Kris secretly took a peek at the the trio in a corner of the hall. He could not express just how much he would rather hang out with his friends than listen to the rich old man tell him about his last trip to New Caledonia when he himself had been there five times already. Amber and Luhan seemed to be getting along well judging by the way Amber laughed at what the other said; his chest rising up with pride when the lady found his remark amusing. Kris tried his best not to groan inwardly. If there was anything he hated more than Sky Diamond, it would be formalities. He clenched his fists and bit his lip, wanting the torture to end already. He abruptly took a step forward when he saw Amber drag Sehun to the dance floor.

Sehun hugged the girl close – too close, in Kris’ opinion – while they gazed into each other’s eyes as if they were lost in their own world. Kris tilted his head to the size in confusion when he felt an unfamiliar, extremely uncomfortable sensation in his stomach. He had wondered what their relationship was numerous times. They weren’t simply just good friends who cared for and understood each other. Their relationship ran much deeper than that, though Kris couldn’t explain exactly what it was. He was sure it wasn’t love, or at least not yet. This was the very reason why he allowed himself to secretly develop a crush on the charismatic woman. He didn’t know if it could lead to anything, but at least with her around, other than work, he would have someone else to take care of, worry about and put his mind on to escape the extremely scary feeling of being alone.

Kris never believed in love at first sight, but he was beginning to. His life until that very moment were all about work and living up to his father’s and other’s expectations of him, leaving him with not much time for relationships and women. The only exception was his ex-girlfriend BoA whom he met in New York during his time in university. They couldn’t save their relationship and finally decided to stay friends as they had been before although the man knew deep down that what he felt for the girl was not actually love. Thinking back, he felt guilty about it, but all he really did was receive the love she showered him with and misunderstood his own feelings of gratitude towards her for love. In the end, he realized she deserved to be truly loved back and he was just not the one for her.

It didn’t mean Kris had no desire for love. Sappy as it may sound, but he wasn’t going to enter in a relationship just for the sake of it. If he was going to put himself in that situation, he wanted to wait and make sure she would be the one for him. He wanted to have what his parents had. Kris was sure that his old man loved his wife dearly; he said so himself. After his mother’s death, his father once admitted to his son that without his wife, his life was back to the black and white it was prior to their relationship. There was no color, no sunshine nor pleasure without her in this life.  His father remained loyal to his wife and made it his life’s duty to raise their son properly by himself until the day he reunited with his wife in heaven.

Kris was not completely sure of his feelings towards Amber, but he was certain he had a huge crush on her. She bothered him since the day she ran into his car. She seemed to sparkle whatever she did, with a light sheen of mystery always surrounding her. All of a sudden, Kris wanted to know everything about her. He had a whole truckload of questions constantly running through his mind that he hadn’t found the right time to ask yet, and questions about her relationship status with Sehun always surfaced above the rest. Kris didn’t like the idea of brothers being in love with the same girl at first. It was unnecessary, completely avoidable if countered from the beginning. He didn’t want to ruin almost a decade of friendship over the girl, but then again the girl was Amber. She was...different. In any case, Kris wanted to keep his feelings to himself; he didn’t want to forbid them. Compared to his older ex-girlfriend who tended to take care of him like a child, Amber was younger than him and this always gave him the instinct to look after her. Kris took time from his busy schedule to have lunch with her or help her buy things for her new place. He liked spending time with her, watching the way the corners of her lips curve up when she talked, noticing how her eyes lit up when she saw something she liked. He loved seeing her reflection on the mirror of his car as he drove and she looked out the windows, lost in her own thoughts which Kris desperately wanted to know about. They knew each other for less than three weeks and didn’t really talk much, but for some reasons Kris felt happy being with her. She was like a shelter for him to hide from all the recent storms and arguments in his life. Being with her, everything else disappeared and seemed insignificant. She’s enough, Kris thought. He needed nothing more than to have her in his life.

For an unknown reason, Sehun abruptly left Amber standing alone in the dance floor. Even from a distance, Kris could see the hurt flash across Amber’s face. She soon regained herself and chased after Sehun, scurrying out the hall. Kris didn’t even realize he had already followed the pair out, standing in the corner as he hid in the shadow of a giant marble statue close enough for him to see and hear what was happening. He knew he was being impolite and it wasn’t right for him to overhear their conversation, but his feet kept their ground. Despite his determination not to let it affect him, Kris felt something inside him ache when he heard Amber agree to date Sehun, if the boy should ask. Kris continuously repeated to himself that he needed nothing more; as long as she was beside him, it’s okay, but still he got sorrow and bitterness bottled up his heart. He was hurt, and he hated himself for feeling that way even though he had no right to. But, what else could he do? It was a good thing that it was Sehun, not somebody else; because he knew the younger man would never hurt her.

Kris heaved a sigh and returned to his guests in the hall after seeing Sehun drive away with Amber in his passenger seat.

Right at the entrance of the hall, Kris encountered Sky Diamond’s second son and his wife. Kris snapped back to reality almost immediately. Kim Hyun Joong and his model wife Nana stood before him, the man smirking.

- Nice party, Mr. Wu. I was looking for you to say goodbye but it seems like you weren’t inside the venue of your own party.

- My friends were leaving, - Kris said dryly. In all honesty, they were the last people on Earth that he needed to see at that moment. His evening was getting worse and worse.

- Anyway, congratulations on your promotion, although it was only because your father passed away and you inherited it without any problems. Lucky you; having no brother to fight over anything, unlike in our family. Right, honey?- Kim Hyun Joong exhaled a fake, sympathetic sigh and exchanged a nod with his wife while Kris tried to hold himself back from landing a punch on the other man’s face.

- Ah, is that why you had to do everything, even the dirtiest trick, just to be the heir? Your brain must’ve been drained of ideas, - Kris clenched his jaw before faking a smile at the couple.

- Well, that's really none of your business. But we’re glad seeing how excellent your new creative team is. I’m really looking forward to see how amazing your new collection will be. But then again, money can buy everything, - The guy ignored Kris’ provocation before shaking Kris's hand, pulling him closer to say the last warning in a low, hissing tone.  Kris just smirked; the jerk had nothing but money.

- You can try, but I’m pretty sure that money doesn't work in some cases.

- Oh, it’s worked in everything I’ve tried so far, Mr. Wu-

- Good luck with your money then. I have other guests to take care. Goodbye, Mr. Kim. - Kris cut off the conversation and went straight into the hall without staying to hear other’s response. He needed to get away, or else he was afraid he would land a punch right on the man’s face.

The last part of the party was like torture to Kris. He wanted – no, he needed time away from everyone and it was crystal-clear. Even Luhan couldn't help. Kris couldn’t really tell him the matter regarding Amber and Sehun. The man could only guess that the encounter with the rival couple was the root of Kris’ sudden bad mood. After some VVIP guests took their leave, Kris left the rest to Chanyeol and went home. He really needed some time alone in order to sort his feelings out.

The next thing he knew, Kris found himself on the roof top garden of their apartment building. The roof was made of glass, enabling whoever sat under it to see the clear night sky in peace. Kris loved the place. The garden was empty as Kris had guessed since it was cold and was already late at night. He settled down on a bench along the garden, lazily leaning his back against it and somewhat enjoying the cold breeze though his short dark brown hair. The young man took deep breaths, keeping his eyes shut and mind blank for a while, trying to get rid of his anger and disappointment in the way he always did when he needed to calm himself. Kris had quite an iron cold brain and hardly anyone or anything could make him lose control; but his crush and beloved brother starting a relationship plus that jerk mentioning his father was a little over his duration.

But the most important thing to him at that moment was figuring out how to treat Amber from then on. She was not the Amber of yesterday, or of tonight when he kissed her hand with an obvious intent. Of course, the mere fact that she and Sehun had a closure would not make his crush for her suddenly disappear right away. She was not Sehun’s girlfriend yet, but the new status of their relationship prevented him from showing he cared for her. Whether he liked it or not, Kris already knew the truth. For a second, Kris wished he hadn’t heard their conversation back then. He could hide his feeling in front of other people, but he couldn’t hide it from himself.  Kris decided not to think any further. The internal debate he was having seemed to be getting him nowhere. Maybe his crush on the girl will fade away by itself if he left it alone. 

The days that followed after that night, Kris tried not to meet Amber unless it was work-related. Not that it lessened the time he saw her anyway, because they were together almost half of the time. They had long weekly appointments with BOM regarding the updates of the the progress of the project. Kris frequently had to meet the Creative team to discuss about the concept of the new collection. Aside from this, Kris declined almost all of Amber or Sehun’s invitations for lunch or dinner, or to hang out during the weekends, using the clumsy excuse of being too busy or meeting with partners to cover the fact that he was trying to avoid seeing Amber.

He stopped picking her up every morning and walking her to the office like he used to; stopped looking straight into her brown eyes every time they bumped into each other at the office; stopped flashing her his sincere smile which he rarely showed to anyone; stopped caring whether had she gone home or was still at work. Kris carefully disguised his sentiment towards Amber in front of her and Sehun, bitterly realizing how much of a coward he really was for trying to run away from his feelings for her.  

The scary thing was, no matter how hard he tried, Kris still couldn’t take his mind off Amber. He felt so helpless whenever he met her. It was the first time in his life that he acted so abnormally, so timidly, so...un-Kris Wu-like. He hated doing things stealthily, but it was the exact word to describe his current situation. Many times in the middle of their appointments, he would unconsciously trace the concentrated expression on her face, and then freeze when she looked back at him, blinking before automatically drawing a gentle smile. Or that time when Kris didn’t go out for lunch with them, she left a text telling him to take care of his health, to not overwork himself and to not skip his meals. Kris told himself that this was just formal encouragement but still, he couldn’t help smiling himself silly until the rest of the day. Kris was sure he was on the way to losing his sanity, if he hadn’t already.

Kris had to work with Amber personally at times, too, like today when he was scheduled to visit Kris Jewelry at their branch in Incheon Airport with Amber which was a two-hour drive from the office. Kris felt a wave of anxiety rising in his stomach but Amber was just as bubbly and friendly as ever and brightly greeted Kris by shaking his hand, asking him if he slept well the night before, taking note of  the evidence of tiredness on his swollen eyes. He forced himself to act cold like he normally did with everyone whenever he was alone with her. Kris ignored her question, flashing her a cool smirk before deciding to take a nap because – her intuition was correct as usual – he only had three hours of sleep the night before. Kris leaned onto the backseat, trying not to think about how close he was sitting with the very reason why he couldn’t sleep a wink the past few days. He tried to forget about the frustration he felt about her concern for him. It would’ve been so much easier to forget her if she wasn’t so kind to him all the time. He closed his eyes, still trying to empty his thoughts before falling asleep.

Kris woke up to find himself leaning onto something warm and surprisingly comfy. In between the vagueness of the situation, he soon realized he was lying on Amber’s lap. No wonder he felt magically comfortable and so…at home. He was confused at first, wondering whether the whole thing was a dream or not, but then ultimately decided to just take advantage of the situation and sleep for a little while longer, feeling a sudden ray of happiness which became so unfamiliar to him after his father’s death.

Amber woke him upon their arrival to their destination and Kris felt even more awkward than he did before their departure. He could only pretend that nothing happened, politely apologized to Amber for the inconvenience with a curt nod and concentrated on work. He just laid his arms down at last when he noticed a slightly dark circle under her eyes even with her make up on and freaked out inwardly to know that she worked all last night without a wink of sleep. She even continued sketching with her tablet during the time they traveled back to their office. 

It was 9pm and Kris was about to leave the office, his body screaming from tiredness after a long day of exerting himself physically, mentally and emotionally. He entered the elevator with intent to press the Ground button, but then hesitated, pressing the button to the tenth floor instead. That was the floor of Creative team. Kris mentally screamed at himself. Just what was he doing? Didn’t he already agree not to concern himself with her? He shook his head, convincing himself that he was only going to check if Amber had already left the office; otherwise he would make her leave.

Kris looked through the glass wall of the Creative team’s large workspace. The whole room was dark but the light from the Creative Director’s private room was still dimly-lit. Kris pinched the bridge of his nose. He was sure he was going to put himself in a situation he didn’t want to be in again, but his feet had already absent-mindedly dragged the rest of his body towards her office once his mind had registered that Amber was still there. He entered her office soundly. Amber hadn’t gone home yet. Indeed, she was half lying on the table full of sketches and color pencil. The blue light from her Mac screen reflecting on her face made her skin look paler than it actually was. He frowned. The same girl who told him not to overwork himself and to look after his health was doing the exact opposite of what she said. Actually, she had just finished a project in London and was then working on another one they applied for. Kris groaned inwardly. It was his fault for pushing her too hard.

He moved a little closer, leaning on her table and carefully brushing stray strands of her fringe away from her forehead. It had been a long time since he last took a proper look at the very face that had been invading his thoughts and dreams. He wanted to make sure her exquisite features were unharmed by her lack of sleep and exertion in work. His fingers stopped at a faint mark on her forehead, which with a closer look was obviously a scar. Amber did take care of the wound. The scar was barely noticeable, unless you were in a close distance. It didn’t affect her beauty, and he was relieved. Kris smiled unknowingly, remembering the fateful day they met. He could never have imagined that he would fall for her so deeply. Too captivated in his thoughts, Kris didn’t realize that Sehun had already been standing in the doorframe, observing him for a while.

 - Kris-hyung, let her sleep for a while. I think we need to talk.

A/N: New poster, really love it <3