned to tell them everything." he said.
"HUH?" Everyone looked at Taec and Chance.
"What are you talking about Chance?" Minjun asked disconcertedly.

Chance looked at his friends seriously. Then he bowed his head in shame.

"I love Amber." he confessed.
"WHAT?!" Minjun, Wooyoung, Torrey, Minjun, Nichkhun and Junho looked at Taec. He was gritting his teeth in anger.
"We have a love triangle in the group?" Wooyoung asked aghast.
"And she's with me." Chance continued.
"What do you mean, 'she's with me'..?"
"This bastard is hiding Amber from us for two years." Taec answered.

Everyone's jaw dropped. There was a long silence as they all digested what Taec said.

"By hiding... d-does it mean..?" Nichkhun started weakly
"T-that.. that.. Ambie is... alive??" Torrey finished his sentence.

They all looked at Chance for an answer. Slowly, he averted his eyes on them and nodded.

"Oh my God!" Torrey said breathlessly. She grasped Nichkhun's arm with cold hands. "Oh my God my best friend is alive." she said in disbelief.
"Why do you have to hide her from us Chance? Do you know we were all worried on her? We all mourned at her death!" Minjun said.
"Is that the reason why you were gone?" Junho asked.
"Yes." Chansung answered, bowing his head. "I'm sorry."
"What happened to AJ then?" Nichkhun asked.
"She lost her memory." he replied
"And he took advantage to it." Taec growled. "All Amber know is that Chansung is her boyfriend, and her family is in this country."
"What about us?! Why didn't you tell her about us?!" Wooyoung demanded.
"Amber is with Taeyeon now. I say we tell her everything when they go back." Taec said.
"No! Don't do that! It's not advisable for her!" Chance said instantly.
"It's not advisable for you moron." Taec snapped. "Stop caring only for yourself."
"You don't understand! The doctor did not advice me to give her a full-blown detail of everything that happened in her past life in one shot! He said it may only cause her situation worse. So please, don't do that. Let... let me handle everything." Chance pleaded.
"Why? What's wrong with Ambie?" Torrey asked concernedly.
"Amber... she's in the phase wherein she's between recovering her memories and losing it." Chance replied sadly. "The doctor said before we go here that I should take things slowly, if I don't want Amber to lose her memories again and make it worse."
"You mean... if we try and explain her everything, she might just get... confused?" Torrey clarified.
"And worse." Chance added darkly. "I know it was wrong to hide her from you Minjun, Torrey, Nichkhun, Junho, Wooyoung, Nichkhun, and to her family... but let me handle this. Please." he said, intentionally excluding Taec from their conversation.

Silence fell. They looked at each other uncertainly. Taec was frowning at Chance.

"So, what should we do now?" Minjun asked everyone.

They all thought hard. Nichkhun glanced at Chance and said,

"We're not yet forgiving you for what you've done bro.... but if it's for the sake of AJ's health, then I'll go with the flow of whatever you were planning to do."
"If it will help Ambie to recover her memories at the end, then I agree too." Torrey said.

The others nodded.

Meanwhile, Amber and Taeyeon were walking side by side with an awkward silence between them. Amber was peering with the isaws and betamax while they walked.

"You know, this place seems familiar to me." she suddenly said.

Taeyeon looked up immediately and gulped.

"You do?" she asked.

Amber turned to her and nodded.

"I can't point my finger.. I really can't. But this is like de ja vu. I think I'm here with someone before... or am I alone? Maybe it's just my dream." she said. They stopped on one of the food stalls and pointed at the isaw. "Excuse me. What's is this?" she asked innocently.

The vendor raised her eyebrow and studied Amber carefully.

"Foreigner huh? It's isaw. 2 pesos per stick." she said.

Amber rummaged her pocket and pulled out 10 pesos. "5 sticks then please."

The vendor took 5 sticks of isaw and steamed it on the grill for a while. After a few minutes, she handed her isaws.

"Thank you." Amber dipped the isaws on the prepared sauce and gave Taeyeon 2 sticks. "Have you tasted this Taeyeon? Let's try it." she offered.

Taeyeon stared from her kind face to the isaw she was holding. Amber gave her an encouraging nod and smiled at her.

"If you're worried that it's unhealthy, I'll eat it first." Amber took a large bite and chewed. Her face was scrutinizing the flavor and when she swallowed the food, her face brightened even more. "Yummy!!" she exclaimed. "Go on Taeyeon, try it!"

Reluctantly, Taeyeon reached for her two sticks and took the smallest bite she can muster. Amber laughed.

"Bite bigger, it will taste better." she winked.

Taeyeon obliged. She took a larger bite and chewed. She was frowning at first while she tried to swallow the rubbery meal then her face brightened too. 

"I love it. I want more." she said.

Amber giggled. "Me too. Here, this one is yours." she gave her the fifth stick and ordered for more.

Taeyeon ate her third isaw and stared at Amber.

*Besides being beautiful and simple, she's kind too. She's too kind for me. Doesn't she know we just love the same man? Is this what Taec have seen on her?* she thought.

"Here. Another one for you." Amber said.

Taeyeon smiled geniunely this time. She accepted her another sets of stick and bowed at her.

"Thank you Amber." she said.

Amber rolled her eyes. "Not you too? My name is Amy. A-M-Y."

Taeyeon nodded timidly.

"Sorry." she muttered.

They walked back to where Chance and Taec was, but they saw that the crowd grew larger. Taeyeon saw that all of their faces were familiar, and it was later on that she realized they were Taec's friends. She glanced at Amber to see if she recognized them, but she was looking at them curiously, as if she have seen them for the first time.

Torrey, who was saying something to Taec, stopped in mid-sentence. She opened wide and stared straight ahead, her bulging eyes never moved even for a fraction of a second. Her frozen state made Nichkhun follow her eyes, and he took a sharp intake of breath as he looked ahead too.

"AJ."
"Amber"

Nichkhun and Torrey both said at the same time.

The other men looked around. Taec's eyes softened; Chance closed his eyes guiltily; and Minjun, Wooyoung and Junho's jaws dropped dramatically.

Amber, who was the only clueless person on the group, smiled innocently at everyone.

"Hello! I guess you're all Chance's friends that he was talking to? I'm Amy by the way. Nice to meet you all!" she bowed at them one by one and gave them a huge smile.

No one bowed back or replied anything. They just continued to stare at her as if she was a ghost or something. Soon, Amber's smile faded.

*I knew it. They won't like me* she thought miserably.

Then, there was a large amount of brown hair in front of Amber, and she found herself being hugged tightly by Torrey. Torrey buried her face on her neck and sobbed. She hugged Amber tighter, looking like she doesn't want to let go of her.

"N-nice meeting y-you.. hic... Amy... hic!" she stiffled her sobs and continued. "I'm.. I'm Victoria. But .. p-please... just call me... T-torrey!" she was not able to hold back her tears and cried. "I like you saying my nick name more.... Then you can also pinch my cheeks or whack my head again.. or I can also drag you to shopping if you w-want to...." *Oh God Amber I missed you so much!* Torrey gave her another tight hug. "I'm so happy to finally meet you!" she said over her sobs.

Amber opened in confusion but she lightly patted her head.

"Why are you crying? Don't cry.. ok, I'll call you Torrey. Nice meeting you Torrey." she said kindly, and she hugged Torrey back. Her warm embrace made Torrey cry harder. Amber looked at Chance and mouthed "What's wrong with her?", but Chance just shrugged.
"AJ.. I mean.. Amy. I'm Nichkhun, Torrey's boy friend." Nichkhun offered his hand and Amber shook it with her right hand, while her left arm was still hugging Torrey.
"Torrey seems lucky having you. Nice meeting you Nichkhun"

*Funny AJ. Two years ago you're the first person who doesn't want us to be together* Nichkhun thought.

Wooyoung approached Amber slowly. His feet seemed a thousand times heavier but he managed to reach out for her hand and shook it too.

"I'm.. I'm Wooyoung." he said in disbelief.

Junho shook her hand too.

"Junho."

Lastly, Minjun gave her a kind smile and shook her hand.

"And I'm Minjun. Everyone's oldest brother." he said. "How have you been AJ? I mean. Amy.?"

Torrey removed her embrace from Amber and beamed at her. Nichkhun looked from Torrey to Amber. Then he gave his friend a warm smile.

"Amy... do you mind if we give you a hug?" he asked.
"Huh?" Amber asked surprisedly. "Uh, er.... No, I -"

But she was unable to continue her sentence. Minjun, Wooyoung, Nichkhun, Torrey, and Junho immediately rushed on her and gave her a group hug. Amber was so overwhelmed by their welcome that she was left speechless on the middle.

Taeyeon smiled. *They really missed her* she thought. *She's so lucky to have friends like them* she added enviously.

Meanwhile, Chance was looking at his friends and Amber with a sad expression on his face.

*Oh Amber, what have I done?* he asked himself miserably.